Alonso: “The team took a step forward today – I liked our mentality”

Diego Alonso spoke about the image of Panathinaikos, which was improved compared to the previous matches of the Greek league, during the press conference.

A few hours after the 0-0 draw in Tuba against PAOK, the Uruguayan coach noted that the team will gain more confidence in order to gain the image it had in the European games, while he closed by saying that he liked the mentality which his team produced, especially in the final stretch of the derby.

In detail:

“First of all I will tell you that the championship is almost now starting. Of course we would like to have many more points. But I think that tonight we played a serious game against the last champion and in the previous period, from the 4 matches that were played between Panathinaikos and PAOK, the team got one point. I will say that today the team took a step forward, compared to the image it presented in the Championship until now. I want to believe that as a result of the weeks, the team will gain even more confidence, so that we can show the face we showed in the first European games.”

On the improved image of Panathinaikos and where he worked the most during the break:

“First we worked on the mental part, talking a lot with each of the players on a personal level, showing videos as well. In the second week we worked a lot more on tactics to become a more solid team. As the match went on, you saw today as well that the team was the star and really showed a much more aggressive self. In my opinion, the two goalkeepers were the big faces of tonight’s match. Dragovski during the first half, the opposing goalkeeper in the second. That shows that as a result of the game, we were better and we stepped up, we played better.”

On the bad 30 minutes of Panathinaikos, the improvement afterwards and overall what he liked and what he didn’t:

“I will agree with you. In the first 30 minutes, PAOK was better than us. There were two phases where we didn’t have good endings. In the first 30 minutes we couldn’t get the pressure up, the game we want. We couldn’t even find the places to be able to play. Of course, as time went on, we felt better and looked to improve. We made a change in the center, which made it easier for us to be able to push further and higher. This helped us play 10-15 meters higher.

The second half went better. We knew that playing against a very good opponent, there would be difficult moments. We knew we would suffer and we would have to prepare and adapt, playing with a PAOK team that at times would be better than us. You asked me what I didn’t like. The first 30 minutes. But what I liked the most, was the mentality that the team brought out. Which was maintained and was able to cope.”