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What happens is once you start to understand football, you realise that it's not just about the physical side of the game and chasing after a ball. It's a strategic sport which requires a lot of intelligence. It's a very mental game.

English football is so physical and fast that when you see a space, you have to go into it with all your speed.

No, I didn't quite know to what extent the football might be, but it was quite a bonus for me to try to learn new skills and to keep fit at the same time.

Nobody is that thick-skinned that it doesn't hurt you. Still, you always know what happens in football. I have got used to criticism, I suppose, having been high profile with England and Man U.

There are lots of concerns facing English football but for me the major one is the way in which football clubs are run by owners, whether they are growing organically and sustainably and how that is being policed by the football authorities.

If we had a starting XI that no one could argue about it wouldn't say a lot for English football. We'd probably be on a downward spiral. It's good that people have different ideas about who should play.

English football is really different to football in other countries.

Football is a game of skill, we kicked them a bit and they kicked us a bit.

English football is in a bad way because the foreign players here are so good, so dominant.

When I watched the Premier League on the telly, I didn't expect it to be that hard. The opponents are all physically strong, real athletes. It wasn't like that in Germany. You must be prepared for it. But I prepared myself for it.