Joe Cole has astonishingly claimed that he ‘learned more tactically’ under Rudi Garcia during his spell at Lille, than he did from working with Jose Mourinho or Carlo Ancelotti at Chelsea.
Cole spent the 2011/12 campaign with the Ligue 1 club on a season’s loan from Liverpool, whom he joined on a free transfer the previous summer.
The 40-year-old undoubtedly enjoyed the most successful period of his career at Stamford Bridge; where he won three Premier League titles under managerial greats Mourinho and Ancelotti.
With two of his former clubs in Chelsea and Lille meeting in the first leg of their last-16 Champions League clash on Tuesday, a match which the Blues won 2-0, Cole took the time to look back on his solitary season in French football.
He told the Athletic: "I was 29 going to Lille and had worked under people like Jose Mourinho and Carlo Ancelotti, but I learned more at that age, tactically, from Rudi than under any of my previous managers. He was that good.
"We tried to play like Barcelona, and that was all down to the manager. We had a goalkeeper in Mickael Landreau who was the first I’d seen so comfortable with the ball at his feet.
"I’d played with Pepe (Reina) at Liverpool, but neither Roy Hodgson or Rafa (Benitez) used him as a ball-playing goalkeeper.
"Put Pepe under Pep Guardiola and you’d have seen how good he was with his feet. With Landreau, we built up from the back, trying to do what City and Liverpool do now. We held possession – that’s what Rudi drilled into us every day: Keep the ball. I loved it."
Cole also revealed he was surprised by the competitiveness and quality of Ligue 1, with the standard of the French game often derided when compared to the top European leagues.
He added: "I was blown away at how good the league was. People had been telling me it was a farmers’ league. Absolute nonsense.
"The overall quality wasn’t as good as the Premier League but, technically and tactically, it was right up there, and still is. I’d argue that the French league, now, is the second-best in Europe. It’s definitely better than La Liga.
"I watched Rennes push PSG all the way the other night. La Liga is not what it once was. Serie A had a little go with the money, but there’s no structure. Not in the way there is in France, anyway."
