Chris Hughton Quotes

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

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.

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

It's not so easy for us when we play teams who have a different mindset, like Chelsea or Inter Milan, because they have the intention of trying to stop us rather than playing a game that is more attractive for the spectators to enjoy.

I often felt as a player in a 4-4-2, you end up being outnumbered in midfield and chasing the ball, so as a manager I liked wingbacks to push forward; it gives the midfield player on the ball three or four options.

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

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.

There is no Benitez 'method.' We try to be more solid in defense without losing the quality in attack.

There is no reason to change this system. I don't think we'll abandon it. For us the most important thing is to be compact in the back. That's the kind of game we have to play here and it will be very difficult to beat us.

I think we've got a lot players in the squad who are more suited to European football at the moment.

I would prefer to play for and against an attacking team, but I am now used to playing against defensive teams.

It's always tough to play against teams that bunker or 'park the bus' inside the 18-yard box, but we always try to focus on our game and how we can overcome the obstacles that the game presents to continue to get better and score goals.

I like the Klopp mentality but at the same time, I like the Pep culture about football because always we need intensity with and without the ball.

In England and Germany, perhaps, there is more of a focus on the physical side of the game, in breaking down the opposition's play, especially against the lower placed sides.

Guardiola and I have the same idea of football.

I like to play attacking football, but I think the big difference is that we expect a lot more from our strikers, to do more pressing and to keep compact. We like to play a high line defensively and press the ball.

Now and again, you may be picking a pass or two in behind, making something happen, but when we're attacking - especially at Liverpool - I'm focusing on protection, being disciplined, being careful, worrying about counter-attacks, things like that.

Guardiola has a way of playing; he has a system, and he sticks to that.

It's a different playing style than at Monaco; there were two of us in midfield there, and here at Liverpool, there's three.

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.

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.

When you play against a top side, you know they will have more possession, and they will be in more control, and you have to find one or two counterattacks.

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

The most dangerous area is the centre, which has to be either attacked or defended in football, and it's the same in chess.

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.