Cole ready to claim his rightful position

Chelsea's England midfielder is convinced that Jose Mourinho will bring the best out of him.

This guy," says Joe Cole as he sips his tea in the brief lunchtime break between the double training sessions Jose Mourinho is still insisting on at Chelsea, "is the first manager who has come in and played me in my right position. No manager who I have had before has done that. That is not a criticism of them. It is just because of the way English teams - and England to a certain extent - play. His style of football, I feel, can really make me flourish. It is all I ever wanted."

Ah, where to play Joseph John Cole? It has been one of the great imponderables of English football for six years now. Going back to the moment he was identified, at 16, as its future.

It is a subject about which Cole himself has given a great deal of thought. "I'm a link man, playing behind the strikers," he says. "And that's a position that needs patience. The ability to come in, go out, come back in. In English games it is very much front to back, two banks of four, trying to attack. But sometimes it is just percentage play."

Mourinho, however, is different. "This guy says, 'If they have four men behind the ball then just keep the ball. There is no need to go forward, no matter what the score is'."

The words have struck a chord. "I remember when I was at West Ham," Cole says, "I went to places like Old Trafford when they've kept the ball and it's just horrible. Horrible. You can't get near them and it just grinds you down physically and mentally, and it takes 80 minutes for the game to open up. Then, bang, bang - they're fresh because they've had the ball, and suddenly you end up losing two or three nil. It's similar to that, the way Man Utd have done it."

United, of course, are Chelsea's first opponents in the new Premiership season. Their meeting at Stamford Bridge tomorrow will provide a mouth-watering first test of Mourinho's new side, and new style of play.

The contest has been given extra edge - if any were needed - by the recollections of Mourinho's manic jig along the Old Trafford touchline after Porto knocked United out of the Champions' League last season. It was that moment, Chelsea's chief executive Peter Kenyon has conceded, that awoke him to the possibilities of the charismatic, and über-confident, new coach. Cole, however, has a different take. "I think that was very out of character for him," he says. Instead Mourinho, he has found, is a measured presence and one with crystal clarity.

It was in Manchester that Cole first met him. It was 2 June, the day Mourinho was appointed Chelsea coach when, after giving a bravura first press conference, Mourinho flew up with Kenyon to meet Cole, Frank Lampard, John Terry and Wayne Bridge, who were all with the England squad preparing for Euro 2004. In a room at the Lowry Hotel, Mourinho talked, and almost immediately Cole's role came up.

"That first day we talked about tactics and where he saw me playing," Cole remembers. "He was very focused. The message from the start was clear." So clear that Cole immediately phoned his mum and dad. "I just said to them, 'Look it's down to me now'."

Education. That is what Mourinho is relying upon. The Premiership may have embraced foreign players and (particularly this summer, foreign coaches) but it has remained a British brand of football. Fast and furious.

The new Chelsea manager, however, is convinced there is another way. It is slower, more deliberate and involves retaining possession before striking at speed.

Mourinho is convinced it will succeed, and having been subjected to intensive tuition on the Chelsea training pitches at Harlington, near Heathrow, Cole agrees.

"There are times in games, and in training, where you think, 'This is just so slow'. And the natural thing is to go bang! and go. But physically that can kill you. Sometimes he just says, 'Stay!' and 'Use your brain!'"

It is not just Chelsea's players who will become educated. Cole believes English football will also have to change. "Maybe the crowd need to be more patient," he says. "At times it's going to be a different kind of football. And all the players have to adapt as well." Keeping possession, he says, is a "problem in English football".

Although he is comfortable with the changes, others may not be. "I have strong beliefs about football," Cole, who has spoken admiringly about La Liga, says. "A lot of people have opinions, based on what they hear, what they see on telly. But I have my own views. Maybe they are different from the English mentality, but they fit in to how the new boss does things."

Cole isn't allowed to give too much away about Mourinho's techniques but it is clearly a disciplined approach. Training sessions are planned meticulously. "There's a lot of ball work, small-sided games, he works hard on our technique," Cole says. "There's not the monotonous running up and down, jumping over cones all the time, which has become fashionable among managers because sports scientists say it makes you quicker. But these guys [Mourinho and his backroom staff, who came with him from Porto] have got their own ideas. And they've proved successful."

Off the pitch the regime is also strict. The players eat together, and are told exactly when to rest. Rooms have been reserved for them at the Holiday Inn Hotel, a goal-kick away from the training ground so they can sleep between sessions. Room service is barred.

Cole says the rewards were obvious on the pre-season tour to the United States, which was ostensibly a marketing exercise - although Mourinho did not curtail his twice-daily training sessions. "You could see in the games how we kept the ball against some of the best teams in Europe," Cole says.

In those games he did indeed play in his favoured position. "I've only played there in fits and starts before. Maybe half a game or two games at most. But it's my rightful position. I played there for England against Denmark [last season] for the first half-hour. I loved it. But then it was changed around.

