His annoyance at a reporter’s question about who one would consider a pioneer based on 0-0 between Olympiacos and Panathinaikos expressed the Ivan Jovanovich, at the press conference after the derby of “G. Karaiskakis”.
The Serb wondered “why are you asking me this question”with the communication manager of the “trefoil”, Nikolas Vasilaras, intervening saying how “he mentions it probably because Olympiacos is third”.
The coach of the “greens” finally responded by saying: “Don’t underestimate my team, it’s not right. I have not shown disrespect by my behavior. And when we were at +12 in the standings, I was again saying how good the other teams are and how competitive. Don’t watch today’s game and ask me these questions.
You have to see the whole picture. We are in the 24th matchday and from the beginning until today we are at the top. Not because someone gives us something. But because we deserve it and rightly we are here. We are a team that will try to win the championship.
Your question is offensive. You are only referring to one game. The championship is not only Panathinaikos-Olympiakos. Neither I nor my team deserve this question.”
The rest he mentioned in detail in the press interview:
The game, the image of his players and the fact that they were delayed: “In the first place, if I were you, I would never ask such a question to the coach of the opposing team. You see Panathinaikos one year and our goal is not to make delays and not even to defend. I would not make such a statement. And it can happen in the game especially if our opponent is the best and forces us to play conservatively and protect our home. I am satisfied with the level of the tie and based on the image of the match. Olympiacos was better than us on the pitch.
He had more energy than us. He was stronger and won many duels. He imposed a pace on the pitch which created a lot of problems for us and our positioning. We couldn’t open our game the way we wanted. If we exclude the second half when the lines opened up a bit, the game went at the pace it was going and we were in danger. We didn’t make any delays on purpose. We have no reason to do that because we know we have 12 games left. It’s lost points for both of them. The score leaves us satisfied.”
What he would like to see most and what he hasn’t lost from Olympiakos: “As a team, we certainly didn’t have the image we wanted. We should have controlled the pace and that didn’t happen, either because of the pressure that Olympiacos put on us, or because of the starting position of my players. We didn’t have enough options to move the ball around. We couldn’t do what is our style. It is a natural consequence that Olympiacos will take advantage of all this and transfer the pressure to our home. We were playing the ball backwards and that was basically the main reason Olympiacos had control of the game. If we exclude a part of the second half when the game became anarchic, we could not threaten the home of Olympiakos. As for the second question, it’s not something I think about. they are two very big teams and these games are special for both of them. I’m interested in improving as the end of the league approaches. We can learn a lot from this game.”
What Panathinaikos will need next: “What will the others need when they play with us. The championship is very interesting. There are four big teams going for the championship. At least three say they are going and one is not going. Every team had their good and bad times. All three teams won championships. We claim it this year. These games are very useful for us.”
Source: Sport Fm
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