Manolopoulos: “Some played together without knowing each other”

May the presence players of Olympiacos and Panathinaikos to enhance its quality National Team in this window of the World Cup qualifiers, but also created difficulties in creating the required coherence, as stressed by Sotiris Manolopoulos on the EEC website. The federal coach after the difficult victory in Liosia (72-71) expects even greater difficulty in Monday’s game at “Sinan Erdem” in Istanbul. The interview in detail:

-Even for a pleasant reason, that is, the strengthening of the team with players from Euroleague teams, the experience has already passed into the… unforgettable of your career?

“Without a second thought, everything that has happened is a great experience. A coach prepares a team, he has seen it on the field, he has made his plans, he has tried them, he has seen what works, what does not work. We did not have that luxury. We did a lot of preparation to choose what we should play and in the attack where we had to find the systems, common to all and even if there were signals common that is not the easiest, but as simple as we could play a basketball that will fit even in… spoken. In some papers that we sent to the children in the e-mails and in the defense, of course, we should find some common principles that everyone has and I am not talking only about Olympiakos and Panathinaikos. A lot of preparation was done, with my colleagues, we have had endless discussions through zoom, all this time and from the first window, we have not stopped. It is not easy at all, it is a very difficult experience, but you always come out of such situations victorious “.

-Apart from the obvious benefit of the points, was this victory and a reward for the very difficult preparation, but also for the whole image that existed on the field with the support of the people?

“Clearly it was a very difficult game and why Turkey is a very strong opponent and why he came to beat the match, until, as we read, a liar jet was recruited for Larkin to come. Some guys from their own Euroleague teams had gathered a few days before and were training, of course the opponent with his problems, of course it was not all rosy for them. Also, because it was an amazing atmosphere, in a stadium with a lot of people, with a lot of kids and with Turks who came to support their team, without any problems and for all that, we had to win for many reasons and of course to make a a step towards qualifying for the world which is also our great goal “.

– Coming here given the extra difficulty of away, we can say the paradox that the game is a little more passable in the sense that now the team will have some 24 hours of work all together.

“First of all, it’s not exactly ρικά some 24 hours. The children of Olympiakos came early in the morning on the day of the game, having played before a very difficult and hard match with Milan, they entered the next day at 6, so in Turkey on the first day I could not train them, with the trip and all that I had to to rest, so our first day here went with a few things. Essentially all the preparation will be done in one day through video and training “.

-Can many things change in such a short time between the same opponents?

“As for Turkey, we expect it to be much tougher, to try to control the pace in a fast game, to score easy baskets and from there on to give the ball to its good scorers and creators, something we saw in the first match. . Of course we do not rule out that there may be some surprises in his roster, we will see it after the technical meeting in the evening. “A lot will not change on both sides, but surely both teams need to improve things because both teams, of course, have not worked for a long time.”

-What are you holding, do you want to see again from the team that played in the first game?

“Despite the problems with children who were very tired, I will keep the game we had for 40 minutes. With mistakes of tactics that are normal, but the fighting spirit was important, they laid down their souls on the floor, I want and it is necessary to see it again “.

-Do you think that the result after these peculiarities, has somewhat removed the pressure from the players, even if at this level the pressure is always there?

“I think what left especially for the children of Olympiacos and Panathinaikos, because Papagiannis has not done it again, they left the cold. That they suddenly got into an unprecedented situation, to go play a game without actually doing anything about it. Some kids did not even know each other competitively, personally, it was an unprecedented situation, a chill, it definitely created a pressure on them. “But these matches always have pressure from both sides, in my opinion I expect a very tough game.”

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