"I would just ask them to get behind us and sing their hearts out. If it is a real cauldron, like it was in Zagreb, that helps. No-one enjoys facing 90,000," said Rio Ferdinand.
Well, we know what the stand-in captain is getting at but, actually, the idea of the new patrons turning their comfy Wembley into the seething, spartan Maksimir is a laugh. And anyway, England had proved in Zagreb that cauldrons can be taken off the boil.
So tomorrow isn't about making Wembley a fortress again that idea had long died by the time England lost three of their last nine matches at the old place but about a team beginning to give long-disillusioned followers something to believe in once more. Capello believes getting the Wembley patrons on-side is imperative to his master plan, telling them in tomorrow's match programme: "Now that we have some of that crucial confidence back, I am sure that it will be easier for the players to perform to the best of their ability and that the Wembley crowd will generate a big atmosphere for the team."
Capello must sense this is a key game in his reign. Winning's not at question because if England can't beat a team who've dropped to 131 in the new FIFA rankings, then we will be talking about the falsest of false dawns but if the win comes with the sort of command and quality witnessed in Zagreb, he can at a stroke get everyone talking about the Wembley feel-good factor rather than the fear factor.
It's why one experiment in training this week with a flexible and aggressive 4-3-3 approach, with Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard and Gareth Barry working behind an attacking trio of Emile Heskey, Wayne Rooney and Theo Walcott, has been so intriguing.
Capello is pragmatism personified so if he opts for this formation tomorrow, it would be because he can envisage how an England triumph based on all-out attack could galvanise both his side's confidence and a nation's confidence in his side. It would also be because he simply doesn't believe Kazakhstan have the ammunition to trouble his men, only frustrate them. This is not complacency but realism since the Kazaks have been in disarray, having ditched their manager after two qualifying defeats and replacing him with their under-21 coach Bernd Storck.
Extraordinarily, the German has dropped all but four of the previous squad and replaced them largely with youngsters he's worked with in the under 21s.
Ten of the 21-strong squad are uncapped and a majority are under 22 so even if Storck has us believe they're better than the discards, it is surely foolish to blood so many novices.
So Capello must fancy he can attempt with impunity to solve the age old conundrum of why the Lampard-Gerrard double act is so unfunny and he shouldn't have to worry unduly either about the prospect of Joleon Lescott or Matthew Upson, following his unconvincing start to the season, stepping in to replace the injured John Terry.
If Capello does decide to ditch his conservatism and go for the jugular, Lampard, surely a certain starter after his imperious form of late, may feel his England existence is mirroring life with Chelsea where Luiz Felipe Scolari has brought a new sense of adventure to the Bridge.
"They're both winners and the players respond to them, that's the key," mused Lampard, who reckons they've both helped cajole him into some of the best football of his career this season.
"You know exactly where you stand with Fabio and that's good. He's very serious about his football and about what he wants from us. I think certainly that's something England needed and we've responded to it well so far."
By tomorrow night, the response of 90,000 towards the Don will hopefully mirror Lampard's palpable enthusiasm. The wine can wait.
