Coleman defends under-fire Cole
Fulham boss Chris Coleman blamed Andy Cole’s lack of fitness for his lifeless display during the 3-1 Barclays Premiership defeat by Newcastle.
Cole was named in the starting line-up after Collins John was ruled out with a hamstring injury but a poor performance saw the former Magpies striker jeered by sections of the home crowd until his 67th minute substitution.
Fulham were already two goals down at that point after Darren Ambrose and Patrick Kluivert had fired Newcastle into a lead they never looked like relinquishing with the ineffective Cole spearheading the fightback.
“It’s not just our crowd, it’s crowds all around the country that have this thing about Andy Cole. There is nothing I or Andy can do about it,” said Coleman.
“He has scored 12 goals in all competition and is one of the highest scorers in the Premiership in a team which is at the wrong end of the table. His goals have been incredibly important to us.
“He was not on form against Newcastle but neither were the other 10 players. Andy’s fitness is not what it should be but we have not really got any alternatives at the moment so we had to play him.
“You can’t question his attitude. When he is 100% he scores goals, but he has not always been 100% fit. He was not great and that is why he was replaced, but he will hold his hands up to that.”
Newcastle opened the scoring in the 18th minute when a James Milner header cannoned off Alain Goma into the path of Ambrose who buried the ball in the back of the net, while Kluivert took advantage of sloppy marking to nod home the second.
Poor defending allowed the Magpies in once again in the 75th minute with Shola Ameobi steering home a Milner corner before Tomasz Radzinski pounced for a well-worked late consolation effort.
The victory halted Newcastle’s seven-match winless run in the Premiership and boss Graeme Souness – who has come under increasing pressure in recent weeks - was delighted by his patched-up side’s performance.
He said: “I am very happy with the result and for once I am not going to wake up miserable. We have played better in the last two games but drew. This time we did the hard part and scored some goals.
“We gave the ball away too much but that is understandable given the young team we had out. When Alan Hansen said you don’t win anything with kids I agreed with him. I know United did it that season but not many have done it since.
“We have struggled with injuries and have had to rely on some inexperienced players. We looked naive at times but I could not have asked for any more. There is no team selection at the moment because injuries and suspensions mean the side picks itself.”
