Frank Rijkaard Quotes

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.

Tactically, Italians are very strong. They are a lot into tactics: how to defend, when you lose the ball, where will you be?

I stay in the middle and my team-mates can go to attack.

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

Rushing the ball is all about ball control. If you run the ball, you control the clock. If you control the clock, you usually control the game.

In five years I have never had a match where my team has had less possession than the opponents.

Most teams won't really focus on one player because they've got multiple players to defend and that will open up a lot of things for me.

It's a mystery coming out each and every game to try and figure out how a team is going to guard me and how I'm going to dictate how my team wins.

For me it's more difficult to play against the quicker wingers, but for the team it's perhaps more difficult to face players that are good passers, because one through ball can take the whole team out of the game.

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.

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.

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.

The important thing to understand, from my point of view, is if the opponents break our lines and they are attacking our box, something has gone wrong, and it is me who has to fix it. But fouls in football are normal. You have to do it sometimes.

We have four parts of our game: working against the ball; in possession; losing the ball; winning the ball. If you are good in all four parts, you have a good chance of winning.

Some throws we're just trying to make in practice to see if it's something we want to move with on during the season.

I'm just trying to make sure if I get the ball in my hands I do something with it.

To me, a good running back is a good defense. A good running back helps you keep your defense off the field.

We cannot try to play in a manner that does not correspond to our players' characteristics.

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.

Casemiro has to cover the gaps left by everyone. That's balance for me; to make sure the game doesn't go mad.

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

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.

I need to play smarter and protect the football.

We take more risks at United than the majority of teams but the manager wants us to play.

I like it when the team is in control of the match. I like very much the ball possession; I like to play in the other half.