David Alaba Quotes

I like to be in contact with the ball, have possession, to play.

You pressure, you want possession, you want to attack. Some teams can't or don't pass the ball. What are you playing for? What's the point? That's not football. Combine, pass, play. That's football - for me, at least.

At Tottenham, I'm asked to take a lot of risks to keep maximum possession of the ball and build from the back.

If I don't get the service or if I don't the ball in the box, where I want it, I start drifting into midfield. I go and look for the ball. I try to be important for the team in other areas.

I don't want just pure roll out of the back four. I want productive mixed play... how many ways can you affect a game?

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

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.

There is no Benitez 'method.' We try to be more solid in defense without losing the quality in attack.

My teams have always been dominant about having the ball but having the ball to create opportunities. That's always been the clear way of my work.

It is vital to maintain possession and to win it back as soon as possible, because if we win it high up, then the opposition has to run 70 metres.

It is well-documented that Bournemouth like to play football. I think I can give them a slightly different dimension when the ball goes into the box.

As England manager I always felt we needed an extra man in midfield to retain the ball, but that was more as an attacking ploy to help create opportunities. It came from my experience playing international football in a 4-4-2 and spending half my time chasing the ball.

There are a lot of teams that don't want to play, that only want to defend against Barcelona, and that makes it difficult. We're always looking for the open space. A lot of times we'll face six defenders and four midfielders.

It's not so easy for us when we play teams who have a different mindset, like Chelsea or Inter Milan, because they have the intention of trying to stop us rather than playing a game that is more attractive for the spectators to enjoy.

I often felt as a player in a 4-4-2, you end up being outnumbered in midfield and chasing the ball, so as a manager I liked wingbacks to push forward; it gives the midfield player on the ball three or four options.

I don't say we are a defensive team. I say we are a strong team in defensive terms, but at the same time lacking sufficient fluidity in attack because that will take time to come.

European teams have always shied away from South American football. They struggle to get to grips with it. The South American game is more technical and about keeping possession, while European football is more dynamic, physical and direct.

I don't want Kylian to play like Neymar and keep the ball. Kylian is incredibly dangerous in the final move, and I want him to stay that way.

Sometimes in midfield, it's nice because you do get a little bit more of the ball, and maybe out wide you rely on people to get you the ball.

That is my style of play, my strength: hold up, playing with my back to goal.

When you are playing with a few players in the pocket, it doesn't leave me isolated. I have a bit more space to work and be higher up the pitch.

In England and Germany, perhaps, there is more of a focus on the physical side of the game, in breaking down the opposition's play, especially against the lower placed sides.

It is impossible to do it for the whole game, but when you have the ball for most of the game and have players like Samir Nasri, David Silva, Yaya Toure, and Raheem Sterling, they keep the ball so well.

Maybe Klopp is the best manager in the world at creating teams who attack the back four with so many players, from almost anywhere on the pitch. They have an intensity with the ball and without the ball, and it is not easy to do that.

Part of my job leading the line for Watford is to occupy centre-halves - by that I mean those battles with Huth, say, to try to win headers when the ball is played forward. But I also look to bring centre-halves out of position to the flanks and make space for my team-mates in the middle.