Johan Cruyff Quotes

As a defence, we have to strive for that clean sheet while also giving the attacking players the licence to go and create.

It was Thomas Tuchel's first season as coach and I played centrally always. The whole team had a great year, one that I enjoyed a lot. Our style has changed a bit, from trying to score within five seconds to a more calm and in some regard more educated style of play. We try to find the right moment - and then we explode.

If you're playing against an aggressive side, you need to play an aggressive game.

I always try to go in there and stick to my base, which is the defensive end, and then just let the offense come to me.

When you play the top sides you cannot afford to be as open as 4-4-2 can leave you. Consequently teams adapt their formation.

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.

As a winger, you want to get at defenders and make it hard for them. Instead of them going forwards, they have to defend against you.

With a line of six in the defence and then three in front of that, it's not always easy to find the spaces to score the goals.

It's a different playing style than at Monaco; there were two of us in midfield there, and here at Liverpool, there's three.

When you play at home in European football, you've got to come up with a happy balance where you get on the front foot and try to win it without leaving yourself vulnerable.

United are capable of setting up a low block and making it difficult, but they're also capable of coming out and pressing high.

I always tried to defend high up the pitch, to be in the opposition's half and play the game there.

I try to get early contact and keep it on the ground. I like to keep the ball down as much as I can.

Chelsea are not made to play football. We're good on the counter, a little bit like Real against Bayern.

I try to be a smart quarterback. I'm not the fastest or the best athlete, but if I can know what the defense is doing and stick to my job and what needs to be done I can make the plays needed to move the ball and score.

When you play a team with as much attacking power as Barcelona and you restrict them to one shot on target in the second leg, you are doing something right. Have the best football team gone through? Yes. Have the best organised team gone through? No.

You have to attack to get corners, no? Winning by scoring strategic goals doesn't bother me - it's part of the game.

As far as I see it you just can't give Messi space in the dangerous areas - we have to close him down, get tight and give him as little room as we can because if you don't, he can destroy you.

Offensively, you do what you do best and you do it again and again. Defensively, you attack your opponent's strength.

Stoichkov's playing on the wing, in this situation he likes to come in and scalp the centre-half.

If you have the ball, you must make the field as big as possible, and if you don't have the ball, you must make it as small as possible.

When you play defense you have to storm the fort or play cover - you can't do both.

We always try to mix it up-three-step drop, five-step drop, seven-step drop, naked bootleg. We spread out all these kinds of things to keep the defensive pass rush unbalanced.

The philosophy of a lot of European teams, even in home matches, is not to give a goal away.

Good players win you games, good formations stop you losing them.