Imanol Alguacil outlined at the press conference what Olympiacos needs to do to achieve its goal against Marseille at the “Velodrome.”
“Marseille plays attacking soccer, and especially when they’re at home, they want to be even more dominant in their play. They want to capitalize on the energy of their fans by playing attacking soccer. But Olympiacos is the same way; we can’t completely change our identity or our style of play,” the Basque coach pointed out, while emphasizing the role that passion and strength will play.
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Omonia is all set and ready for the tsélie (PHOTO)
Kontis: “Ren has quality, but we also have our own identity.”
“The players have recovered very well, even though the match against Panathinaikos was difficult. We’ll wait for today’s practice to assess their condition, see how much energy and strength they have, and how ready they feel,” he emphasized regarding the possibility of changes to the starting lineup following a very difficult match.
He spoke in detail about: – the
fact that Marseille presses high up the field, with their style of play being… a mirror image of Olympiacos’s: “As you quite rightly said, Marseille plays attacking soccer, and especially when they’re at home, they want to be even more dominant in their play. They want to harness the power of their fans by playing attacking soccer. But Olympiacos is the same way; we can’t completely change our identity or our style of play. But in matches like this, when it comes to the small details, you have to adapt in order to perform at your best, both on offense and on defense. “We must, however, remain true to our identity throughout the match in order to get the result we want.”
-On whether qualities such as passion, energy, and strength—which secured the victory against Jagiellonia—will serve as a guide to a positive result against Marseille: “Of course, controlling the game is a good way to face a top team like Marseille. However, I don’t think that was the only factor that led to our victories against Panathinaikos and Jagiellonia. Beyond the great passion we showed, it helped that we managed to maintain balance in our play and keep possession of the ball. You need strength and passion, but it’s the combination of all these elements that gets you a good result. There were moments in the game against Panathinaikos as well where, beyond the passion, the energy we brought to the field helped us secure the victory.”
-On whether he’ll make many or few changes compared to the derby: “Whatever I’m thinking right now may be different after today’s practice, and also different from what I’ll be thinking tomorrow. The players have recovered very well, even though the game against Panathinaikos was tough. We’ll wait for today’s practice to assess their condition, see how much energy and strength they have, and how ready they feel. Then, I’ll make the best possible decisions about who the most suitable players are right now so that we can secure a positive result.”
*photo source: AP
