-Yesterday, you said that, apart from the final result, you were interested in having your players happy after the end of the match: “Yes, what I meant was that, when they came back, they were satisfied in a way, and sad at the same time…”
-Just a couple of days after you joined the club, Olympiacos made a really decent performance and looked like a team again. Is this one of the earning so far? “I stressed out that after the end of the match any earning would do; be it in psychological terms or other; in terms of points, we won none, but as per our mindset, we won a lot. Players have also to understand the bar has risen; they have to comprehend that in such a venue, we will perform the way we should if we stay compact. Now, we turn our eye to the future and we will have some time to work on other stuff as well”.
-A comment on Juventus: “Honestly, they are one the top 5 teams. Juventus has its share of chances to make it all the way to the final. The way we played gave a hard time to Juventus. They have a great coach, some players who have been playing together for many years. Maybe they will have to make amends for the loss of Bonucci”.
-Can you explain to us Romao’s return to his original position and the use on Nikolaou in the starting line-up, since this was something who seemed risky to many? “The good thing is that in my spell late in the previous championship, I got to know really well these guys. Romao was playing as a center midfielder out of necessity. I believed that the problem was not our defenseline but the way we defended as a team. Selecting Nikolou might seem to be a risk but these are lads of a very high level, so why not give them the chance? Both him and Retsos, and Androutsos with Manthatis, who is loan, they are all good players. I also believe with Romao playing there, we can put more pressure on and drive our defense higher up”.
