The lead for 3rd place in the final standings of this year’s Stoiximan Super League was lost on Wednesday night (15/05) by Panathinaikoswho suffered a heavy away defeat by a score 4-1 from PAOK in Tuba.
Speaking at the press conference, the coach of the “greens”, Fatih Terimreferred to the details that decided the battle of the championship, stressing that everyone within the club must show and remind everyone that Panathinaikos is a great team.
Fatih Terim’s statements in detail:
“A big team like Panathinaikos cannot have 14 years to win the championship. There is definitely a reason on or off the field.
But there is one truth, there is definitely something that we haven’t won the championship for 14 years. It’s a long time.
Wherever you go around the world, if you ask and talk about the Greek league, they will definitely have a lot to say about Panathinaikos, everyone knows him.
And all over the world, Panathinaikos has a place in football. What we need to do is to remind everyone what a great team Panathinaikos is.
But the most important thing is to remember it within Panathinaikos. We must be strong everywhere and therefore we must all move together. As long as we are strong and united as a team, we can react more strongly outside.
First of all, congratulations to PAOK for their victory. No matter how much you have the ball and play, if you can’t be aggressive and better in the final third of the pitch it doesn’t make sense.
Unfortunately we got some results we didn’t deserve. I came here to change some things. We played well in many matches and lost.
We will certainly have a period with transfers that will be very interesting and busy. Right now we want to beat Olympiakos and secure our place in Europe.
And then to get to the Cup final and win it. That’s what we want at the moment.
In football there are also departures and it is very normal. I can say that the way we do transfers will change.”
On what exactly he means by unity: “I say it very simply. It’s all within the team. In order to reach Panathinaikos to the level we want and what it deserves, we must all be together.
Here is the team, the players, the staff, the president, we all have to move together, otherwise we won’t be able to achieve what we want. We should remind everyone what a great team we are, starting from within. Right now we know how to react better. I can tell you the point where I have been most upset.
For example in AEK, regardless of the penalty that we discussed before, we did not play well, I had said in the meeting with the players that if what we want and what we are discussing is done we can get to be first.
If Panathinaikos gets the result they want at halftime, they have to go out on the field and turn the game around and get it. We should have gone ahead in that 45 minutes.
We have to put aside the excuses and accept some things easily. In that 45 minutes we lost the championship. A week ago, 10 days ago, we were the strongest team that had a chance to win both the Cup and the championship. Because if we had played differently this 45 minutes, we would have been very different over here.
For all the Cups in Greece and to be successful in Europe, we will have to improve the team. Mr. Alafuzos and I are working day and night to achieve this.
We as Panathinaikos played two playoffs this year. PAOK, Olympiacos and Aris were a playoff, in the first six matches we got five wins, in the match against PAOK in Athens we deserved more, but I say it again we missed our chances in the 45th minute against AEK. We should have answered louder. If we are united and strong there is nothing we cannot fail.”
For the European position: “Quite simply, the quickest solution after defeats is to win, to fight until the final whistle, you must not leave the game like today, but you must react as a big team. This we can do and we will do it. We have 2 chances for Europe.
One is to beat Olympiakos to secure our position and the other is to beat Aris and win the Cup as well.
We are of course very sad about the match, but we will keep our players out of it to be in a better condition. As I said luck comes after a good plan. If you define your destiny all the way, then your plan will work.
Looking back, I don’t know how many Cups I’ve won. Winning a Cup is something that comes after very serious preparation and after a lot of hard work. And what will make you reach your goal is the mentality.
I have taken teams before in my career in the middle of the season and I have never said that this team is not mine, we have not trained together. I always gave my word for one thing. That we will have a team that will fight until the end and if we lose again they will applaud us, we will make such appearances”.
For the offensive inactivity of Panathinaikos: “For us it was very important that Bernard was injured. It’s a big minus that we didn’t have him. And I don’t need to say how important Fotis is to us.
Nevertheless, we should have made more phases and found more goals. What is important is that there should be no difference between the one who enters and the one who leaves.”
Source: Sport Fm
I am currently a news writer for News Bulletin247 where I mostly cover sports news. I have always been interested in writing and it is something I am very passionate about. In my spare time, I enjoy reading and spending time with my family and friends.
