Mendiliber: “It was an open game, it was our decision to play with long balls”

THE Jose Luis Mendilibar spoke at the press conference (after a related question) about the way Olympiacos played against PAOK, which they defeated 3-2 in Toumba.

Specifically, regarding the fact that the Piraeus players bet on long balls, he said:we had decided that because in the last games it had cost us to play more directly. We said to take advantage of the second balls, because in our last matches we had problems and we saw that this way would help our game».

What he said in detail

We saw an Olympiakos looking for their attack with long balls, was this part of the tactics seeing the gaps of PAOK?

“This was our decision to play like this, not because we saw any gap in PAOK, but we had decided because in the last games it had cost us to play more directly. We said to take advantage of the second balls, because in our last matches we had problems and we saw that this way would help our own game”.

Was there a point where you felt intense pressure from PAOK?

“It is true that twice we managed to take the lead with a two-goal difference and both times PAOK came close to us. However, it was good that PAOK did not equalize and that gave us strength to continue until the end. It was an open game though, with chances from both teams.”