Daniel Sturridge
I grew up in Hockley, Birmingham. It was an environment I'll never forget in terms of playing football on local pitches, kicking a ball around in the front garden and all over the house. It was a positive place to live, and somewhere, that gave me the right grounding for where I am today.Collection: Positive
I'm an open book. I speak to people all the time and generally have a smile on my face. I'm true to who I am, so you can never always smile and be happy.Collection: Smile
My mum, she loves a bargain hunt. You can't buy her anything expensive. I remember I bought her a diamond bracelet for her birthday. I was being a nice son! She told me to take it back.Collection: Birthday
I treat everyone with the same respect they treat me with. Just because I earn more money doesn't make me more special than them or give me the right to talk to them in a certain manner.
I can only show these people what I'm capable of when God allows me to be on the pitch.
People will want to say this or that about you, but take it with a pinch of salt.
I'd be the best player on the day because I believe in myself and my abilities.
I have total faith in my abilities, total faith in what I can do on the pitch, and I just have to focus on that, on my game, and help the team be successful, and I have no worries.
I think Kanye West is - people don't give him the credit he deserves for what he has brought to our generation.
With grooming, less is more. I like to smell good, so will use a fragrance like Boss Bottled. I don't overdo it, but I moisturise daily, too.
I'm a very humble and normal person, and I just go out there and do the job the best that I can do it.
I loved drama class at school. I never took it seriously, as I was playing football. But maybe when I retire, I'll have a dabble.
It's difficult, the synergy between Drake and our generation - my generation, anyway - in the sense that his music is vulnerable, he's very open, and you can connect to it. Like 'Started From The Bottom,' for instance. Not many people would have thought about that, even though it is a simple song.
My job is to go on the pitch and put my best foot forward.
It's good to have a game like 'Call Of Duty' because it's really competitive, and everybody wants to be the best at it.
For me, personally, I think the serious gamers - the guys who know the levels - play Xbox, and people who are just good at the game play PS3. I play PS3 because I'm not a serious, serious gamer like that. But when I play the Xbox, the standard is so much higher.
I'd say Jordan Henderson's got some good clothes. I call Stevie G 'James Bond' because he looks good in everything, and he's got the lot. I called him James Bond at the weekend, and I don't think he liked it, but that's what I'm calling him! Martin Skrtel's got some good clobber as well.
There was a shop in Birmingham called Autographs, where I'm from in Birmingham. My uncles and dad used to shop there. They played professionally, too. When I started, I went to Autograph, and they had brands like Rick Owens. There are loads of brands, like my go-to brands that I will go to if I want to buy jeans, like DSquared or Balmain.
In fashion, you express yourself however you want. You express your personality.
I always pray. I'm quite religious. I've had the beads since I can remember.
At the World Cup, I carried my mum's Caribbean sauce around with me. She makes her own, and I brought it to Brazil - I needed to have it there. We're very down-to-earth; it's the nature of my family. We came from nothing.
If I score a goal in training, it feels great. But in a stadium, especially Anfield, or even when you score away and the fans are silent, it's just amazing. You are just in the moment. There are times when I've scored, and I can't even remember what happened. It's so good.
As a young player, I think it's important to have people who talk to you.
It's easy to become complacent when you are earning decent money as a young player. It's important to understand that there is a lot to achieve, and there is a long way to go before you are where you actually want to be.
Everybody judges a book by its cover. I can look at 50 books and say every one of those books is bad. Then you read one, and you can say, 'This book is amazing.' That's the same with meeting people.
When you've got money to spend, it's very easy to buy someone worth £50m rather than say, 'I'm going to play this 20-year-old English player.' It's easier to buy someone when you have the money to do it. But at the same time, if you give somebody an opportunity, you never know. You can only roll the dice and see how they perform.
I think it's important to play. I don't think the manager needs to give you a confidence booster and say, 'You're my main man; you're the best.' Everyone wants to play.
You always watch Match of the Day and think to yourself, 'I think I could've scored that chance.' But when you're young, you always want to play. For me, it's not about someone saying, 'We want you to play every game.' It's about being given the opportunity. That's more important.
There is always something new. But to be honest, if I was to score a goal in a World Cup, I don't know what I would do.
My parents were very protective of me. Hockley had some crime, so my mum didn't want me out there, and my dad was the same. I would have to be in at a certain time, as there was a lot of violence surrounding our area.
My family prayed a lot, but we didn't really go to church. On Sunday, my mum and dad used to always tell me to read the Bible. That was important for me growing up, and I still do that every morning. It's something that is part of my routine, and I do it every day, whether it's a normal game or a big one.
My dad was a professional footballer before I was alive. When I was growing up, he was the one who coached and mentored me and helped me to become what I am today. Without his coaching and without his insight and the days and the hours that he put in with me, I wouldn't be the player that I am today.
It's important to be courteous; it has to be. I was raised very well by my parents, so it's about being polite and courteous.
Everyone is entitled to their opinions, and I feel like everyone judges people: regardless of whether they know someone or not, they have an opinion based on the persona of the person. I guess you can only have a real opinion of who they are as a person once you meet someone.
I don't really like to pay attention too much to what is being said about me, only because the people closest to me - my parents, family, and friends - know me best. So I feel like their opinions mean more to me than anyone else's.
I have always been confident in my abilities, always had my faith in God, always expressed myself, but when you are a young player, sometimes you get misunderstood.
For me, that was a defining moment in my career, being at Chelsea, going through what has made me become a man in terms of my career. Even playing on the right wing helped my right foot, making me use it more, making me improve.
As a youngster, that's how it was: you tried to express yourself out on the pitch as much as you can. Maybe I stopped trying things when I got into the first team, but now I'm more comfortable and doing things off the cuff again.
In the past, I'd felt I didn't want to try something because I might get shot down for it. I'd tried it with England, and the goalkeeper - I think it was against Poland - saved it. This time, it came off.
I watch the goals to get me in the mood and to give myself a vision of how I want the game to go.
A lot of players are straight-faced and serious; some are the opposite. It's like that until about 10 minutes before kick-off and I am in the zone. Then there is no more joking about.
When Liverpool came in, it was one of those situations that I just wanted to get up the M6 as quick as possible, sign on the dotted line, and get to work.
Some players respond to shouting; some don't. Everyone is different, and that is one of a manager's strengths to understand that some don't respond to that.
I think the stereotype about footballers being badly dressed is unfair.
There is an expectation that if you do sport, any sport, you should never have a life outside that. People expect you to just train, play, train. But that's not me.
Every man needs a good pair of jeans. It's the ultimate wardrobe staple because most of us wear them more than anything else.
As a footballer, you're stuck in a uniform - either in team kit or a team suit. I don't really get to show my personality in my job, so style is a chance to show people part of me they don't often see.
I'm drawn to black clothes. I say I'm inspired by the wrestler The Undertaker because there's something about wearing black that makes me feel confident and classy. It isn't to try and make me look slim!
My dad's view about coaching was that you have to express yourself. When I was young at academies, I wasn't allowed to do that.
They wanted to play me central midfield when I was at Aston Villa, so that's why we left. Things were going good at Coventry, but then scouts from Manchester United and different clubs around England were watching me, and I don't think Coventry liked that.