Cole: Forget style, we've got to get a win

Four 3-0 wins in a row during qualification for Euro 2008 have lifted Steve McClaren's men into a position of strength in a group that for so long looked too difficult for them to handle.

Cole, who will start again on the left of midfield, believes the team have to play to their strengths if they are to go on and qualify for next summer's finals in Austria and Switzerland.

"We can't go on the pitch and try and play like Brazil, flicking the ball about," he warned. "We have to do what we do best and, in the last four qualifying games, we've done that.

"We're not full steam ahead yet though, not at the top of our game. We feel there is more to come from us.

"Last season some said we were the worst of international teams. Now we've won a few games but we don't think we're one of the best now - we're just moving along nicely."

All eyes are undoubtedly on next Wednesday's match in Russia but England cannot afford to be complacent tomorrow. There will be no more perfect opportunity for strikers Michael Owen and Wayne Rooney to finally combine ahead of the potentially decisive game in Moscow than against Estonia on a big pitch at the new Wembley.

It is 15 months since they last played together and the theory persists that they can't play well together in the same line up.

There's no doubt they remain high among England's heroes having both captured the imagination as fresh-faced youngsters on the big stage - Owen with that spectacular goal against Argentina in the 1998 World Cup and Rooney with a thunderous brace against Switzerland in the 2004 European Championship.

Individually, they rank among the great talents of the English game though there is little evidence to suggest that we see the best of either when they play in the same team.

Perhaps they should learn from World Cup winners Geoff Hurst and Roger Hunt who were both unselfish and strong and unbeaten in the 18 matches they played together and they remain good friends to this day.

"We were both team players, " recalled Hurst. "We did a lot of work for each other and the rest of the team.

"I don't think Michael and Wayne make an ideal partnership. They are outstanding individually, but that's not always the answer. [World Cup winning coach] Alf Ramsey didn't always pick the best players. He picked the ones who made the best team."

The Owen-Rooney partnership promised so much in the early stages but injury has kept them apart since the 2-2 draw with Sweden in Cologne in last year's World Cup.

Rooney, for instance, hasn't scored a competitive goal for England since the 4-2 victory over Croatia in June 2004.

What better time to end that sequence than tomorrow?

As Cole observed: "We've had 3-0 victories in our last four qualifying matches so at the moment we're flying high. You still have to be on guard against complacency though.

"We're very confident at the moment but you still have to go out there tomorrow and do your job.

"We want to focus on Estonia. We won't even mention Russia until after tomorrow. We need to beat Estonia and then start looking forward to next week."

Coach Steve McClaren will be without captain John Terry becuase of a knee injury, while Cole, Chelsea namesake Ashley and Rio Ferdinand are all one yellow card away from missing the trip to Russia.

Cole added: "A lot of my yellow cards are silly ones. I'll be fine.

"I've always liked going in for a challenge but I don't want to make a big deal of it. All I'm worrying about is performing well.

"As a footballer you have a chance to show what you can do every time you step on the pitch. People are always watching you, judging you."