Olympiacos coach, José Luis Mendilibar, focused on the team’s mentality after taking a 2–0 lead against Levadiakos in the post-match press conference at “G. Karaiskakis” Stadium.
In detail, the experienced coach’s press conference:
What went wrong for Olympiacos to drop points for the fourth time in the league, despite being ahead 2–0?
As you mentioned, we’ve dropped results before, but not like this. We started the game well, scored early, but then the players got the idea that the match was already won, which was a mistake. We allowed our opponents to recover, and that’s partly my fault for not addressing the situation at the right time. The players on the pitch thought it would be easy, but that wasn’t the case.
Does this result affect your upcoming match against Malmö?
Not at all. They are two completely different competitions, and we’re confident we’ll approach the Malmö game with a different mindset, staying more focused. But this isn’t satisfactory – our attention should have been on winning here first, then moving on to Malmö. I’m sure we’ll be fully focused there and will put in a good performance.
It was surprising to see Androutsos included in the squad and even play. What have you seen from him that led you to give him this opportunity?
He’s part of the team and under contract. The circumstances called for his involvement. With Willian and Gelson out, the situation demanded his participation. He was included in the squad, and the flow of the game required him to come on. We needed players on the flanks, and when you’re part of the squad, you need to be ready to play.
Were you concerned by the lack of focus after the 2–0 lead? Also, was Retsos left out for tactical reasons or something else?
As I mentioned earlier, the players thought the game was over. I take responsibility because I reacted too late. If you saw something different on the pitch, feel free to tell me. As for Retsos, during the last training session, he had a slight issue with his leg. He said he was fine, but I take responsibility for leaving him out. He’s played quite a bit so far, and with many more matches ahead, I decided to rest him this time.
