The likes of Jack Grealish and Iliman Ndiaye can delight Everton fans on their day but former Toffees coach Ashley Cole has paid special mention to a player of old.
Cole, one of the greatest defenders the Premier League has ever seen, is certainly well-placed to comment.
The former Arsenal and Chelsea left-back was a world class defender during his stunning playing career and famously enjoyed success against a young Cristiano Ronaldo.
An opposition winger would have had to be at their very best to beat Cole, who of course worked on Frank Lampard’s coaching staff at Everton after he retired.
Now, the 45-year-old former England star has opened up on his struggles against a certain Aaron Lennon.
Ashley Cole says he struggled to play against Aaron Lennon
While speaking to Flashscore, Cole named ex-Everton winger Lennon as one of his toughest opponents.
Interestingly, the question even name-checked Ronaldo, and Cole still saw fit to mention Lennon – who made 77 appearances for the club between 2015 and 2018 – alongside him.
Asked: “Aside from Ronaldo, who were the toughest opponents you faced?”
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Cole responded with: “There were many players who caused me real problems. Aaron Lennon, Nathan Dyer at Swansea – players who could go inside, outside, run in behind.
“Against Ronaldo or [Lionel] Messi, there was a full team plan. Against others, sometimes it was just ‘Ashley, you deal with him.’ And sometimes that caught me out. There are plenty of opponents I struggled against.”
Such was Lennon’s quality, Cole isn’t the only England legend to have mentioned him.
Previously, a certain Wayne Rooney has hailed Lennon for his pace.
Cole believes current Everton coach is the best ‘big game’ player in Premier League history
Lennon isn’t the only former Everton player that Cole has spoken about recently.
Leighton Baines, of course, competed with Cole for a starting spot for England and is now Everton’s assistant manager under David Moyes.
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While it was Cole who won out for a Three Lions place for most of their careers, there was one thing he lacked compared to the Toffees legend.
Baines was a brilliant free-kick taker and scored six of them in the Premier League. Cole, as good as he was, couldn’t match that.
In fact, Cole recently named Baines as the best ‘big moment’ player in Premier League history.
When speaking to TNT Sports on their TikTok channel in December, Cole was asked to name his ultimate defender.
When it came to the ‘big moment’ ability, Cole said: “Do you know what, I’ll go with Leighton Baines for his free-kicks.”
In total, Baines scored 11-game winning goals for Everton in his 420 appearances for the club.
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