It looks like there’s a duel of two big men on the horizon. Carlton Cole is ready to fight newcomer Andy Carroll for a first team place and cole is up for the challenge. With Cole sitting on the bench to make way for Carroll in the 3-0 thrashing of Fulham, the West Ham front man knows what he has to contend with.
Unfortunately, Carroll picked up a hamstring injury in the game against Martin Jol’s men and that could sideline him for up to 6 weeks. That meant bad news for Roy Hodgson too, who looked like he could have done with the big man yesterday against the Ukraine in which we drew 1-1 after many chances being squandered in the first half by England. This also opens the door to Carlton Cole who most likely will be back in action on Saturday against Norwich City.
Carlton Cole had this to say:
“Every year, you have to have people challenging for places because it is healthy for the club”.
“I’m a guy who believes in that and you could get complacent if you know you are going to play week in, week out”.
“It’s better to always be on your toes and I welcome a challenge like Andy. He is one of the best target men around in the Premier League and it’s just going to reinvigorate me to be a better player”.
Speaking about the return of Yossi Benayoun, Cole had this to say:
“Yossi is a brilliant character and a great player as well — we all know that. He has finally come home and he’s back where I believe he belongs”.
“I played for a season with him before he went off to Liverpool but he was really influential around the players and the team”.
“I was sad to see him leave so now he’s back, I’m really happy”.
So it looks like it’s game on between the two big guns – Carroll and Cole. With Andy Carroll’s fine performance against the Cottagers, Carlton Cole must feel like he has it all to do. He must prove to Big Sam that he’s the man for the job otherwise Carroll will be given the first team place. I think it would also be interesting to see both guys on the same pitch to see how they fare together – two big blokes up front – wouldn’t be bad would it?
