İsmail Kartal: "It will be a match of fiction and strategy"

Fenerbahçe will host Slavia Prague tomorrow in the 3rd week match of the UEFA Champions League. Fenerbahçe Coach İsmail Kartal made statements at the press conference held before this match.

Making evaluations about the match to be played tomorrow, İsmail Kartal said, "Although I say we are continuing our preparations, we do not have the chance to train much. We will gather the team together with a small training this evening. We will explain what the opponent can do in analyzes and meetings. We continue our preparations by telling what the opponent can do and what we can do.

They play very physical football. We will play against an opponent who has a very high tempo, plays man-to-man and puts hard pressure. They play as 3 players, sometimes they can play as 4 players. With the meeting we will hold with our players, we will come out with the most rested players. We have 3 different setups. We are planning to play the Slavia match tomorrow in the best possible way. We will play at home and we trust our fans. "I believe we will do our best with their support," he said.

'THERE MAY BE ROTATION'

Stating that he may make a rotation against Slavia Prague, Kartal said, "We are looking and thinking match by match. It may be a rotation. We will decide tonight. We could not train yesterday either. We will look at the players' conditions. The player's own psychology is important. If he is tired, we are respectful people."

'IT WAS NOT A SCORE ANY OF US COULD ACCEPT'

Expressing that they reacted to the Aston Villa match against Alanyaspor, the experienced coach said, "Tomorrow may be tougher. The Aston Villa match was a bad match for us. Even though we played good football, it was not a score that any of us would accept. We identified our shortcomings in that match. We reacted immediately within 2 days. I think this reaction will be stronger in the match tomorrow."

'GREENWOOD MAY PLAY IN A DIFFERENT MISSION TOMORROW'

Stating that Mason Greenwood may play in a different position tomorrow, İsmail Kartal said, "Mason Greenwood is a quality player in the offensive sense. He may have some deficiencies in defense. We are talking to him to eliminate them. Our expectation from him is that he will demonstrate his quality and skill in the offensive sense. I think he will be good from now on. He can play in a different position tomorrow."

İsmail Kartal continued his words with the following statements:

"In the Aston Villa match, our most valuable players such as Asensio and Kante were injured. They are all valuable, but Asensio is a very valuable and different player. So is Kante. He had pain in the back of his knees. I asked Kante at half-time, 'Can you play?' I said. He said, 'Coach, if I enter, my injury will recur and I may not play for a longer time.' "He's holding me lightly," he said. I said, 'Don't focus there.' He shows professionalism for Fenerbahçe. It shows character. As long as he is healthy, we will talk again tonight. He is a positive kid who does whatever task you give him like a machine in every training and every match. "Many players in the team are very positive and our energy is very high."

'IF WE GET 3 POINTS, WE WILL BE MORE HOPE TO GET OUT OF THE CHAMPIONS LEAGUE'

Talking about the importance of 3 points against Slavia Prague, Kartal said, "This coach has been at the head of Slavia Prague for 9 years. We had the same coach 4 years ago. We were defeated 3-2 in both matches. We did not deserve the defeat here under the conditions of that day. Tomorrow's match is not a rematch, but a Champions League match. It will be a match of fiction and strategy. If we win, we will feel like we got a rematch. God willing, if we get 3 points from here, we will leave the league stage in the Champions League." "We will be more hopeful for this. We think there are matches we should be able to win on paper," he concluded his words.