Mendiliber: “We were not affected by the break, we have to be faster if we want to threaten such teams”

The way Panetolikos played, but also the general image of Olympiakos, was mentioned during the meeting press conference the Jose Luis Mendiliber.

The Basque coach, after the 0-0 draw at “Georgios Karaiskakis”, emphasized that his team had spirit, but lacked the speed, which Olympiacos should have when facing such teams.

In addition, he answered whether the break affected the team, stressing that others will follow and everyone should be prepared, while he closed by answering the question why his players made so many crosses.

In detail:

-What was missing from Olympiakos and didn’t get the result?

“I think we showed that we have the appetite to win. We took an interest in the game but lacked the speed to move the ball around. We made too many crosses, which were not good. We have to congratulate the opponent for a good defensive job. He never allowed us to go one on one because they were always crowded. Certainly, we have to be faster if we want to threaten such teams.”

-How much do you worry about the image of the team and given that other opponents will play in this way in “G. Karaiskakis”? Also, how much did the league break affect you?

“No, we were not affected by the outage. We know there will be more holidays and we can’t complain about that. We know that other teams will come to play this way. We also did not allow the opponent to threaten us. We were careful. It is dangerous, when you play with such teams they can hurt you. It cost us that we didn’t have successful attacks. I don’t believe that all teams that play this way will have such a successful defensive function.”

-Why did the team play with fillies and crosses and not vertical football?

“First of all, we have to analyze the way the opponent played. He played so closed, that he didn’t give us the chance to get behind them. Zelson tried but they were always crowded, Velde and Willian tried too and they never managed to get in behind the opposition. There was no room behind the backs of the players. So we have to be much faster, because only with speed can you deal with this.”