Quique S. Flores: “We lacked the intelligence necessary to play the match”
The manager assured that qualifying will be very difficult
Quique Sánchez Flores knows that qualifying for the next round of the Europa League will be extremely tough after falling to Aris. “We don’t depend on ourselves and that’s why I’m incapable of giving a percentage of possibilities of passing through to the next round. We let our best chance pass us by and now we have to imagine that the competition is going to be very tough,” he pointed out.
The manager of Atlético de Madrid analyzed the loss and said that “it was a strange match with different stages. I feel that we didn’t have defensive control. They didn’t attack much, but we had many problems in back. We gave them two goals on set pieces and also had trouble in transition; we weren’t sharp. In the first half, and after fighting back, we made mistakes. We had to keep attacking the opposing goal and we didn’t do that. We opted to control the ball with lots of touches and without looking at our rival’s goal. I told my players at half time, as accidents happen in the world of football and unfortunately their two goals came. When we wanted to search for the goal, Aris had rearmed.”
The ‘rojiblanco’ head coach explained that “we began with an accident and the team was able to react. We played a similar match against Espanyol. Our timing was bad. Tactically we were a horrendous team in the last 10 minutes. We lacked the intelligence necessary to play the game. When we could have insisted more we didn’t, and then when we tried, we were unable to.
“We’re in a very similar situation to the one from last season when we I arrived at the team. Very strange things have happened with two very similar matches, with defensive mistakes. They know it and we’ll continue working to correct them. Now we’re in a strange place. The strikers look back and ask what’s going on back there. Poor decisions, lack of confidence… I don’t like to deceive anybody. We’re not going to give up. We’ll travel to Germany with the intention of winning, but if everything depends on what happens in Greece, I’m not betting on Rosenborg. It’s sad that this happened at the Vicente Calderón in front of our supporters. I ask them for forgiveness and we’ll keep working. Last year, in a worse situation, we were able to create excitement,” Quique Sánchez Flores finished.
The manager of Atlético de Madrid analyzed the loss and said that “it was a strange match with different stages. I feel that we didn’t have defensive control. They didn’t attack much, but we had many problems in back. We gave them two goals on set pieces and also had trouble in transition; we weren’t sharp. In the first half, and after fighting back, we made mistakes. We had to keep attacking the opposing goal and we didn’t do that. We opted to control the ball with lots of touches and without looking at our rival’s goal. I told my players at half time, as accidents happen in the world of football and unfortunately their two goals came. When we wanted to search for the goal, Aris had rearmed.”
The ‘rojiblanco’ head coach explained that “we began with an accident and the team was able to react. We played a similar match against Espanyol. Our timing was bad. Tactically we were a horrendous team in the last 10 minutes. We lacked the intelligence necessary to play the game. When we could have insisted more we didn’t, and then when we tried, we were unable to.
“We’re in a very similar situation to the one from last season when we I arrived at the team. Very strange things have happened with two very similar matches, with defensive mistakes. They know it and we’ll continue working to correct them. Now we’re in a strange place. The strikers look back and ask what’s going on back there. Poor decisions, lack of confidence… I don’t like to deceive anybody. We’re not going to give up. We’ll travel to Germany with the intention of winning, but if everything depends on what happens in Greece, I’m not betting on Rosenborg. It’s sad that this happened at the Vicente Calderón in front of our supporters. I ask them for forgiveness and we’ll keep working. Last year, in a worse situation, we were able to create excitement,” Quique Sánchez Flores finished.