Top 55 Chris Smalling Quotes

I quite like being aggressive and horrible which gives you more confidence to dictate over strikers and to make them feel they have had a frustrating game when they’ve walked off the pitch, feeling very down.

I guess football is a game of opinions.

I like to get the ball down and play, but I can always get stuck in and hold my own.

I have a collage of pictures of my dad holding my brother and me. I look at that before every game just to remind me about having no fear or regrets and to go out and enjoy the moment, because I know how precious life is.

You can put too much pressure on yourself. You can start forcing balls, maybe trying too hard. You make things too complicated.

I always hoped I’d get a chance to prove myself at the top level because I believed I could do it, but making your way up the football ladder is very tough.

My wife is vegan and has been for a few years.

Fabio Capello has probably seen me play more games at centre-half but for him to have the faith in me to play in a different position is great for my confidence and I hope I did him justice.

Obviously with a knee injury there are certain protocols that need to happen.

I know from playing against Mata that he’s a great player.

I just want to do my best.

All you can do is let your football do the talking.

I think Serie A has always been a goal of mine to play in one day, because as a defender if you get the chance to experience Serie A you want to do it.

It makes me very proud that a club like Manchester United have wanted me to be here as long as I have been.

It doesn’t matter whether it’s the 93rd minute, Giggsy is making his jinky, mazy little runs. You could forgive him for maybe not coming out training every day, because he’s done so much in the game, but every day he’s out there. He doesn’t seem to need a rest.

We have to take a greater stand against discrimination of all kinds.

I would have gone to Loughborough to study business management and was looking forward to that very much.

I liked business studies and economics at school and it followed on from there.

It is nice to hear some positive words from the manager.

Anyone who wants to be a centre-half would have to say that John Terry is a role model. Every centre-half in the game would agree with that. It is the way he leads the team and the way he reads the game.

I want the supporters to know that we’re always striving to improve.

You work every day technically, physically but so much is in the mind. Look at when players go on big scoring runs, then stop scoring. It’s not that they are any different physically, it’s very often mental, confidence, concentration.

I liked Thierry Henry. I watched Arsenal so much on TV.

Playing in the Manchester derby definitely helped me.

It is nice to hear yourself being compared to great players.

Ultimately it’s the simple things that make a difference.

I had nothing to lose at my Fulham trial and I just gave it my all.

As I’ve got older I’ve become a lot more conscious of my diet and making sure I was getting all the right things.

There are lots of aspects to work on my game, which the coaches do with me every day.

Football was always a dream, but a distant dream until when I was about to go to university. I’d had a couple of trials, but it wasn’t a realistic dream, it was a kid’s dream.

It’s nice when you can have that battle on the pitch and then there’s respect after the game because, ultimately, you are just trying to do your best.

I like Thai food, Jamaican stews with yam, pumpkin and sweet potato.

A good pre-season is essential if you want to do well.

I love a challenge and when a new centre-back comes in it makes you raise your game. You have to show more, you have to be more consistent.

Just to be able to be at a club like Manchester United for so long when I first joined, you never know how it’s going to turn out.

Nobody wants to train every day so the more games the better.

My mum tried her best. Now I try to make her life as enjoyable as I can because she has done so much for my brother and me.

I am used to playing when I am fit.

The FA Cup is notoriously unpredictable.

I think I’ve played a lot in the Premier League and now I can bring my qualities that I’ve learned to Italy, and that is something I am looking forward to.

I had the offer of places at Leicester and Loughborough to study financial economics.

As a patron of a youth education charity it is my duty to use my platform as a voice for all, regardless of background.

Even before I joined Manchester United, I knew of Wazza as a hard worker.

A manager has to have all different sides covered.

When someone like Lukaku gets you in the position where he’s holding you off it is key to try and nick it in front of him.

Van Gaal is receptive to other people’s ideas.

With United the spotlight is always on and there’s always going to be that pressure, no matter what the game is.

I didn’t see myself playing regularly at right-back for Manchester United or making my England debut in that position.

To have a chance at a big club, if it goes well and the club is happy and I am happy, then I can definitely see a longer-term future in Italy.

Of course you want to be playing in the summer.

You can’t have two or three games where you let your level drop.

When we’re winning or losing, when we’re doing warm-ups or even when I’m walking down the street, there are United fans talking to me. I think that’s something we all love.

I was playing regularly for United up to when I left.

You learn that you can’t take what’s happened in the previous years for granted.

We take more risks at United than the majority of teams but the manager wants us to play.