Ronald Koeman Quotes

Against Chelsea, you will have periods in the game when you are right up against it, when they keep the ball. They are pretty solid the way they set their team up.

What Liverpool do really well is they try to get you inside but then close you down.

We need the ball even to defend; that's our objective: having the ball and having it as far as possible from our goal as possible.

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.

I try to get early contact and keep it on the ground. I like to keep the ball down as much as I can.

If you play on possession, you don't have to defend, because there's only one 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.

When I don't have control of the ball, what do I do? I press to get it back. It's a way of defending. But more important is that I like to have the ball. That's why I believe in individual coaching sessions to prepare players properly.

Defending isn't just about tackling and heading, it's also about getting the ball down and playing - starting the attack from the back.

You have to take care of the ball to win football games.

I'm a coach who likes to have the ball, but what I really think is, 'How can you be in charge of the game?' I think, but maybe I am the only one, that the defensive process can take care of the game. Why is that? Because teams wait to defend. If you create something where you go to defend, to steal the ball where you want, it's different.

I want the ball for 90 minutes. When I don't have the ball, I go high pressing because I want the ball.

At Ajax, they are strict when it comes to using the ball as a defender.

Sometimes you can get sloppy and control the ball right at your feet, and that gives the defenders a chance.

When we have to defend, I just try to recover the ball for the team because it's important, but I always try to go forward when we have the ball.

If you look at Barcelona and the way they press high, or Bayern Munich, the way they press high... that's what makes them the best teams, because when they lose the ball, in the first three seconds, that's when they get the ball back, really, really high.

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

That's something you want to preach throughout the whole defense - getting the ball back to the offense.

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.

The last thing you want as a striker is the opposing team putting all 10 players behind the ball.

Keeping up your concentration is one of the hardest tasks when you're a centre-back because a team like Bayern tend to dominate and can give you sense of false security.

Pochettino likes to play from the back, with the buildup, have the ball.

The important thing for me is we want to keep the ball, we want to have the ball because we are Arsenal football club.

With Andy Cole up front they can score at any time. We'll be watching him very closely.

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.