Gordon Strachan Quotes

The coach's job is to get the best players and get them to play together.

Go back through football, and you will see that the team with the best defense wins.

What else does a manager do but push buttons? He doesn't hit, he doesn't run, he doesn't throw, and he doesn't catch the ball. A manager has twenty-five players, or twenty-five buttons, and he selects which one he'll use, or push, that day. The manager who presses the right buttons most often is the one who wins the most games.

It's hard to change a roster around. You've got to hit your draft picks right, you've gotta hit free agency right, and a team's got to fit together.

Obviously when you're a striker you need to score. The manager's not going to just play you if you're not scoring.

I am convinced that when the team plays well, the attackers will have chances to score - and that's why I will have the chance to score.

For me, the defender I respect the most is Giorgio Chiellini. He's one of the best defenders in the world. I really like the way he plays football on the pitch, the way he defends. He lives for the game. He transmits a sense of tranquillity to his team-mates. I have always admired his way to play.

Teams that just play on one side of the floor are going to struggle against defenses that load up on that side.

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.

When we have a defensive situation in which we are conceding too many goals, it is not just a problem in the defense but the entire team, starting with the coach.

We're trying to win football games, and whoever we feel like gives us the best chance is who's going to play behind center.

The differences between the top teams in Euro 2000 are so minimal that I think you have to be very clever in defence and stop your opponents getting opportunities.

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.

It's difficult when you play the best teams in the world. You have to be strong as a team and defend and get clean sheets.

The impact of Luis Enrique has been very positive. He has very clear ideas about football and we've absorbed them.

This is the Italian national team; there's no need to give caps away. If the coach calls up certain players, it's because he's convinced they can give a big hand, and that's why I'm here.

It is hard to ignore that is reality. But, at the same time, it still comes down to sound baseball decisions, farm systems and then execution on the field by the players. There are a lot of components to that (other) than just saying it is the highest salary.

You put together the best team that you can with the players you've got, and replace those who aren't good enough.

How good can we expect to be if our best player is not our best teammate

I think the fitness of players is the key to success. I believe that there should be no place of unfit players in the team because the fit players also start becoming lazy seeing their routine. Having teamwork capabilities is also very important as there comes a lot of times where you have to think beyond your own interest to upkeep the national interest.

If certain players do not carry out their tasks properly on the pitch then their colleagues will suffer.

It is an interesting balance in trying to find players to make your team really good and at the same time running a financially sound operation. That is the challenge for every team.

In some ways, I was a little bit surprised [by how dominant we were] but then I look at the players in our changing room and it doesn't surprise me because we've got quality in there. If we click and play well like we did in the first half, we can open up any team.

We got anxious at the end of the weekend in our urgency to try to score the winning goal. Ended up playing far too many long balls forward. That style of play doesn't suit Manchester United. We must continue to play football and enjoy the game. If we do that, eventually things will come right for us.