Jovanovic: “It makes sense that the demands go up when you are a big team – We have a very good roster”

During the press conference, Ivan Jovanovic spoke about the very good performance of Panathinaikos against Volos and the upcoming rematch against Braga for the Champions League playoffs.

The coach of the “clover” emphasized that when a team is big it is logical that its demands also rise, he focused on the “thirst” and the support of the people while underlining that his team’s roster is very good but also capable of finding solutions, bending each opponent’s resistances.

What the Serbian coach said in detail:

On how important management is and whether the change of venue will affect the team: “We are changing the stadium because OAKA is suitable for us. It is a bigger stadium than Leoforos and can serve the people who want to see us up close. OAKA is not something foreign to us, as Panathinaikos has played very well there. If we are good it doesn’t matter where we play. As for the rotation. It’s largely now because we have back-to-back games. During the championship we will make changes, but it will not be to the extent that it was in today’s game. We have to be prepared for the midweek games. Today, some players had to rest and some others who had not played so many minutes since the beginning of the year had to play.”.

On whether he is happy with the character the team has acquired: “It is something important that you acquire through the difficult challenges you have in front of you. You should be strong in the difficult and not get excited in the successes because of the responsibility we have to the club and to the world. In football there is nothing random, but it is a matter of work. The presence of fans is also important. All this builds the character of the team. Humility, seriousness and consistency must be at their utmost”.

On whether Panathinaikos produces the football he imagined when he came: “Difficult question. You always try to find incentives to give something useful to your footballers. The goal these two years was to return the team to the level of prestige it should be. This is difficult. Two years is a short time and it is not easy to take risks. The team in these two years was burning for results. Some things happened very quickly and that is thanks to my footballers. Demands keep rising, but that’s life in a big team. Life full of responsibilities. It is always important to be within the goals we have set. We can do more things on the pitch in the future.”

On whether Arao – Brown are ready: “Both children are recent acquisitions. They had not played official games since the beginning of the month, but were training with their teams. They are both good footballers. We use them because we won’t have time until the break for them to learn the team. It’s not easy for them either. It will take them some time, but they are both very good and will deliver what we expect.”

On whether the quick goals helped: “In these kinds of games where a team is dangerous in opposition and you will hardly find phases, goals help you. It’s great that we took an early lead and got a second goal quickly. This helped us to make quick changes and proper management, as in three days we have an important game.”

If there’s anything he’d like to add as a team feature: “We are now talking about European games until December, where the pace will be very high compared to the Greek league. This is something we have to experience to understand the needs of the team. Until now we played once a week and could work and rest. Now we will get into the process of playing consecutive games. This will be something unknown for us and we will get some experiences that will help us make some decisions for the future. Through this process that will begin in mid-September and will be completed at the end of December. The real level of Panathinaikos is to fight for titles and play in Europe every year.”

On how difficult it is for a coach to get players to adapt to a new way of playing: “First of all, we have a very good roster. Most of the players who played today were also last year. We have good players. Opponents are now adapting to our game. We must have a solution for the issues that will arise from the opponent’s game. For everything that will happen on the pitch, we should look to find the solutions, in order to take advantage of the opponent’s weaknesses. The truth is that football, as far as the tactical part is concerned, is developing at a rapid speed.”