Simon Mignolet

I've always been clear: I want to play.

There seemed to be a feeling that switching from the Belgian league to the Premier League was too big a step and therefore too big a risk. It needed a few players to prove otherwise then it paved the way for others.

It's only natural that players will want to show a new manager what he can do.

You want to play in the big games, you want to play for a big club and to play with pressure.

To be the first Belgian to play for Liverpool is a big thing.

A lot of people who were studying with me turned out to be journalists or worked in big institutions.

I don't agree that there are big teams and small teams in the Premier League. There are just a lot of good teams.

Everyone remembers the shot you couldn't stop.

When I started playing, my parents told me to go to university. They just said choose wisely and find something you can combine with training.

You just have to learn to live with the criticism even if it is unfair. It is a fact of life.

A goalkeeper's biggest attribute is to bounce back. If you have support from fans, backroom staff and team-mates to play the next game, it is easy.

I have always said that a striker scores a goal but not every goal is scored by a striker. A goalkeeper can make a mistake which is a goal, but every goal still goes past him and you have to accept that.

Whether I'm No.2 or No.3 doesn't matter. Playing time is the most important thing.

You want to play, you don't want to be on the bench, I'm no different to anyone else in that regard.

I always try to stay quiet and calm.

I understand how people who don't play stop doing their work. That is why I push myself every day.

As a goalkeeper, you learn from the guys you work with.

Liverpool stands for unity, Liverpool stands for 'all together.'

I just play my game the best I can and if the team needs my help I'll try to do it.

Everyone deals with criticism in a different way. Some guys read it, some guys don't really listen to it, some guys try to stay away from it, some guys get angry about it.

I've said all along I don't want to be a number two goalkeeper.

It's never nice to sit on the bench. Everybody knows it is not what you want as a professional footballer but it's about responding and coming back.

When you are 30 years old, you want to play football.

I don't like sitting on the bench because I get more nervous there than when I am playing!

I can't say to the gaffer 'well I haven't played for three months, I'm not ready!' That doesn't work. I have to work as I would, or even harder probably in training so that if anything happens I am 100 per cent ready to come in.

I have to keep doing my job every single week in, week out.

Sometimes you learn more when you get beat 4-0 than in games you won.

Every single game you play you learn as a keeper and become a better keeper.

Organising the defence is something that is very important and I try to do my best every single day in training to make sure the lads get the information they need.

You always try to take the positives and negatives out of the game.

You always look for certain things you can do better and what went wrong.

I can only do my best, work hard, be positive and confident and I believe in myself. That is the only thing I can do.

We are all football players and we are here to do our best. You want to work hard in training and we will see what happens at a weekend.

Well, the only pressure is what you put yourself under.

I always want to play. But it is about making sure you stay ready.

At a club like Liverpool, it is normal there is going to be competition for every single place.

If you are fighting at the top in the Premier League then you cannot do that with a dodgy goalkeeper. It is not possible.

Unfortunately, it's a part of football that you have to accept the decision of the manager when you're not playing, no matter how difficult it might be.

I am not a character who gets carried away with good or bad performances and I won't get carried away by bigger or lesser critics. It's the same when you get praise. You can't get carried away with that.

Yes, obviously goalkeepers do the same training sessions and know about things - they are the only ones who can speak about being a goalkeeper because they have done the job and experienced it and know what it is like to make an error and be criticised.

Especially as a goalkeeper, when you are closed down, you have to make a decision in a split second, and sometimes it is better to make the wrong one rather than wait and see what's happening.

There are always people you can turn to for help and advice. Former coaches, people I used to play with in Belgium and in England. It is good to have people you can look to for support, but in the end you are out on the pitch on your own and you have to come through it for yourself.

When I was younger I would play in front of crowds as small as 500 in the second division in Belgium, so I know what that's like. It might be easier in terms of pressure, but believe me, I would always prefer to be at a packed Anfield playing against Manchester United. That's why you want to become a footballer.

Playing in front of a crowd is something you learn. You accept it and then you start to relish it.

You score goals as a team and you concede them as a team.

After every game I analyse my performance with the goalkeeping coach in a very critical manner. There is certain criticism you will take on board and other things that do not affect you. You cannot look too far into that because it can destruct you in a certain way.

I am my own biggest critic.

I have always tended to over-think things and that had come into my game. That's good in certain moments but not when you have to make a quick decision.

I am not the sort of person who will wake up and go and buy myself a Ferrari.

Hairbond is a high quality product that I have been using for quite some time now and I am very happy to represent Hairbond product range in the future as their brand ambassador.