Olympiacos coach José Luis Mendilibar in his interview to MEGA TV following the friendly match against Nottingham Forest at “G. Karaiskakis” and the 3-4 defeat, initially commented:
“We tried from the very beginning to have control of the game and impose our own rhythm. But Nottingham Forest showed they were better than us, in better physical condition, and more well-prepared. We also conceded three goals from set-pieces, something that hadn’t happened until now. So, there are things to improve. But in general, our goal is to have control of the game from the start and not in the last minutes like we did with Nottingham Forest”.
When asked about the impact of Yaremchuk and Velde coming into the match and changing Olympiacos’ display, the Basque coach responded: “It wasn’t just the two substitutions we made; we made five changes in total besides Velde and Yaremchuk, who helped. I don’t know if it’s because we were somewhat ‘asleep’ at 1-4, and from that moment on we woke up. But we saw towards the end that we improved and even had the chance to equalize. In general, our goal is to be more dynamic in our play and not fall behind like we did. In our last friendly match, we want to achieve this for the full 90 minutes”.
Regarding the team’s goals for this season, he emphasized: “The first goal this year is, of course, to win the championship because it’s been two years since we last won it, and Olympiacos will be celebrating its 100th anniversary this year, so it’s important to celebrate it as champions. That is the primary goal, but of course, we will do everything for the Cup and a good run in Europe”.
