Sakota: We have fallen into a small-team mentality

AEK Athens lost 73-77 to Doxa Lefkada in the Stoiximan GBL. With this result, the team lost for the fourth consecutive time. Head coach Dragan Sakota, who attended the post-match press conference, described the team's situation in frank terms.

Sakota said the team had fallen into a "small team mentality." He said that over the past two years they had beaten stronger opponents, but today they were playing while thinking about whether they could win. He stressed that such play was unworthy of a professional team and did not represent the club or himself. He said injuries and the limit on foreign player changes were making the job harder. He explained that Fizel, Gregg and Williams are injured, and that Bartley has had to stay on the court for long stretches. He added that Flionis and Ertel, who returned from injury, are playing with minute restrictions.

Sakota also highlighted the shortcomings on the boards, saying there were no players left in the three and four positions, and that Skordilis, a veteran, was not in the squad. He reminded everyone that the rebounding gap in the match was 46-30. He said training was being held with only five players and two young players on the roster, and that the last training session lasted 40 minutes. On transfers, he said they were looking for new players, but could make only one foreign player change until the end of the first round. He said the fans give energy, but when results are poor the crowd does not grow either.