We are evenly matched with the All Blacks but if you are not quite on your game, they are the best in the world at taking opportunities,

Everybody knows that we are a better team than that,

She was a nice lady. She’d come around and wonder how your day was going.

We haven’t played well for a full 90 minutes for a while now, the last game (against Austria) was a step in the right direction until David was sent off. We need a good performance...

I will see at least a month of the Premiership season, as well as the World Cup.

The president understood and said he would help me achieve this,

The longer my career has gone, the more I seem to score, … It’s experience and age and knowing where the ball’s going to be.

If the manager gets stick it’s due in no small part to the players. We didn’t perform well enough.

They probably should have never released him. I know there are certain laws, but if he’s not good for society, he shouldn’t be in society.

I played with him once before for England in America, and he played really well, … He’s fantastic on the ground but he’s obviously really tall and can pose problems to everyone’s defense.

One thing I will guarantee you is goals.

I’m confident in my position in the team and my value to the team from recent and past performances,

But we have all grown up in the Premiership and we always used to talk about that while we were in Spain.

It’s exciting coming back into work, it’s always a good laugh. I enjoyed my time at Real Madrid, but it’s nothing like coming into a dressing room where you understand all the jokes and everything...

That’s life. All I can do is look to the future with Newcastle and hope to do really well in this black and white shirt.

The (Madrid) president understood and said he would try to help me achieve this, … If the transfer cannot be finalized in time I have agreed to go to Newcastle United, but only on a...

The whole occasion, it should be great, … Even the lads in the England squad were saying ‘I bet you can’t wait for Saturday, what an atmosphere, and what a game it should be’ and...

The doctors seem happy with how the bone in my foot is healing and although it is too early to be making accurate forecasts, I hope to be back for at least a month of...

We’ll go there with a squad that, apart from Brazil, I’m sure is not bettered.

It is a different Premiership I have come back to. Early indications are that there have not been so many goals, there is not much attacking and it is [more] difficult to score.

Often the biggest test is when the chips are down and you’ve got to stick together, … That’s how we felt after the game.

I’ve been training since Monday and it has been really good, much better than I thought. I was worried that I would have a bit of pain the more I played, but it has been...

I was as frustrated as anyone else,

The England manager has never put any pressure on me, … OK, it is a World Cup year and it is nice to be playing and playing in England, but if it was not a...

David Beckham and Jonathan Woodgate were trying to persuade me to stay at Real, but in the end I had to come home.

That’s the way football is. There’s no point getting too low. If we don’t qualify for Germany then OK, but we’re still in a good position. We’ve got two games to send us through, so...

I wasn’t aware that five was the record and that’s a fantastic feat – I’ve scored four goals a couple of times before, but I don’t remember ever scoring five in a game.

It’s where I really wanted to be,

The president understood and said he would try to help me achieve this, … If the transfer cannot be finalized in time I have agreed to go to Newcastle United, but only on a one-year...

No-one sees me as captain of the team.

My recovery is going well.

I would not settle for getting knocked out in the last four,

There’s been a lot written in the press over the last week, and I’ve been as honest as possible for everyone, but also actions speak louder than words. I’m here and I’ve signed a four-year...

I have to admit that I was a bit down when the surgeon rang last week to say that he was advising me to go back into hospital.

With a muscle I suppose you can go at half-pace to protect it but with a bone it’s either not healed or it’s okay, so on the first day I was doing sliding tackles and...

It bothers me when I don’t score,

The one thing I can guarantee is goals. I have never seen anything like this, even at Real Madrid. I hope the fans will be watching me for four years. I want to win a...