Football Defender Quotes & Sayings

I'm not a defender of old or new football managers. I believe in good ones and bad ones, those that achieve success and those that don't. — Jose Mourinho

If you look at the whole package, with everything Henry has, I don't think you can find that anywhere else. You give him the ball in the right place and his acceleration will take him past any defender in the world. — Dennis Bergkamp

Kaka beat Fletcher to the ball, and headed it past Heinze as the Argentine sought to close him down. Heinze could still have dealt with the problem, but, inexplicably, Patrice Evra came flying in like a runaway TGV. Heinze was flattened, Fletcher was so shocked that he stopped to rubber-neck, and Kaka strolled on and rolled the ball past Van der Sar. Evra's nightmare of a half continued when he crazily got himself cautioned for dissent, so removing Ferguson's one remaining first-choice defender from the away leg. Madness. — Henry Winter

He's showed him the left leg, then the right. Where's the ball, the defender asks? It's up his sleeve. — Clive Tyldesley

A tremendous strike which hit the defender full on the arm - and it nearly came off. — Kevin Keegan

To me, attacking football happens when Makelele gets the ball and passes it to the central defender who passes it to the right-back who comes forward and judges the situation. If he can do something he passes forward or runs with the ball, if not he gives it back to Makelele who builds the attack again. That is attacking football. In England attacking football is giving the ball to Makelele and having him hit it forward no matter what, even if everybody is marked. — Jose Mourinho

In my teams, the goalie is the first attacker, and the striker the first defender. — Johan Cruijff

That's not the type of header you want to see your defender make, with his hand. — Ron Atkinson

He's a wizard with his feet and is blessed with a gift for scoring goals. His best quality is his speed while the ball is at his feet. He may be the fastest man ever to lace up a football boot. No defender in the world can keep up with him. — Lilian Thuram

Kenny wasn't the quickest of movers but he was 20 yards quicker than anybody else with his football brain and he would be in position before any defender knew what was happening. I've always said the best signing that Liverpool ever made was Kenny Dalglish. — Ronnie Moran

I stood there, 220 pounds of ex-football player, ex-public defender, ex-a-lot-of-things, leaning against the faded walnut rail of the witness stand, home to a million sweaty palms. "To Speak for the Dead" (The Jake Lassiter Series) — Paul Levine

You get hit the hardest when trying to run or hide from a problem. Like the defense on a football field, putting all focus on evading only one defender is asking to be blindsided. — Criss Jami