Olympiacos played like Greece’s best team

AGONAsport’s Olympiacos contributor, Theo Bouras, talks about the Erythrolefki’s draw with PAOK and how the Reds deserved to come away victorious in the weekend’s derby

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If you ask any Olympiacos fan if they are happy with last Sunday’s derby result, the answer will be a resounding “No.” The Erythrolefki treat – and have always treated – every Greek derby as a must win and a tie is never acceptable. Nonetheless, the 44-time Greek Champions can find a lot of positives from their clash with PAOK.

 Wasting the first half

Pedro Martins and his squad have nobody to blame but themselves for their subpar performance in the first half. The team looked jittery and were not able to mount any offence. Daniel Podence on the right was often holding on to the ball for far too long which gave PAOK the opportunity to organize themselves defensively. On the left side, Giorgos Masouras probably was not a very good option to be in the Starting XI. The Greek left winger is a work-horse and drops back to help left-back Kostas Tsimikas; his offensive abilities, however, leave a lot to be desired. The substitution for Hilal Soudani was one of the reasons why Olympiacos took control of the second half.

Defensively, Avraam Papadopoulos showed that he is still very much capable of keeping up at this level. The Greek center-back had a couple of key tackles and his positioning was nearly perfect. On their one visit to the Olympiacos penalty area, PAOK opened the scoring after an error from Jose Sa. The Portuguese keeper has been a rock for the Legend this season but his errors on the Panionios tying goal last week and the PAOK goal this past weekend, can’t be ignored.

Pure Dominance

After the half, Olympiacos came out on a mission not only to tie this game, but to win it! The Piraeus-based club won every one-on-one battle in the midfield and began to put the pressure on the PAOK defence. PAOK, resembling a team that looked like they belonged in the second-half of the Super League standings, played with eleven men behind the ball and cleared the ball whenever they could.

In the 49th minute, a clear foul by Omar El Kaddouri on Podence should have been a penalty but the Spanish referee didn’t even bother to verify with the VAR. Similar to the “Black Friday” sales of “two for the price of one,” the Reds have gotten used to only being awarded one penalty when two infractions occur this season. Anyone who watched the game will tell you that the Spaniard made a ton of mistakes. On four different occasions, he called a foul on a PAOK player when Olympiacos had the advantage with the ball at their feet and a counter attack on the way.

After leveling the score, Olympiacos searched for the winning goal and PAOK had no answers. Olympiacos, who travelled to England during the week, seemed a lot fresher than the PAOK squad which has no European obligations this season. Youssef El-Arabi should have put the Gavros up by one last in the game, but it was not to be. Both teams settled for a tie with Olympiacos deserving more.

After recent allegations about PAOK owner Ivan Savvidis indirectly owning Xanthi FC, I can’t tell you how this season will end. Olympiacos are hell-bent on breaking down a system they feel is rigged, and tensions are at an all-time high. Meanwhile, the Erythrolefki continue to be in first place (along with PAOK) without their captain, and most talented player, Kostas Fortounis. 

Olympiacos were the better team last season when they lost to PAOK 0-1 at Georgios Karaiskakis and were the only team that mustered any offence in the second half of their first encounter this season. On both occasions, the Reds did not win. Like they say, the third time is a charm, and Olympiacos can rest assured that the next time they play PAOK at home it will be in the Greek Super League championships playoffs, where a win there will matter most… that is of course, if this season somehow finds a way to end.

by Theo Bouras

Image Source: to10.gr

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