Ettore Messina: 'There's no room to change this team, we have to keep working' / News - Basketnews.com

After the 9th straight loss, Olimpia Milan's head coach Ettore Messina says the only way out for his team is through working and taking responsibility. Messina also confirmed that he talked to the management and that he'll stay at least until the end of the season.

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EA7 Emporio Armani Milan suffered the ninth loss in a row against Maccabi Tel Aviv. The Italian team has yet to win a game at home in EuroLeague this season.

EA7 Emporio Armani Milan / Schedule

EA7 Emporio Armani Milan Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv71-77 Crvena Zvezda mts Belgrade EA7 Emporio Armani Milan67-71

The situation is getting worse week after week, and it looks like the team is following a pattern in every game. A good start in the first half and then mistakes and fear in the second.

After the game, head coach Ettore Messina spoke to the reporters in a press conference and admitted that the only way out of this slump is through work.

"We did a good part in the first half, and then, as always, we threw everything away," coach Messina began.

"The three things that always kill us are turnovers, missed free-throws, and mistakes that we could have avoided defensively. But we continue to work because we have to get better. Not only to play better at this level but also to play better in the national league. If we want to achieve any kind of success this season, we have to get better," continued the Italian coach.

Messina made it clear that there's no room to change the current roster of the team. This roster has to work its way out of this situation, and that's it.

"No, there's no room to change, we cannot make other moves," Messina specified.

"There's no will and no possibility to do that. When the time comes, I hope I'll see this team with Pangos, Shields, and Datome all together, and then at the end of the season, we'll make all the evaluations. Right now, our duty is to make this team play better."

The team keeps making the same mistakes, and Messina is convinced that every single one of the players needs to take responsibility and start playing better.

Credit ZUMAPRESS.com - Scanpix

"This roster is made of very experienced players who had great careers, and most of them were never in a situation like this one," the Italian head coach explained.

3-pointers this season

33%8,7Points made:8,7Accuracy:33,0%Place in standings:11Record max:15Record min:4Most made 3FGs:Nazareth Mitrou-LongTeamEuroLeagueStatisticsSchedule

"If we keep feeling sad, we will not fix this situation. Everyone has to have a fierce will to get out of this slump. So far, we haven't been able to do that. My job is to help them to get out of this situation.

For obvious reasons, we've been able to do a good job in the Italian league, but we're not doing it in EuroLeague. It's not only the players, but we're all on the same boat, and we need to find a solution," Messina added.

At halftime, Olimpia Milan's president Pantaleo Dell'Orco spoke to Italian news agency ANSA and confirmed that the club wants to continue with coach Messina, no matter what, saying that there's already an agreement in place for next season too.

When asked about these words, Messina thanked the club for the support that they're showing.

"Of course, I want to thank the president for the support," Messina said.

"The only thing I can say is that this type of season can happen to every team. It happened to us, Maccabi, CSKA, Fenerbahce. I understand that it's difficult. We lost 10 games already, and we haven't won a single game at home so far, the fans are disappointed.

Surely, right now, there's some kind of psychological difficulty because, in EuroLeague, we're never able to do well for 40 minutes.

One month ago, I reflected on the situation, and I said if this goes on, I can leave. Then, we had some discussions with the ownership, and I realized that I couldn't have left the boat in the middle of the storm.

Then, of course, we'll see how the situation will be at the end of the season. I hope we'll make good things happen, but at the EuroLeague level, it's going to be very difficult," Messina concluded.

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