Top 100 Quotes & Sayings by Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain

If I hadn't wanted to become a footballer, Dad wouldn't have made me do it.

Ever since I've been at Arsenal, we've had numerous quality players, and the whole squad had been very strong. It just seemed that in the big games we came up short sometimes, and you wonder why.

Whenever you're playing on the pitch, you have to step up to the plate and perform.

If there's a shot on, I like to take the opportunity as well, and I like passing the ball - which is one of the reasons I came to Arsenal. But I'm a player that likes to come up with an end product - whether that's a goal, an assist, or helping the team to get good results.

Playing in a team like Arsenal helps massively having all of these players around you giving you advice. When they are playing well, you feel comfortable, and it helps you to play well, too.

You have to believe in yourself. If you don't, no one else will.

My senior school didn't play football. It was a rugby and cricket school, and as I was on a sports scholarship, I was forced to play rugby.

It takes time to settle in and learn a new formation and style of play.

Obviously, there's times in your career when people doubt you.

I have been playing for England since I was 18, and while I wouldn't say I took it all for granted, it just seemed to be a part of my season - to play for Arsenal and to play for England.

Sometimes when I play on the wing, I have to remind myself to stay out wide because I tend to naturally drift in towards the ball. I try to get on the ball and make something happen.

There is always room for improvement, and I have always grown up knowing however well I have done, there is always something I could have done better.

When I play out wide and maybe score a goal, that's my favourite position.

You want to play as much as possible, but I am not the type of character to go bursting walls down.

I'd be lying if I said there weren't times when I hadn't lost a little bit of confidence. But the people around me, close to me, were the ones to tell me I'd been playing slightly differently, not as confidently as I had been.

It's important for any player to be versatile enough to be able to play in different positions.

When I played in goal at Stamford Bridge, I realised that's not my best position.

I can take so much from someone like Mo Salah.

It's nice when you know the crowd are on your side. I can only repay them by working my hardest when I do get on and trying to impress them.

I'm so excited to be joining Arsenal. It's a fantastic club, and I'm really looking forward to the opportunity of playing football at the highest level.

I'll handle living on my own. You've got to learn somehow. I'll take it all in my stride like I do everything else.

To be picked for your country at any stage is a massive honour, and to be at a huge tournament likes the Euros is such a bonus.

You have good form, bad form, get criticised, get bigged up. You go through spells of trying to find out how much to listen to, what not to pay too much attention to.

When my dad was still playing, he was away for five years on and off, so it just used to be me and my mum at home until my little brother came along when I was five.

Sticking to a routine helps you get in the zone for the match. I always put my left shinpad on before my right. When I go out onto the pitch, I take three hops on my left leg - but I don't know why I started. I must have seen Messi do it or something.

A lot of people don't see, when we lose and go through tough times, how upset and disappointed we are.

My dad speaks a lot of sense and keeps me grounded. He'll watch me play and, if I've done well, he'll have a quiet word with me and say, 'Well done.' If I've had a not-so-good game, he'll let me know about it.

Throughout your career, you will always be asked to play slightly different positions here and there, and obviously, the needs of the team come first, so if you need to fill in at a different position, you'll be expected to do that.

In the long run, it's probably better to tie yourself down to one position and really become established in one area to be as good as you can in that position.

You can have one good game, but the next one could be a bad one.

I've played so many games of football now, and even though it is at a higher level, at the end of the day, football is football. You are just playing with better players.

When I've watched teams that play with five at the back and wing-backs, I've looked at their starting positions and positions out of possession because that comes a little bit more unnaturally to me.

When you have watched someone long enough, you know what they can do.

All that I can say is that, from my point of view, our manager Arsene Wenger is an unbelievable man off the pitch and as a manager.

You want to play in finals, and they don't come much bigger than the Champions League final.

Obviously, the big teams create the bigger atmosphere around the stadiums.

I've grown up playing in central midfield more, and I think my natural game is about coming inside from wide.

Arsenal are all about nice, intricate passing movements around the box, so if I shoot too much from outside the box without scoring, the boss will have a go at me!

All managers make decisions, and sometimes they are right, and sometimes people say they are wrong.

I remember watching David Beckham scoring that free-kick at Old Trafford to take England to a World Cup. Things like that stick with you. I was at Southsea, waiting to board a hovercraft for the Isle of Wight. We ended up missing it because we were more interested in watching the big screen.

It's a mutual respect, especially a player like Neymar, a player of a similar age to me and someone I've got massive respect for what he's done in world football.

FA Cup or league - we look to win every game.

You see the likes of the Barcelonas and Real Madrids, and you always want to play against them and, obviously, Bayern Munich too.

Obviously, everyone goes in the gym and does the biceps bells and the bench press, but when you're injured, you work on your core, your pelvic floor, your groins, on glutes, and muscles you wouldn't really know about. It does make you a stronger player all round in terms of injury prevention.

Getting stronger and fitter by playing games is only going to help me.

I've had loads of kicks over the years, and I'm not really too fussed about them. I get kicked, and I don't like to roll around or anything. I like to get back up pretty quickly, even if it hurt.

If I've had a bad game, I know I've had a bad game, and I don't mind hearing it.

I am old enough and wise enough and I have been around long enough to know that things will be said - and not nice things a lot of the time. And when you are doing well, nice things will be said.

My dad had a spell when he came out of coaching doing some work with underprivileged children on quite a rough council estate in Southampton to help the kids and take them out to places. I used to go along with him. I used to play football with them, mess about with them. I was only 13 or 14 and became good friends with them.

Arsenal have a great manager in Arsene Wenger, top quality players and an attractive style of play. These were all important factors in me choosing to sign for Arsenal.

I am the type of person who relishes the chance to stand up and perform under pressure; I have had to do that my whole career.

When I play in central midfield, that's my favourite position.

I'm quite confident to take people on - if there's a one against one, I'll definitely take it on if I feel I can get a cross in or set someone up.

To beat City twice is no easy feat.

Clubs will lose great players, and great players will come in.

Versatility is an extra string to a player's bow.

To do well at a new competition, you need a lot of good performances.

At a massive club like Liverpool, people will come and go. It is our job to keep the wheels moving and momentum going.

Everyone in the Premier League feels pressure to get results. It is part of being a footballer.

I am really close to my mum. She always made me do my school and make sure I got all my grades. She is a physiotherapist, which is a massive help to me, so in terms of nutrition, she was the one who made sure I was eating all the right food, and I can only thank her that she kept me fit and healthy.