At the press conference following Panathinaikos’ rematch against CSKA 1948, Jacob Nystrup highlighted the areas where he wants to see changes and improvements from hisplayers in Tuesday’s game, compared to what happened last Thursday at the OAKA.
He commented on the team’s scoring performance, emphasized the efforts being made to build the present and future of the “clover,” the immense pressure that is a given at this club, as well as the status of Desers, Levi, and Tetei ahead of the second game against the Bulgarians.
ΣΧΕΤΙΚΑ ΑΡΘΡΑ
Here’s a breakdown of the press conference:
Regarding the fact that Panathinaikos has always scored so far, but also the fact that they concede goals easily. What needs to be done to achieve defensive balance, and whether defense is the “key”:
“Both will be important. We’re scoring goals, but I’d like us to score more when we create chances. I’m not satisfied. In the second half, we had possession. The biggest problem was that we were too vulnerable in the last game. We had the ball far more than they did, but they executed things better. That’s what we need to do better.”
On Panathinaikos’s long and storied history in Europe and how crucial this game is. Whether the players and coaches are aware of Panathinaikos’s history in Europe:
“We’re all here because Panathinaikos is a tremendous club, and we know its history. We’re proud of everything it has achieved. We want to be a part of Panathinaikos, but that will only happen if we take action ourselves rather than dwelling on the past. We have good players, and we want to build the club’s present and future. Fifteen years ago, the team won the championship. Now we need to focus on our own work. The team’s identity is to play in Europe. That is the goal. But nothing is guaranteed. All the players and I know how crucial this game is. Our goal is to be better than we were in the last 60 minutes at the OAKA, and we’ll do everything we can to achieve that.”
Regarding the three additions to the offense (Tetteh, Levi, Desers) compared to the first game and how much he’s counting on them for tomorrow:
“Since they’re on the roster, all three can play; I’ve gotten the ‘go-ahead’ from the doctors, physical therapists, and trainers, who’ve done an excellent job. Tetteh’s situation was a bit more complicated and different from Desers’. Levi Garcia was the MVP in practice and is ready. All three are available to me. In our first game, we were missing a few players who could have come off the bench, but tomorrow they’ll be available.”
(Bulgarian journalist): CSKA 1948 has already played quite a few games, and the league has started as well—is this considered an advantage in terms of rhythm?
“No. These things always happen. Right now, we’re only playing in Europe, so we also have the advantage of having only those games to prepare for. If I had a choice, I’d prefer not to play in the league when we have qualifiers, so I believe we’re in a better position in that regard. We’ve prepared and we’re ready.”
(Bulgarian journalist): How much pressure is Panathinaikos under, given that it has made a very large financial investment of nearly 25 million euros, compared to CSKA 1948, which has spent very little:
“The pressure is enormous. But when you’re the coach of Panathinaikos, the pressure is always high. Panathinaikos means so much to so many people. So there’s always pressure. When I signed with Panathinaikos, I was well aware of the qualifiers. But I believed in the project very strongly from the start. I have 110% confidence in our roster. Once the roster is fully ready, we’ll keep getting better and better. We’ve invested much more money than CSKA 1948 has—and than they’ll invest in the coming years—but that’s just how soccer is. The beauty of soccer is that anything is possible, but we have no excuses, despite the absences. I’m among the favorites; our goal is to qualify for Europe, and I hope we’ll make it. We want to qualify for Europe and win the league. I’m confident that all our investments will pay off and we’ll have a very good team. If we advance in Europe, all the better; if we don’t, since anything can happen, I’m confident we’ll have a very good team in Greece as well.”
*photo source: KYPE
