Michael Essien Quotes

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.

I like to be active in space in behind the opposition's midfield. That's where I can hurt the opponent most of all.

In my time at Milan, the club played with a 4-3-1-2 formation, and I was the player behind the two strikers. At Real, I play behind three. There is a greater defensive obligation, but I try to work around the area.

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.

In football, you don't hold on to the ball just to hold on to the ball. When you have it you need to be dangerous, create opportunities and score goals. And when you don't, you make sure the opposition doesn't.

I like the idea of playing with a bit more tactical freedom, either in a deeper role or supporting the strikers more often.

It's not easy to create chances or a game when you're just receiving long balls.

I started in a 4-3-3 formation at Ajax, playing in left midfield. There, you need to be just as involved defensively as you are going forward. You attack and you defend, and that allows you to be a complete player.

I've always said it, and the whole football world knows that Cavani is a centre-forward and that he has proven his worth in that position. Having said that, Cavani has shown other characteristics that can help the team, like winning the ball back, helping out defensively.

Arsenal's style of play is so smooth and easy and I hope I can adapt to their style quickly.

Our style of play is increasingly based on possession of the ball. It suits me as a forward. We've got an attacking approach, and that means that I get a lot of chances; otherwise, I would have not been able to score so many goals.

It's always good to have players who can help us in attack.

Someone said that my coaching is a combination of Milan's defensive discipline and the Dutch propensity for attacking football, and I think that is a fair description.

We try and play football in a positive way. Any team has to be defensively organised, but you have to look at the attributes of the players and play to their strengths.

The game in Spain is more about technique and about getting more touches on the ball. That's why I like it so much.

That's the intelligence of football: to see when to be compact, when to counter-attack, or, if you see that you're in the opposite half, you try and win the ball.

Of course I am happy to play in any of the attacking roles, but for me, where I can score the most goals is down the middle.

I've played under different managers, different styles, and most of my career, I was asked to play long.

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.

Part of being a Manchester United player under Sir Alex Ferguson, perhaps the most important part of being one of United's attacking players was that when you were in possession, you had to take risks in order to create goal-scoring chances. It was not an option; it was an obligation.

I like to push the ball down the field when it's there. There's also times you just take the underneath one.

I realised when I was a striker that when I ended up wide on the left or right, it can be so much easier to get space and face defenders up.

When you have a lot of ball possession, you have a lot of ball possession to create chances, not to play the ball around and not score.

I've always been looking to get goals and assists, and to do that, I need to be higher up the pitch.

When teams train now, it is about what they do with the ball and, if they lose it, how quickly they press to win it back.