Ashley Cole is the footballing equivalent of Marmite. You either love him or hate him. Unfortunately for Cole, his long history of off the field shenanigans have made it rather easier for fans to do the latter. His acrimonious departure from boyhood club Arsenal was to be start of a hate/hate relationship between Cole and the British public. His high-profile marriage and divorce to media darling Cheryl Tweedy has been an ongoing soap-opera with Cole cast as the lead villain following the frequent accusations of cheating and infidelity. The final straw for many England fans was when he posted “I hate England and the f***king people!” as his BlackBerry status message just hours before England were due to fly out to South Africa.

While there are many reasons to dislike Cole, there can be little argument that he is the best left-back in the country, and probably the world. He brings a consistent attacking threat down the left flank that has been a trademark of his game since he burst onto the scene as an 18 year old at Arsenal. He has been instrumental in Chelsea’s recent success, forming a deadly left-sided tandem with Florent Malouda as The Pensioners romped to a record-breaking 103 goal haul in last season’s Premier League campaign.

Cole’s effectiveness comes as a result of the precise timing of his runs and his excellent movement. He has the ability to ghost in unnoticed and influence the outcome of games. With Malouda, Cole has forged an excellent understanding. As a relatively narrow team, there is great onus on Cole to get forward and provide much-needed width for Chelsea’s attackers. Malouda and Cole manage to do this through an innate understanding of each other’s movement and a fluid interchanging of positions. As the left-sided player in Chelsea’s attacking trio, Malouda has been given more a free role on the left hand side. Malouda’s tendency to drift inside has allowed Cole more space on the left flank to create scoring opportunities for players in the penalty box.

Cole has been as important for England as he has been for Chelsea in creating chances seemingly out of nothing. Indeed, it was his clever run in behind the Bulgarian defence which set up the opening goal for Jermain Defoe last Friday.

For all his attacking prowess, Cole has improved vastly in his defending skills which had once been called a weak point in his game. England fans will surely recall Cole’s superlative performance against Portugal in Euro 2004 where he completely neutralised the threat of Cristiano Ronaldo.

His consistency at the highest level of international and club football has cemented Cole’s reputation as one of the finest full-backs to ever play for England. He has amassed 85 caps for England, equalling Gary Neville’s total and falling one shy of Kenny Samson’s record of 86 caps for an England full-back. Barring injury, he is surely one of the first names on Carlo Ancelotti and Fabio Capello’s teamsheets.

Say what you will about Ashley Cole the man but Ashley Cole the footballer is a force to be reckoned with.

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