Vitoria: “We dedicate the victory to our President – Lack of respect for our dominance”

Satisfied with the victory over AEK and mainly by the character shown by his team, presented at Rui Vittoria a press conference.

The Panathinaikos coach responded to his decision to keep Dragowski in Estia, but also for his choices in the eleven, as well as the changes he made during the match, dedicated the victory to team president, Yiannis Alafouzos, commented on his appearance. Philip Juricicwhile it was also placed on how important this victory is to the clover psychology in the face of continuity.

In detail what he said at the press conference:

How did you make the decision to keep Dragovsky under the beams? Who had problems in previous matches, but made a great appearance. In the match, what was your plan with the changes? We saw that the entrance of Cherin and Juricic changed the match and was a crucial win.

“I want to dedicate the victory to our president, who is going through a difficult personal moment, so in any way we can give him at least a little joy, we do it with all our hearts. I am a coach, I am not a fan. Sometimes I have to think with a “cold” mind. Because a footballer made a mistake, I should not give it to everyone. Especially if it’s worth continuing. So I judged and decided and we saw that it had a very good performance. It was certainly a questionable choice, since if things were not going well, I knew that a commentary that would be. But that’s why I’m here to take on such responsibilities. I did it, it went out well and we’re all happy.

As for the second part, indeed the players who came in as a change changed the course of the game, they were very important for our victory. Against a very good opponent, with great intensity, with good players. But we also knew how we wanted to hit them. What we wanted to take advantage of was the immediate attacks, not just counterattacks, so as not to allow the opponent to organize in his defense three -point. So we made these changes, so that we can become more aggressive in our defense to win balls in the center, but also more immediate in our counterattacks, so that we can find a goal. So Cherry’s entrance has helped a lot in being able to steal balls and Jurisic’s entry into being able to find opportunities, as it did, as he made 2-3 finals himself in a short time. On the other hand, I would also like to get the performance of Geremegev, who came in, helped a lot and scored the third goal. And Arao and Nika have shown a very good mood for as long as they fought, it’s not easy when one gets so little. “

What does this victory for the team psychologically mean beyond the points? How do you explain the transitions during both today’s and other matches? Is it racing, spiritual or a combination of both?

“First, this is also related to the quality of the opponent, we are talking about a very strong team, with quality players. I think we started winning the game essentially before playing it. What I would like to emphasize, which made me a negative impression, is the fact that – I don’t know why betting – the AEK gave a big favorite. I do not understand why there was this lack of respect for our team. I don’t know who is the one who made this decision. For me it shows a lack of respect for our team. A team that has very good results in derby at home this year has often won. They should not behave in this group as if they were the pile.

We knew that this match was not easy and that we would not be able to do terrible things in terms of appearance, we also came from difficult games. However, what we definitely wanted was to improve our concentration, not to make easy mistakes that cost us in previous matches. We knew that if we improve in these areas, we would find opportunities. We always find either few or many. There are always opportunities that can give us the goal. So I think we won more not so football, but because we showed how much men we are and how much we wanted it. We played for our pride, for the pride of the club. Neither am I any coach, nor my players any players, nor the club any club. “

A comment on Juricic and his effectiveness, whether he starts or comes off the bench.

“I will agree that his influence today and in general in the season is great. I had a feeling that he could score in this match. I know that no one likes to stay on the bench, but I wanted to exhaust the AEK players by chasing them, Pelistri and Sfinrski, so that in the second half we can take advantage of that Juricic can easily reach the final energy. I am very pleased with that. The credit belongs to the player himself, who realized that you could be useful either inside or outside. He deserves a lot of congratulations. It is very important, it gives me the opportunity to manage players when that happens.

Since we have spoken individually about some players, I want to say about those who played in the defense. They had the difficult opponents, very strong in the natural part. They were often forced to climb high and then move backwards. They did very well in this piece, but also to concentration and discipline. It is also worth mentioning a reference to the defense line players. “

In addition to the sizes, bodies and good executions of AEK, did Koropi have a special preparation for the set -up phases? Are you satisfied with the way the team worked on them? How important is it that you have Pelistri again in your “quiver”?

“It’s a very strong team in the aggressively set, especially in the corners. And because they have good performers, but also because they have very strong players in the area. We and because of the players who are playing, some will always be a little more vulnerable either because of height or power, there are always zones that the opponent expects to try to attack more. We made some adjustments to deal with it as best as possible. Maybe we could have done things a little better, it is understood that we worked in this week. What we could do was avoid giving up so many corners. It is not easy, of course, you have to try to block the cross, so there is a lot of chances of a corner kick.

Pelistri is certainly a very important player for us, as he has different characteristics from the other extremist and gives the coach the ability to change some things in relation to what he is asking for every moment in the field. He was wounded by an injury, then went to the National for 10-12 days. He returned quite a bit of a journey of too many hours and with a time difference, so we couldn’t use it very much in the previous match. And today, although it was very good, I think it has not yet reached the maximum level. It hunts the space without the ball, it is very good at 1N1. It has features that I really like and is important to the team. It has cost him the fact that he was left out for a long time. In the first half he made a sprint and then took 4-5 minutes to come back and be 100%. That is why we say that players want to play constantly, but the coaches know better and protect them better than themselves. We are happy with Fakundo, he played very well and we expect even more in the future. “