Thomas Muller Quotes

When you play eleven a side, you might go through a game with very few touches, but with street football, you're always involved in the game, so it is a great way to improve your skill and to learn how to create and use space, as the pitch is very small.

I try to have a picture when I receive the ball and know where everyone is. That's one of the most important things for a midfielder.

It is up to me to adapt and to continue to surprise with my positioning, the timing of my runs, the trajectories, when I call for the ball.

For me football is more about making the right pass at the right time.

Rather than opera, football is more like ballet or a chess game. You can really see it in a team like Arsenal, especially when Dennis Bergkamp was playing. He seemed to be able to read the game like a chessboard and knew where a player would be several seconds later and put the ball there for him.

You need to beat a defender when you have the ball. You need to be able to successfully pass to a team-mate, and there are other attributes needed to be the complete player.

I spend the entire 90 minutes looking for space on the pitch. I'm always between the opposition's two holding midfielders and thinking, 'The defence is here, so I get the ball and I go there to where the space is.'

Playing in midfield is a different ball game. You have to be on the half-turn all the time, have a different picture in your head of what is behind you and in front of you. Playing at right-back is different again.

Before I receive the ball I already know how that play is developing so I'm able to give rhythm to that play.

Not everything is seen that happens on the pitch - the teammate in a good position, where it might get dangerous, how a situation develops.

When I play, I like to use my pace and to link up with my team-mates.

I like to control the ball and analyse the game.

I like to play wide, but as a youth, I played more in the middle as a 10.

In the midfield, I'm not the most comfortable playing with my back to the goal, and in the midfield you find that ball a lot.

You have to create a habit of finding the right positions and knowing where the ball's going to bounce to.

I've never been blessed with height, strength and power so I've had to learn how to play differently from a young age, my game was all based on technique and when I look at players like Xavi and Iniesta they were always players I modelled myself on.

To score goals, you need to receive the ball in advantageous positions.

For me, good football is not about how many skills you show or how many players you beat. It's about making the right decision every time you have the ball.

In the centre, you play more with your back to the opponent's goal and have to move into the gaps.

If the spaces open up in the attack, then of course I'm willing to take it because I love to get involved; I love to get crosses in. I love to do combinations and just bring a different aspect to our game.

Before, sometimes if the ball was played over my head I wouldn't know where I was but now I feel a lot more comfortable. Sometimes I would be going forward when it really wasn't the right time to go too, but now I'm picking my moments better.

As a player, you are more concerned with the moments when you have possession of the ball or are about to receive the ball. You are watching your team-mates and trying to decide what the possibilities are.

The qualities that one needs to be a good goalkeeper are exactly the same as to be a good sculptor. In both professions one should have a good relationship with time and space.

In international football, you need pace and you need your players up top to create things out of nothing and run at people.

Soccer is simple, but it is difficult to play simple.