I felt like I was definitely seeing something - the falsely gorgeous images of war, painted, almost invariably, in 'Times' combat photos.

One of my clearest, happiest memories is of myself at fourteen, sitting up in bed, being handed a large glass of warm buttermilk by my mother because I had a sore throat, and she saying how envious she was that I was reading 'The Catcher in the Rye' for the first time.

Flipping through the channels late at night, I'll come across 'The Longest Yard' and not be able to get up off the couch until Burt Reynolds has scored the winning touchdown.

I'm really interested in the new nonfiction. I think the hyper-digital culture has changed our brains in ways we cannot begin to fathom.

First, you have to play good football so that you get to play for a good team. Then, hopefully, you achieve such a level that you are invited to play for your national side, in time for a World Cup if possible. Then, obviously, play a good World Cup. That's my dream.

If you're an athlete in this game, you have to protect your own interests, and you have to protect your body and your family.

Football is one of those games that definitely relates to life in a lot of ways. Everything can be going good, and just like that, you have a turnover. Things are going south, you're going the opposite direction. How are you going to recover from it? That's the beauty in this game.

That's football, it's our job not just to name the starting XI but during the match as well.