Fenerbahçe coach Jose Mourinho, who defeated the Czech representative Slavia Prague 2-1 away in the fifth week of the UEFA Europa League, said that Slavia was better in the first half, but they found the gaps with the arrangements in the second half.
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Speaking at the press conference held after the match played at Eden Arena, the Portuguese coach started his speech by answering the question about Sebastian Szymanski.
Stating that he was waiting to be asked questions about the team, the Portuguese coach said, “My team showed a great performance today. He was one of the players whose situation was questionable yesterday. I had no options at the club. I did not have options, especially in the defense and midfield. He, like the team, gave everything. My team was in difficult moments. Slavia Prague was the better side in the first half, but we made some adjustments in the second half and our players found the spaces to create positions and we got this important victory. “We are at the top of the table, we will play our 2 matches at home. We will have the opportunity to decide our fate at home.” he said.
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Emphasizing that the difference between the away game against AZ Alkmaar and the football played today is incomparable, Jose Mourinho continued as follows:
“It was two completely different matches. Actually, we went to the Alkmaar match comfortably, but today our players felt the pressure. We were in a position to advance to the next round since the first match we played. We felt the pressure, we knew that we had to at least get points today. My players went into the match with the awareness of this. They focused well on the match. First We gave 2-3 positions to our opponent in the half. We did not manage to take good positions in the opponent’s crosses. In the second half, the opponent was playing man-to-man. “Teams are starting to lose their strength as time progresses. The goal came after that. I was waiting for the goal to come. We were the better side in the second half. 5 of our players were carded today, but my players were really brave today, they deserved the victory.”
Stating that the opponent was marking man-to-man and that such teams cannot continue in the same way throughout the match, Mourinho said, “Two midfield players received yellow cards. Actually, they are a little lucky because one of these players should have seen the second yellow card. When the players in the midfield receive a yellow card, they become unable to make a foul.” And they lost their strength in one-on-one situations. Then En-Nesyri came into the game. I had 4 offensive players on the bench today. You try to find a strategy in such situations. He made a statement.
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Speaking about Samet Akaydin, who played his first match in Europe this season, and the strikers in the team, Jose Mourinho underlined that the yellow-dark blue team has very important names in attack.
Emphasizing that Dzeko, En-Nesyri and Cenk Tosun are very important football players, Jose Mourinho concluded his words as follows:
“They are all very good players. Cenk gets less playing time than other players, but just because he gets less time doesn’t mean he is not good. I have three really good strikers. I am trying to use Dzeko and En-Nesyri according to the match plan and the situation we are in. .They score goals, but what they do apart from goals is great. You earn money by working hard. A football player earns money by playing when his coach gives him a chance. You cannot earn money by talking, crying or causing trouble by making his manager talk to the newspapers. Samet worked hard from the first day, he waited for the opportunity to come. He has been playing for 3 matches and he was at a high level. I was really happy for him. I knew that Becao and Çağlar would not play for a few weeks and that I would play with Djiku and Samet. “I wanted a collective work to happen between them. I’m happy for them.”
