Benitez: “Chirivella knows exactly what we want – I need time to get to know each player better”

The preparation of Panathinaikos with Volos for the 9th matchday has entered the final stretch Stoiximan Super League.

THE Rafa Benitez is now the boss of the “clover” with the Spanish technician talking to her camera Cosmote TVfor the upcoming game of the “greens”, but also in the way he wants his footballers to face each match.

What Rafa Benitez said in detail:

You sat on the team’s bench for the second time in a Cup match against Atromitos, in a match that we chose to change a lot of things and see several footballers. Are you slowly starting to realize the quality of the squad and how you can use some players from now on?



“Yes, and I’m happy about it, because we gave everyone a chance. It’s good for me, for us, to get to know the players in one game of one competition. But in reality, it is too early. One game is not enough. So we need more time, however, at least we could see the desire, the dedication and that’s the most important thing to know, to get to know each one better in competitive games.”



It seems in the games you sat on the bench, with the naked eye, that in your mind one of the most important footballers for the team to do what you want on the pitch, is Pedro Chirivella. Is that so?



“The fact that he is a midfielder who holds the ball, naturally the game moves around him. We can play with other players in this position, but in the beginning it is easy for us, because he knows exactly what we want. My Spanish is… a little better than my Greek, so it’s a question of being able to communicate with him. But I will also look at other options to be sure that in any case others can compete in the same position”.



Next opponent is Volos, which we don’t know if you have already analyzed thoroughly. A team that is playing well, has picked up some good results and is quite dangerous if they find space. How do you expect this game?



“I spoke to the analysts and they told me the way he is fighting. But today (ie the day before yesterday) we spent some time watching and analyzing what we did in the previous two games. I think it is more important for us to be able to improve our team and at the same time keep our mind on the opponent. The priority now is to focus on our team. We know it and we are working on the opponent, but first of all we analyzed the game we played in the first and second matches”.



In the Volos match, Panathinaikos will probably have more than seven thousand fans. During your presentation you talked about the union between the team and its fans. What does this mean for you?



“Obviously we know we are at a huge club and we have a lot of fans behind us. It is always important to “fill” the fans to support the team. So what I tell my players is that we have to give everything and then let the fans complain if we did something well or not. But not because we didn’t give everything on the field. So I think it’s very important for us to be sure that every footballer will give everything and the fans will understand that.”