2026-05-02 09:31:42
Ashley Cole can’t help but “vent” at his Italian players in English.
The 45-year-old former footballer – whose wife Sharon is Italian – has taken over as head coach of Cesena and while he addresses the squad in a “mix” of languages, he admitted they like him to use his own native tongue to help them improve their skills.
He told The Guardian newspaper: “There are moments where I address the team in Italian and moments where I vent frustration in English. It’s a mix.
“Some players actually ask me to speak English because they want to learn it. I had the same issue at Roma; I’d try to speak Italian and they’d say: ‘No, speak English.’
“Football is an easy language because you can show things with passion.
“We also have a staff member, Nicola Capellini, who came from the Primavera [youth team]. He’s an ex-player who knows the club’s ethos and knows the players in and out. He is the bridge between English and Italian, going between the two languages to keep the message clear.”
The former Chelsea and England defender has no desire to shape his players into replicas of himself and just wants them to be the best versions of themselves.
He said: “Never. I don’t coach a left-back to play exactly how I played because we are different.
“We have different physical and mental attributes. I might give pointers, but I don’t expect a player like Gianluca Frabotta, who is tall and has a different style, to do exactly what I did. I was faster over the first five yards.
“It’s the same with midfielders: I’m not coaching them to be Steven Gerrard or Frank Lampard. I coach them how to be [Dimitri] Bisoli. I look at how he moves with his attributes and how he can be efficient with his box-to-box engine. It’s about adapting my style to the tools I have.”
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