Quotes About Tactics

In chess, you should be as cool as a cucumber.

Football is a game, and people have to be cunning.

It's always in a cycle. One set of plays will work really well for a time, and then defenses figure it out, and you go to something else.

I have to be smart. You cannot be going in there, trying to go forward and pressure guys, and be taking damage and getting hurt on the way to doing it.

Systems win you nothing, and football players win you games.

In chess, we have styles - like in any other field. There are also fashions in the kinds of systems that people play. So I'm trying to know my opponent as much as possible.

Different managers play different systems, and you've got to be able to play in different positions.

In Italy... people think that they can win matches with only systems. I say this is impossible because, otherwise, there wouldn't be players that cost 100 million euros and others who cost 1 million.

You can talk about systems until you're blue in the face but that's secondary - if you're closing down, if you're first to the ball, it doesn't really matter what system you've got.

Leadership in today's world requires far more than a large stock of gunboats and a hard fist at the conference table.

You can't go to a negotiating table pointing a gun, but you've got to keep it over your shoulder.

I feel like I'm an inside guy, I feel like I'm a three-tech or nose tackle.

How do you tackle Rob Gronkowski? You gotta hit him low, man - hit him in his knees. That's the best chance you have of hitting him.

If I could play a game and not have to tackle, I know that I did everything right. I organized everyone the right way, read every play the right way.

When you get onto the ball, people think three or four times before deciding whether to try and tackle you. Your opponents respect you, and your markers give you a couple of metres of space.

Never tackle, never go down, we've heard it over and over again. You have to try to keep Messi away from the goal and block him with multiple players while being as close to him as possible. He is too quick, too fast, too intense with the ball.

A tactic that drags on too long becomes a drag.

A mercurial plan of action may have worked in the Trump Organization board room, but it's a disastrous tactic in foreign affairs.

I feel that sometimes managers think that, if they can come up with a tactic that leads to success in a major game, they can get all the plaudits.

Boxing is like chess. You encourage your opponent to make mistakes so you can capitalise on it. People think you get in the ring and see the red mist, but it's not about aggression. Avoiding getting knocked out is tactical.

Sometimes you have to subordinate strategic considerations to tactical needs.

I kept track of everything Mourinho did, from his training methods to his tactical analysis - I have it all stored on my computer. I want to be a manager like him in the future.

Arsene always gives freedom to his players. To have that freedom is good, but if you can give them the freedom and respect the tactical aspect of the game, it will be even better.

I learned very early on once I started boxing as a kid that if you go into the ring emotionally charged you make mistakes. It's a mental game, it's a chess match, you've got to think, you've got to strategise and make tactical decisions.