Olympiacos 3-2 PAS Giannena
We played PAS Giannena in a home game yesterday and managed to win thanks to a shot from Saviola and two penalties. However it wasn't a convincing match and we conceded twice, the second goal coming from a ten man PAS three minutes from the end of the game and leading to a hectic final few minutes.
However close the match actually proved to be, it shouldn't have been the case. We missed dozens of chances to score and frustratingly it seemed that we were trying to dance the ball into the goal rather than simply shoot. The two penalties were probably justified but we went over far too easy in the box so it left a sour taste for me.
Still we won and remain undefeated in the league so perhaps I should simply be happy with the score. I try, but there's always a thought that we can be doing even better.
Olympiacos 3-2 PAS Giannena
21' Saviola, 51' Machado (p), 70' Campbell (p) - 11' Ilic, 87' Kritikos
Olympiacos (Michel): Roberto, Machado, Papazoglou, Saviola (74' Scepovic), Samaras, Manolas, Salino, Dominguez (46' Campbell), Weiss (70' Fuster), Bong, Olaitan.
Olympiakos 2-0 PAS Giannena
First impressions of Nikopolidis' debut were encouraging with our team pressing, attacking with flair and generally playing more aggressively than had been seen previously this season. We took control of the game and played fast aggressive football from the first whistle. PAS' chances were limited but they did also fight for the ball whenever they got the chance.
Despite our improved style it took right to the death of the first half to open the scoring. Here it was a free kick taken in stoppage time, fumbled by the keeper and knocked into the net by Djebbour.
Our second half continued in the same way that the first half had finished, a strong aggressive and fast display which led to good possession in the PAS half. To be fair, we were pretty rusty at this style of play but with time we would sharpen our play and get ourselves more used to the tactics used today.
Abdoun doubled the score in the 68th minute after a good 1-2 play with Ibagaza in the box. Our aggressive tactics didn't stop after doubling our lead and although we didn't score any more goals we ended the match positively.
Olympiakos 2-0 PAS Giannena
45+2' Djebbour
68' Abdoun
Olympiakos : Megyeri, Diakite, Manolas, Contreras, Holebas, Maniatis, Greco (64' Ibagaza), Machado, Abdoun (77' Fetfatzidis), Pino (72' Mitroglou), Djebbour
Pictures follow :-
PAS Giannena 1-2 Olympiakos
Today saw our matchday 3 game against PAS Giannena away in the Zosimadon stadium. Despite the refusal of PAS to allow our organised fans to attend and the poor weather of the last 24 hours, we were looking forward to a win in todays game.
We had rested a couple of players in advance of Tuesdays game against Schalke but the squad which we put out was more than capable of winning the game in style.
We started the match reasonably well winning the ball quickly in the middle of the pitch and getting the ball forward. PAS had some fight in their side and it took us a while to break them down. Eventually though the disparity in team quality started to show and we started to exert pressure on their goal.
After the opening quarter hour, PAS were being pushed firmly into their own box and we were making opportunities from all over the pitch with the midfield being especially flamboyant in their creativity. The Epiriots on the other hand seemed to have no tactics apart from tackling as hard as they could and trying to injure our players.
Siovas had probably the best chance to score in the opening half when a free kick was delivered into the box from Machado. He rose and managed to get his head onto the ball only to head his effort wide of net. A couple of minutes later, Manolas had a similar opportunity, headed the ball against the post and allowed the keeper to recover. In a rare counter attack PAS almost scored when their player beat two defenders and our keeper only to hit the post and have the ball bounce out of play.
We had a flurry of chances at the start of the second half but failed to capitalise on any of them. Our lack of success in opening the score forced Jardim to make an alteration to the system, putting Mitroglou onto the pitch and changing to a 4-4-2 formation. The payoff for this move came just two minutes later when the substitute opened the scoring.
One of the PAS defenders was caught in possession on the edge of the box by Abdoun who quickly took the ball off the player. A quick pass forward found Djebbour, who selflessly passed across the face of goal to Mitroglou allowing him to administer a tap into the net at the far side of the goalmouth.
A solo effort from Djebbour doubled the scoreline in the 67th minute. From midfield, a simple long pass into the box found the Algerian with perfect accuracy and he simply controlled the ball then put it into the net. Georgiou replied for PAS just a minute later after beating both Siovas and Carroll in an awful display of defending from our players.
As the game moved into the final stages we continued to attack the PAS goal but also had to be wary as they came forward to grab an equalising goal. For maybe five minutes before the end of the game we had to defend in numbers to avoid any breakthoughs from the opposition. Luckily we managed to avoid conceding any late goals (despite a very late scare) and so the game ended 2-1 in our favour.
In summary it was a nice game from our players for the majority but the fragility of our defence became pretty evident. It is worrying to be going into an european campaign with our defence being exposed at times by a team like Giannena (and Roy Carroll's charges from the goalline). Still we justabout earned the three points today and can move onto the game against Schalke.
PAS Giannena 1-2 Olympiakos
60' Mitroglou
67' Djebbour
68' Giorgiou
Olympiakos : Carroll, Papazoglou, Manolas, Siovas, Holebas, Modesto, Ibagasa, Greco (58' Mitroglou), Abdoun (73' Fuster), Machado, Djebbour (85' Fejsa)
Team announced for PAS Giannena
After completing training this morning, Leonardo Jardim announced the team making the trip to Epirus for our game against PAS Giannena. The team announced is.....
