Bartzokas: “The ‘must’ is intertwined with teams that have demands like Olympiacos”

A very difficult and demanding week at Euroleague level is ahead of him Olympicwith the “red and white” being invited to face Virtus Bologna and Villerban in order, in the fourth devil’s week of the competition.

When the group left “El. Venizelos” for tomorrow’s battle in Italy (19/12, 21:30), the coach of Piraeus, George Bartzokasreferred to the “must haves” of the match, but also to reaction which the team is asked to take out after the defeat by Valencia.

At the same time, knit it eulogy of Virtue and this year’s exceptional presence in the Euroleague, while he also mentioned the many ups and downs that Olympiacos’ attack has from game to game.

Giorgos Bartzokas’ statements in detail:



“I think “must” is intertwined with the teams that have demands and from Olympiakos in particular. Of course there is a “must”, but in every game. And with Valencia there was “must” and our team put in a performance far below the demands we have of ourselves. Below the world’s expectations and of course we paid for it because in every area of ​​the game we were much worse than we should have been. But this always works as a wake-up call, at least for the serious teams, we want to believe that we are a serious team. We have to show a reaction in how we approach the games and these kinds of issues which are very important.

At the moment we are ok, we are healthy, we trained normally, but unfortunately what counts is that we don’t have training. After the game we had a practice where the coach and 3-4 All-Star players were missing. Today we had a full training session where the team is slowly showing that the players who were out are getting into a better rhythm. But the games are continuous and this must be done through the games.”

For Bologna: “Bologna are third at the moment, not by schedule, that is because they had a favorable schedule, but because they deserve it. It is a team whose quality and the way it plays are reflected in its ranking position. I remember that it is the team that was perhaps the most crowded last year towards the end of the standings and the same team this year with a different motivation from the players, with a different understanding, with a different way of playing perhaps, they have reached the point of being very fair at the top . Their home ground is difficult and last year we won very hard there. It’s a team that Mickey is missing at the moment, but Dunston and Sengelia you don’t know who’s ‘5’, who’s ‘4’, they rotate. But in general they have a flow in the way they attack that has a lot of speed, they all play together. Of course, there is also great quality. There are also players like Cordinier who have improved their game tremendously since last year. In general, it’s a team that plays very well.”

On the ups and downs in Olympiakos’ attack: “I don’t like to use it all the time, bring it up, because you asked me I say it. It is not possible for a team, which players come in and out, to have a flow in the way they attack, a homogeneity, to play automatically, it is humanly impossible. A team that has injuries and absences usually does not play well because of this, not because the other players playing are not worthy. Someone who comes to play, to try to get into the game and do things to impose his presence, while he has to slowly let the game come to him. I’m not saying this about anyone in particular, I’m saying it about all players coming off injury. I think this has not allowed us to find a good tempo in how we play offensively. I think we have a lot of talent, hopefully it will show soon.”