COLE KAN BECOME A DIAMOND
One of the first things that strikes you when watching Cole in action, is the fact that he is constantly looking to press forward. He possesses astounding acceleration, and his close control means that he is always hard for opposition defenders to dispossess. He has used those skills to good effect this term, embarking on 31 successful dribbles - more than any other English player in the Premiership.
Cole has also shown great variety in his distribution during his first campaign as a first-team regular at West Ham. Overall, he has completed 75% of his passes - the best ratio at the club - and has been particularly successful in attacking areas.
So far this season, Cole has got forward to whip in 20 crosses, of which an impressive 35% have reached a Hammers shirt, while also playing 21 defence-splitting passes.
The youngster has also shown great vision with his long passes. No West Ham player has been more accurate with their long-range distribution than Cole. The 19-year-old midfielder has found a team-mate with 74% of his passes over 25 yards - 14 percentage points better than the Premiership average - clearly proving (despite Kanoute's claims) that he is right to be adventurous.
Indeed, Cole does not give the ball away nearly as often as other members of the Hammers team. Kanoute seems to feel that his team-mate often loses the ball going forward, leaving Harry Redknapp's side overexposed at the back. But this is far from the truth.
In fact, on average, Cole loses possession in the opposition half only once every 14 minutes. This compares favourably with the Premiership average of a misplaced pass every 11 minutes (which is how often Kanoute loses the ball) and team-mate Paolo Di Canio, who misplaces a pass every nine minutes on average.
One area where Cole might want to restrain himself is with his shooting from distance. So far this season, he has scored twice, with both goals coming from close-range efforts. The England under-21 international has been far less successful with his efforts from distance however, hitting the target with just 27% of his shots from outside the area - 23 percentage points worse than the Premiership average.
At the age of 19, Cole still has much to learn at Premiership level. However, his natural talent has helped him adjust to the pace of the game well, and although the young midfielder might do well to consider Kanoute's call for him to be more patient, it would be foolish to do so at he expense of the skills which make him so dangerous for the opposition.
Rupert Webster
