Ataman: “In every match we make changes to the roster and that hurts us”

THE Panathinaikos he has a difficult task ahead of him, since he is facing away from home with Fenerbahce (17/10, 21:15) for its 3rd matchday Euroleague.

THE Ergin Ataman spoke on the official page of the “green” KAE, and referred to the confrontation with his old… frequent opponent Lanternfor the constant injury problems, but also for the advice he gave to his players ahead of the match in Turkey.

In detail what he said:

“For many years there was a “contrary” with Fenerbahce, that is, with its people, not with the team. But the atmosphere here is great. We are professionals. It’s hard to win on this pitch. I remember what happened in the semi-finals of the playoffs with Will Clyburn’s 3-pointer, which then gave us the title. I have a good record in this field. At times my teams had played very well. It will be a difficult match, Fenerbahce is a good team.”

On the advice he will give his players to cope with this atmosphere: “The most important thing is to be calm and not make mistakes. Mistakes, especially in a difficult away atmosphere, are the worst thing, because you don’t have the chance to play proper defense and you get caught off guard. We must be calm. For sure, Fenerbahce will play an aggressive defense and we have to respond with the same characteristic. In attack I want us to be calm and find the right shots. We’ll see if they come in or not, but I want us not to make mistakes and that will be key for the match.”

On Panathinaikos’ progress and injuries: “Honestly, there is enough ‘noise’. In the preparation we only had the injury of Vildoza in “Pavlos Giannakopoulos” and we were ready. Immediately after that came the injuries of Papapetros and Mitoglou and they cost us, they damaged our rotation. In the last two matches we didn’t have Sluka. Against Bayern, Papapetrou played, but now he is out again. It’s not a good thing, I don’t like it. If we were not a new team it would be easier to find solutions. But, we are a new team, “running” a new system, trying to understand each other. In every match we make changes to the roster and that hurts us. However, there are no excuses. We have a game ahead of us and we have to play good basketball. The season in the Euroleague is long and we should find victories”.