Jermain Defoe Quotes

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.

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.

In football, time and space are the same thing.

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.

In the midfield, I'm not the most comfortable playing with my back to the goal, and in the midfield you find that ball a lot.

As a winger, you want to get at defenders and make it hard for them. Instead of them going forwards, they have to defend against you.

I get a lot of front ball in a position that, normally, the opponent's defense is making the move outwards, and our attackers are getting in.

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

When I get the ball, the players need to start running, and then I just feed them with the ball.

I like to get the ball on the ground, make good plays and move the ball around the pitch quickly at a good tempo.

My focus in the training sessions is always about movement to create openings and opportunities. When you don't have the ball, you still need the discipline to know where you should be, who you should be marking, but when we have the ball, it is important to be able to move around.

The position I am playing at right wing-back, I know I can score goals there.

Everyone needs to be in position to create the openings we have. We like to play a lot where you pass the ball forward and it comes back, because it makes it easier for us to attack, because the midfielders have to turn round.

When Messi has the ball centrally, with time, he has so many options to hurt you.

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.

You've got one football and a lot of times, defenses dictate where the ball goes.

Pukki has a bit of everything, which makes him a complete striker. He times his runs well, is very intelligent in his positioning, runs hard, presses opponents and never stops moving.

I like to get out in transition. That is one of my favorite aspects of the game.

I have to open the game from my position. It's really important to play with the ball.

I know if I'm playing centre-back, there are certain places where you don't give your full-back the ball - because I've been the full-back!

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.

The most important thing is to help the team to come in front of the goal with one-two passes, I drop down, or I give them space, because for defenders, it's always difficult to have a false nine because they don't have a direct player against them, so they don't know exactly what to do.

You have got to be one step ahead, as a striker, to create that space you need. Apart from the ball, when you're a striker, it is space that's your best friend. You need space.

As a wing back, when you get the ball wide, you usually don't have any help out wide. You have to be pretty good on your own out there.

Anytime you get good service to the box, it's always great as an attacking player because it gives you more opportunities to score.