What happened and Olympiacos were disqualified and how do you intend to fix the errors in defence?
“The qualification was determined in the first leg in Kiev and thus we did not manage to have a good start there. Things were completely different in the second leg today. We kicked off the match passionately, strongly and determinedly and proved our will to turn things in our favour. We scored the goal and proved we are in a good condition. When we conceded the goal, the players were subconsciously thinking that they needed three more goals and as a result were disappointed and dispirited. The display of the players was completely different today in comparison to the first leg, but it was not enough to make any real difference regarding the qualification. As regards the mistakes, I have said many times that the only way to fix our mistakes is to work on them. From my first day in Olympiacos, I only had 1.5 week at my disposal to work with the players. From now on we will have more time, we will do completely different things in the training sessions, we will try to work on our mistakes and to improve our display at all levels. I wish to continue with my analysis.
In the first match, no side played quality football. It was a mediocre game. Despite the fact that we did not play quality football there, we conceded the two goals and had the opportunity to try and achieve a better outcome. We were refused a clear penalty in the last minutes that was not given to us and we also had a goal cancelled. Things would have been completely different had it not been for these two refereeing decisions. Today we showed character in our play, made a strong start, could have scored two or three additional goals in the first half, played more dynamically and showed more character and desire. In the second half, despite our player being sent off, one would expect to see a side that would give up, however this did not happen. We believed in it, we believed we could score a second goal and we made it happen. However, we then conceded one more goal.
We are very disappointed and what we wish to say is that in this match, as well as in the first leg, we question the referee’s decisions. I have doubts regarding Dnipro’s first goal; I can also understand the disappointment of the fans at the end of the match, I understand that the team need to be able to show more character and have a better performance. Indeed, the fans and the journalists should today acknowledge that the two matches are completely different.”
When Olympiacos concede a goal, the players appear to collapse. How do you explain this?
“I agree with you and I do not have a problem admitting that the team becomes emotionally unbalanced when something bad happens on the pitch. We were disappointed following the goal we conceded and this is an indication of emotional immaturity. We cannot maintain a steady psychology, regardless of how the match evolves. This is something linked to the Greek mentality because we show our feelings in an excessive way. Right now, I feel saddened because we exit the UEFA Europa League which was one of our targets, but I know that in order to be able to continue playing in European competitions, we will need to achieve an emotional balance. We need to learn how to be strong and to manage the game calmly and to not be affected by its course. I wish to repeat once more that we need time in order to fix the mistakes. We will work a lot in the future on the team in order to become stronger in our European outings. We want to continue with the championship and the Greek cup and we will work as much as possible in order to improve our mistakes.”
