Shota Arveladze, the Yellow & Blue Head Coach spoke about the unbelievable and unthinkable outcome on Matchday One of his club’s Europa League contest against Zenit St. Petersburg at the Netanya Stadium. The Georgian boss talked about his disappointment, if the match against Beutar had an effect on this game as well as commenting on the new rule that UEFA had out in place concerning fouls and yellow cards:
“It was a new rule that in ten seconds you have to go out and not touch the ball, but the rules were changed to not punish the team twice. I don’t know or understand the logic of this rule but unfortunately this happened to us. But it just wasn’t that, we collapsed and gave up quick goals. It’s very hard to take. If Dasa wouldn’t have touched the ball it would have been a red card and no foul, but it was the referee who allowed the game to continue. When it’s a second yellow, the referee should stop the play, issue the red card and continue. We were punished twice by the new rule. This really led to our losing the game.”
Earlier substitutions?
“I made the substitutions after Zenit scored some goals and when Dasa was out. We were up so I didn’t think we needed to make changes earlier.”
Analyzing the match:
“We have to really improve and it’s really important. When we give up a goal we have to keep playing and even when we have ten men we should also be able to stand up against the opponent. It was a problem and led to the collapse.”
What did you say to the team after the match?
“I didn’t say anything to the boys.”
Did the match against Beitar have any effect on the result tonight?
“We can always connect anything, training, press conferences and games. It’s the same team, same boys, the time is short with just a few days between games. I can say yes or no. It’s a new day, a new challenge. We wanted to come out to play and I still have to give our team credit, the match was not easy and we scored some nice goals. It’s not easy, but we have no time to dream as we have a game in just three days.”
Have you ever experienced this type of game before:
“I lost 3:0 but we drew even 3:3 as a player. As a coach I have never experienced anything like this and I hope I never do again.”
Leadership on the pitch:
“If you really analyze the game, the boys talk to each other all game, they knew how to mark and followed who they needed to. We have had games where we left for five or ten minutes and came back. I see my role as giving the boys that they can do it. We can come out and play our own game but we have to compete and finish the game even if we are up 3:0. This was a very bad day for me. But I can see that the boys can do it and they have to finish the game.”
Effect of the match going forward:
“I’m not going to say nothing happened but we have to pass this. Last year I’m sure they had some rough games but this was like two games in 90 minutes. We have no time to think and we have a league match in a few days, it’s the past and it’s over. We can analyze this and get stronger see where we made the mistake and not do this again.”
