Jerome Boateng Quotes

I would always treat my attacking game as the more natural part. With defence, you have to get yourself in positions to understand the game and understand situations and that might not be as natural a thing.

I like to control the ball and analyse the game.

To be useful in defence, to win back the ball, you don't always have to go sliding into the tackle. It's also about your positioning; sometimes all you have to do is take a step back.

That's the intelligence of football: to see when to be compact, when to counter-attack, or, if you see that you're in the opposite half, you try and win the ball.

When I don't have control of the ball, what do I do? I press to get it back. It's a way of defending. But more important is that I like to have the ball. That's why I believe in individual coaching sessions to prepare players properly.

Playing in midfield is a different ball game. You have to be on the half-turn all the time, have a different picture in your head of what is behind you and in front of you. Playing at right-back is different again.

When someone like Lukaku gets you in the position where he's holding you off it is key to try and nick it in front of him.

I'm a coach who likes to have the ball, but what I really think is, 'How can you be in charge of the game?' I think, but maybe I am the only one, that the defensive process can take care of the game. Why is that? Because teams wait to defend. If you create something where you go to defend, to steal the ball where you want, it's different.

I would prefer to play for and against an attacking team, but I am now used to playing against defensive teams.

At Ajax, they are strict when it comes to using the ball as a defender.

Sometimes you can get sloppy and control the ball right at your feet, and that gives the defenders a chance.

The way I play, it's very much more a mental game than a physical game. I'm looking for space and where are players leaving space. Defensively, where are we at numerical disadvantages? Do I shift more to the left because they have more players on their right side? It's about reading the game before the game happens.

That's how you get better on defense; not just 'oh, man, my guy beat me,' but you have to think about, 'okay, my man beat me, so I either have to pick up the next man, or I'm going to give somebody a foul.

We have to cut out some of our mistakes, but the main thing in English football is controlling the second ball. Without that, you cannot survive.

That's something you want to preach throughout the whole defense - getting the ball back to the offense.

I like to play attacking football, but I think the big difference is that we expect a lot more from our strikers, to do more pressing and to keep compact. We like to play a high line defensively and press the ball.

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 watch Silva, and he almost never gives the ball away. He is always looking, thinking, making the right calls.

I make a dribble or a simple pass, knowing that if I lose the ball near the area, the opponent can score. I am aware of what I do on the pitch, but I always do it to help the team. That's why, occasionally, I also boot the ball into the stands.

We know it's impossible sometimes to have good defending against Cristiano Ronaldo but we want to keep the ball, with good possession, as then he can do nothing in attack.

You need to be aware of the qualities of every striker you face, as I always am, but sometimes you need to be smart and more than 100% ready for anything.

Keeping up your concentration is one of the hardest tasks when you're a centre-back because a team like Bayern tend to dominate and can give you sense of false security.

This is football, so you need to be clever to understand the moment and win games.

Circulation of the ball is important, but it's only useful if you can give it to someone who can make the difference.

I want to be one of those players like Jason Kidd, who is always in tune with the game and sees several plays ahead.