Olympiacos beat Atromitos by 2-0 for the Championship’s MD6 in “Georgios Karaiskakis”. Red-and-white’ coach Michel expressed his satisfaction for his players’ performance and also shared the emotions he felt while listening to our fans chanting.
In detail, words by the Spanish coach:
The things we took out of this match:
“We want our side to be competitive, a team where all players have a chance to play. I truly believe we are all focused on the championship; however, this is a club that must respond to challenges in all tournaments we participate and be able to keep a balance”.
On the formations he used and is thoughts ahead of the Qarabag fixture:
“Yes, because I have to think about the matches to come. We have players able to perform in various positions, like Aguibou who can play both in the midfield and the wings. This is an option that will help us a lot. We may have 16 players to select and also choose to change between formations”.
On the presence of Greek players:
“This is an objective that have been evidently applying like in my previous tenure at the club. I have faith in Greek players, Greek football and they are footballers who have the ability to get better. For instance, our goalkeeper”.
On Vrousai and Masouras and the reason why Biel stayed at the bench:
“I think your question lies on the fact we have the luxury of many options and too many alternatives. I am confident that if Biel was capped, you would have asked me about Valbuena. Truth be told, both Masouras and Vrousai seemed to have issues especially early in the match. Then, they both showed how important players they are and they were the key to our 2-0 win0. Masouras performed at a very high tempo despite his many matches played with the National Team. Vrousai is a player with not so many matches played and spent time to properly make his return to action. We saw he got better the more he played. My opinion is far from objective, because I like all my players a lot”.
On El Arabi’s substitution and how soon will Marcelo be capped:
“El Arabi asked to be replaced, because he had an issue and asked out. Marcelo is close to be capped, but he had trained no more than 3 times with the team. We want to protect him. Yesterday, I called him to come to my office to have this chat and he was alarmed he might be in starting eleven. He is a star player, he comes from a top club, but he knows his job really well».
On James and whether he missed the fans of Olympiacos:
“James is recovering from a minor injury he picked during his National Team’s match and, as it is the case with all players, we do not want to lose him because we are in a hurry of having him play. Maybe I didn’t let it show that much so it escaped your attention, but I got moved at the beginning because our fans’ chanting brought me 8 years back. Perhaps, I don’t let it shine, but I feel younger all of a sudden”.
