Managerial Tactics Quotes

Guardiola improved me a lot as a footballer. He taught me a lot of things, and that's why, in every interview I'm asked, I always say the same thing: He is the best manager that I have worked with.

Arsene has most of the media in his pocket now and is almost - almost - affecting the officials so that you can't tackle an Arsenal player. That's something he's very clever at working on and it's almost working in his favour, you can see that.

Arsene Wenger is just an unbelievable manager. I think he's a tremendous person, and he is just as good as there is. You can't judge a manager on one game or on one stretch of games. You judge him over time.

I don't expect to see them in the top six but I think of all the teams that have come up in previous seasons, I think Manchester City are the biggest club.

All managers have a different playing style and football philosophy. What's important for players is being able adapt to those different styles.

I found that competition was supposed to be a menace and that a good manager circumvented his competitors by getting a monopoly by artificial means.

Mourinho is very intelligent; he knows what he's doing. He has the right to act like he wants to act, and he's very successful with it, so who am I to criticise him?

It was Martin O'Neill who said, 'You're a central midfielder.' He put faith into players. He was very clever at getting into players' heads, leaving little remarks to make me believe more. The players at Villa all moved up another level under him.

Dave Bassett was a key influence on me, the way he treated and talked to people. Wimbledon and Sheffield United were quite direct sides and he got the best out of what he had, but he was an innovator.

I always got on well with Roberto Mancini and never had a problem with him. Every manager has their own way of working, tactics, and style of play. As a player, you do what the manager says. There are misunderstandings, but generally, everything was fine under Mancini.

I feel that sometimes managers think that, if they can come up with a tactic that leads to success in a major game, they can get all the plaudits.

I like Mourinho because he is intelligent. When his team are in difficulty he's very good at focussing the attention on himself.

I have always been the same player, but Conte knows how to treat players, having played at the highest level himself.

People talk about managers having certain styles and philosophies... well, Benitez manages by conflict. Look right through his career and you will see it everywhere.

In the Premier League, there is a team above the others. This team is Manchester City. Then there is a very good team, Liverpool.

If you ask my favourite team, I'll say Arsenal. It is a club with a good philosophy, where youngsters get their chance.

I have never been at a club where the players talked so much about a previous manager as they did about Jose Mourinho at Inter Milan.

Jose Mourinho doesn't have a magic wand, and you wave the wand, and everything goes the way you want.

Roy Hodgson destroyed me. He made me play in the centre of midfield.

It took time at Everton to build a team so that when we did go to United or Arsenal or Liverpool, we went with a good chance of getting a result.

I'm not a defender of old or new football managers. I believe in good ones and bad ones, those that achieve success and those that don't.