Carlton Cole has been delighted by the strides forward made by West Ham United over the course of the 2021/22 season.
The former Hammers forward – and current Academy of Football coach, media pundit and matchday ambassador – was impressed by manager David Moyes’ and his squad’s juggling of competing at the top ends of both domestic and continental competitions this year.
Over the course of 56 games in 2021/22, West Ham not only secured qualification for Europe through the league in consecutive seasons for the first time in Club history, but also enjoyed a memorable run to the UEFA Europa League semi-finals in their first-ever crack at the competition proper.
Add in promising results in the FA Cup and Carabao Cup, as well as success at Academy level – the U23s and U18s both finished runners-up in their respective leagues, with four first-team debuts attained – and Cole feels there is plenty to celebrate throughout the Club.
Speaking to whufc.com, Cole – who has greeted and entertained fans in Club London as a matchday ambassador this season – is looking forward to seeing where Moyes can take the squad next...
This season’s gone particularly well.
We’ve achieved more than I maybe expected at the start of the season, given that we had the Europa League – I didn’t think we would finish so high, in truth, when you’ve got a small squad and you’re playing two games a week.
It was quite interesting to see how David Moyes would balance the whole team, and he’s done it brilliantly. I’m very proud of all the boys.
They’ve all applied themselves to the challenge accordingly and efficiently, so it’s been a particularly great season for West Ham.
I’m in the thick of things over at the Academy and I’ve seen the exciting things happening there.
Having some of the lads making their debuts this season, especially in Europe, has been quite eye-opening to see – they know they can step up now.
Maybe some of them could go on loan next season and get some more first-team experience, or make the step-up and become part of the first-team squad and impress David Moyes. That’s what we hope.
There have been loads of standout games, but I’d particularly highlight our run in the Europa League.
In the Premier League, there have been loads this season – it’s been a successful season – but the one that sticks out to me in Europe was the Lyon game away [a 3-0 win], when we made it to the semi-finals, which was unbelievable.
There have been loads of great games for us, but that’s the one which stood out to me – it was a complete performance.
In terms of players, Declan Rice has stood out to me, as usual, and I feel that Saïd Benrahma’s stepped up this season.
I know he’s now leaving but Andriy Yarmolenko, given the circumstances in Ukraine, deserves a lot of credit for the way he dealt with them and helped us out with a couple of good goals.
When you’ve got players in your squad who can change the momentum of the season, it’s massive. Manuel Lanzini’s been great and Jarrod Bowen’s been brilliant this season, and deserves his call-up for the England squad.
It’s been brilliant to have fans in the Stadium again – I’m a people person and I always want to be around them!
I get to see all of these people in one place, in one day, and it’s amazing – so thanks to the fans for being brilliant this season, and hopefully we can impress them next year as well!