"My last season at West Ham I played there against Middlesbrough away. Look I remember all the games I played there because it's been such a big thing for me. It happened a couple of times under [Claudio] Ranieri but not enough."

It was Ranieri who took Cole to Chelsea last summer in a £6.6m move from relegated West Ham. He arrived the same day as Juan Sebastian Veron and knows that he, like the Argentinian, did not always fit in, and that he did not always impress or simply do justice to his talent.

"I know a lot of the criticism in the press is because people see in flashes what I can do and that it doesn't happen all the time," he says. "And I can see why they criticise me. But I know there is no one with a more professional outlook than me and how I live."

It is an outlook that includes rigorously analysing every performance by watching it again on video. "I know a lot of footballers don't do that but I do," Cole says. "I study them. It's horrible when you've had a terrible game, you're cringing around the telly, wondering why you did that. But it's great when you've played well. Sometimes it's a nice surprise, sometimes not."

Clearly, Cole is a determined individual, with great belief in his ability. "The only person I try too hard to prove things to is myself. There is no one else in the country who can play the way I play."

A statement worthy of Mourinho himself and clearly there is an affinity. The new coach, Cole says, "knew my character straight away". A slight ankle injury may mean he won't start against United tomorrow. "After it happened I just wanted to get back into training," Cole says. "But he said 'no'. And that was the right decision. Maybe if I'd rushed back I'd have tried too hard, had a bad session, got the hump ... you know. He knows his players like that, and he knows I've tried too hard in the past."

Cole will settle for a place on the bench. "I can't see anyone playing every game," he says, before adding, "maybe the centre-halves and full-backs but in the midfield areas he will keep it fresh."

Cole first met Roman Abramovich after the home game this time last season, against MSK Zilina, which sealed qualification for the Champions' League. "After the game he came in [to the dressing-room] and shook everyone's hand. and that's something he has done after every match - win, lose or draw. He is just very, very calm and pretty much keeps himself to himself," Cole says. "He's learning English and can pretty much understand everything now."

He doesn't make any criticisms? After all, it's his money.

"The main thing is that he is obviously enjoying his football, and has clearly fallen in love with the game. Sometimes he asks, 'How was the game?' or even, 'How did you miss that chance?' or something like that. But it always remains calm. You hear about some chairmen who burst in with steam coming out of their ears, but he's so cool. You can see why he's earned so much money."

Interestingly, it is to Portugal that Cole's mind turns, when asked to name players similar to him. Rui Costa, Luis Figo, Simao Sabrosa, "and I'm sure they've got three or four others in the Under-21s." And, of course, Deco. Once of Porto, now of Barcelona, but a player Mourinho had initially intended to bring with him to Chelsea. Instead he is giving Cole his chance.

Asked which players in England are like him, Cole hesitates. "Paul Scholes is the one," he says.

His heroes, though, came from an earlier generation. "Gazza, of course, I loved him," Cole says. "I finally got the chance to play with him at Martin Keown's testimonial. The 1990 World Cup was the reason why I wanted to be a footballer, watching him, and how the whole country was gripped. I've got a signed picture now."

Cole also singles out Roberto Baggio and Eric Cantona - players with presence as well as panache. "It's important to bring your personality into the team," he says. "Maybe you need to be a little older to do that, but I'm coming into that stage now, where I can do more."

No doubt watching Wayne Rooney in Portugal made 22-year-old Cole feel that bit older. "He can be whatever he wants to be," Cole insists. "But it's going to be difficult for him now because he is going to have so much pressure. And he will have a slump. He came into the tournament on the back of his great form in the friendlies, and he was simply brilliant. He hit the ground running and was our best player, by a mile, which is incredible for an 18-year-old. He really is a great player and I was so pleased that it happened for him."

Was there one Rooney moment when he thought, "This kid has got it"?

"Believe me there were many moments, many."

His own tournament was one of frustration, which also pretty much sums up his England career. "But I grew up a lot," Cole adds. "There were times when it was hard watching it. You want England to win, of course you do, but it's hard when you don't get a look in.

"In truth, I didn't feel the manager was going to put me on at any time. But I was mentally and physically ready. I'd trained hard and it was just a case of if I had been given the chance. But that didn't work so it's back to the drawing board."

The departure of Scholes might help. "If that allows me to get my foot in the door then who knows? I've always felt that if you look at my games for England and you look at the other fringe players who've come in then I've warranted another go. I've scored a couple of goals and always done all right, but you get frustrated at times when you think other players are given more chances."

As with Chelsea, it might take a change of system for him to flourish.

"But if we are going to play 4-4-2 I'm still confident that my performances have been better than other fringe players," Cole says. "I don't think there's anyone who could do a better job on the left but, yeah, I've not stamped it. Otherwise I would be playing."