Martinez: “The worst game of my career this against Freiburg”

THE Diego Martinez he did not hide behind excuses about his heavy defeat Olympiakou from Freiburg. Speaking to Cosmote TV, the Spanish coach said that this game was the worst of his career, but noted at the same time that he believes a lot in this team.

At the same time, he argued that everyone knows their mistakes so they don’t make them again, while he cited Rafa Nadal as an example of how difficulties should be avoided.

What he said to Cosmote TV in detail:

About the atmosphere in the team: “It’s been a while and it makes sense after such a bad game, after such a bad score, things are difficult. However, we must very immediately change the “chip” and remember that this team is dominant on the playing fields in the championship. If we didn’t have the penalty we would be first in the standings having the best attack and the best defense. This team needs to recover very quickly and return to its good self.”

On how the “chip” can change ahead of Sunday’s match: “After such a short time it’s never easy to play, but passion is what will drive us. In football as in life there are no perfect recipes, no perfect instructions to follow. What is there is the strength and ability to react and resist the difficult times. One of the greatest Spanish athletes of all time, Rafa Nadal got as far as he did for just that. Because he knows how to resist difficult times and knows how to bounce back after very difficult periods. So I think this is a very important element in a team.

I believe very much in my team. We are a good team and we have shown that we can do very nice things and very good games. What’s left now is to get back to our good selves, and we need to do it quickly. In a total of 20 games we have had two very bad games. We recognize that. We know what our mistakes are, but we also know what our possibilities are. We have to believe in ourselves again and play a good game on Sunday against an opponent who is very strong and who always gives us a hard time at home.”

For the match in Volos: “As far as the game is concerned what he has to give us is to play a good game, not so much in terms of appearance but in finding the strength, focus and connection with our good selves to win confidence as the minutes go by because what is needed above all after such a bad result. We have to start believing in ourselves again. I say again that I believe very much in our team. It is understandable that the team feels insecure at the moment and what is important is that they find their confidence again to play a good game as they have done in the past. Right now things are like in a family where the father and his children are facing some problems. In quotes the coach is the father and the team is his children. And it is in difficult times that the father must support his children because no matter what happens we love them and we must help them move forward. So I’m here to support them, to make them believe in themselves again and remind them how much they are capable of. I have a lot of faith in this team.”

On what he needs to do to prevent such bad games from happening again in the future: “We all know, we have all understood what were the mistakes that we must not repeat. The point is how to find the dynamics so that they don’t happen again when the time comes and you can avoid them. This has to do with everyone’s individual performance, it has to do with team cooperation but also with how the dynamic of a game is. Each game has a separate story. You can start winning, you can lose, anything can happen, but the important thing is that every time you are faced with a difficult moment, you can overcome it. Thursday’s game was really a very bad game and a very bad result. It’s probably the worst of my career in terms of results, but that’s where the brave and the strong are seen. Now is the time to quickly turn the page and show that we can resist. Let’s also show that this team knows how to do good things. You have to look into the future so you can avoid similar moments and believe again that you can repeat your good moments.”