In the press conference following Panathinaikos’ loss to Maccabi Haifa and European exclusion, Ivan Jovanovic argued that the Greens got what they deserved in the end, but they had learned a lot from their presence and stressed that they were dealing with their disappointment would have to.

Regarding the presence of Lodingin in the starting line-up, he pointed out that Brignoli had an injury problem from the game against Rennes and stressed that he was not one of the coaches who plays with two players in attack.

If it is unfair that Panathinaikos was excluded:

“I don’t know it. It may be unfair to the players because we have put in a lot of effort and been competitive in this period since the Champions League qualifiers, but in the end it is the results that shape the picture. And.” We have conceded enough goals in the last four games to hope for something better. In the end everyone gets what they deserve.

I feel sorry for the players because we put in a lot of effort but we were missing things to achieve better results. In most games we were behind in the score and were constantly trying to turn things around. It’s definitely a shame we didn’t make it to the next round, but whether we deserved it or not, the results will judge us all. And today’s result was good for Maccabi and not for us.”

What does Panathinaikos learn from this year’s European presence and what does management look like for the next day:

“Our goal was to get to the next round, we believed in that. All the games we played in the group, with all the teams, in a way it was the details that decided the outcome of the games. There’s definitely a lot of disappointment because we wanted to experience spring in Europe.

But we still have a lot of things to learn and important experience to gain in terms of the problems we might face when playing with quality and experienced teams in Europe, and that will definitely have a positive impact on the future of Panathinaikos because it will be European becomes. The experiences from this year’s games will be important for the development of the team and the players.”

For the image of Panathinaikos in the first part and the transformation in the second – And if athleticism is lacking:

“I don’t think there is a deficit in athleticism and strength. In European games, we never had a problem with any team that lacked strength and athleticism. We may have been missing some things, but not the runs and the power. The big problem in today’s game in the first half was the positioning of the players when we didn’t have the ball, and so the opponent was able to put another player in midfield and have a circulation where they forced us to be a bit passive.

And secondly, our own team’s positioning was wrong and it wasn’t difficult for the opponent to deal with it when we had the ball. We didn’t manage to get it going in the first 30 minutes and that wasn’t our style of play. In the second half our positions on the field were much more correct, as they needed to be to exploit the gaps, and so we were able to have the ball more comfortably at our feet and attack a team that was forced to go far back around us to allow us to have the game that we have. We should have done it from the start of the game.

This happens in football. For much of the first half, quite a long time, we didn’t have what we needed and we seemed a bit stressed. And that was a bigger problem. The biggest problem was when we had the ball.

In case of repeated individual errors:

“Football is a game full of mistakes. I would say that we made small mistakes, especially in the European games. Not that many, but the opponents took full advantage of them. We always try to learn from them, especially when they are individual, you know.” , my role is such that I have to support my footballers, because everyone can make individual mistakes and the improvement for everyone only comes when you recognize it so you don’t do it again.

For me the most important thing is not to make mistakes in the tactical part that affect the entire team. From then on we made mistakes in today’s game that cost us, but that’s part of football. They know it themselves, they worry about it, but it is something that is being corrected. Every football player knows it, recognizes it and doesn’t need anything else. I have conscious people on the team.

How much the change of venue in Europe affected and whether Panathinaikos could play longer with two goals in the second half, and also the presence of Juancar:

“It was definitely a good experience to watch the two games in OAKA in terms of the number of spectators, to see Panathinaikos in its true size. At Leoforo we had a good atmosphere again, I don’t think that played a role. “I definitely don’t think our return here was anything negative for us.

In the second part, Juancar played quite well today. I was happy, he did what he had to do and his move wasn’t because of his performance but because he hadn’t played for a long time so he didn’t want to risk anything.

As for the two strikers, I’m not the coach who usually does that. The way the opponent played, with five players in defense, perhaps if we had one more player in the middle and didn’t have the same number of attacks in the second half, it could have given us an advantage. I have a clear idea of ​​the team I want on the pitch. It has not been our practice for two attackers to attack at the same time, at least in these 2.5 years. In some games yes, but it depends on the game itself, the opponent and their style of play. I don’t think that plays a big role in this game.

On choosing Lodingin instead of Brignoli:

“That’s not surprising. He was very good in the games he played. Alberto also had a minor injury that bothered him from the Rennes game. He’s also missed a few training sessions in the last few days, I thought Liding had suffered a bit.” Nowadays that’s an advantage and that’s why I chose him.

I am not a coach who prepares the team for the European Championship any differently than Greece. Everything should be taken with the utmost seriousness. At least so far we have played well in Europe and in the Greek league. But if we as a team always want to achieve our goal, some good things we did in the previous games to maintain it and some mistakes we made can cost us dearly in the Greek Championship too. But we always have to be very focused to achieve the desired results.

Today there is great disappointment because it was the first year for all of us to play European games. We wanted to do our best to play in the spring and that is a given and we have to deal with this disappointment in order to find motivation for the games ahead of us.”