Defensive Responsibilities Quotes

For Argentina I'm a central midfielder. Always have been and always will be.

Before I signed for Liverpool, I was playing for Newcastle as a No. 10 - basically, I was always attacking. I didn't have to do much defensive work; I didn't play as the No. 6 or the No. 8.

When you change defenses, it's the same thing a lot of times. But different terminology means different things in that new defense. So you have to get accustomed to that. You have to study. Get in your books and pay attention.

The bigs are there on the help-side if the guy goes by me, and I'm able to switch to other offensive players.

If you are playing on the left of a four-man midfield, there are a lot more defensive duties to do, so you can't find the times to keep attacking. But if you're on the left of a 4-3-3, I find that position really good as well.

Our four defensemen all had flaws: one couldn't skate backwards, one couldn't turn to his left, one couldn't turn to his right, and the fourth couldn't pass the puck accurately to our blue line. Somebody had to clear the loose pucks, so I started doing it myself.

I'm the first player in history that doesn't want to play defense and still gets in foul trouble.

Playing the nickel is something I'm very, very comfortable doing and I enjoy doing, but also, I know what me playing the safety position means to the entire defense.

For United, I'm more likely to be left wing of a four-man midfield with only two centre-mids, so it's a bit more difficult for me to maybe make those runs to get in and score those goals when I've got to think about my defensive duties as well.

I haven't played defense in a couple years.

I'm a defensive-minded player.