In his Press Conference after our side’s 1-1 away draw to AEK, team coach Diego Martinez placed emphasis on the fact that Olympiacos were able to respond well with regard to the areas where the squad has displayed weaknesses so far.
Below follows our Spanish coach presser in detail:
Olympiacos was a completely different team after conceding the goal. What was the reason for that?
This has been an intense and tough match for both sides. Opening 20 minutes unfolded exactly the way we expected that to happen, our opponent outperformed us and won all set pieces. I agree that, after the goal we suffered, our side reacted and, until the break, we were far better than at the beginning. Perhaps, we lacked some calmness and composure. In the second half, we made a good start and, all in all, our team tried to perform according to its identity and character. These matches are quite particular and at this very point, we are somehow weak at what AEK is good, i.e., set pieces, yet we managed to respond well. We were able to respond properly and generally speaking we take this 1-1 out of the match. We want to improve ourselves and this is what we will do in the coming matches. This kind of encounters are intense and tough for both teams. In times when we were under pressure, we responded well as a team. It was a balanced match. We had some good moments, so did our opponent. We still have players performing with us for the first time and we faced a fully-built team that. There are things in our gameplay that we have to start improving non-stop.
In the second half, what was the thing that made Olympiacos to perform poorly in terms of creativity? We saw you lots of times asking your lines to be compact and your players to cover up one another. In such a match, do you think the players we subconsciously falling back in defense?
I do not agree with you, there was no such thing in our players’ mind. It is our opponent who also performs and when the level is high, this is normal. We wanted to keep our performance at that level for all 90 minutes but I agree that, at the beginning, ΑΕΚ was good and that our performance then did not last throughout the match. It is not easy to maintain the same rhythm in a match; it is the opponent playing as well, you know. The closing minutes were full of stops and fouls committed. I am extremely proud of my players because AEK’ strong point -and our weakness- is set pieces, but we responded well. We have a squad of new players and it is never easy to maintain one’s quality and intensity at a high level.
After the goal conceded, you looked annoyed by the way your side suffered it; the way the match unfolded, do you think that the draw is a fair result?
I do not like conceding goals, I like scoring goals and winning and football is all about passion. This is the energy and passion I want my team to display and this is something we have done in all our official fixtures so far. Definitely, I wanted my team to win the match and after we scored, we wanted to continue our drive, but we failed. Certainly, we want to have constant quality in our gameplay and earn wins. We didn’t, but these matches provide us with experience to be used later on. We responded well to our weakness and we will certainly keep on working to become better. We always want to win; this time we failed, but we take with us all the experiences that such matches may provide you with.
A comment on Podence’s debut and whether his sub was due to fatigue?
Podence is a footballer who has been with us for less than 2 weeks and has trained 8-9 times, no less than the number of trainings our international have had. His characteristics were absolutely compatible with this encounter, he is a player who knew our opponent and this kind of matches. We needed such a player who knew what he was about to face, and this is why we was capped in the starting lineup. Changes will take place within the season because we will have to “refresh” the team and inject energy to it. We do not want to explain the reasons we change a player every time; these are the reasons.
