Carlton Cole has had a mixed last few weeks at West Ham as his team has tasted victory and defeat against some of England’s biggest clubs. A fantastic performance against Chelsea which was topped off with a goal was followed by this week’s surprise defeat at home to Everton.
Cole produced a man of the match performance against his former club Chelsea as he gave defender Branislav Ivanovic a torrid time in the middle. A headed goal leveled the score line for the Hammers and it was all uphill from there. He seemed to be a man with a mission as West Ham tasted victory over their London rivals after nine years. Cole took this confidence into the fixture against Everton on Saturday but it was not to be his day. He opened the scoring for the home side with a brilliantly placed shot into the corner of the net and things seemed to be going well for West Ham. Upton Park was roaring and the Hammers enjoyed more time on the ball. The second half however was marred by the controversial sending off of Cole as the striker saw red for a one footed challenge on Leighton Baines.
It was Everton’s game to throw away, but the Toffees took full advantage of Cole’s sending off as Steven Pienaar slotted in to give Everton a crucial victory in London. Although Cole has been one of the club’s standout players this season despite his lack of goals, the Englishman will be ruing for his red card as his side could have edged out a win if he had remained on the pitch.
He’s a hero… did u not see his goal… we were I’m the driving seat whilst he was on the pitch
Carlton Cole is not a villian in this particular instance as that sorry title goes to referee Anthony Taylor. His man management of the entire game was poor and inconsistent. The game was finely balanced when he started deploying stupid red cards. I regret that football has become non contact and the outcome of each match seems to be down to the refs rather than the players.