Jovanovic: “My stay at Panathinaikos is worth every minute”

THE Ivan Jovanovich spoke at the press conference after Panathinaikos’ 0-0 draw with Maccabi Haifa.

The Serbian coach referred to several things, including his presence on the “clover” bench, completing 100 matches.

His statements in detail:

On whether the team came for the draw here: “It wasn’t the result we wanted. We didn’t play for the draw. That was not our goal. Maccabi won second balls, some duels and generally the game was anarchic. The result was fair, but we are not satisfied. It wasn’t what we wanted.”

On whether I was surprised by Maccabi’s many changes: “It is not something that concerns me, as Maccabi is a team with a large and quality roster. It is a team that knows what it wants on the pitch. Regardless of the starting players. It’s a very good team.”

On the changes he makes in the midfielders and what is the reason: “It’s a lot of things. I have good players and I can do enough things. Depending on the game and depending on the charges. It’s something we do and will continue to do.”

On whether he thinks it was a missed opportunity today because it came the way the rest of the group matches did: “It’s a European game. We played in an amazing venue and against a good team. The fact that we are now first does not say much, as we have 4 important games to play. We have years to play European games and every such match we play is a special experience. That is why there are results that no one can predict. It’s a European match and anything can happen.”

When asked if he thinks his team didn’t come down to win today: “It’s quite easy to judge a result and a game. You have to know that we were coming off a streak of important games. There was a lot of fatigue in the team combined with absences of important players. One reason we couldn’t keep a very good pace was that.”



On what impression these 100 games leave on him: “Look. Panathinaikos is a very big team. I wanted to be present in the recovery process of a team. We are in a very good situation. I enjoy the moments I spend with my players and my partners. My stay at Panathinaikos was worth every minute and we must say thank you to the people who believed in this vision. Of course also in the administration. Demands and responsibilities are constantly increasing and I want to be worthy of them. Either the people I work with or our fans.”

For the fact that the team played better in the last 15 minutes: “The game was lawless. The end game was ours. In the phases towards the end of the match we should have had better options. In the last 15 minutes we lacked the final effort and the pass that would have led us to a better phase”.

On how difficult the upcoming match against Atromito is: “It will be difficult for us. The truth is that he was placed in a difficult period. After a long journey to play a game three days later. It’s a headache for us. We will try to rest as much as possible.”

On whether he expected to play deep balls and have so many turnovers: “It was something that happened during the game and it was not something that characterized Maccabi. This whole style involves a lot of dueling. It requires a lot of movement of our defense. There is also the most difficult part as the same players are playing. We could find venues, but we didn’t have good options. I think that through this match the guys who were in defense had a big burden”.



On the performance of both Bernard and Brignoli: “They both had a good game, but as a coach I avoid talking about specific players as it is unfair. Others tried too.”