Zico Talks to FB TV

Zico Talks To FB TV
Translated And Edited By Ozgur R. Nazilli

Zico has given an interview to Fatih Demirkol from FB TV prior to today's training. Here is his views on the recent events:

"We had the chance to win the PSV game. We could have won it. Just as we were outplaying PSV everywhere on the pitch and getting the upper hand Deivid was sent off, in a position that deserved a yellow card at worst. In general, we played well against PSV. However, the red card forced us to go on the defensive and protect our goal. We did what we could after Deivid was sent off and came back with a point from an away game that we played with 10 men for half an hour."

When asked to comment on the 108 km ran by the players against PSV: "This statistics show that we pressured the opponent a lot. Because when you make the right runs and do not give the opponent the passing space, your runs will be good and the passing advantage will be yours. That is what we did in this game. PSV is a team who plays especially well on their home grounds. We knew that it would be a tough game. But with smart runs, pressing, tight marking, and attacking as a team, we neutralized their threats. We did not let their strong players perform up to their real standards, and those statistics are a result of this.

On the topic of qualifying from this group: " When we take a look at Group G (Fenerbahce's group) we see that we have 4 champions from 4 different countries. Therefore it would be fair to say that this is a very tough group. With the games we played so far, I can say that things are going as planned. If we had come away with 3 points from the PSV game, we could have said that we had a tremendous advantage at qualifying from the group. But, we still have our fate in our own hands. If we win against PSV at home, the final game against Inter in Italy will not be so important. If we get good results from the two remaining home games, we will easily qualify for the next stage."

Zico was also asked about his opinion on how people have been praising him for recent performances in Europe. His comment: "It makes me happy to see that people who are in the futbol industry are praising me. However, these praises do not mean that my work is done. We are on the right track at the moment. The Turkish futbol is a lot like the Brazilian futbol. Both are focused on scoring goals and having an attacking mentality. Since our players share this mentality, we have an easier job of adopting that style. We have our goals that we want to accomplish. If we cannot reach those goals, the praises do not mean much."

Finally, about the game this weekend against Kasimpasa: "We have to play with the same passion we had in the Konyaspor game. We need to get back to the top. We need to reconcile the unnecessary points we dropped and think about how we might get back the top spot. In this, the players have a huge responsibility, and they are aware of it. We will get the result we want from the Kasimpasa game too."
"I might change the first eleven a bit. I want to utilize Tumer. Tumer has just recovered from an injury but he became fit faster than we expected. There might be some other changes too but right now the player I have in mind is Tumer."

On a side note, Zico confirmed that he will be using non-first team players in the Fortis Turkey Cup and trying them out. This should be a good opportunity for the likes of Ilhan Parlak and Gurhan Gursoy to prove themselves to Zico.