On choosing gym or beer and contracting illness: "I honestly didn't really care. It didn't matter to me if someone here thought I was doing things differently, doing too much, or that I shouldn't be doing it because I needed to feel more part of the team. I feel the same way now in England.
"You can never please everyone, and it's important to do things in a way that makes you happy, helps you feel good and makes sense to you.
"It was during a period when I had played two matches for Pardubice, received a red card, then contracted mononucleosis and was out for three months.
"I knew I had six months to get to the level I am at now. When I had two options in front of me - going out for a beer in the evening or going to the gym and then training the next day - it was an easy decision for me.
"Everyone can do what they want; it's not for me to judge whether someone drank 10 beers or went to work out. When you step on to the pitch, it's about winning. And I know I can contribute more to that by training than by doing anything else."
On why hard work on the pitch is not enough: "When things are going well and you're succeeding, it's not difficult. Everyone is in a good mood and everything is fine. But when that isn't the case, you have to learn how to deal with it.
"Of course, there is a basic standard of things I have to do. I have to train and approach preparation properly. But it's also about progressing as a person and being a good human being.
"Sporting progress goes hand in hand with personal growth. Education, working on yourself away from the pitch - those things play a big role, and I feel they are what ultimately produce the greatest rewards."
On seeking inspiration outside football: "It started when I was younger. I wanted to be a goalkeeper, I saw my dad and I really enjoyed it. But over time I started following successful people in all kinds of fields - sport, business or completely different areas.
"I watched what they did to become successful. I listened to various speakers and read books by coaches, psychologists and entrepreneurs... And the fundamentals of these things are usually very similar. The key for me was to take them and apply them to what I do on the pitch."
On the Premier League: "The difference compared with the Czech Republic is absolutely everything. The quality of the players, the league's viewing figures, the conditions at the individual clubs, their financial resources... There are so many things.
"I'm not saying it to praise England and criticise the Czech Republic; I'm simply describing things as they are. And that difference should be there. If the Premier League is currently the best league in the world, then that has to be evident. That's how I saw it from the first day I arrived."
On Tottenham's facilities: "I was incredibly grateful that, all of a sudden, I had all the conditions I needed for training and reaching the highest level in one place. Until then, I had had to find all those things myself.
"The difference was that, as an 18-year-old in the Czech Republic, I would travel all over Prague to fit in training, the gym, recovery and everything else. At Tottenham, you arrive and it's all in one place.
"Great pitches, staff, quality and huge intensity. It was a challenge I accepted straight away and was glad to take on."
On initially planning to move to Germany: "Paradoxically, when I was younger I used to write down my goals, but I never had England on the list as my first step abroad. Germany was on there because the goalkeepers before me had gone there.
"I was preparing for that route at school too, learning German and doing everything I could. In the end it didn't work out, but I'm glad it didn't."
On being a midfielder in goal: "A few times in training they've told me I'm not a goalkeeper but a midfielder. I like it; I enjoy that style and it suits me. I enjoy it because not every club plays that way, and elsewhere the goalkeeper doesn't get as much of the ball.
"But the coach wouldn't forgive me if I tried to create something that wasn't needed or wasn't the point at that moment. If a pass or touch doesn't come off but the decision to play that way was the right one, that happens to everyone at every level.
"But I have to remember that I'm a goalkeeper. I'm not there to see whether some risky pass will come off, but to make sure the build-up play works perfectly."
On learning Spanish playing style: "When I was younger, we did some height projections and they put me at around 190 centimetres. So my dad and I trained in a way that suited the Spanish style more, built around speed, footwork, movement and agility.
"My dad guided me in that, even though I never had a Spanish coach - unless you count my dad in a Spanish disguise. Now I have goalkeeper coach Ruben Martinez with the national team, and I have to say I really enjoy those sessions because they match exactly what I was taught from an early age."
On his debut against Spain: "I really wanted to play against Spain from the moment we were drawn in the Nations League group. I thought, 'That's exactly the kind of match I would love to play.'
"I found out I would be starting three days before kick-off and I was absolutely delighted. I believe moments like that aren't down to chance or luck.
"You attract them through the way you live, train and think. Unfortunately, we didn't get the result in that match, but we weren't far off."