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Bartzokas: «Everything can be fixed» (vid)

Olympiacos will be hosting Bayern Munich tomorrow (17/01, 19.30 CET), in game where, according to our team's coach, Giorgos Bartzokas, the key is going to be concentration.

"Everything can be fixed so long we keep thinking positively", the coach stressed following a relevant question. "And I'm not only talking about us, I'm talking about everyone around the team. Basically the players and everyone around us. It's a peculiar situation for our team, but I'm certain that everything can be fixed, so long we remain positive".

When asked to talk about Bayern, in comparison to the German team's preceding game against Panathinaikos, he said: "We keep seeing big scores in this season's Euroleague. It's not that much about the offensive prowess of the teams, but rather that there are so many games that tactics are a little bit missing. Players play for their stats, they don't foul that easily, they want to be doing more of what the people thinks as important and not the things the coaches want. Bayern has offensive talent, they have quite good shooters and what we saw last night is characteristic enough. With any team, just like it happened against Alba in our game, if you don't stay focused and aggressive with your defense, you are going to be having problems". 

In the light of the said answer, he was asked to answer on whether he thinks that the coaches' impact is now smaller on teams. "Yes. I absolutely agree. How can you prepare a game in one day? You don't have room to do so and you mostly go with tested waters. You need to have set some rules that you have worked with since summer and make very few tactic adjustments, because there's nothing else you can do".

On whether there changes on the 'reds' roster are needed: "I'll be ready to answer that after tomorrow's game. The first game had a teaching value for me, because it's one thing to watch a game on TV, another to run a practice and a third one to coach the actual game. Because people react differently under the pressure of game than how they would have reacted at practice. I think that tomorrow's game is going to be a significant parameter to help us make some decisions. We are few in numbers. We were 11 against Alba together with Charalampopoulos who's only been with the team for a few days. Two foreign players have left. We are few arithmetically and it's certain we are going to try to re-enforce the team. We are already looking at players, in the little time that we have, with the approval of the Presidents, but as you can understand, the market is very specific at this time in the season".

Asked if maintaining hope to qualify to the TOP 8 is a trap or motivation for Olympiacos, he replied: "You can't abandon the season with two months to go. I have worked with a team that had been disqualified early on, I'm talking about Barcelona, but we were winning in our final games. Euroleague is any way a glamorous competition and you can't be indifferent with any game. Of course we are still mathematically in the game and we are going to try and win tomorrow. However, our general philosophy is going to be that of focusing on the next game».

About the warm welcome of the fans: "Since I left, whenever there was an encounter with the fans of the team, I was faced with generally warm reactions.  More than warm I would say and that's how it was at the game on Tuesday. You know, that if the team loses, these things are easily forgotten in Greece and we need to be ready for that. At least, being Greek, I know very well how these things are and that's fine with me".

From the first moment he came back to Olympiacos, coach Bartzokas made clear that he accepted the 'reds' offer because he found it attractive. This time, he was asked to answer if he also said yes due to the team not participating the Greek League. "Competition makes everyone better. This is a fact. We shouldn't be poking at open wounds and right now, it's obvious that there's a wound in the Greek League. I don't think that there's an objective fan, and I'm not only limiting that to the fans of Olympiacos, that doesn't think the same. So, the ideal thing would be for Olympiacos to be participating the Greek League, but on equal terms. That's the issue".  

His coming to the team has given vision and created expectations to the fans. However, for him, the motive to success is different… "There's no greater motivation for me that my own ambitions. That's how I have worked with all my teams. I always invest emotionally to the team I'm with. I always side with the owners that spend their money because as you know, there's no reciprocal profit in basketball. That's why you need to make them feel that you respect what they are doing. It's a different thing to talk about it and a different thing to act on it. About the vision you are talking, I'm certain the future is going to bring more hints of what's to come and the fans of Olympiacos can certainly have a vision for this team".

«We want it more»

The chances for Olympiacos to qualify to the playoffs are limited and everyone is aware of how things are… "Whoever doesn't know that, lives in a different reality", Sasha Vezenkov commented. "We need to follow the coach's plan game by game and see what happens at the end. We need to improve immediately. We saw our mistakes against Alba and tomorrow we need to play a very good game so that we win".

Talking about the German team, he said: "Bayern is a quality team. They are totally different to Alba. They have experienced players, who know where to strike at any time, and just like we saw in their game against Panathinaikos, they can score a lot of threes. We need to be very focused, play with energy and begin with more intensity to win this game".

Compared to the first round game, he pointed out: "We had played an amazing game in Munich for more than thirty minutes, but we lost focus at the end because they were playing harder than us. They are a team that plays very hard, they are athletic and they may not jump a lot, but they are very strong. So we need to match up this energy and show that we want it more and want to win".

Finally, when asked about what went wrong and although it is usual for a team to win when its coach changes, he replied: "What happened in the summer and what happened next has been analyzed too many times. There's not point to duel in the past. We have all made mistakes, so we need to win. You build your psychology with winning, so we need to absorb the coach's philosophy and show a better face".