Joe Cole and Carlton Cole ‘feel sorry’ for Danny Ings after latest West Ham United snub
Carlton Cole has admitted that he “feels sorry for” Danny Ings after he was snubbed from West Ham United’s starting lineup by David Moyes on Thursday.
Ings was left on the bench as Moyes opted for 19-year-old striker Divin Mubama in their Europa League group stage clash with Backa Topola in Serbia.
And while appearing as pundits on TNT Sports (30 November, 17:08), Joe Cole admitted that it hasn’t worked out for him in east London since he moved from Aston Villa last January.
“It’s not quite worked out for Danny Ings,” Joe Cole said. “He’s a top player, he’s still got goals in him. But the way David Moyes likes to play [doesn’t suit him].
“Divin can stretch you. Danny was a runner in his younger days. He’s a fantastic technician and he’s a box player now. Look at Michail Antonio. If you’re going to have him as your number nine, as your starting [striker], you need someone with similar attributes to come in and Divin has got that.
“He’s got fantastic movement, he’s a physical presence, he’ll hold the ball up and try to bring others into play. It more keeps the system. It’s unfortunate for Danny but he’s got to take his chance.”
Carlton Cole then jumped in and agreed, and admitted he felt sorry for Ings at West Ham.
“One thing I will say with Danny Ings if he was playing up front with Antonio that’s when you’d get the best out of him,” he said.
“I do feel sorry for him when he’s deployed on his own up front. It’s really hard. It’s just tactics wise it doesn’t suit him, but that’s how the cookie crumbles in football. You’ve just got to get on with it.”
Is what it is
When Ings signed for the club last January most Hammers fans were pretty happy because we were getting a proven Premier League goalscorer in at a time when there was a clear hole in our squad.
Michail Antonio and Gianluca Scamacca were injured and Ings was sitting on the bench behind Ollie Watkins at Aston Villa, and he was seemingly chomping at the bit.
He got a goal early on in his Hammers career but he never really managed to get any momentum going in the team and his style clearly isn’t suited to what it is that Moyes wants from a striker.
Mubama is more stylistically like Antonio which means he should be gifted more opportunities between now and the end of the season, and that should all but bring the curtain down on Ings’ career.
It’s nobody’s fault either, it’s just one of those transfers that didn’t work out in the end and it’s probably best for everyone that we go our separate ways in January.
