Cole sets sights high

English FA Premiership: Jon Brodkin on how Joe Cole has added discipline and tactical nous to his undoubted flair and has reaped the benefits with his impressive displays for Chelsea and England

A dingy, cobweb-covered old dressingroom may not seem the obvious setting for anyone to speak of building a dynasty, but Joe Cole happily outlined that ambitious vision of Chelsea's future from those unglamorous surrounds yesterday. The 23-year-old discussed not only the next four crucial days for his club but the next four years, and beyond.

Today Chelsea can end their 50-year wait for the title by winning at Bolton, and on Tuesday follows the Champions League semi-final at Liverpool. The midfielder was also thinking long term, though. He hopes such tantalising games will become the norm.

"We don't just want to be like Blackburn were," he said of the big-spending Rovers team that won the Premiership but fell away. "We want to make an era. We want to be a great side, not just in this country but in Europe.

"I don't think an English team has dominated in European football since Liverpool did. That's the ambition of Mr Abramovich and Mr Mourinho and certainly all the players. I would like to be remembered as a player who won lots of medals and was in lots of successful teams. You judge a player by what he's won in his career."

With the League Cup secured, Cole and Chelsea are on their way and the England international has certainly played his part. This week's start against Liverpool was his 15th in a row, a sign of his growing influence, and his form has meant Arjen Robben's absence has scarcely been felt.

Cole does not deny the squad is feeling the effects of a season that has already spanned 54 games but that is not a worry. "Basically I think the lads are getting through on adrenalin and excitement," he said. "We are certainly not going to let up. We are going to make this our year."

Chelsea realise the Premiership is all but won but their European hopes hang in the balance. Jose Mourinho is likely to rest players today but Cole says there is a determination to tie things up with the Liverpool return looming.

"It will be tough because Bolton are challenging for Europe and have a huge incentive to win," Cole said. "If it isn't done tomorrow it will be done next week. But it would be great to do it - a big lift going into the semi-final at Anfield."

Cole's excitement at that second leg is plain. The kid who used to tell his parents he was in detention after school to sneak in extra football is now on the verge of a Champions League final. The goalless draw at Chelsea did not depress him.

"It could turn out to be a good result," he said. "It was a tight game, a very tactical game, but at some point it's got to open up and hopefully, that will suit us. It will be a cracking atmosphere at Anfield, one which will make the hairs on the back of your neck stand up."

Cole has scored winners against Liverpool this season, including at Anfield in January, and can be forgiven for imagining a third. "It would be lovely," he said. "I know every player says the main thing is for the team to win - and it is - but you would be living in dream world to score a winning goal in a Champions League semi-final."

A regular reviewer of his own performances, he has watched a rerun of the first leg. "I still think there are ways to beat Liverpool and certainly ways for me to get in if I play," he said. "I wouldn't talk about what those are now for everybody to read but I do study my own game."

At certain points since his move from West Ham United, Cole has not had much to study, frequently being a substitute. Life is good now, a regular for his club and first-choice on the left for his country, but a move was not unthinkable.

"It would have crossed my mind at some point but I've never wanted to leave here. I'm very settled and when I'm playing I'm happy." Not playing is tough. "No footballer likes not playing and, if you don't mind, you might as well pack in or go to Dubai to play for the money. You've got to be looking to better yourself. You can't just be happy sitting on anyone's bench and I never was, but I was professional about it. Good things come to those who wait and that has certainly applied to me."

Cole took a while to win Mourinho's trust, with the manager needing to be convinced of Cole's tactical discipline, but now he is producing his best form for the club and assuaging doubts that he could live up to the hype of his youth.

"I'm able to get the ball in the right areas in this system," he said. "Also physically I have come on because I have been given the games. Last year I never got a run of games and it was stop-start. This year I feel sharp, strong and I feel I can run past players, whereas last year I never had that sort of strength because I never got the match fitness going.

"That's a huge bit and obviously, I have come on tactically with help from the gaffer, people round him and the players. And there's been hard work from myself."

Cole includes Mourinho's meticulous planning - "we know everything about every team we come up against" - and ability to get the side to play as a unit as keys to Chelsea's success. He now wants to make himself irreplaceable.

"I'm certainly not a regular player, one of the three or four big players at the moment, and that's what I aim to be at Chelsea," he said. "I want to be the first name on the team sheet."

The same goes for England, where he impressed in a recent World Cup qualifier against Northern Ireland and then helped the team beat Azerbaijan. "I think I've done enough in the last two games to hold on to the shirt," he said. "I know I'm good enough. I've always felt I have done myself justice when I've pulled an England shirt on. I've scored a few goals and made a few goals in a limited time on the pitch. I've got 21 caps but only two have been 90 minutes. I always felt that, given a run of games, I would do it."

Playing on the left, unlike at Chelsea, does not bother him. "I've learned a lot tactically and I can change my game to do different things. It's a challenge but one I would embrace. It's not my position, certainly not my best position, but as long as I can get on the ball in the right areas and be effective I'm sure Mr Eriksson and everybody else will be happy."