Olympiakos - OFI.
We played OFI at home earlier tonight in the matchday 8 round of games. This game, although important, is a preparation game for the important matchday 4 game of the Champions League played on Tuesday against Borussia Dortmund. After a one minute silence in memory of our legendary player Leonidas Adrianopoulos, the game started.
We spend the first ten minutes of the game probing at the OFI defence but also in absolute control of the game. An early stat displayed in the 11th minute reading that we currently held 76% of the ball possession and with 8 OFI players in the box when we attacked, it was only going to get worse for them. The game got more and more one sided as the half continued and it seemed that the only thing holding us from scoring was the sheer numbers in the box. OFI surely couldn't hold on forever against this onslaught and we got closer and closer to scoring the opener. Bizarrely it was OFI who almost managed to open the scoring in the 20th minute when 3 of their players ventured over the halfway line and managed to get a shot away on goal but luckily we managed to avoid conceding such an embarrasing reverse.
Here in England, we have a motto about teams which play such a defensive tactic known as 'parking the bus', but OFI didn't just park the bus, they parked the entire f***ing depot in front of goal. No matter what we threw at them, they simply packed the 6 yard box full of players. We were going to have to bring on another striker at least in order to get anything from this game. The possession was great for the statistics but we couldn't get anything through the mass of players and score a goal. As we were having more and more trouble in getting into the area, some of the midfield players were shooting from outside the box which wasn't going to get us anywhere in this game.
During the last five minutes of the first half, we tried all manner of methods to get shots away on goal - trying to dribble into the box, play the '1-2', thread the through ball to the strikers but without success on any of them. In the first minute of extra time, we finally got the goal which we had pressured for throughout the half. A deflection on the edge of the box put Fetfatzidis through with no OFI players in his path. He shot on goal but had the goalkeeper save his effort. The rebound however went to Rafik Djebbour who nodded the ball home for 1-0. So as the game finished for halftime, we had managed to take the lead.
In the second half, we initially substituted Abdoun for Ibagasa before kicking the game off. After the start, it was business as usual with ourselves having full control of the ball even though OFI were now venturing out of their own area. We continued to place the ball in and around the Cretan goalmouth but were now unfortunately unable to get the ball accurately shot on goal. The Heraklion side were now starting to bring the ball over the halfway line at times but were still very much lacking and we continued to be in control.
Mirallas managed to break through the OFI defence in the 58th minute before being brought down in the box by Roy Carroll (the OFI keeper), no penalty was given though and play continued. Mirallas couldn't be held back for too long and managed to score in the 62nd minute with a point blank shot after a snappy cross from the right courtesy of Maniatis. To be fair, Carroll saved the first shot and it was a second crack from Mirallas which managed to get past him but it was a second goal nontheless.
With the game continuing, it looked like the floodgates were threatening to open and we would end up running riot as shot after shot was launched at the OFI goal but it never materialised. In fact, OFI managed to score one goal back in the 74th minute when a free kick was played onto the head of Mantzios. Good ol' Costanzo (crap crap player) came off the line to punch the ball clear, was far too late and simply stood there as the ball arc'd over his head and into the goal. OFI now undeservedly thought they could grab a point from this game and just as inexplicably scored an equaliser in the 77th minute when a corner played into the area wasn't cleared by anyone at all and was scrambled over the line. Astounding, just totally astounding!! The keeper again was totally inactive and totally missed the cross in (although the rest of the defence definitely wasn't blameless). Again, another Costanzo blunder and we end up conceding.
In an effort to grab the winner, Jean Makoun was brought off for Marko Pantelic. Pantelic started to make his presence felt straight away when he almost got a clear shot on goal but was able to start pressuring the Cretan defence as OFI reverted to type and stuck a minimum of 8 men in the box when we attacked. We started to get more and more desperate as the clock wound down to the end of normal time and it looked like we were going to lose two points from the game. Modesto had a header on goal right at the death but his effort was right at the goalkeeper and this was the last action of the game.
We ended up dropping two points from one of the most one sided games I've ever seen. Most of the blame can be shot at Costanzo (but unfortunately he'd fail to catch it!) and the result was a disasterous 2-2 draw.
Olympiakos 2-2 OFI
Djebbour 45+1'
Mirallas 62'
Mantzios 73'
Georgiou 77'
Olympiakos (Valverde) : Costanzo, Maniatis, Mellberg, Marcano, Holebas, Orbaiz (70' Modesto), Makoun (80' Pantelic), Fetfatzidis, Abdoun (46' Ibagasa), Mirallas, Djebbour
We played OFI at home earlier tonight in the matchday 8 round of games. This game, although important, is a preparation game for the important matchday 4 game of the Champions League played on Tuesday against Borussia Dortmund. After a one minute silence in memory of our legendary player Leonidas Adrianopoulos, the game started.
