Ahead of this weekend’s FA Cup game against Liverpool, Andy Cole has reflected on his time playing for United at Anfield.
Cole scored at Anfield in our 3-1 win in the 1996-1997 season, scored two there the following season, and again in 1999.
“When I was in the team I used to love playing at Anfield,” he told the official site. “I was very fortunate that the manager always used to play me against Liverpool because I always seemed to get myself a goal there. I don’t know what it was. It’s a special arena that always used to bring the best out of me.”
United knocked out Liverpool on the way to claiming our historic Treble in 1999, after Michael Owen took the lead for the opposition after three minutes. An 88th minute equaliser from Dwight Yorke followed by an injury time winner from Ole Gunnar Solskjaer secured our place in the next round.
“That year we were in the ascendancy, we feared no-one,” he continued. “We always believed that whoever we played against, we could always knock them over. Even if we were a goal behind going into the last few minutes, we’d still beat teams. That’s how it was when we beat Liverpool in the Cup that year. We were knocking on the door for 85 minutes and then finally the goals came and we won the game. If you’re going to win the Cup then you’re going to have to knock out the tough teams. If you do that in the earlier rounds, hopefully it won’t be as tough if you reach the final.”
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Legend & a true goal scorer
If united would have signed Alan shearer instead of Andy cole they would have won everything and gone on to be the most successful club in British football but they aren’t so big deal
He’s asked to be referred to as “Andrew Cole”, not “Andy”.
Andrew Cole…legend!
I’ve got a signed picture of Coley which I treasure. Framed it is, all nice. I took it down when he signed for City but his punditry is not too shabby and affection for united is obvious, despite the fact that Eric thought he was two-bob.
That night in Nou and the winner against Spurs… goodness me.
He’ll always be Andy Cole, Andrew? To his Mum maybe but it doesn’t work in the song.
He gets the balll…
Legend in my book. Has any other United player scored in 3 different games at Anfield?
In other news, some reports from Portugal say that Nani could be out for 2 months. Hope it’s not true.
Still got my signed treble ball on the mantle piece from that truly magical season. Special moments for all of us, cant wait for the match on Saturday, I say this with trepidation though due to the ref. Cedars if you pick this us. Whatever happens Next year will definitely be our year. Haha.
I loved seeing you score at the dump Andrew!
If only Rooney’s record was as good as yours at anshite….
Saad – that’s a myth he’s repeated numerous times he doesn’t know where that came from and he’s fine with Andy
That FA Cup game and win that season was one of my favourite days. That Ole winner was absolutely lethal. Top drawer finish.
Nice one, Coley!
One of my favourite Utd players, simply a legend. His goalscoring record says it all, and he scored all types of goals – tap ins, headers, overhead kicks, chips, volleys….not to mention his partnership with Yorke.
I don’t think he gets enough credit for how he changed his game as well, went from being a pure goalscorer to someone with a fantastic all round game.
Andrew Cole “”We’re long overdue a good result at Anfield”. Yes but we have a good history in the last 60 years in FACup fixtures. Hope we can build on that. Hope we continue our good scoring record. If we get in a couple of goals we will have a great chance. Just hope we get a reg that isn’t afraid to book their lot. A ref that doesn’t get intimidated will be key.
Lads – that rumour about insisting on being called Andrew Cole is actually bollocks. I’ve seen him interviewed and he stated that he’s never said he doesn’t like the name “Andy”. Obviously his name is Andrew and he prefers that, but when specifically asked if he gets arsey about being called “Andy” by fans and supporters he said NO.
And of course he doesn’t, he’s gone down in history as Andy Cole!
Sounds about right, PP. He gets the ball he scores a goal, Andy, Andy Cole! Top bloke.
Andy Cole > Legend! Agree completely with Sparkz.
Often wonder if Sir Alex could nurture and completely change a striker’s game like that again. Think the ego and wealth combination of the modern day top flight player makes him averse to change because their agents convince them that they are beyond criticism. A couple of years ago I thought Darren Bent would be the perfect striker at UTD if he had the mental strength to start from scratch and re-write his game. Would never have happened though because of his love of airing his disappointment on Twitter when things don’t go his way.
Andy Cole was hungry enough to make the ‘Andy Carroll’ type move to a massive club and took every last word of other people’s coaching experience in, improved his all round work ethic and now has the medals and memories to show for it.