Brian O'Driscoll Quotes

The game's just slowed down for me a little bit and I'm able to read the defenses and see how they're playing me.

When we lose the ball, I don't want to win it back directly. I act smarter now, have better anticipation, and also start earlier when somebody tries to lob the ball over me.

To be useful in defence, to win back the ball, you don't always have to go sliding into the tackle. It's also about your positioning; sometimes all you have to do is take a step back.

If I'm playing higher up the pitch, it's important I don't get carried away and start dropping too deep and I stay in my position.

The way I play, it's very much more a mental game than a physical game. I'm looking for space and where are players leaving space. Defensively, where are we at numerical disadvantages? Do I shift more to the left because they have more players on their right side? It's about reading the game before the game happens.

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 feel like I know what defensive backs are going to do before they do it.

There's a lot of things I can get better at as an individual, knowing where defenders are, having a better awareness. Those are things I can work on.

You mostly defend with your head, always reacting to the movement of opponents and teammates. I had to become more aware of that, play with much more consideration, the way you drive a car: you always need to look left, right, and the rear mirror to see what's going on around you.

Anybody who has watched me play knows I'm not one of the fastest guys, but I understand what's going on around me and what to look for. I know what the defense is doing.

When you're a kid you just think about where you are going to be to put yourself in a position for the next scoring chance. But as you develop, you start to do things that may not catch the eye of the normal football watcher, the dropping back, the closing down.

Just hearing somebody's voice in center field, it helps our guards out to know where they need to go, when the screen is coming, when the back door is coming, when the flare is coming. When different things like that happen and we're talking, it helps us all out in the long run.

Anytime you're a defensive player and your eyes aren't on your key, you're going to have an issue.

Playing me in different positions helped me to get in the head of the others players: to know what they're thinking, where and how they are going to move.

My position in football was cornerback, and what your job is as a cornerback is to read the person that's in front of you - read their body language and anticipate what's going to happen next.

At Tottenham, we are just bombing on as wing-backs, but sometimes on the international stage, where there is so much quality, you need to be more careful about the distance between yourself and the right-sided centre-half.

When I am on the pitch, I play on intuition, but I think a lot about the game as well.

I'm really trying to work on my defensive positioning.

You play in different situations and conditions, and you have to come up with new solutions for the problems. It has made me a more rounded player, who can handle different tactics and positions.

As long as you are set and in the right position, you give yourself the best opportunity. It's all about the crucial timing of a save, but it's also being in the right position at the right time.

I see the game differently than some guys. I'm always reading the next move.

To think about attacking is also to think about positioning.

If I get my teammates going early, then my shots usually open up. Come off pick and roll and make the pocket pass on the first one. Then it's like OK, does the defender step up now? Then next time I may have the layup. So, just playing the game like that. Reading and reacting and not thinking too much.

I need to play smarter and protect the football.

I had a good football intelligence. I didn't need 10 games to get used to a position. I could go out and do a job.