By Ollie Irish
“Yossi Benayoun, Yossi Benayoun, Yossi Benayoun…”
Quote of the day comes from Chelsea boss Charlie Ancelotti, speaking to the Sun about his reasons for replacing Joe Cole with Yossi Benayoun.
“Joe Cole is quicker than Benayoun but Yossi is better tactically. He understands what I tell him.
“Yossi is a very intelligent player. He knows everything about the game.
“Cole and Benayoun are different players and everyone has their own opinion, but we are happy to have Yossi here at Chelsea.”
Reading between the lines is easy here: Cole simply doesn’t have the discipline – or the smarts – to ‘get’ tactics. How very English of him. Or, in other words, he’s a bit thick and self-interested.
In contrast, as a player who has experienced first-hand the rigid managerial style of Rafa Benitez, Benayoun knows exactly how to stick to the script; Cole’s maverick tendencies and general thickness would have infuriated Rafa.
It will be very interesting to see how Cole gets on with Roy Hodgson.