Serelis: “We take one step forward and two steps back – The year is not over for Panathinaikos”

The… mark for tomorrow’s (28/03) match Panathinaikou with Bayern Munich for the 31st matchday of the Euroleague regular season, Christos gave Serelis.

With the “clover” coach making it clear that there is still… a way to go in the season for his team, asking everyone to be alert and referring to the big bet he has in front of him.

“Obviously, we are not at all satisfied as we take one step forward and two steps back. Each time we have to pick up our pieces and our difficulties because the games are continuous. We want to have a continuation of the good performances, which we have not done so far, starting with the match against Bayern. We have to be solid in defense, that’s where we have to start, I keep saying that. Unfortunately, we are not compact in all games. We need to get some energy, get the crowd into the game as we play at home and be able to win the match“, he initially stated.

As for the causes of fluctuations in the performance of Panathinaikos and the fact that this hasn’t changed despite a change of coach? “We have discussed this many times. Obviously some automation is missing from the team both defensively and offensively. The psychology when I came was also at a very low level. What we all need to understand is what I keep saying that even if we get a win or two we haven’t achieved anything at all. It’s still going to be a bad year for the team no matter what we do. There may be an unwarranted relaxation after good performances. Also, even when there are good performances, once the victory does not come we cannot be happySerelis emphasized.

And he went on to say:The year is not over, the year ends at the end of May. It’s something we’ve talked about a lot in the team. We also want to win games because we are Panathinaikos, but at the same time we also want to build a team that will finish the championship as it should and that is the only goal that is still being played for. The question is not how many chances he has to succeed. The thing is, he needs to exhaust whatever possibilities there are and take whatever extra step he can this year. Under no circumstances should any of us on the staff or the players believe that the year is over. This is the biggest bet we have before us».

In question about the if he thinks there is a lack of professionalism from some players of the “clover”, the Greek coach replied: “My opinion is that it is not a question of professionalism because you can be professional but not motivated. If we were talking about professionalism, not one or two but five would have to leave. It’s not a matter of professionalism, I think what we should all understand is that regardless of the team’s progress in the year and the situation, it doesn’t make sense not to exhaust all the possibilities to end the year in the best possible way. It is not a matter of professionalism, it is clearly a matter of motivation and realizing that the season is not over. I tell the kids this all the time… Even when we have played well, but we lose, we may receive the applause of the crowd, but this is because it recognizes the effort. But the world is not happy. We can’t be happy with the crowd’s applause after a performance where we haven’t surrendered our weapons either. An example is the match against Barcelona. The crowd applauded the effort but that can’t be enough for anyone in the team».