Is Andy Cole the most underrated Utd player of the modern era?

[OnlyTwoDaSilvas]

When he was at Newcastle, that's pretty much what he was. His overall game developed after he came to us in 1995 leading up to his pairing with Yorkie where we saw the best of him.

I agree, he improved massively at United. I'm sure he'll have seen him play for us and play well. He's having none of it though. There's likely many who think he's just a penalty box poacher too,

 

[MAME DIOUF 32]

He was pretty shocking for England iirc

And didn't help his cause that Shearer existed at the same time

It probably casts doubt on my earlier post about how good he was tbf but he didn't do well for England or after leaving United. He probably needed more quality around him than he got in either of those situations. He was often an integral part of United's attacking moves but he rarely created much for himself.

 

[redshaw]

I remember him being very nimble, scoring lots of different goals and part of a lethal partnership with Yprke. Might be his England career which didn't take off that some might see him as underrated. We also had Bruce and Pally, the best defenders not get a look in. Back then it was very London biased.

 

[Irwin99]

Sadly, he would be absolutely slaughtered in the social media era if he played now with his form between 1995-97. Eric Cantona used to get visibly annoyed with him which can't have helped his confidence. His overall play was excellent though and he was one of my favourite players as a kid. I remember him being very quick, having good hold up play, great awareness/movement. His career really picked up in 97/98 season and then he formed a great partnership with Yorke the following year. A very underrated player but needed confidence to shine (a bit like Nani perhaps?)

Seemed to be a really honest guy too in that he never seemed to look for a penalty and always stayed on his feet.

 

[Tapori]

He was...
Outstanding

 

[FujiVice]

If we're really filling up the backroom with all these ex-players to try and copy the Ajax model, you could do worse than bring Andy Cole in as a finishing coach. Macclesfield couldnt score a goal until Coley came him. One of Campbell's best moves. Coley's turned chicken shit into chicken soup there.

 

[Inter Yer Nan]

Unfortunately I can’t attest to ever watching him as I was 6 when he left us, but his stats are remarkable.

He had 68 goals in 84 appearances at Newcastle. 121 in 275 for Manchester United.

How the feck did he only get 15 caps for England?!

The Shearer and Sherringham partnership was quality. Robbie Fowler barely got a look in back then too and he was a great goal scorer like Cole.

 

[Sparky Rhiwabon]

If we all say yes, then he becomes more rated, making the answer actually no. But if we all say no, then we’re making him all the more underrated making the answer yes. I don’t know what to do for the best.

 

[Eriku]

I second those who remembering him as somewhat wasteful. Still had cracking numbers, as he seemed to create chances for himself all the time, but his finishing let him down a lot, compared to most top strikers we’ve had.

 

[BrianMcClair'sBarnet]

Cole and Yorke are underrated in general.

 

[Ducklegs]

Andy Cole used to have the first touch of a *CANT SAY THAT PHRASE ANYMORE WONT SOMEONE THINK OF THE CHILDREN*.

Plus on his bad days he couldnt just not hit a cows arse with a banjo, he couldnt score if the goal was empty, the ball was on the goal line, there was no goal keeper and someone held his hand to walk him up to the ball and told him what he needed to do.

You think Lukaku is frustrating, Jesus.

 

[Pughnichi]

Andy Cole was class. It’s that simple. He’d be a guaranteed starter in today’s squad

 

[Fortitude]

Cole had a few issues when it came to him being rated justly:

- He played in an eras of absolutely lethal strikers. This meant he was always compared to them and their paucity of wasting goal-scoring opportunities. Romario, Shearer, Ronaldo, Batistuta, Vieri, Suker, Raul, Owen and even lethal support strikers like Del Piero and Rivaldo. Cole's magic was in his movement and ability to constantly create his own chances, but most of the aforementioned strikers were basically conversion machines that if, in sight of goal, with a chance to draw their leg back, would either hit the target or score a scorcher. Cole was never like that post-Newcastle, which opened the floor to Hoddle saying he needed x amount of chances to score... omitting that Cole would generate x amount of chances per game to get goals his own way.

- His England career was blunted. Shearer and <support striker>would always start. Cole rarely got a proper chance to show skeptics what he could do on the international stage.

- He was outshone by his teammates. Cole was never the best, or top banding in the team. He pulled his weight and did his thing, but when breaking the team down into superstars who were irreplaceable or the top tier in their position in the world; players who could be upgraded upon; supplemental cogs. Cole would be slotted into the second or third of those brackets. Yorke's season when he should've been a ballon d'or candidate doesn't help here, either. Cole was part of an amazing, telepathic pairing, but Yorke was performing at a level associated with the best forwards in the world at the time and there was no question he was the top forward that season.

