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.
With Keita, he will hunt you down, get the ball, then 'either get in the box and score or he has the same type of 'passing range Philippe Coutinho had in the final delivery.
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.
I think I have that ability to win the ball back quickly when we lose it.
What I want is to recover the ball as near to the other box as we can, and when we have the ball, play.
When I was a baby, I was on a tennis court every day with my mom and with my brothers, so I would pick up the balls for them when they'd play, and then sometimes I'd play with them, but not very often.
To be honest, it was only when I was first in the French Ligue 1 that my manager and other people started to say, 'Okay, N'Golo recovers a lot of balls.' Before that, I didn't consider it to be my job in the team.
My job is to help the team, and so I love retrieving the ball as much as scoring or playing the final pass for a goal.
If I lose the ball, I want to get on it as quickly as possible and make up for it, whereas before, I would hide away and maybe only look for the ball 10 minutes later. I don't want to give the defenders any break.
We have four parts of our game: working against the ball; in possession; losing the ball; winning the ball. If you are good in all four parts, you have a good chance of winning.
Ledley King would get the ball off you without you even noticing he's the only defender in England who doesn't hold onto you, and he sometimes still gets the ball off my feet easily.
I do not like to use a player solely to make a member of the opposing team, for one simple reason: when we cannot retrieve the ball, we are forced to defend with ten men, giving the opponents an advantage.
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.
