Bastian Schweinsteiger Quotes

I'm a defender, and my first job is to make the team secure at the back; that's my primary responsibility.

Everyone thinks I'm looking for attacking football all the time. But the foundation is how you defend - keep a clean sheet, and you have a decent chance to win a game of football.

I like consistency in defenders.

As a defender, we take pride in getting clean sheets.

Without a doubt, it is easier to produce a defensive soccer team, because it does not need you to have talent for it but simply to be well organised.

The beginning of everything is our defensive organisation. The clean sheet is always the first objective that we have in the game. Always.

I've always liked taking the ball out of defence and I will carry on doing that but at the end of the day I'm a defender, and that's what I want to be known as - a defender, getting in the blocks and the headers that people don't recognise I do, the dirty stuff that every defender should do and should be good at.

A compact defense has always been the basis of Italy's team.

I need to work on defensive play and being consistent.

The Italians are very strong defensively. They showed in Euro 2000 how good defensively they are.

Defending isn't just about tackling and heading, it's also about getting the ball down and playing - starting the attack from the back.

We believe defending is very much a team job, and we can't just rely on a back four and a goalkeeper.

Rafa Benitez was keen on defending - all dropping back together if you lose the ball.

That's how you get better on defense; not just 'oh, man, my guy beat me,' but you have to think about, 'okay, my man beat me, so I either have to pick up the next man, or I'm going to give somebody a foul.

I'm a defender first and foremost, and if I'm playing right centre-half, I am even more of a defender than the wing-backs.

You have to win the title with a strong team and a strong defence, but I don't only like to talk about the four defenders and the goalkeeper when you concede goals. It's about the team.

Most of the clubs who have had success against Barcelona have relied on a highly organised and disciplined defence.

I realize I have to continue to work on defense. I think a lot of people have to work on defense.

Liverpool are a team that is essentially very defensive; caution is at the heart of their game.

I feel I am a total defender.

I love to see goals and attacking play; I want us to be entertaining. But it's no good if you're shipping goals.

Really what we've done is establish a tradition in Carolina of playing defense.

I'm a defender first and foremost - blocks, headers, vital tackles, or even just the communication side of it, which is massive but doesn't really get recognised.

I'm a defensive-minded player.

As much as you want to improve or help the team, as a centre-back your job is to go under the radar and keep the ball out of the net. If you do that and let the strikers get all the adulation and the headlines, then you're probably doing your job.