A Quote by Demba Ba
When I joined Newcastle, at the beginning it was difficult. During pre-season, there was no Ramadan and I also didn't score then. So it's a myth. It was about getting into the team, knowing the players better and how they play. My team-mates also have to understand how I play and move.
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Pep has made me understand the game more: not just how I play but also how the team has to play, because I am just a component.
On a good team there are no superstars. There are great players who show they are great players by being able to play with others as a team. They have the ability to be superstars, but if they fit into a good team, they make sacrifices, they do things necessary to help the team win. What the numbers are in salaries or statistics don't matter; how they play together does.
Although I was good at my studies, I also thought to myself that I should play cricket as well. And when the cricket team that consisted of the boys from our village used to play, I was able to play with the team that had older players.
Pre-season isn't just about conditioning but also getting used to each other as a team and a group of men. You spend more time with these people than you do your own family. Pre-season is the time we get used to each other and work out how people work. It can be a lot of fun. Hard but fun.
I want to thank my team mates in the national team and also at Dortmund. It is their work that helps me to score goals.
The role of a coach is varied. We have many tasks. To be a visionary that always looks a little bit towards the future: How should the team develop? How should it play at a tournament? Of course you also have to be the contact person for the players, where social competence also plays a role.
We're still getting better as a team. We're still learning how to play basketball as a team and how to win tough games.
The players start to recognise your game, start to know how you move, how you pass, how you shoot and the things become difficult now. So now I need to improve more and to work more and understand more the teams who I play against because they will understand me better, but I need to be prepared to understand better the difficulties they can have.
The great thing about [Michael] Jordan was that he made them want it just like he wanted it. And a lot of times like a lot of the basketball players, not to be getting on basketball, but, with a lot of the basketball players you might have one superstar on the team, and they're not willing to play up to par with the way he is, so they don't make it. But then you have some celebrities on the basketball team, and they don't know how to get along with each other!
Football's about the young players, bringing youth team players through to the first team and hopefully getting the best out of them so they can go on to play for their country.
I learnt a lot of things in Holland, as people have great vision there. It improved me as a player and a person. I had very good coaches that wanted to play offensive football and dominate games and be better than their opponent. You also need to play for your team-mates as well as yourself; then, afterwards, you can show your own quality.
I remember when I went to try out for the Olympic team in 1972, Coach Iba told me he didn't care how many points I could score because if I couldn't guard anybody, I wasn't going to make the team. I knew to make the team I had to become a better defender. If you can play offense, you can defend. It just comes down to competitive will.
When you get a chance to play, if you help them win a game, then the team will start believing that the player can also do this for the team. So building that confidence for yourself and the team is very important.
When you're seventeen or eighteen, you bomb on in pre-season immediately, try to impress. But then at the end of pre-season because you were so fast at the beginning, your times aren't getting any better and it looks like you actually aren't getting fitter.
I was a young player at Real, but working with players like Zidane and Beckham every day taught me such a lot: how you win and lose as a team and how you must respect your team-mates.
In every team, there are players that don't seem important, but in the end, they prove to be one of the most important players. These players are quiet but can play in every position. They help the manager and their team-mates and are always available. They fight for every ball.
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