- It always felt like Fergie wanted more. If SAF could've got Shearer when we courted him, there's no question he would've dropped Cole from starter to the bench rotation. I think how Cole was treated when RVN got here is also telling. Cole never got to the level he was undroppable if we were open to the world market and could have our pick of the best #9's in the game, whereas those around him, did.

- Needed more big individual moments in the grandest games. Not to say he was poor, a bottler or out of place in the big games, because he wasn't, but there aren't many elite level games where Cole was contesting for MotM or just outstanding from the 1st minute to the last. He scored some key goals, and I think most would agree Barcelona away was his apex, but he's not got the collection of elite performances in the biggest games others of his era, and even his team, have.

I always liked Cole, even when Cantona was berating him and he looked out of his depth, but I was under no illusion there wasn't a class of striker above him and that we, as a club, coveted them from afar for a long time and if we could've acquired Shearer, Batistuta or any of the others, we would've, in a heartbeat, and it would be the end of Cole. As soon as Ruud got here, and was just lethal, it was an obvious death knell for Cole, and I think everyone knew it at the time. I don't think a player people think, in their heart, can be upgraded on is ever going to get the plaudits he should. Cole was a good player, but he was not outstanding, ironically. Badum Tisch!

 

[acnumber9]

Andy Cole used to have the first touch of a *CANT SAY THAT PHRASE ANYMORE WONT SOMEONE THINK OF THE CHILDREN*.

Plus on his bad days he couldnt just not hit a cows arse with a banjo, he couldnt score if the goal was empty, the ball was on the goal line, there was no goal keeper and someone held his hand to walk him up to the ball and told him what he needed to do.

You think Lukaku is frustrating, Jesus.

What a load of shite.

 

[Inigo Montoya]

Andy Cole used to have the first touch of a *CANT SAY THAT PHRASE ANYMORE WONT SOMEONE THINK OF THE CHILDREN*.

Plus on his bad days he couldnt just not hit a cows arse with a banjo, he couldnt score if the goal was empty, the ball was on the goal line, there was no goal keeper and someone held his hand to walk him up to the ball and told him what he needed to do.

You think Lukaku is frustrating, Jesus.

Teddy Sheringham in disguise?

 

[PeteManic]

It's obvious that it was his personality that stopped him from playing more for England. He's mentioned many times that Fergie was the only one who knew how to deal with him. So he had no chance during the "Shearer's table" era.

 

[Fortitude]

It's obvious that it was his personality that stopped him from playing more for England. He's mentioned many times that Fergie was the only one who knew how to deal with him. So he had no chance during the "Shearer's table" era.

Hmm... no striker in England would've usurped Shearer.

That's just plain misfortune for that generation's strikers.

 

[Loublaze]

Cole and Yorke are underrated in general.

They were. Both of them were better than Sheringham and Ole individually. I'm yet to see such a flawless partnership anywhere else in football since. Im not talking about the amount of goals they set up for each other but how they did, they just knew where the other was and it was a joy to watch.

 

[Loublaze]

It's obvious that it was his personality that stopped him from playing more for England. He's mentioned many times that Fergie was the only one who knew how to deal with him. So he had no chance during the "Shearer's table" era.

What was the issue with his personality?

 

[Green_Red]

Loved Cole back in the day, remember the day we signed him. One of the best strikers we ever had. Didn't think we'd replace him and then we got Ruud.

 

[Sandikan]

One of my favourite Utd players ever I must admit. I loved his narrative, after the poor start it felt like an underdog story and as a teenager in the 90's his story appealed to me.

I am biased then, but I firmly believe that he is often overlooked when we talk about that era and people don't realize how good he really was. Part of it is perception(and a poor start) He came to Utd as a 40 goal a season man and Utd fans expected that, even though the team at that time were never set up to play solely to one man as his Newcastle side were. His international career probably plays a part as well, but England were so invested in Shearer at that time that players like peak Fowler(up to 23/24) Ian Wright and Les Ferdinand never got a real chance either.

His finishing was erratic and at times it felt that if he had too much time to think about the finish he could struggle. When he was instinctive and flowing he scored some of the best strikers goals I have seen, but it is the rest of his game that is rarely mentioned. Remarkably quick feet, instant use of the ball, unselfish, was involved in so many key goals with his set up play. Thought it was a true insult to Cole when compared to Lukaku last year, a far superior footballer in every way bar finishing, and his movement off the ball was incredible.

I would take him over Ruud Van Nistelrooy as the focal point of a Utd select team. That doesn't mean that I think he was a better player than RVN in isolation but that his all round game meshes with the rest of the team better than RVN's did. I often found myself frustrated watching RVN at how slow his use of the ball was, how many touches he wanted when compared to Cole instantly laying the ball off and going on his next run.


