From Jack Morris :
Myles, if you’re going to be a blogger at least get the facts right:
“After Cole left, Henry and Pires were never really such an overwhelming force on the left flank. ”
That could be because Pires left the same summer as Cole.
Myles says:
And Pires left politely, not controversially.
But I should have remembered that both players left Arsenal @ the same time..
When I watched the squad training one day, I realised how it was that Arsenal could attack with such thrilling speed. But I should have been indoors with the other reporters, as the press were not allowed to watch any training ever. I realised later that Amanda Docherty was very annoyed with me. But at least she stopped short of bawling me out and sending me back to join other reporters inside the building.
From Jim Johnson:
Ashley Cole and Pires left in the same summer, both playing their last game in the Champions League final.
Either way, you can’t replace the irreplaceable.
You just learn to deal without them. I’ve said to my mates a hundred times, Ashley Cole was the only English player of his generation that would get into a world squad of 22.
The only truly world class English player of that era as he was one of the two best in his position globally. No one else came close, not Becks, Stevie, Rooney or Lamps.
You never let a world class player go unless you replace him with the next best.