It's very important to know what you are facing, whether you are going to be part of the team or just a squad player.

When I was a young boy I sold newspapers by the side of the road. I cleaned the shoes of people for less than a pound a time. I was 12 years old but I had to do it to eat because my family was so poor.

Anything can happen in life. You take your car, you drive your car every day in the same road and one day you just have no concentration - accident. That's part of life. It can happen to anybody.

My job is to try do the best for the team, like every other player.

Managers come to clubs bringing players with them and they want to pick them at all costs - whether they are any good or not.

Martin Keown was really competitive but Thierry Henry was similar, he wanted to win every game.

For me, I'm a fighter and I like to play for big clubs because that's where you improve yourself. Every day at training you have to give a hundred per cent to be picked by your manager.

When you do a good tackle, or block, the Kop they really appreciate that and they let you know it.

I'm a professional footballer and, to me, playing regularly is the most important thing; money is secondary.

I won the title with Arsenal in 2004 and it is harder to defend it the following season.

I love the FA Cup.

I've been observing Ramadan during all the years I've been in football. It's very important that you eat well. It's important that you eat the right food because you can gain weight or you can have less food in your body.

It is all about working hard, focusing and doing our job.

In official competitions there are mistakes you don't make or you pay for it dearly.

Kieran Tierney is a lot like Ashley Cole in the way that he bombs up and down the flanks and that he is also so physically strong. He plays every game as well. He is not the tallest but he is a fighter and he is strong. He crosses, gets back and defends. He is a very good player.

There is great respect for Liverpool in the Ivory Coast.

My dream is to win the World Cup with an African team, for my continent.

When I played football I wanted to make people happy. This is the way I am. I can't be someone else.

I have always been the kind of player who tries to help those around me.

I can learn so much from working with Brendan Rodgers, he is a top manager.

Every game is challenging and sometimes things don't go well for you but you need to be able to come back and carry on fighting.

A season is like a marathon and there will be plenty of ups and downs.

I love playing at the same club as my brother.

I was better than certain players at Manchester City but I was left on the bench. Before I left the club, I told the people in charge that they would regret letting me go.

Yaya was much better than Sergio Busquets at Barcelona. But he was behind him in the pecking order and he found that hard to accept. I advised him to come to Manchester City while I was still there.

You need to be honest, even if you hurt people.

You cannot have a place in the team - even if you are an international - if you don't show what you can do in training.

The only thing you can bring players in with is money or, if you are like Arsenal, you wait for your youngsters to come in, but that can take a while.

It's not easy when you have to make a lot of changes.

Sometimes people, not the players, play the game before it's started and that's a problem because there are no small teams in the Premiership.

We are professional players and when we go out we want to play well and win.