The quality of his goals is really impressive, so much variation, headers, volleys, runs in behind, quick turns, link up play, overhead kicks, a bit of everything. Has all of his direct assists as well in that vid, credit to whoever made it.

Agree with most of what you said, but disagree massively on the RVN part

RVN was the ultimate target man. All went through him, and he replaced Cole and utterly smashed his goal scoring level, and in a worse team.

 

[Sandikan]

One thing is for sure. If he was around now, he'd be in every single England squad, and most likely playing every game.

 

[BigRon1985]

Andy Cole used to have the first touch of a *CANT SAY THAT PHRASE ANYMORE WONT SOMEONE THINK OF THE CHILDREN*.

Plus on his bad days he couldnt just not hit a cows arse with a banjo, he couldnt score if the goal was empty, the ball was on the goal line, there was no goal keeper and someone held his hand to walk him up to the ball and told him what he needed to do.

You think Lukaku is frustrating, Jesus.

Agreed! I remember him costing us the PL title in the 94/95 season in the last game against West Ham away when Liverpool did us a favour by beating Blackburn. He literally could not hit a barn door - some of the worst finishing I have ever seen and against a team already relegated!

 

[VorZakone]

I watched that highlight video and I got the impression that if he played today, he'd be comfortably a top 5-10 striker in the world.

 

[page302]

Great player for us but never world class. Fantastic movement and great running on to the ball (as was the order of the day back then) however fairly average in the air and not much better with his back to goal. That being said, he worked really hard to improve his game and his goal record speaks for itself. Could be frustrating but generally a solid, honest player.

As an aside, what a pool of striking talent England had back then. Fowler, Shearer, Owen, Sheringham, Wright, Collymore, Cole. Unbelievable really.

 

[Loublaze]

Andy Cole used to have the first touch of a *CANT SAY THAT PHRASE ANYMORE WONT SOMEONE THINK OF THE CHILDREN*.

Plus on his bad days he couldnt just not hit a cows arse with a banjo, he couldnt score if the goal was empty, the ball was on the goal line, there was no goal keeper and someone held his hand to walk him up to the ball and told him what he needed to do.

You think Lukaku is frustrating, Jesus.

Agreed! I remember him costing us the PL title in the 94/95 season in the last game against West Ham away when Liverpool did us a favour by beating Blackburn. He literally could not hit a barn door - some of the worst finishing I have ever seen and against a team already relegated!

Revisionism at its worst. What you two are doing is taking a minor flaw and a specific game and using it to define the career of the third leading goalscorer in the history of the PL. One would think you're talking about a straight up donkey of a footballer

 

[2cents]

Agreed! I remember him costing us the PL title in the 94/95 season in the last game against West Ham away when Liverpool did us a favour by beating Blackburn. He literally could not hit a barn door - some of the worst finishing I have ever seen and against a team already relegated!

When you watch the highlights of that Upton Park match, Cole's misses really aren't that bad:


12:05 hits the post with a good effort.
20:00 a half chance that he pulls across goal from a tight angle.
21:40 probably the big one which he would have stuck away maybe 7 times out of ten, but it's a great save.
22:15 by the time the ball comes to him Miklosko is almost on top of him. He maybe could have hit it early with his left foot but I doubt it would make a difference.

The result was more down to some great saves from Miklosko than Cole missing sitters. Also a horrible pitch, and us playing a bit shite and looking knackered.

 

[Scholsey2004]

I've thought the same myself at times. He didn't get the recognition he probably deserved during his playing days. A large part of that was probably down to the fact that he came along at a time when England was overstocked with strikers. Shearer, sheringham, Wright, Ferdinand, Sutton, Fowler, collymore. We were just heaving with them. Perhaps a little racial bias as well. The same kind you get when people like mark lawrenson say they don't rate pogba compared to Christian eriksen.

 

[Gary_Walsh_Nou_Camp_Hell]

He was a figure of ridicule for the first 18 months or so, unfairly really but he did have a period where nothing was going in for him and Cantona kept bailing him out.

But showed his strength of character to fight back and became a lethal striker for us, peaking in our club's greatest ever season - he is a legend and I think he is well respected by everyone who saw United in those years.

 

[FujiVice]

Agreed! I remember him costing us the PL title in the 94/95 season

He scored against Leicester, Coventry and Southampton in the maining games of the season. There wouldnt have been a final day title decider without his goals.

 

[Redlambs]

I loved him, had him on a shirt or two as a kid.

But in no way was he a better player than Sheringham or RVN. People need a little rethink there.

 

[tenpoless]

I rate him highly as United player.

 

[Loublaze]

I loved him, had him on a shirt or two as a kid.

But in no way was he a better player than Sheringham or RVN. People need a little rethink there.

How was Sheringham better than Cole for United and overall?

