MYTHOLOGY DICTATES THAT Greek Gods are the immortals.
But Keith Long saw enough from his side’s 2-1 win in the first leg of this Europa Conference League third-round tie to know that PAOK just might not live up to the calibre of Zeus and Apollo et al.
In a split press conference from the Toumba Stadium in Thessaloniki, where his players trained last evening in 32 degrees of dead heat, the Bohemians manager spoke to local journalists on the ground and Irish reporters via zoom.
He struck two different tones.
Long is aware of the monumental task – Herculean, even – facing his side, and despite that slender one-goal lead POAK will be overwhelming favourites to overturn the deficit.
They are ranked 77th by UEFA, Bohs are not even in the same Acropolis way down in 380th. “There is no pressure on us. PAOK are the team expected to progress,” the Dubliner said, responding to questions from Greek media.
“We recognise that we are stepping up a level with the opposition. They are a high-ranking team, they have big budgets, big resources. We are a small team from a small country and there is no pressure on us other than the pressure we put on ourselves to perform.”
The Bohs struck a different note when the questions came from Ireland. The story had broken earlier in the day that local police declared none of the 200 fans who travelled would be granted entry, as a Greek passport would be required in order to be one of the 25,000 inside.
“We are disappointed that they can’t get into the game but they need to stay safe, be sensible and go and watch the game somewhere they can enjoy it, and hopefully we can put in a performance for them,” Long said.
“Of course we are stepping up a level to the opposition but it’s 11 v 11. They’re not immortal so we have to bring our best performance and the best version of ourselves every time we play.
We trust in what we do and what we’re about, our processes, I know you have heard that a number of times over this European campaign but that’s what we have to do, trust and believe in ourselves, there’s no point in going to places and having ambitions to progress in Europe if you can’t come to places like this and give a good account of yourselves.
“We’re going to have to step up, we know our performance level will have to step up from last week as I am sure the opposition will step up in terms of intensity and we have to be ready for that. That’s the challenge. Thursday will bring its own story.
“But our performances in Europe, we have stepped up at every opportunity with every opponent that we faced, we surprised one or two people with the level of our quality and we have to try and show that, repeat that in difficult circumstances.”
Long once again acknowledged the fine work of the club’s underage system, one which has produced players such as Dawson Devoy, Ross Tierney and Andy Lyons who are set to feature in tonight’s second leg.
And for all the talk of how his young side have dealt with the challenges of this European journey, the man leading them on this voyage seemed momentarily thrown to be asked how he has dealt with the extra demands placed on him.
“Nothing’s changed,” he insisted after a pause. “It’s European football. It’s where we want to be, it’s what we work on a weekly basis for and it’s why Saturday’s defeat in Waterford was very disappointing for us.
“That’s the basics, that’s our bread and butter. That’s where we need to do it every week to get back here again. What has it (the European run) brought out in me? You know, it’s for others to answer that. I haven’t changed. I operate the same way, our structures and our processes. The way we work every day, our actions and our behaviours.
“That’s what we try to achieve and that’s what our focus is. In terms of me as a manager, as a coach, we’ve enjoyed this time and we don’t want it to end. We will absolutely need to put in a really, really good performance.
We’ve tried to be consistent and stay on an even keel,” Long continued. “We’ve had some good nights and we’ve enjoyed those nights, it’s been brilliant to have 8,000 supporters in our national stadium having the team play fast, attacking football.
“And putting people on the edge of their seats, generating that noise, people in Irish football or people who enjoy Irish football or enjoy football in our country, we’ve been on peoples’ lips. Along with other teams, Dundalk were fantastic against Vitesse last week, Shamrock Rovers have a great chance to progress and we hope that both clubs do.
“We have to make sure that we represent our club on the European stage and we will be doing everything we can to progress.”
PAOK manager Razvan Lucescu has seemed rather dismissive of the defeat in Dublin, declaring it was not a deserved outcome and it was only because of his side’s mistakes that Bohs were able to punish them.
“I am sure they fully believe they can go through and are very much the favourites,” Long continued. “They have their reasons, the manager is quoted in what he said, will we use that as fuel to motivate us, does it energise us? I don’t think so, what we have to try and do is respect ourselves, respect what we are about as a team, understand what we want to try and achieve. Opinions are everywhere, everyone has an opinion.”
And nobody is immortal.
