The England manager didn't think I was good enough, and as a professional, you have to take it. Sure, it was disappointing, but all you can do is carry on playing well for your club and hope it changes. Unfortunately, it didn't.

David Silva at Man City was my favourite player to play with; we had a good understanding on the pitch.

I'm never going to be seen as an attacking midfielder who's going to dribble past anyone, create untold chances, and score lots of goals, but going forward is something I've always enjoyed doing.

When I started my career, we were running around water parks and ridiculous things like that. You used to drive in dreading pre-season back then, but now you know it's going to be pretty tough, but it's going to be probably what you need. It's going to be good for you instead of just slogging away.

I played a ton of team sports growing up, and team wins are just incredibly gratifying.

I think life is sort of like a competition, whether it's in sports, or it's achieving in school, or it's achieving good relationships with people. And competition is a little bit of what it's all about.

I played international football for England, and in many games, we were technically inferior to the opposition.

I was so fully involved in football and building a career that I didn't spend nearly enough time with my son when he was growing up.