Quotes About Football

I think you're always fighting a losing battle when you're Scottish and I don't think that's right. I think the way that people look at Scottish football is wrong, but at the same time, we have to start proving it on the park and start showing it again.

I know that there are coaches in the Bundesliga that have said in team meetings, 'Provoke Xhaka; he will eventually go ballistic.' I think that is sad. That, in my view, has nothing to do with football.

Messi simply cannot be stopped by yourself. Ronaldo is easier because he is more about athletic prowess.

Every time you'd turn on the set you'd see me eating a prune in a prune ad. My friends used to call me Prune Boy, even on the football field.

I shared a dressing room with Alan Shearer. I used to watch the opposition looking at him, and they'd be thinking they need to score more than one because Shearer is going to score, and he scores every game. That psychological advantage is fantastic.

In the past, we showed that we could play football, but Vladimir Petkovic has worked with us on the psychological side of things in particular. I think that's where we've made the most progress. He's brought us closer together as a team.

In my own opinion, psychology in football is far more important than anyone believes, including the coaches.

If I didn't work at ESPN, which I didn't until 2014, I would still be watching a psychotic amount of football for someone that doesn't do this for a living. I hope that never changes.

Actually, the reason I'm a huge Arsenal fan is because when my dad moved over from Sri Lanka, he lived in north London and fell in love with Arsenal. Then he moved to East Grinstead and bought a pub, which he turned into an Arsenal pub.

When a Scottish player goes down the road you're always going to get doubters. You always get people saying you're from a pub league.

We're more pub and football guys rather than walking the red carpets.

My impression of Abramovich is that he loves football, his club, and his players. He wants to know everything that is going on and is very passionate. Berlusconi, too, loves his club, but he was a man of the people and conducted his life in public.

I'm in the public eye. I'm a celebrity and a football player.

Mourinho is a great coach. He has told me he believes in me, both in person but also publicly.

I'm a football fan in general. I'm always pulling for a good game.

What happens in the Premier League is that when they arrive in the area, they punish you.

In the Premier League a little half a second can punish you and you just have to be focused for all 90 or 95 minutes, whatever it may be.

When you just work tactically, in pure football sessions, you can see the way they can think football.

Everyone says Cristiano Ronaldo or Lionel Messi, but I would have love to have played with Luka Modric. I think he's an incredible player, really strong mentally and a pure footballer.

My departure from Arsenal was purely for sporting reasons.

The Copa del Rey is a different competition. It is football in its purest form and is different from the continuity of the league.

I don't just get bogged down in, 'I want to win.' There's something even greater than that. And that's the way that you play the game. I want to play beautiful football. That's our purpose: to go out and play the game at the highest level, play it the right way.

My father was a big influence. He kept telling me to pursue football, always. He always encouraged me and my brother.

I had to decide whether I should try to play pro football after high school or try to pursue my powerlifting career.