Goalkeepers (2)
Carroll, Megyeri
Defenders (5)
Siovas, Holebas, Manolas, Papazoglou, Torosidis
Midfielders (8)
Greco, Ibagasa, Modesto, Fuster, Fetfatzidis, Fejsa, Abdoun, Machado
Attackers (4)
Diogo(!!), Mitroglou, Pantelic, Djebbour.
Notable absentees include Diakite wasn't ready in time whilst Contreras and Maniatis are being held back so that they are fully ready for the Schalke game.
Zaradoukas on loan to PAS Giannena
Olympiakos 2-0 PAS Giannena
Tonights game came from Karaiskaki where we faced PAS Giannena (the 'Ajax of Epirus'). This was our last league match before the Christmas break and saw an almost full strength side turn out for us. The stadium was filled, the atmosphere lively and the stage was set for a fine victory...
Fuster Scores The First Goal
After the match started we wasted no time in getting forward, keeping possession of the ball and winning the first corners of the game. The pressure is this early phase was pretty relentless in our favour and almost all the action was found in the 6 yard box. The result was an opening goal for us from David Fuster in the 9th minute when a corner was pass back then hit to the centre of the box where Fuster smashed the ball into the back of the net and opened the scoring.
Consolidation
Following the games restart we had a brief attack by Giannena before we ended up stealing the ball and going on the attack once again. The action again was largely centred in the opposition box although PAS did get a foot onto the ball once in a while and attempt to get it down the pitch only to lose out to our defence. For the remainder of the time, we were usually found in possession of the ball and attacking the Epirot goal. A quick statistic from the 29th minute showed that we had nine chances in the game at that time, to Giannena's solitary one.
Djebbour makes it two
In the final ten minutes of the first half, we continued to push forward in search of a second goal although PAS were defending in such numbers it was making it difficult for us to break through the back line. On a rare attack, Giannena managed to break through our defence and Megyeri had to intercept the ball to stop them from having a shot on goal. At the other end, we managed to grab a second goal and gain a safety barrier for our team. In this goal, a scrappily fought over ball was being pushed around the goalmouth until Djebbour received it and instantly took his chance to shoot it past the keeper.
PAS come into the game.
The second half saw PAS initially attack and win their first corner of the game and then a free kick. We soon coped with their attacks and making some of our own. It should be admitted that PAS were having more of the ball at this stage of the game but we were easily clearing their attacks and ensuring that nothing serious was being created. To allow for PAS getting into the game more, we changed gameplan to be more defensive, holding onto the ball in midfield and counter attacking with a few when necessary with just a few players.
Bakayoko's big chance
On the 60th minute, an update of the earlier statistic was shown with ourselves now having 13 chances on goal to their 1 against. That said, Bakayoko had a superb chance to grab one back in the 67th minute when a back pass went awry but luckily for us he shot over the net. This however was Giannena's first and only big chance to score in the game and they blew it. We didn't allow the same chance to occur again and closed down their chances from then onwards.
End of the game
Giannena had started to give up on any chance in this game and were falling back further and further up the pitch. We of course were following up and controlling the possession once again. We seemed to be content with the scoreline though and although we did attack when in possession, we didn't press our attacks as hard as we had done earlier in the game. We attacked and gave a scare to the Epirot team but the end product was not there and no real chances were made.
Summary
After the game had finished, we had 3 point on the back of what was essentially a very easy victory. Giannena provided a lot of the ease of the match by only changing from a defensive strategy in the second half even though they were behind from the ninth minute. As a note, we gave a standing ovation to Tasos Pantos (Ripanto) as the game ended.
Olympiakos 2-0 PAS Giannena
9' Fuster
42' Djebbour
Olympiakos : Megyeri, Torosidis, Papadopoulos, Marcano, Holebas, Modesto (66' Orbaiz), Maniatis, Fetfatzidis (71' Yeste), Fuster, Mirallas, Djebbour (90' Pantelic)
PAS Giannena 0-0 Olympiakos
We started off in a 4-4-1-1 with Daskalakis in goals, Maniatis, Papazoglou, Markano and Valerianos in defence. In the midfield we saw Javito, Ibagasa, Hurtado and Riera with Fuster and Pantelic completing off the lineup. We swapped this to a lineup of Megyeri, Modesto, Mellberg, Potouridis, Holebas, Grbic, Fejsa, Yeste, Fetfatzidis, Fuster and Mirallas at halftime after it was evident that Valverde was not happy with what he saw.
Unfortunately this report is very sparse as there was very little to talk about. The performance was sub-par and no-one from our team particularly distinguished themselves.
We move on from this to Wednesday's home match against Galatasaray.
Team for PAS Giannena Announced
Heres the list :-
Goalkeepers (2) :- Daskalakis, Megyeri
Defenders (8) :- Maniatis, Mellberg, Valerianos, Potouridis, Papazoglou, Markano, Holebas, Modesto
Midfielders (10) :- Hurtado, Yeste, Fetfatzidis, Grbic, Javito, Ibagasa, Riera, Fejsa, Katai, Fuster.
Attackers (2) :- Mirallas, Pantelic
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