Olympiacos head coach José Luis Mendilibar spoke at the press conference after the 0–0 away draw against Levadiakos, first giving his assessment of the match before answering questions from the media.
“The game started well for us. We dominated and tried to attack mainly from the flanks, but we didn’t have the ability to create real danger for the opponent. In the second half we tried more, but the opponent, playing with ten men, dropped deep into their box and that required something extra from us. We delivered crosses from wide areas, but they weren’t good enough. We tried different ways, yet we lacked accuracy and weren’t able to make the most of our numerical advantage to create greater danger.
The team needs to be more threatening, especially when we have a numerical advantage. However, when the opponent is sitting deep inside their box, it becomes more difficult to attack”.
What can Olympiacos change going forward in order to challenge for the title, especially when facing defensive teams like this?
It becomes even more difficult when the opponent goes down to ten men, because if it had been eleven versus eleven, at some point they would have had to come out of their area to attack. But today, being a man down, they sat even deeper and were well positioned inside their box, which made it harder to create danger. What’s needed is speed, patience and, of course, individual quality. In one-on-one situations you must show your quality and produce something individually to create danger. It requires speed and patience.
Is there anything you take from the match, particularly from the period when it was eleven versus eleven?
I think at the beginning our tempo was good, especially down the flanks with Martins and André Luiz. But we need to improve the quality of our crosses, have better shots and be more clinical.
In the first round at the “G. Karaiskakis” Stadium you spoke highly of Levadiakos. Do you believe they deserve to be high in the table?
It’s true that in the matches against OFI and Asteras Tripolis they showed some fatigue. But after drawing with us, Levadiakos will become stronger. Playing with ten men and still taking a point against us will boost them. I believe they will grow stronger and remain in the top four.
