Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
I have felt in my head that I would like to play, but then you listen to your body and accept it might be better that you do not play every game immediately after an injury.
That's the main thing for a player: you feel comfortable, you feel aware of everything around you, and you don't think about anything other than football when you're on the pitch.
I went to Chelsea twice when I was 14 and 15. I was at Danish club Odense at the time and came across with a friend to Cobham. We played against West Ham youth away, and the year after, we played Millwall away.
Bale is an exceptional player; he's shown that for years. He's Wales' talisman, and he's been that for years and will be for years. He's technically very gifted, very direct, has a wonderful kick and a lot of pace and a good finisher.
I think, mostly for people on the outside, it's a lot about numbers or stats. More or more. That's how the football world is going, in that direction. But I'm not really looking into it. I'm just trying to be the best I can, to create as much as possible.
I never got to train with the likes of Wesley Sneijder and Rafael van der Vaart, but I am from the club where they were. I am not Dutch, but I am from a club where they both played with the same style. They've had really big success when they left Ajax, so I hope I can achieve the same.
I had a lot of dealings with Bergkamp. I started with the under-17s at Ajax, and he was the assistant coach. Once or twice a week, we had individual one-to-one training sessions. You just watched Bergkamp. When you see him in training, he had skills that a guy just shouldn't be allowed to have.
It was a bit of a shock playing against Millwall. I knew the reputation of English football was tough, but my first thoughts when we started were, 'Wow, this is different to Denmark.' They kicked a little more and made crazy tackles, but I wasn't injured when I returned to Denmark, so I guess I did OK.
You can definitely train your awareness to be even better than it is. Of course, you start with a certain point of feelings and awareness on the pitch. But I think the more you get in positions, the more you get used to it, the more you get used to the tempo of your team-mates, everything. It feels more and more natural, and quicker and quicker.