Pedro, we have a problem

AGONAsport’s Olympiacos contributor, Theo Bouras, talks about the Erythrolefki’s struggles away from home in this season’s Super League after the Reds dropped points in Nea Smyrni.

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If you weren’t convinced that Olympiacos have an issue with road games this season, then last Saturday at Nea Smyrni must have made you a believer. The Erythrolefki dropped points for a third time this season on the road and have squandered their lead over PAOK heading into next week’s colossal battle with last year’s Greek Champions. The 44-time Greek Champions struggled to beat the Panthers in 2017-18, where they squandered a 1-3 lead late and needed a 90th-minute goal by Kostas Fortounis to get the 3-4 thrilling victory. Last season, it was a 92nd-minute goal by Ahmed Hassan that gave the Legend a late 0-1 victory.

Missed Opportunity

Sitting in 13th place in the Greek Super League standings, Panionios showed they were certainly no pushover. The Erythrolefki continued an alarming trend of creating many chances at games away from Georgios Karaiskakis Stadium but were once again incapable of capitalizing. After opening the score with a perfectly executed Mathieu Valbuena penalty, Olympiacos looked complacent and were unable to add to their lead.

Panionios didn’t look threatening even after conceding, but it took one innocent-looking play to cost Pedro Martins’ team two points. So far this season, Olympiacos have accumulated 27 points in 11 games with the six points being lost on the road against Panathinaikos, Xanthi, and now, Panionios. Much like this past Saturday’s game in Nea Smyrni, Olympiacos had much of the control against Panathinaikos until an 89th-minute penalty gave the Greens the draw. Aside from the late goals, the team’s style of play on the road has been disturbing.

The urgency that was present last year in mid-season now seems to be gone. The team looks to have a poor attitude on the road; almost as if they are annoyed they need to be playing. That obviously sounds a lot harsher than the actual truth but the complacency can’t be explained any other way.

Take it one step at a time

There is no denying that Olympiacos have a colossal schedule coming up this month. The trip to Nea Smyrni is followed by a trip to London to play Tottenham. In addition, the Erythrolefki will host PAOK and Red Star Belgrade all in a span of 10 days. If the team is looking ahead and begins taking the “smaller” opponents lightly, they will lose valuable points in the fight for the lead title.

PAOK this season have managed to salvage two extra points scoring late against Panathinaikos and Aris. Olympiacos have managed to lose four valuable points late in games against Panathinaikos and Panionios; that comes out to a six-point difference in the standings. This Sunday, Olympiacos will not have the luxury of having any point advantage on PAOK.

Andreas Bouchalakis claims that the onus is on the players and not on coach Martins after the team’s latest slip-up. Martins blames himself and the players saying he can’t understand what went so wrong. If the team gets trounced in England and then lose to PAOK, Martins might not see the year 2020 in Greece.

by Theo Bouras

Image Source: to10.gr

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