Vincent Kompany Quotes

Rex Ryan does a lot of the same kind of stuff that we do in terms of how they play in the secondary and what they do.

When I've watched teams that play with five at the back and wing-backs, I've looked at their starting positions and positions out of possession because that comes a little bit more unnaturally to me.

When you get lots of players up front, sometimes a counter-attack can take you by surprise and lead to a chance for the opposition.

In football, there has always been this idea of having a left-footer and a right-footer in central defence.

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.

We know it's impossible sometimes to have good defending against Cristiano Ronaldo but we want to keep the ball, with good possession, as then he can do nothing in attack.

I learned from Chuck Noll in Pittsburgh that speed and explosiveness on defense is the way to build a team. Both are difficult for your opponent to assimilate in practice and then in games it is even harder to match.

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.

Any good attacker will always beat a defender who's face-marking you.

There's obviously a push to protect the quarterback, but you have to give the defensive players a chance. All of the quarterback has to do is pull the ball, and he's a runner. How's the defender going to know if the ball is pulled or not?

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.

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.

As a young centre-back at Ajax, I played with Wim Jansen, and of course you learn a huge amount. I made some mistakes, because we Dutchmen want to solve situations by playing football. So we look at the ball, try to judge where it will come.

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

You can't play man to man against Liverpool and out-pass them. You have to keep your shape and stop them.

When you play the top sides you cannot afford to be as open as 4-4-2 can leave you. Consequently teams adapt their formation.

At Tottenham, we are just bombing on as wing-backs, but sometimes on the international stage, where there is so much quality, you need to be more careful about the distance between yourself and the right-sided centre-half.

I don't like getting pinned back with a line of four in midfield. You risk losing too much space.

In Spain, you get seven clear chances a game to receive the ball and shoot. In Italy, you get very few clear balls, and you have to fight everyone to score; that makes you improve and develop.

I like playing size per position defensively.

Offence doesn't concern me. It's easier for people to get layups than it is to get stops on defence or a block.

Most teams - whether they like it or not against Manchester City - you're going to find yourself quite often penned in your own half.

The space between keepers and defenders is referred to as the 'corridor of opportunity' - a well-hit pass in there has the goalie questioning whether to come into traffic and defenders unsure of whether or where to clear the ball.

United are capable of setting up a low block and making it difficult, but they're also capable of coming out and pressing high.

Some big teams prefer to be very strong defensively and have two, three, four counter-attacking players.