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Some things that started in pre-season and then, you know what, the season gets started, you kind of forget about it and then move on to football, and it's strictly football until the season finishes.
Raheem Sterling
Before I went to Liverpool, I was a striker and then sometimes a No. 8 or No. 10, and my thing was shooting, finishing, and long-distance shots.
A few years ago, I would let it get to me. But now, as long as my mum and my sister and my kids don't have any stress, I'm good.
Growing up, you watch players like Ronaldinho playing in World Cups, doing the business, and you idolise these people.
That's the one thing I don't like hearing, when someone says, 'We'll see what happens, see what happens here, see what happens there.' Forget all of that.
If you want your country to do well as everyone says, bring a positive light to it.
If you've got a fast and strong defender, on the left, I feel like I can give him trouble going down the line, coming inside, or making runs in behind.
I've got a massive opportunity here with a great bunch of players to represent England at a World Cup; that's my biggest focus now.
There's a perception in certain parts of the media that I love 'bling.' I love diamonds. I love to show off. I really don't understand where that comes from.
Footballers need to be aware kids look up to them.
I don't talk about how many cars I'm going to drive, how many houses I've got. I just purely want to be the best I can be.
England is still a place where a naughty boy who comes from nothing can live his dream.
I still remember not scoring against United. You always want to score in the big games.
My mum thinks she knows her football. She'll certainly tell me when I'm not doing something right. At other times, she'll say I'm not listening to her. There's been a few clashes with her.
My mum was working as a cleaner at some hotels to make extra money so she could pay for her degree. I'll never forget waking up at five in the morning before school and helping her clean the toilets at the hotel in Stonebridge.
If I lose the ball, I want to get on it as quickly as possible and make up for it, whereas before, I would hide away and maybe only look for the ball 10 minutes later. I don't want to give the defenders any break.
It's never been about money. I talk about winning trophies throughout my career. That's all I talk about.
Performing for my dad does drive me on. Especially in big games, massive games.
When the time is right I have a laugh and a joke with my friends on a day off, but I have had to make sacrifices, and in that sense it's been a huge step forward, completely different to how it was before. I was 18 when the manager spoke to me. I realised I'm not like any other teenager. I can't be doing stuff any other 18 or 19-year-old was doing.
I just don't like losing, I don't like losing, full stop. Even if it's at FIFA.
It's always an honor to put on an England shirt, but this one is different - it makes you really feel fast; plus, it's light and fits nicely.
When I used to dribble, I'd be on the wing, and I'd control it with the outside of my foot - it slows the ball down.
I would never want the fans to think bad of me, to think I just want as much money for myself.
If you grew up the same way I grew up, don't listen to what certain tabloids want to tell you. They just want to steal your joy. They just want to pull you down.
When I got the ball in the reserves, within two touches I would turn and look to attack my opponent, whereas in the first team, I was trying for the safer option. I needed to go back to basics. I needed to get defenders on the back foot again.
I've come to a point in my career where it doesn't matter if I dribble or nutmeg someone. The only thing that matters is whether I was decisive, did I put the ball in the back of the net today, and did it help the team win.
I am not saying I don't think I'm good, but I'm not the type of player to have an ego or big myself up.
As a young boy - I was 20-21, around that age - I didn't think I was being treated right. It can affect anyone, not just me. It was about how I bounced back, how I had to think and sit down and try to move on. Not let that defeat me.
For a few years, we lived with our grandmother in Kingston, and I remember watching the other kids with their mums and just feeling really jealous. I didn't fully understand what my mum was doing for us. I just knew that she was gone. My grandma was amazing, but everybody wants their mum at that age.
I've just got face: he looks like a brat. The 'I don't like face.' That's how I see it. And I'm not a brat. Sometimes I'm watching a movie, and you see a character and go, 'I don't like him' - that's me.
Everyone's dream, growing up, is seeing themselves in an away kit somewhere in a sunny country. But, in reality, I'm happy to be playing for Liverpool and trying to win trophies.
I've learned how to deal with pressure more. I'm still trying to achieve more in my game and add more to it. I feel like I'm still learning every day, and I want to keep on improving.
Something good happens or something bad, I think, 'What can I do better? What didn't I do this year?'
I just want to be seen as a kid who loves to play football and to do the best for the team.
Obviously, it's disappointing when you put on a shirt and get negative feedback, but at the same time, it's what the fans want to see; they want to see you perform well.
One of my friends, Bruno Andrade, was so quick, he just used to knock the ball past whoever he was playing against, and I thought, 'Why can't I do that?' Until then, I would try to dribble and maybe try a stepover, but Andre would just knock it then - beep, beep - and he was so fast, he would get there first.
I put a lot of pressure on myself to do well and score more, and it will be a matter of time. Once you get back into that rhythm, you will start getting balls that drop to you in positions where it wasn't before. I do have that feeling that it is going to come soon.
A quarter-final won't be good enough at all, because we want to win it.
When it rains, nobody hides inside. You just go out and enjoy it. The other thing I remember is begging my grandmother for money to go and get a grapenut ice cream.
It's something I've always wanted to do: wear the number 10 for England.
A better goals-to-game ratio is the aim for me now. If you score goals, you will get people talking about you.
I'm a person, when something's not going right, I'm looking at myself and seeing how I can improve and what I can do better.
I had a rough year, my first year at Man City, a big club for a big transfer fee. There was a lot of talk, a lot of pressure, and I didn't think I was being spoken about in a fair manner.
I sat down with my agent and went through my youth-team video footage. I saw that when I started, I'd get on the ball and within two touches would turn straight away and look to attack my opponent, but when I got into the first team, I would go for the safer option.
Thank God I had football. I remember when it used to rain, all the kids would run outside and play football in the puddles, just splashing around, having the best time.
I don't want to be perceived as the money-grabbing 20-year-old; I just want to be perceived as the kid who loves to play football.
I don't want to be the one that says Liverpool can go on and win the league. But there's a real belief and togetherness in the squad; we're all working for each other. We all know what the dream is at the end of it.
I'm sorry to say it, but we have to be more arrogant and more streetwise because we are coming up against some great teams who have that streetwise mentality. They bring their play into it: you do what you have to do to win a game. Simple as that. Be streetwise and clever.
Goals can help lift me to be one of the best two or three in the world, most definitely. You score the goal that wins the football match five, six, seven times a season: you are one of the best in the world. And that's what I need to do. I need to keep being consistent.
I just want to take the time to think about what I've achieved in my career so far, where I need to go, and what I need to do to get better as a player.
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