Hammers’ Cole pleads ‘keep it to football’ after tweeter is arrested

POLICE have arrested a man on suspicion of racially abusing West Ham forward Carlton Cole on Twitter. Cole was subjected to racial taunts on the social networking website after his side’s 3-0 defeat against Swansea on Saturday. West Ham manager Sam Allardyce will speak to Cole at the club’s Chadwell Heath training ground today to ensure the striker has not been affected by the attack. The club will also wait for the police to conduct their inquiries before deciding whether to launch an internal investigation. West Ham are certain to ban the tweeter, who portrays himself as a fan, if it emerges he supports the club. He has since removed the insult from his page. And in a series of tweets on Saturday night, Cole condemned the personal attacks, saying: ‘Listen, I take racism a lot lighter than others and I do understand the banter that comes along with it but . . . it can sometimes be hurtful and insulting. ‘I don’t mind when people criticise me for having a bad game . . . but just say that, whether I am crap or had a bad game has nothing to with my race, creed or religion. Let’s just keep it FOOTBALL.’ West Ham’s players certainly had a bad day at the office. In contrast, Swansea’s start to the season could hardly have been better. So much for the post-Brendan Rodgers apocalypse in South Wales. For a brief time on Saturday, Swansea were top of the Barclays Premier League having played two, won two, scored eight, conceded none; it was October before they reached six points last season. For some, the demolition jobs carried out on QPR and West Ham ought to be credited to the man pleading for patience at Liverpool. But make no mistake, this new-look Swansea side has Michael Laudrup’s fingerprints all over it. He has tinkered and tweaked, keeping the fundamentals of ball retention, passing and pressing the same, but he has also added aggression and addressed the goal issue. His principal method has been to move his wingers infield, using them more as supplementary forwards than touchline-hugging speedsters. The impact has been two-fold. Significantly, Swansea’s two best players were the ‘wingers’, Wayne Routledge and Nathan Dyer, who created goals for Angel Rangel and Danny Graham, helped nullify West Ham’s five-man midfield, and gave Graham close support. There is also evidence of a ‘plan B’. Ashley Williams launched several long balls at Graham and each time caught West Ham by surprise.