Introduction
After a short absence due to me being in Karaiskaiki last week and me missing the opening leg against Rubin due to the playing times, I have time to write a report. The match this afternoon comes from the Giorgos Karaiskakis stadium where we play Panionios on what looks like a reasonably sunny day. Due to the return game against Rubin coming up on Thursday and some suspension and injury problems we have employed a weaker lineup than what was possible but with the players being used, we should have been looking for an easy win today.
Opening to the game
We made a reasonably good opening with plenty of attacking early on in the match whilst Panionios spent the same time defending in depth and crowding out our players in the 6-yard-box. To compensate we won a corner or two but struggled to get anything on target during this time. We held onto the ball effectively in midfield and there was no action at all in our half of the field. Instead we saw yet another team visiting our stadium simply 'parking the bus' in front of goal and defending with all 11 players.
Missed chances
We had a great chance to open the scoring in the 17th minute when a free kick delivered into the net was put directly on the head of Makoun only for him to unluckily nod slightly wide. At the other end of the field, Panionios were starting to get the ball over the halfway line and even up to our own area at times although without any serious threat. We continued to keep a tight hold on the game but found the mass of Panionios defenders difficult to break through and clear chances on goal lacking. Diogo came close with another chance in the 27th minute but his shot from the edge of the box was wide and again he was having trouble breaking away from his marker.
Makoun scores the opening goal
So when the game was in the final 15 minutes of the first half we found that all the play was just around the Panionios box and they had reverted to the tactic of simply sticking all 10 outfield players firmly in the area. Some of our shooting in this period of play also left a lot to be desired but again, we simply could not manage to break into the area due to the mass of bodies.
Eventually however we managed to get the goal we deserved. Panionios player Antunes simply booted Abdoun in the stomach during one of the typical 'challenges' and in the resulting free kick the ball was played into the area. At the end of the ball was Makoun and he managed to nod the ball into the net and open the scoring and hopefully open up the Panionios defence who would now have to attack to even get a point from the match.
Diogo grabs the second
The second half initially saw chances for both sides before we scored a second goal courtesy of Diogo. In this goal, Abdoun had broken into the area from the left and managed to get as far as the left hand side of the post before a chip over the goal allowed Diogo to get his head firmly on the all and to head it cleanly into the net. The second goal allowed us to consolidate our hold on the game and we continued to create chances even after the game restarted. We had a chance to score a third goal shortly afterwards but our pressure never managed to turn into a clear cut chance on goal.
End of the match
The game continued in the same vein with ourselves having full and total control of the game and Panionios totally ineffectual. At this stage of the game however we had changed our style of play to be a little more defensive and although this did let the Nea Smyrniots back into the game a little , they never created anything of note. Well I say this but it was difficult to see what exactly was going on when the Novasport stream kept cutting out and basically playing up.
In fact, the stream got so bad I had to give up and follow the game on the radio. Sorry about that....
Olympiakos 2-0 Panionios
40' Makoun
50' Diogo
Olympiakos : Megyeri, Torosidis, Papadopoulos, Marcano, Holebas, Orbaiz, Maniatis (71' Fuster), Kazim-Richards, Abdoun (85' Fetfatzidis), Makoun, Diogo (80' Djebbour)
After a short absence due to me being in Karaiskaiki last week and me missing the opening leg against Rubin due to the playing times, I have time to write a report. The match this afternoon comes from the Giorgos Karaiskakis stadium where we play Panionios on what looks like a reasonably sunny day. Due to the return game against Rubin coming up on Thursday and some suspension and injury problems we have employed a weaker lineup than what was possible but with the players being used, we should have been looking for an easy win today.
Opening to the game
We made a reasonably good opening with plenty of attacking early on in the match whilst Panionios spent the same time defending in depth and crowding out our players in the 6-yard-box. To compensate we won a corner or two but struggled to get anything on target during this time. We held onto the ball effectively in midfield and there was no action at all in our half of the field. Instead we saw yet another team visiting our stadium simply 'parking the bus' in front of goal and defending with all 11 players.
Missed chances
We had a great chance to open the scoring in the 17th minute when a free kick delivered into the net was put directly on the head of Makoun only for him to unluckily nod slightly wide. At the other end of the field, Panionios were starting to get the ball over the halfway line and even up to our own area at times although without any serious threat. We continued to keep a tight hold on the game but found the mass of Panionios defenders difficult to break through and clear chances on goal lacking. Diogo came close with another chance in the 27th minute but his shot from the edge of the box was wide and again he was having trouble breaking away from his marker.
Makoun scores the opening goal
So when the game was in the final 15 minutes of the first half we found that all the play was just around the Panionios box and they had reverted to the tactic of simply sticking all 10 outfield players firmly in the area. Some of our shooting in this period of play also left a lot to be desired but again, we simply could not manage to break into the area due to the mass of bodies.
Eventually however we managed to get the goal we deserved. Panionios player Antunes simply booted Abdoun in the stomach during one of the typical 'challenges' and in the resulting free kick the ball was played into the area. At the end of the ball was Makoun and he managed to nod the ball into the net and open the scoring and hopefully open up the Panionios defence who would now have to attack to even get a point from the match.
Diogo grabs the second
The second half initially saw chances for both sides before we scored a second goal courtesy of Diogo. In this goal, Abdoun had broken into the area from the left and managed to get as far as the left hand side of the post before a chip over the goal allowed Diogo to get his head firmly on the all and to head it cleanly into the net. The second goal allowed us to consolidate our hold on the game and we continued to create chances even after the game restarted. We had a chance to score a third goal shortly afterwards but our pressure never managed to turn into a clear cut chance on goal.
End of the match
The game continued in the same vein with ourselves having full and total control of the game and Panionios totally ineffectual. At this stage of the game however we had changed our style of play to be a little more defensive and although this did let the Nea Smyrniots back into the game a little , they never created anything of note. Well I say this but it was difficult to see what exactly was going on when the Novasport stream kept cutting out and basically playing up.
In fact, the stream got so bad I had to give up and follow the game on the radio. Sorry about that....
Olympiakos 2-0 Panionios
40' Makoun
50' Diogo
Olympiakos : Megyeri, Torosidis, Papadopoulos, Marcano, Holebas, Orbaiz, Maniatis (71' Fuster), Kazim-Richards, Abdoun (85' Fetfatzidis), Makoun, Diogo (80' Djebbour)
