Radonic: “Let’s stay focused for 40 minutes against Real, Walters won’t play”

Panathinaikos is preparing to play its first EuroLeague game of the 2022/23 season against a difficult opponent, Real Madrid, on Thursday (6/10, 21:00 Novasports Prime and LIVE by Sportish).

The task of the Greens will be difficult at the premiere of the competition with the new coach of the team Dejan Radonic analyze the data and the level of readiness of its players.

At the same time, he pointed out that the cloverleaf will be deprived of the services of Nate Walters in the premiere.

Dejan Radonić’s statements in detail:

“We’re at the start of the new season in the EuroLeague. We’re going to face Real Madrid in our first game in the competition, last season’s finalists. They kept several players from the team that reached the final of the competition, but also .” added something else.

They’ve built a very good squad, they’re in great shape, which makes sense given that most of the players know each other and their new coach is also from the organisation. Comparing their situation with ours, it becomes clear that we need more time together to reach the desired level.

Unfortunately, Walters is out and won’t play against Real while both Ponitka and Grigonis only have five training sessions with the team. It’s important to us to prepare for the difficult game against Real and at the same time try to improve the team through training.

In order to limit a team like Real, you first have to play well Transitional defense, but that’s not enough. They have a lot of attacking talent, they play very fast and we have to be ready and stay focused for 40 minutes.

To stay in the game against Real you have to be good on both sides of the pitch. We have to be a lot better offensively than in the last game and defensively we mustn’t lose concentration.

Commenting on his satisfaction with his team’s defensive position in friendlies: “As I said, we have some new players who have only had five training sessions with us and a very important athlete for us, Walters, is out. I hope that soon we will all be healthy and fit to improve both defensively and offensively. At this level it’s not enough just to be good in defense, but also in attack.”

Grigonis: “We must constantly be in front of them and make our bodies strong.

For his part, Marius Grigonis stated: “It’s going to be a long season, a lot will happen, the most important thing is to stick together as a team in good times and bad. We want to have a winning mentality and fight in every game.

All teams have weaknesses, it’s about recognizing them. That’s why we have scouting and our coaches are there. Real is a team that plays fast and has players with a lot of talent. We have to be constantly in front of them and make our bodies strong.”

As for how he feels now playing with the Panathinaikos audience by his side, he remarked: “I’ve had some really good games here with my previous teams. We’ve always looked forward to coming to Athens because it’s a beautiful city and OAKA is a fantastic stadium with amazing fans. It’s nice for the home team to have these fans on their side, but for the away team the atmosphere is difficult. Now I’m with Panathinaikos and I hope to get energy from our fans.”

For his first days in Athens: “Everything is beautiful here. The people are very nice. I live in a nice area and am trying to get used to the driving style. In general everything is fine. When I came I was a bit injured and spent a lot of time in the gym trying to get fit again.”