«Break through a tight defence»
Stelios Malezas talked to Novasports TV ahead of the encounter against Xanthi at Pigadia, that marks the restart of the Super League. The Greek central defender spoke about last year, conveyed his message about the new year and pointed out what PAOK need to do in order to win on Sunday.
On how he spent the Christmas break:
«Our main concern is mental rest. I don’t believe we were that tired physically, despite a long series of games. But we needed to get away from competition for a while«.
On last year:
«It was a weird season for me. The main point was returning to the club. But the fact that we haven’t achieved our goals leaves a bitter feeling«.
On 2016:
«I wish that the team will stay healthy, as we had many injuries. That is the most important. If we play like we can, we will achieve our objectives«.
On how the team must play for the rest of the season and what they need to succeed:
«We need to improve. That is on our minds right now. In our latest games we got good results, but didn’t reach the level of performance we needed. In every game, in every training, we must get better«.
On the encounter against Xanthi:
«I don’t believe there are easy games. We have been through complicated encounters before, like the one at Xanthi. They have a tight, defense-minded team and their players can cause problems to their rivals at any given time«.
On how PAOK must approach the Pigadia game:
«We must be very focused and concentrate on how to break through Xanthi’s defence and contain their counterattacks«.
On what the team need to focus on for the year’s first match:
«I don’t believe that we will be affected by the break. We all know what to do in order to deal with Xanthi and our minds are set on it«.
