Jovanovic: “We conceded enough goals to hope for something better – Everyone gets what they deserve in the end”

THE Panathinaikos gave… the qualification to Maccabi Haifaafter finding himself behind by his mistake, missed a sack of chances to draw 1-1 by falling on -and- Keough and eventually lost 2-1.

After the match, Ivan Jovanovich spoke at the press conference and emphasized that the mistakes of the “greens” in their European matches were many and ultimately cost the team. At the same time, he referred to the biggest, in his opinion, problem of the team in the match against the Israelis, while he explained his choice Lodingin for the basic shape and mentioned next.

In detail what he said:

On whether it is unfair that Panathinaikos was excluded: “I do not know it. It may be unfair to the players because we have put in a lot of effort throughout this period since the Champions League qualifiers, having a competitive presence, but the results are what shape the picture in the end. We too have conceded enough goals in the last four games to hope for something better. In the end everyone gets what they deserve. I feel sorry for the players because we made a big effort but we lacked things to be able to get better results. Trailing by the score in most games, we were constantly trying to turn it around. It’s certainly a shame that we didn’t go through to the next stage, but whether we deserved it or not, the results are what will judge us all. And today’s result was good for Maccabi and not for us.”

From this year’s European presence, what does Panathinaikos learn and what is the management for the next day: “Our goal was to go to the next phase, we believed that. All those games we played in the group, with all the teams in a way it was the details that decided the outcome of the games. There is definitely a lot of disappointment because we wanted to be in Europe in the Spring as well. But we have to learn many things and gain important experiences regarding the problems we may face in the game with quality and experienced teams in Europe and this will definitely work positively for the future of Panathinaikos because it will be European. The experiences from this year’s games will be important for the development of the team and the players.”

For the image of Panathinaikos in the first part and the transformation in the second – And if there is a lack of athleticism: “I will not agree that there is a deficit in athleticism and strength. We’ve never had a problem with any team in European games that we fell behind in strength and athleticism. We may have been behind in some things, but not in runs and power. The big issue in today’s game, during the first half, was the positioning of the players when we didn’t have the ball and because of that the opposition were able to put one more player in the midfield and have a circulation where they forced us to be a bit passive . And secondly the positioning of our own team was wrong and it was not difficult for the opposition to deal with it when we had the ball.

We couldn’t get it going in the first 30 minutes and it wasn’t our style of play. During the second half, our positions on the field were much more correct, the ones they needed to be in order to take advantage of the gaps and therefore we could more comfortably have the ball at our feet and attack a team that was forced to it goes way back to allow us to have the game we have. We should have done it from the beginning of the game. This is what happens in football. For a long period of the first half, quite a long time, we didn’t have what we needed and we seemed to have a little stress. And that was a bigger problem. The biggest problem was when we had the ball.”

For repeated individual errors: “Football is a game of mistakes. I would say that especially in the European games we made small mistakes. Not so much but the opponents took full advantage of it. We always try to learn from them, especially when they are individual, you know, my role is such that I have to support my players because individual mistakes can be made by everyone and the improvement for everyone comes after recognizing them so that you don’t make them again. For me, the most important thing is not to make mistakes in the tactical part that concern the whole team. From then on, we also made mistakes in today’s game that cost us, but it is part of football. They know it themselves, they worry about it, but it is something that is being corrected. Every football player knows it, recognizes it and doesn’t need anything else. I have conscious guys in the team.”

On how much the change of venue in Europe affected and whether Panathinaikos could play longer with two goals in the second half, and also the presence of Juancar: “It was definitely a good experience the two games at OAKA, in terms of the attendance of the people, to know Panathinaikos in its true size. In Leoforo we had a good atmosphere again, I don’t think it played a role. In no way do I think that our return here was something negative for us.

In the second part (for the two forwards and Juancar), Juancar played quite well today. I was satisfied, he did what he had to do and his change was not because of his performance, but because after a long time he has not played, not to risk anything more. About the two strikers, I’m not the coach who usually does that. The way the opponent played, with five players at the back, might have given us an advantage with one more player in the middle and not having the same number of attacks in the second half. I have an exact image of the team I want to have on the pitch. The two attackers at the same time is not something that is our practice, at least in these 2.5 years. In some games yes, but it depends on the game itself, on the opponent and how they fight. I don’t think it’s something that plays a big role in this match.”

On the choice of Lodingin instead of Brignoli: “It is not surprising. In the games he played he was very good. Alberto also had a minor injury that was bothering him from the Rennes game. He had also missed a few training sessions in the last few days, I thought that Lodingin had a little advantage these days and that’s why I chose him.”

And he concluded: “I am not a coach who prepares the team differently for the Europeans than Greece. Everything should be taken with the utmost seriousness. At least until now, we played well after Europe and in the Greek league. But as a team, if we want to always be at our goal, some good things we did in the previous games to maintain and some mistakes we made, may cost us in the Greek championship as well. But we must always be very focused to get the results we want. Today there is a lot of disappointment because it was the first year for all of us that we played European matches. We wanted to give our best, to play in the spring as well and it’s natural and we have to manage this disappointment to find motivation for the games ahead of us.”