April 2016 – Ashley Cole

Ashley Cole finally in MLS

Ashley Cole made his MLS debut for LA Galaxy in the 4-1 win over DC United.

The former Chelsea star moved to the MLS after having released from Roma. His time with the Italian club can be forgotten quickly after he made only a few appearances before being relegated to the bench by Rudy Garcia. Despite being a Champions League winner with Chelsea, Roma did not see him as a valuable member of the team. This is likely to be the opposite of this stature at LA Galaxy. The MLS outfit are struggling to reach the heights attained under David Beckham.

Even though Bruce Arena continues to remain as one of the most successful managers in the MLS, he has been struggling for new ideas. The arrival of yet another big-name Premier League player may change the fortunes of the club. Cole feature alongside his former Premier League teammates like Robbie Keane and Steven Gerrard. The former England left back has come against the duo on numerous occasions in the past, but it was different to see him on the same pitch playing for the same team with these players.This is not the first game in which Cole is appearing for LA Galaxy, as he made his debut in the CONCACAF Champions League.

“It’s a good kind of win for us.We had to come from behind, dig a little bit, work really hard. We got a nice blend of experience.We have enough guys that can settle everyone down and keep their composure; it’s a good balance.I think you see the experience that Nigel [de Jong] brings in the midfield, that Ashley [Cole] brings in the back,” said Arena after the game. The result has helped LA Galaxy make a good start to the campaign, but the club needs to continue this form.

Cole happy at LA Galaxy

There was a point in time when Ashley Cole was considered to be the best left-back in the world of football.

It was during the playing time that Cole spent with Chelsea from 2006-2014 where the English defender managed to stand out and help the Premier League in lifting a number of big titles such as: Premier League, Europa League, Champions League and FA Cup are just a few of the pieces of silverware that he sealed with Chelsea.

When Ashley Cole’s contract with Chelsea reached it’s end, he went off to join the Italian side AS Roma, although according to transferrumours.co.uk he could have gone to any one of 20 clubs across Europe who wanted him.

Unfortunatley, it turned out to be a fairly unpleasant period of time for Cole as he had to spend a significantly long period of time on the sidelines as a substitute player and Cole didn’t add any titles to his collection.

Following such an underwhelming time with Roma, Ashley Cole attempted to get his playing career back on track as he joined the MLS side LA Galaxy in January of 2016 and the English defender recently talked about how things have been going for him ever since making his move to LA Galaxy.

“I’m enjoying it. Of course, it’s a little bit different to playing in the Premier League and in Italy but we have a good bunch of lads here and some familiar faces that I know so they’ve made it very easy to come into the squad and into the team. Every manager and every team has a different philosophy or a different way they want to play so of course it’s a little bit different.”

“I came here just to play football again. I didn’t really have a great time in Rome so it was just for me to start enjoying my football again they’ve given me the chance to do that.’’ LA Galaxy’s Ashley Cole said.

At the age of 35, Ashley Cole is reaching the end of his playing career and all that he wants to do is spend it as enjoyable as he can by being an active player and helping out his club in winning titles.

Ashley Cole doing well with LA Galaxy

The former Arsenal and Chelsea left-back has impressed pundits with his performance in the Major League Soccer. Ever since coming to the States, he has been putting in some wonderful performance and has demonstrated why he was considered at some point in his career as the best left back in the world.

He made his debut in the MLS in March 2016 in a match against DC United which LA Galaxy won by 4-1. There were also other former Premier League stars such as Robbie Keane and Steven Gerrard playing in the match.

Ashley Cole, who was playing for AS Roma in Italy before moving to the MLS, did not find it difficult to adapt to the pace of the MLS. Indeed, his performance was so good that he was named in the team of the week.

The LA Galaxy coach, Bruce Arena was keen to underline the importance of Ashley Cole to the team. He said that Cole brings some experiences at the back and will have a calming effect on the other players especially when they are under pressure.

LA Galaxy really needed the experience of all his star players to come back in the game as they were trailing 1-0. Arena said that he was pleased with the discipline, determination and composure showed by his team and that they will need to show this character every week if they want to be successful in the MLS. If you’d used a Matchbook bonus code you could have got odds of 20/1 on it finishing 4-1.

Chelsea have missed Ahsley Cole since he moved on, with the team now slipping into mid-table, and without much of a chance of making it into one of the Champions League spots if the latest betting odds at StanJames are taken into consideration.

Ashley Cole started his career with English side Arsenal where he made 228 appearances for the Gunners and scoring 10 goals. He will win 2 Premier League titles with the Gunners as well as 3 FA Cup before leaving for Chelsea in 2006. He will enjoy quite a successful career as well there where he won one Premier League title.