We spend the first ten minutes of the game probing at the OFI defence but also in absolute control of the game. An early stat displayed in the 11th minute reading that we currently held 76% of the ball possession and with 8 OFI players in the box when we attacked, it was only going to get worse for them. The game got more and more one sided as the half continued and it seemed that the only thing holding us from scoring was the sheer numbers in the box. OFI surely couldn't hold on forever against this onslaught and we got closer and closer to scoring the opener. Bizarrely it was OFI who almost managed to open the scoring in the 20th minute when 3 of their players ventured over the halfway line and managed to get a shot away on goal but luckily we managed to avoid conceding such an embarrasing reverse.
Here in England, we have a motto about teams which play such a defensive tactic known as 'parking the bus', but OFI didn't just park the bus, they parked the entire f***ing depot in front of goal. No matter what we threw at them, they simply packed the 6 yard box full of players. We were going to have to bring on another striker at least in order to get anything from this game. The possession was great for the statistics but we couldn't get anything through the mass of players and score a goal. As we were having more and more trouble in getting into the area, some of the midfield players were shooting from outside the box which wasn't going to get us anywhere in this game.
During the last five minutes of the first half, we tried all manner of methods to get shots away on goal - trying to dribble into the box, play the '1-2', thread the through ball to the strikers but without success on any of them. In the first minute of extra time, we finally got the goal which we had pressured for throughout the half. A deflection on the edge of the box put Fetfatzidis through with no OFI players in his path. He shot on goal but had the goalkeeper save his effort. The rebound however went to Rafik Djebbour who nodded the ball home for 1-0. So as the game finished for halftime, we had managed to take the lead.
In the second half, we initially substituted Abdoun for Ibagasa before kicking the game off. After the start, it was business as usual with ourselves having full control of the ball even though OFI were now venturing out of their own area. We continued to place the ball in and around the Cretan goalmouth but were now unfortunately unable to get the ball accurately shot on goal. The Heraklion side were now starting to bring the ball over the halfway line at times but were still very much lacking and we continued to be in control.
Mirallas managed to break through the OFI defence in the 58th minute before being brought down in the box by Roy Carroll (the OFI keeper), no penalty was given though and play continued. Mirallas couldn't be held back for too long and managed to score in the 62nd minute with a point blank shot after a snappy cross from the right courtesy of Maniatis. To be fair, Carroll saved the first shot and it was a second crack from Mirallas which managed to get past him but it was a second goal nontheless.
With the game continuing, it looked like the floodgates were threatening to open and we would end up running riot as shot after shot was launched at the OFI goal but it never materialised. In fact, OFI managed to score one goal back in the 74th minute when a free kick was played onto the head of Mantzios. Good ol' Costanzo (crap crap player) came off the line to punch the ball clear, was far too late and simply stood there as the ball arc'd over his head and into the goal. OFI now undeservedly thought they could grab a point from this game and just as inexplicably scored an equaliser in the 77th minute when a corner played into the area wasn't cleared by anyone at all and was scrambled over the line. Astounding, just totally astounding!! The keeper again was totally inactive and totally missed the cross in (although the rest of the defence definitely wasn't blameless). Again, another Costanzo blunder and we end up conceding.
In an effort to grab the winner, Jean Makoun was brought off for Marko Pantelic. Pantelic started to make his presence felt straight away when he almost got a clear shot on goal but was able to start pressuring the Cretan defence as OFI reverted to type and stuck a minimum of 8 men in the box when we attacked. We started to get more and more desperate as the clock wound down to the end of normal time and it looked like we were going to lose two points from the game. Modesto had a header on goal right at the death but his effort was right at the goalkeeper and this was the last action of the game.
We ended up dropping two points from one of the most one sided games I've ever seen. Most of the blame can be shot at Costanzo (but unfortunately he'd fail to catch it!) and the result was a disasterous 2-2 draw.
Olympiakos 2-2 OFI
Djebbour 45+1'
Mirallas 62'
Mantzios 73'
Georgiou 77'
Olympiakos (Valverde) : Costanzo, Maniatis, Mellberg, Marcano, Holebas, Orbaiz (70' Modesto), Makoun (80' Pantelic), Fetfatzidis, Abdoun (46' Ibagasa), Mirallas, Djebbour
02:58
01:03
03:09
03:44
01:25
03:56
00:46
03:26
03:56
03:56