Zola - Cole ready for call-up

Hammers boss thinks an England call-up would improve striker

Last updated: 6th February 2009   Subscribe to RSS Feed

Zola - Cole ready for call-up

Cole: Improving

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West Ham boss Gianfranco Zola believes playing for England would be beneficial for Carlton Cole.

The 25-year-old is in top form for the Hammers at present, scoring six times in the last eight games in all competitions.

He has established himself as a regular in the side and Zola hopes the former Chelsea player is being considered for an England call-up.

He said: "I hope he is considered because he is a very good player and he is not yet at the top of his game.

Still improve

"He can still improve. He is working hard every day and getting more confident and if he plays for England it will be good for him and for England.

"I'm not the one who can tell Capello what to do because he knows more about football than I do, but I am sure he will be considering him."

The Hammers entertain Manchester United on Sunday, in a game being shown live on Sky Sports 1 at 4pm.

The match will see Cole reach a personal milestone of 150 games as a professional, in which he has scored 26 times.

The West Ham boss thinks the former Chelsea trainee, who played alongside Zola at Stamford Bridge, is improving all the time.

Changed attitude

He added: "His attitude has changed. When he was at Chelsea he was very young and it was difficult for him to get a chance.

"Now he has realised he has a big opportunity. He needed to become more convinced about himself and become a problem for the opposition. He is getting better and better.

"A successful player is the one that knows where he has to get and Carlton Cole has all the attributes to be a winner."

While United are on a record-breaking run of 12 successive clean sheets in the Premier League, Zola has spotted chinks in their armour.

He added: "I watched some videos of United and spotted some things that can be good for us.

"We give them a lot of respect but we can cause them problems. Everyone has weaknesses and it's up to us to exploit that. We are very confident right now."