Van ‘t Schip: “We want to have more possession”
Ahead of the UEFA Euro 2020 qualifier between Greece and Bosnia in Athens, both John van ‘t Schip and Robert Prosinecki spoke to the press.
Watch LIVE GREEK TV including full GREEK SPORTS coverage with Go Greek TV!
This is the perfect chance for Greece to finally claim a second victory in Group J. Despite the fact that the Ethniki Omada no longer have realistic hope of reaching Euro 2020, matches against Bosnia are always emotionally-charged affairs, and the team has shown signs of improvement since Van ‘t Schip replaced Angelos Anastasiadis as head coach in the summer. Bosnia must win to keep the pressure on second-placed Finland.
Greek national team manager Van ‘t Schip shared his expectations for the duel:
Expectations: “Bosnia are still playing to qualify after their win against Finland. Our goal is to create something different moving forward, and I think that we showed some good signs against Italy. The team is playing together. We played with discipline defensively, and we want to take the next step against Bosnia. Yes, we had the balance in defence, but we want to have the ball more and make it difficult for the opponents to get a result.”
Tactical approach: “Every game is different. We played against Italy, a very strong team which is leading the group. They qualified without a loss. Over there, we had to play in a certain way, and we did well defensively while having some chances to score. The result wasn’t good, but the players did a great job and we were happy about that. We want to take the good things from that game against Italy into this match with Bosnia. However, we want to do more with the ball. The players must feel that they can play more and show their capabilities. They have shown their strong defensive attitude, but we want more possession. We want to go out with a good result.”
Creating a base of players for the national team: “In these remaining three Euro 2020 qualifiers, we want to take a good look at the players, build the team and also play for good results. It’s also an opportunity for the players to show that they want to play for the national team and, if they do well, they can remain in the plans for the World Cup qualification process. We are very happy with the way how Tasos Bakasetas is training and playing. We make decisions based upon training sessions too, not just matches. Players have come here to work, not to have a nice holiday.”
Alexandros Paschalakis’ performance in Rome: “He hasn’t played in the last two PAOK matches, but he showed great energy in training. We also wanted to see what Sokratis Dioudis of Panathinaikos can do. Odisseas Vlachodimos has a small health problem.”
Starting line-up: “We will probably decide tomorrow what the starting line-up will be, there is not a lot of time between the two matches. We need a fresh team, and we want to see new players. 25 players are fighting for their positions within the team and they must show us that they want to be a part of the national team in the future. We will go for the result, making it difficult for Bosnia.”
Disciplinary regulations: “The players must get used to the rules which we have implemented. At the moment, there aren’t any problems. Giannis Fetfatzidis? He received the disciplinary sanction which he needed. This made it clear to everyone that we are a team and that we must respect the rules. Nothing special, he is in the team. We learn, we make mistakes. It must not happen again. You must have rules in any family.”
Bosnian boss Robert Prosinecki understands the need to win:
The need to play with a different right-back: “We will wait until tomorrow before we make a decision. The player who competes in this position will give 100%.”
The way Bosnia play away: “We understand what we need to do. We must play like we did against Finland, but Greece do have quality. They proved this in their match with Italy. It is not true that Greece don’t create opportunities.”
Need to win in Athens: “Ever since we lost against Armenia, we have been aware that we need to win all of our remaining games.”
