«PAOK will be ready»
Igor Tudor spoke about everyone and everything to Novasports TV, in an interview ahead of the Platanias match. Read what he said about the upcoming game, what he saw at Volos and Livadia, the transfer window approaching and his mini round-up of the first half of the season.
On a week full of action ending with the Platanias game:
«The Greek Cup fixture enabled us to field U20 players and rest those who’ll play on Sunday. It’s a very important game and we need to win in front of our fans. I believe we are well prepared to face aan interesting opponent. They play attractive football and the match won’t be easy at all, but PAOK will be ready» .
On the lesson learn from the match against Levadiakos:
«The main lesson? It’s difficult to create scoring chances in the Greek league. You might come up with 3-4 decent plays, but that might prove insufficient as it’s not easy to finish them. I should add that most team have good forwards. It’s a very difficult league. Being now halfway in the season and having faced nearly all rivals, I can say that we were good in all matches. We dominated even against big teams, and sometimes we won, sometimes not» .
On whether he will counting on U20 players in the near future:
«First of all, I was pleasantly surprised by the style of play of these youngsters. I want to congratulate Vladan Ivić for his outstanding work. We have an excellent relationship and communication. There are some very interesting players there and we will talk in order to bring them in January to the seniors’ training sessions«.
On press rumours regarding Kramarić:
«That is absolutely not true. But it’s expected to read all sorts of names right now in the media. We talk about these issues on a daily basis. Come next week, we will take our decisions. There are rumours even about Falcao, but most of the times they are false«.
On the Greek Cup draw:
«It will be an interesting tie. We are favourites and want to win the trophy – I hope we do. In two-legged matches, I believe we can eliminate any rival«.
On the first round of fixtures in the Greek Super League:
«We had good and bad moments. We started the season very early due to the UEFA Europa League qualifiers. We have been playing for almost six months now and it’s normal to have ups-and-downs in our performance in such a long period of time. We started the season on a high note, playing attractive football. We then failed to win some important matches. Then there was a period during which we lowered our standards, had low morale and lost some elements of our philosophy. However we are doing well again lately against compact teams that are tough to crack. It’s not easy to handle domestic and European engagements simultaneously. There are too many games. The second part of the season will be easier without European duty. I believe we played well in all six group stage matches of the UEFA Europa League and earned seven points. We were not lucky in the draw, but even against teams of higher quality, PAOK made their presence felt«.
On the best team of the league so far:
«By definition, the best team is the one that gets most points. They have secured 100% of the points at play –it sounds unreal. So there’s Olympiacos on one side, and the rest of the teams engaged in their own league, on the other. That’s how I see it. I also like Platanias’ style of play and I believe that PAOK have played decent football in most of their matches. My conclusion is that we are talking about a very difficult league. It’s not easy to take your chances, as most teams defend in numbers with very experienced players at the back. There isn’t a big gap between the theoretically stronger and weaker teams«.
On which player he considers as the league MVP so far, apart from PAOK players:
«The logical choice would be a player of Olympiacos. But to be honest it’s hard to pass judgment on individual players, of my team or the rivals. That is not something I use to do and I would prefer to refrain from answering«.
On the goal or the moment that he would like to keep from the league’s first round:
«Leading 3-0 over Panathinaikos in the first half was great. I would pick one of these three goals«.
On what he would change in his team ahead of the league’s second round:
«A coach works on a daily basis. He starts with a specific plan that might change along the way and change even more as the season draws to a close. It’s my job as coach to seek constant improvement, better performances, solutions to problems and make my players even better. Players’ improvement reflects on the team. When the team improve, we have more chances to win. We must improve constantly. Learn from the past and hold on to the stuff we do well«.
