THE Panathinaikos completed his preparation for the game with him Astera Tripoli in the 14th matchday of the Super League and Rui Vitoria talked about the match against the Arcades in Nova.
The coach of Panathinaikos pointed out how difficult Asteras Tripoli is, especially at home, but emphasized that the “greens” have a good mentality after the double with an upset over Atromitos, in the Greek Cup.
Rui Vitoria’s statements
For the Tripoli match: “We are prepared for the match. It will certainly be a very difficult game, against an opponent who has proven that they have quality and are difficult to beat at home, however we are very keen to win and build on the success we had in midweek which has given us confidence, mainly from the way it came about. We are ready for a difficult match and we will do everything possible to be able to win this match. We definitely respect the opponent. We know it will be a very difficult match, nevertheless I think we have the right conditions to win.”
What his team should watch out for: “Our opponent is quite difficult, they have quality players, especially those who play up front. I think that our opponent’s game is direct, simple, but not simplistic, that is, it is a style of play that is clear in what the coach is asking for and the players have assimilated the specific system well. Up front as I said before, they have players with speed and quality and that is something we will have to pay a lot of attention to. We have to control the movements these footballers will make. On the other hand, we should not forget that the most important thing is not what the opponent will do. We want to put our own identity in this particular match as well. We want to see our movements and automations in the game and everything that we have seen in the previous matches. We have to make some adjustments that have to do with the opponent, with the specific conditions of the match, as we expect Asteras Tripoli to play with great aggression and dynamics in the defensive part, looking for some oppositions. We have to control this, put our elements into the race, so we can win.”
On how happy he is with his team’s image: “The truth is that I have been asked this question several times since I came here and I will answer in the same way. In football there is no certainty, there is no certainty, it is not mathematics. What I can say is that the players so far have largely absorbed the ideas I’m trying to get across and that leaves me very satisfied. Be aware that this is not very easy to do, because we are talking about a period with consecutive races, which means that we have a little time of pure training, which has nothing to do with recovery, or even making the plan for the next one match, so we will have to work harder. We’ve made a lot of strides forward, but based on my experience, it’s not that simple and easy, given that there’s very little pure training time, so the image we’ve presented on the pitch in the majority of games and most of the game time, leaves me completely satisfied. I understand there is a lot of room for improvement and that’s something I need to emphasize, however, the foundation is there. The first steps have been taken, they are solid and I think we will give the building the foundation it needs to be able to build even more and even better.”
The article Rui Vitoria for Asteras Tripoli – Panathinaikos: “It will definitely be a very difficult game” was published on NewsIT .