Faf de Klerk Quotes

Football is a bit like chess: it's not just the piece being moved that matters; it's also the effect that move has on all the other pieces.

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.

It always helps to play every game at the back with the same players. You get a good understanding of each other and how one of you works, and what positions to take up.

Preparing your tactical formation is essential. Each player needs to know where he has to be, and that is why there needs to be mutual understanding: because you need absolute discipline.

Both sides of the game, defensively and offensively, are important.

There are a lot of things you learn from playing wide. You also understand the way that you can coordinate with the front three or front two.

I think defending is more of, like, a science, and it's fun to learn that. And then I see attacking as an art.

Between 20km and 10km to go, you want the whole team at the front. You don't necessarily want to take control, and the speed will be dictated by how many surges you get from the other teams. You don't want to go so fast they can't come, but you want to be just ahead so you're in control.

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

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

Every soldier must know, before he goes into battle, how the little battle he is to fight fits into the larger picture, and how the success of his fighting will influence the battle as a whole.

There's a tipping point that happens with soccer in which you just kinda get it. I was drawn to it because the best soccer teams play similarly to my favorite basketball teams - like the eighties Lakers or eighties Celtics - teams that emphasized teamwork over individualism and relied on passing as their biggest ongoing edge.

In tactics and training, we do more with Conte. We work a lot of tactical positions, and we know exactly what we have to do on the pitch, where I have to go, and where the defenders have to go. We know exactly what to do.

There is so much interaction in a football match: between you and your team-mates and how you support each other, work for each other, make runs. But I also enjoy the other aspect: the pressing and how people work so hard to recover the ball.

Football is about balance.

Klopp helped me play my favourite position again - centre-forward.

Yes, many times an assist is more difficult than a goal; you need to find the right space and measure the force used in order to provide your teammate with the right position in order to score.

I've always had one in my teams - that sort of central pivot that orchestrates the game.

In England, you might have a possession game of six v. six, and it's like headless chickens: people running around everywhere just trying to keep the ball and be strong in tackles. But in Spain, you always stay in your position. You're still in your shape for every drill.

You need to know exactly where to be on the pitch at all times.

I have to play with discipline in midfield.

I like to play with my back to the goal, but my colleagues have to tell me when I'm alone or how much room I have so I can choose to pass or to go straight for the goal.

You work to make sure that, in the game, everybody knows where they're supposed to be at, and sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. But if you put them in a position to be successful, that's all you can ask for.

Try to put our guys in different positions, try some different combinations, et cetera, to prepare us for the playoffs, which is what matters.

I like it when the team is in control of the match. I like very much the ball possession; I like to play in the other half.