 

[jesperjaap]

Individually he was good but not special. As others have mentioned, you could see Cantona visibly frustrated with him often. He had very quick feet in the area and always got in the right places to score, but could be wasteful. ALthough not technically excellent he was decent in build up and hold up play.

However......in partnership with Yorke, he was absolutely fantastic, waht an attacking quarter of options we had then with Sheringham and Ole. Arsenal and us around that time were still a level above this City team in my opinion. The year after the treble for me was the best as a season ever played in my lifetime. Cant believe we went out against Madrid when we absolutely battered them.

Cole rightly deserves his place amongst United greats for his performances for us in tandem with Yorke, forgetting the trophies

 

[jesperjaap]

I loved him, had him on a shirt or two as a kid.

But in no way was he a better player than Sheringham or RVN. People need a little rethink there.

Cant really compare him with Sheringham as they played different roles. But yes I agree RVN is the best striker we have had in my lifetime in my opinion, one of the best box players I have seen

 

[shabz]

One of the best finishers I've seen in a United shirt but much more than a goalscorer. Great link up and underrated hold up play, the greatest shame for me was that he was never utilised correctly for England but that probably benefitted United.

 

[RedRonaldo]

Nah we break the record back then to sign him after his impressive scoring record in Newcastle (41 goals in a season), but he never quite managed to repeat near to that when he was in here. We even sold Hughes to accommodate him here, and let him start most of the games, and bench club legend Solskjaer. But he was frustrating to watch in his first few seasons here, squandering chances after chances (I sometimes wonder Cantona might have double his assists numbers if we don't have Cole up front) He did form a formidable partnership with Yorke though, and improve his overall game in later years though, so I think he did alright overall, but he was never quite near the level of best striker in the league in his time here. He is kind of like Lukaku for us - big price tag, but not what we may have expected, but still top goalscorer for us for a few good seasons, but never quite the best striker in the league.

If we rate our main striker/forward generation by generation in past 30 years (Hughes, Cantona, Cole, Yorke, Ruud, Ronaldo, Rooney, Van Persie, Lukaku), then I'm afraid he would be near the last at the pecking order.

Tier 1: Cantona, Ronaldo
Tier 2: Ruud, Rooney
Tier 3: Hughes, Van Persie, Yorke
Tier 4: Cole, Lukaku

I rate Van Persie and Yorke higher than Cole, even though their time here was short and brief, their impact on our success was bigger. To be fair Cole has about 3 really good seasons with us (especially his partnership with Yorke), but he also has about 3 or 4 bad and disappointing seasons here too.

 

[RedRonaldo]

Thierry Henry talked about it with Rio Ferdinand some years ago. Saying Ronaldo (at an exceptional level as he was as good in front of the goal as in open plays) and George Weah in mid/late 90s revolutionized the leading/sole striker role at international level. I think Andy Cole was right on the train.

121 goals and 46 assists without a penalty or freekick IIRC and the ability to work well with many offensive partners is actually quite frightening.

Not its not. He has best creative players behind him assisting him goals in the league at the time (Cantona, Scholes, Giggs, Beckham etc), he was playing up front as the main striker here, his main role is to score. He scored 121 goals in 275 games in around 8 seasons here. Thats average around 15 goals a season. Its not frightening at all. In his peak years here, his best season for us he scored 25 goals in 46 games, 2nd best season he scored 24 goals in 50 goals, that's about the same rate as Lukaku for us. Do you think Lukaku stats here is quite frightening?

 

[Isotope]

Like Fortitude said, he played in an era littered with some all time great strikers. He'd be one of the best in this era.

 

[Raees]

He was like the Edinson Cavani of United, super hard working and capable of the ugly goals, spectacular goals and even laying on chances but super wasteful also but someone who on the whole made his team mates play better because his movement and dynamism made him a constant thorn in oppositions defence and opened up space for others.

Whilst his finishing was erratic what allowed him ultimately to be so effective and have a good gtg ratio - he was that effective at constantly creating space for himself and getting on end of chances or finding ways to get shots off where it didn’t look like there was an opening and law of averages meant he was bound to get a goal eventually (as the video testified he wasn’t a completely useless finisher - so good enough to take advantage eventually).

Much better striker than our current lot and I agree he’s probably top 3 striker in current PL and top 10 globally in modern era terms but his era was super competitive on the striker front.. lots of mentally strong and ruthless goalscorers.. I mean that Cole video shows phenomenal talent and yet even in England alone there was at least 4 strikers better than him and Shearer was World Class.

A victim of misfortune I would say but definitely deserves to be remembered as a top forward regardless if he was not the greatest finisher because in short his dynamism and general skill set allowed him to get more chances on goal than his peers and that made up for his lack of efficiency as he was ultimately effective and won big medals for his club.