Brazilian legend Pele has hailed Chelsea midfielder Joe Cole.
Football legend Pele has hailed Chelsea midfielder Joe Cole, saying that his game is full of Brazilian-style flair.He has warned the England star to rein in his attacking instincts at times, though, concerned that he is running the risk of wasting his mercurial talent.
"The Number 10 for Chelsea, Joe Cole, is a very good player and when I saw him against Charlton he was excellent in the first half," he commented.
"He has the skills of a Brazilian but he needs to learn when to show the skills and when to play the simple game.
"In the second half, when the game was very close, he kept losing the ball because he was trying too hard and Chelsea nearly lost the game."
Pele believes that Cole should follow the example of World Player of the Year Ronaldinho, who has harnessed his skills to great effect for Barcelona and Brazil.
"The tricks are fine at 3-0 or 4-0 but not at 0-0 or 1-1," he advised.
"That's why Ronaldinho is so good - he knows when to do the tricks and when to keep it simple.
"When I was playing and it was 0-0 we would keep the ball and pass it around."
