Frenkie de Jong Quotes

As a player, you are more concerned with the moments when you have possession of the ball or are about to receive the ball. You are watching your team-mates and trying to decide what the possibilities are.

Every good, successful player, especially an attacking player, has a well-developed sense of space and time.

For me football is more about making the right pass at the right time.

When you play eleven a side, you might go through a game with very few touches, but with street football, you're always involved in the game, so it is a great way to improve your skill and to learn how to create and use space, as the pitch is very small.

I like to control the ball and analyse the game.

If you want to play dominant football, you need to get the ball, think fast, and play quick combinations in small spaces.

It is up to me to adapt and to continue to surprise with my positioning, the timing of my runs, the trajectories, when I call for the ball.

You need to beat a defender when you have the ball. You need to be able to successfully pass to a team-mate, and there are other attributes needed to be the complete player.

The most important thing is to be a midfielder first, not scoring goals. You have to make the game, make an assist for the team, and if you can score, it's a plus for the team.

You can't say, 'You're a scorer, you score. You rebound, you rebound.' Basketball is more than that. Basketball is knowing the next step, knowing the next play, knowing how to make things happen.

I spend the entire 90 minutes looking for space on the pitch. I'm always between the opposition's two holding midfielders and thinking, 'The defence is here, so I get the ball and I go there to where the space is.'

There's a tipping point that happens with soccer in which you just kinda get it. I was drawn to it because the best soccer teams play similarly to my favorite basketball teams - like the eighties Lakers or eighties Celtics - teams that emphasized teamwork over individualism and relied on passing as their biggest ongoing edge.

When I go into games as a forward, my job is really clear, and I just have to execute. But as a midfielder, you get to sort of enjoy the game more, and you get to feel the game and dictate the play.

Before I came to Barcelona, I only thought about one facet of the game: destroying. My qualities were completely defensive, and I wouldn't take responsibility for organising my team's game, our attacks.

In training when I'm receiving the ball I always know where I want to go. At the end of the day it's just soccer.

Before I receive the ball I already know how that play is developing so I'm able to give rhythm to that play.

Yes, many times an assist is more difficult than a goal; you need to find the right space and measure the force used in order to provide your teammate with the right position in order to score.

Not everything is seen that happens on the pitch - the teammate in a good position, where it might get dangerous, how a situation develops.

When I play, I like to use my pace and to link up with my team-mates.

Guardiola likes footballers who can pass the ball, who have eyes for the best position and the right runs.

Sometimes when you play on the wing it gets a bit isolated and you can't help as much. But if you play a bit more central I can get the ball a lot more and help a lot more.

To be successful you have to find a good balance between offence and defence, to work without the ball, but our main tactic is to work with the ball, to be in possession.

I like to play wide, but as a youth, I played more in the middle as a 10.

In the midfield, I'm not the most comfortable playing with my back to the goal, and in the midfield you find that ball a lot.

I like to play with my back to the goal, but my colleagues have to tell me when I'm alone or how much room I have so I can choose to pass or to go straight for the goal.