Sid Gillman Quotes

I started the 1998 World Cup with Teddy Sheringham up front but always planned for Michael Owen to face Colombia in our final group game because they defended square and a quick striker would be able to exploit the space behind them.

I think that's part of building your team is trying to anticipate where your team is going and to a certain extent where, especially defensively because you have to react to what they put on the field. Defensively you have to be able to defend those things.

Of course you think about the goalkeeper you are facing before a game. You have to prepare yourself for the game and think about the weakness of the players you are up against.

The way we stop Mesut Ozil is as a team. He's a good player but only as a team can we stop him.

We work on our set pieces for every opponent. It's a moment of the game that requires a lot of hard work, defensive and offensively. We try to invest our time in set pieces.

The Italian Fabio Cannavaro, who was with Real Madrid when I played against him several times, was the best player in the world in 2006. He wasn't tall, but very quick and strong. He always knew his opponents well, as if he'd researched them.

A guy like Darrelle Revis has been in the NFL a long time. They study tendencies. They know what you're doing from the way you line up. When you run a route, you almost have to be perfect at it. You can't slip. Timing has to be perfect with the quarterback going against a smart guy like him.

Harry Kane is a very complicated player to stop.

I personally like the way John Stones plays because I think he's a great defender.

We have ways to confront the attention that Messi gets. Some teams mark him personally; others get physical and surround him with players.

In the defensive midfield position, the player needs to give balance to the team and try to control the game. That's exactly what I try to do.

My defensive side was something I wanted to work on, especially coming into the Premier League.

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.

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.

I mean, I don't really take a lot of blows. Since I've been 20 years old in the NFL, that's never going to change in my playing style.

I consider that part of my job as a pro: to know who you're up against and how the attacking players play, what kind of characteristics they have, their qualities, how they move, their preferred foot.

When I play against a winger, because I'm a winger myself, I understand what they are going to do before they try and go past me, so it makes it a lot easier for me.

In New England, I learned so much about football. I always thought I was a smart player, even though I never thought about anything but the six inches in front of my face. In New England, I was forced to learn so many schematic concepts.

After every move, ask yourself what does my opponent want to do to me, and how can I prevent it?

I love coaches that just talk about football.

Scouting is important. You just want to know whom you are playing against and how to play them well within the team's defense.

Teams like the Patriots stress situational football moreso than a lot of other teams in the NFL.

In high school, you can just go out there and play. In the NFL it was so much more mental.

The strikers are the first defenders. And the first defender is the first striker to build from the back.

Far too much emphasis on what is deemed the 'wrong' style of football. That's what annoys me. Your style depends on who you're playing and what group of players you have at your disposal.