We believe defending is very much a team job, and we can't just rely on a back four and a goalkeeper.
The work is intense. You have to calculate a great deal very quickly which requires football intelligence and real concentration. Part of my role is to shuttle between the defense and the attacking lines to make sure that the ball circulates well and quickly.
You can play hard. You can play aggressive. You can give 120% but if one guy is out of position then someone is running through the line of scrimmage and he is going to gain a bunch of yards.
Rafa Benitez was keen on defending - all dropping back together if you lose the ball.
The only way to stop Messi is to double mark him. One player to stay on him and the other to help out.
Defense can't guard two things in a row.
You've got to be the anchor of the defense at that five position. Call out pick-and-rolls, screens. The five is usually around the rim, so you see everything.
I think a lot of managers say that it starts from the front and us as defenders know it helps our job when the front two strikers put that pressure on. If they can do that it makes our job a lot easier.
At one time, we were asked to play your own man; you're responsible for your own man. And, if you were good enough and kind of a ball hawk, you helped everyone else. Now it's really much more of a team concept defensively than it was when we played.
If we don't start playing better on defense, it's going to be hard. We can't just sit there and win shootouts.
Defending isn't just about tackling and heading, it's also about getting the ball down and playing - starting the attack from the back.
In all the research you do as a coach, studying other coaches and championship-type situations, you find that all those teams combined talent with great defense. You've got to stop other teams to win.
It's just always been a knack for me to play defense.
The interaction between the goalkeeper and the back four has to be top to compete in the Premier League.
Coach Marinelli's defense is incredible.
That's something you want to preach throughout the whole defense - getting the ball back to the offense.
