Philippe Coutinho Quotes

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.'

Rather than opera, football is more like ballet or a chess game. You can really see it in a team like Arsenal, especially when Dennis Bergkamp was playing. He seemed to be able to read the game like a chessboard and knew where a player would be several seconds later and put the ball there for him.

I know when I step into midfield I have to sharpen my feet up and be more aware of what's around me, at centre back it's more about timing, positioning and communication.

I like to control the ball and analyse the game.

There are a lot of things you learn from playing wide. You also understand the way that you can coordinate with the front three or front two.

The most important thing is to help the team to come in front of the goal with one-two passes, I drop down, or I give them space, because for defenders, it's always difficult to have a false nine because they don't have a direct player against them, so they don't know exactly what to do.

I don't want to become a player who spends half his time running round after the breakdown, because that won't get the best out of me.

I like to watch teams who play well, ball on the floor, ball to feet, playing well as a collective.

Soccer is simple, but it is difficult to play simple.

If I don't get the service or if I don't the ball in the box, where I want it, I start drifting into midfield. I go and look for the ball. I try to be important for the team in other areas.

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

Football is a simple game based on the giving and taking of passes, of controlling the ball and of making yourself available to receive a pass. It is terribly simple.

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.

In tactics and training, we do more with Conte. We work a lot of tactical positions, and we know exactly what we have to do on the pitch, where I have to go, and where the defenders have to go. We know exactly what to do.

There is so much interaction in a football match: between you and your team-mates and how you support each other, work for each other, make runs. But I also enjoy the other aspect: the pressing and how people work so hard to recover the ball.

At Chelsea, there's more focus on team shape, a lot of work on tactics.

Usually, the most intelligent player is a midfielder.

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

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'm a versatile player, I'm a technical player, and I play with my head, but I can progress further.

Growing up I've been playing as an attacking midfielder, more central in the midfield. I wouldn't say if I'm most comfortable there but that's where I grew up playing.

Football is open; it is not only keeping possession of the ball and making more passes.

In soccer, you have to be sly.

You need to know exactly where to be on the pitch at all times.

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