Andy Cole talks exclusively to Punters.pub – Part 2

Andy Cole shares the best 5 players he has played with.

Former Manchester United and treble winning striker Andy Cole gave Punters.Pub  his ultimate 5 a side team from players he played with during his career. In goal, unsurprisingly is the ‘Great Dane’ Peter Schmeichel. In defence for Andy Cole in his 5 a side team is super centre back Japp Stam.  The Manchester United legend then picked two of his teammates to line up in midfield in Roy Keane and Paul Scholes. Then the striker position was Andy Cole’s strike partner Dwight Yorke.

Go to part 1 of the interview

Alessandro Nesta was a top Defender

As a top striker, Andy Cole played against so many top defenders. Although not naming all of them, one stands out as his toughest defender and that is AC Milan’s Alessandro Nesta. Cole recalls ‘I’ll be happy if I touch the ball about five times’ in a game when talking about facing Nesta.

Practice makes perfect for Andy Cole

In the famous treble season of 1999, Manchester United were blessed with 4 top strikers in Cole, Sheringham, Yorke and Solskjær. Cole is keen to say how practice made perfect that season when he said to Punters.pub ‘ We always used to do finishing. The four of us were always out there after improving. And I think the good thing about us was we were all prepared to sit down and talk about what kind of finishes we’re trying to do or whatever, so we always try to learn off each other. But finishing was always a big part of the day for me’.

Yorke and Beardsley were Cole’s best strike partners

Two strikers stand out for Andy Cole with who he enjoyed playing with the most and first up he said was Dwight Yorke. Cole recalls his relationship ‘fondly as it just worked’. Plus in his early career, Newcastle striker Peter Beardlsey is someone Cole outlines as ‘absolutely phenomenal’.

Talking about goals scored, Andy Cole told Punters.pub, he wasn’t keen to share one goal that meant the most to him, but did say ‘People talk about the lob against Tottenham, I got a chip against Everton, we have over an over head kick against Marseille and there’s so many, even the tap ins that are perfect. I got a goal against Liverpool at Anfield for Blackburn. When you’re at that level, you enjoy every single one because you never know when the next one is going to come.

Finally, Andy Cole was keen to share there wasn’t a ground that he didn’t like playing at due to having a great team in Manchester United, they were confident going into every game and didn’t fear anyone. This mindset was one of the reasons Andy Cole was successful with Manchester United.