Yonatan Alon, Hapoel Jerusalem's new coach ahead of the home game against the champion: "I believe the team can look better, otherwise I would not have put myself in this situation"
Yonatan Alon.
First battle against the champion
Photo:
Courtesy of Hapoel Jerusalem
In the shadow of the big storm last weekend, Hapoel Jerusalem, will host Maccabi Tel Aviv tomorrow (Monday, 21:15) at Lottery Arena and the first to stand on the lines will be the new coach, Yonatan Alon, who until three days served as the assistant of the fired Dainius Adomitis.
Alon, who already had time to have his first training session with his team yesterday, said tonight (Sunday) before the concluding training session: "Unfortunately, the circumstances questioned because it hurts me for Dainius, it's a pity it ended like that. He is a coach and a very high level player who gave a lot of himself. To him, he was a gentleman and gave me the blessing of the road. "
"I believe the team can look better, otherwise I would not have put myself in this situation," the 39-year-old coach added. "For things that are more comfortable for the players. The weight is on them. They should come and not give up, and face the difficulties."
On the other hand, coach Yannis Sapropoulos referred to the fact that from now on his team can only concentrate on the local arena: "After finishing our games in the Euroleague, we return to the Israeli league and cup. This road starts against Hapoel Jerusalem, where games are always important," the Greek coach stressed. "They have problems and they now have a new coach. They will surely try to respond accordingly and we should be prepared to play the best we can, concentrate and do the job in the best possible way."