sleeve and his hair in his eyes, throwing himself about the pitch and launching wholeheartedly into kamikaze tackles like a hyperactive, lunatic kid." Club fans referred to him as "The Wall". Puyol was also known for his leadership and work ethic. He often continued training alone after the end of a team practice session or on days off. He said in 2010, "I don't have Romário's technique, [Marc] Overmars' pace or [Patrick] Kluivert's strength. But I work harder than the others. I'm like the student who is not as clever, but revises for his exams and does OK in the end." Although his positioning, leadership and ability to organise his defence were initially cited as weaknesses early on in his career, he worked to improve on these aspects of his game throughout his time with Barcelona. Indeed, Miguel Ángel Nadal, who played with him for a short period of time, later said, "Carles plays with maturity, has great positional sense, and above all, has pride in his shirt." A physical yet fair player, he was also known for his anticipation, strength, aggression, determination, discipline, intelligence and concentration as a defender, as well as his man-marking skills and ability to organise his defence; he also excelled in one on one situations. Fellow defender Gerard Piqué said: "He's someone who, even if you're winning 3–0 and there's a few seconds left in the game will shout at the top of his voice at you if he thinks your concentration is going." A former team-mate said, "Even four goals down he thinks we can still win", and another described him as "a pain in the arse" but added "that's exactly what we need". Although Puyol was predominantly known for his defensive skills, and albeit not being as talented or naturally gifted as other players who also came out of Barcelona's youth system, he possessed solid technique, and was also known for his composure on the ball as well as his passing ability, despite tending to favour safer or simpler passes rather than riskier ones when playing out from the back. As such, throughout his career, he was often deployed alongside a ball-playing centre-back such as Piqué; together, they formed an effective central-defensive partnership, both with Barcelona and Spain, with the former's physical defending complementing the latter's more elegant playing style. In his youth, Puyol was also known to be a quick and energetic