Kurtic: «We expect to show a response»
Jasmin Kurtic spoke to the Novasports cameras about the Super League Interwetten Play Offs Matchday 9 local derby encounter with Aris. Read what the Slovenian midfielder said via paokfc.gr.
On the poor recent run of results:
«It has to do with a lack of concentration, and a lack of energy. In such cases in games, when you lose your concentration, your mind may be confused about what to do on the pitch. As I always say, however, just as when we have success we are all together, the same goes for the difficult moments. We must work together to help the team overcome these difficulties.»
On the club’s key goal of winning the cup and how difficult it is not to think about it already from now:
«It is the biggest mistake we can make, to think about the Greek Cup final from now. We still have league games and the teams we face will not let us win just because we are in the cup final. It is definitely something beautiful. When that time comes, we will be ready, and we will do what we have to do to win, but until then, we have two difficult league games and we must not think about that day yet.»
On the game with Aris and how he expects it to unfold:
«I expect a response from the team, for us to show character, and to correct the mistakes we made in the previous games. I start with myself first, because in such cases it is always easy to blame someone else and not look at yourself. Speaking about myself, I realize that what I do is not enough to get the win, so we have to try, run, fight to give all that we have on the pitch to get the win. In such cases, if you are not playing as your usual self, and you don’t turn the opportunities into goals, then the one chance is enough for the opposition to steal the result. I have experienced it many times in my career and here as well at PAOK, so we need to avoid that.»
On the fact that he is the team’s top scorer:
«It’s not something that concerns me. As I have said before, I’ve never had it in my mind that I want to score more goals than another player and be the top scorer. At the end of the day, my position is a defensive midfielder, so it’s not what I’m in the team for. I’m obviously happy with what I’ve achieved so far, but I’m not happy with what I’ve done in the last month. I do not want to look for excuses for my performances. We have to see each game separately until the end of the season, and it is our duty to give everything we have so we can finish the season in the best possible way.»
