Rastavac on sportfm.gr: “Every coach wants his team to play this way against the big guys”

Asteras Tripolis got a great victory with an upset for the 16th game of the league against Aris, which consolidated them in the sixth place of the standings. A victory, however, that came with the players depositing their soul on the field and finally getting a very important three points.

THE Juan Miritello scored both goals and Juan Munafo he wrote 3-2, everyone celebrating like little kids.

This great victory was commented and analyzed in sportfm.gr the arcade technician, Milan Rastavac, saying that every coach wants his team to see a performance like yesterday’s.

He also referred to… the ageless Mounafos, whom he described as a leading figure, while he spoke about the goals, but also how he managed to turn around the bad results he had so far Star against the greats in his team’s triumph over Mars.

Everything that Milan Rastavacs said to Anastasia Vosnakis in detail:

You mentioned yesterday that the victory against Aris was the biggest you have won in all the years you have been in Greece. Did you say that because it came with an upset against a big opponent or because of the team’s performance?

“First of all I said that because of our performance. We had balance, but also a lot of aggression in the field, even in marking. I’m more than happy with our performance, even more so with the win we got as we played a tough game against a big opponent. But without this performance we would not have been able to achieve this victory.”

This season Asteras had good performances against the big teams, but in the end they lost with big scores. How did you manage to change the mentality and personality of the team and put in a fantastic performance against Aris?

“First of all, he has to accept that you will take a lot of risk in all the games, let alone in the ones with the big teams. This has led to us losing some higher scoring matches, but we manage to learn and gain experience from certain parts of those matches. Then we got some results in the series against teams of different level. Probably the reason is that we learned from the matches we lost, but we continued with the same way of playing and the same mentality and justified ourselves, gaining more psychology”.

We saw the players not panic about the score in the first fifteen minutes. They got the ball, the defensive line played high and from 30′ to 65′ they put so much pressure on Aris and forced him to make a lot of mistakes…

“We knew from the beginning that Aris had to feel our pressure, because when you don’t pressure the opponent, then you give the footballer the right to have more options and manage the game both when attacking and when defending. That was the only option we had from the moment we found ourselves in this situation, to chase the score so early. Our approach from the first minute would have been that, but we didn’t react well in three phases and that led to us conceding two quick goals.”

Was this a sample of the team you want to see on the field? A team that does not fear the opponent and plays creative football and dominates the match…

“I think all coaches want to see their team play this way. This performance was a sign of the progress we have and our potential, but it came naturally as we are in a period where we have a lot of wins. We have a high morale now, these victories lift you up to perform better and believe in yourself even more”

I want to ask you about Juan Munafo. He is a very experienced player and plays as if he is 20 years old. Is he that important to the team, both on the pitch and in the dressing room?

“Munafo is a very experienced footballer and for me the good partnership we have is also visible in the way he works in the locker room. We had a very good cooperation before, he is a man who understands football very well and he is also that guy who always tries to find the right solution to help the team in every way. He is a leading personality for us”

The team is constantly improving, they play a different style of football and the players you get are good with the ball at their feet. Are you aiming to build a team that between now and the new season will have big ambitions and look higher in the league?

“We want to build a team that will fight for the top spots, so the ideal would be to find the right balance between footballers who are good with the ball at their feet and those who have better athletic qualities. I’m happy because now things are coming out on the field that we’ve been working on for several months and during the season so far. Many footballers have improved, they are in better condition and finding their form.”

How difficult is it for Asteras to compete with teams from the Big-5, who have bigger budgets?

“All teams have their ups and downs. In normal circumstances you can’t beat the big teams, or at least it’s not easy, but on our good day and their bad day, that’s when things get interesting. It’s more about finding the right moment and reading the match correctly, rather than competing against them throughout the season. This is hard. You have to keep your performance high and wait for the right moment to use it.”

What can we expect from Asteras for the rest of the season?

“This is an interesting question, which is not easy for me to answer. Given that we will continue the hard work, we must come to terms with the fact that we must constantly raise the level of our performance. We will see how we will help the new players who will come in this transfer period to the team to adapt. Of course, young guys from our team during this time come out and introduce themselves to Greek football. I believe in the work we are doing and I think it will help us take the next step and go to the next level”.