Gervinho Quotes

The coach is the one who eventually decides who makes the starting XI.

The coach can only choose 11 players to start. It is a difficult decision.

If the owner goes inside a team and picks one player to play, I can no longer be the manager. Decisions must be made by the manager.

It's easier to change the manager than all the players. It's never easy to choose who should be in the dugout.

I think what Brendan Rodgers did was right; I thought it was successful. He was able to show that he was able to change several players, prove to everybody in the team that no-one's guaranteed a spot, rest a lot of key players, and at the same time walk away with a very reputable result.

The old adage that you shouldn't change a winning team doesn't apply in modern international football because managers have to study the opposition and pick players who exploit their weaknesses.

If a player fails to perform in four or five consecutive matches, he should be dropped irrespective of whether he is a senior or a junior player.

It's up to the coach to decide who is in the best shape to play each match.

If we are going to win games, we need 11 fit players. Sir Alex Ferguson does not pick half-fit players.

It is very difficult when I have to choose a first 11 because I understand the feelings that players gave when players are on the bench; it is very difficult.

In the dressing room, we know that Arsene Wenger is the boss.

Arsene Wenger gives youngsters opportunities, and if he thinks that you're good enough, he'll play you.

That's football, it's our job not just to name the starting XI but during the match as well.

If you are not playing a player, any player, for two, three, four games, then you don't have to give a reason for that. But if it gets to eight or nine games, then you have to explain the situation. What's going on?

Managers now don't just use 11 players; they have to care about all the squad of 25 or more players.

Fans have their own idea about who to hire; that's what makes football great.

There are certain guys you just take from different teams that you watch.

When you make your final list for the World Cup or European Championship you don't take the 23 best players, that is for sure.

If you are the coach of a national team, you have to evaluate players based on what they do on the pitch.

I only ever call up the best players, or at least the players who are the most suited to the way I wish to play.

It's not enough to just have talent at Atletico Madrid. At other clubs it is, but we can't sign superstars and have to look for players with a good work ethic.

When I was with the Giants, I played for Dusty Baker, and I love Dusty to death. I think he's a great manager and great person, but he platooned me. His reasoning was to get everybody in the lineup. It wasn't that I couldn't play every day.

Ask any coach in any sport, and they'll tell you that cutting players is their least favorite thing to do. No coach enjoys having to tell players who have worked so hard and for so long on a dream that they are no longer on the team.

I never said Arsenal fans were not good. I just said I saw real passion when I signed here, and I said Arsenal was a little bit different. That is the only thing I said.

I was fortunate to play under Thomas Schaaf at Bremen. And I played for Arsene Wenger. So I always felt, let's say, more responsible than others towards the manager and his succession.