Asteras Tripolis 0-1 Olympiacos - and Rafik Djebbour
Marko Scepovic scored the only goal in our second leg of the greek cup. The win makes it 5-0 on aggregate and see us advance to the next stage. The game itself was a bit crappy and very low key from us.
I guess we'd already won the tie and barring some sort of catastrophic breakdown we were always going to get through. Megyeri played well out of the team but there is precious little else to say.
Still we won and I guess thats all that needs saying. Theres a few pictures underneath this text from the match.
Asteras Tripolis 0-1 Olympiacos
79' Scepovic
Olympiacos : Megyeri, Salino, Papadopoulos, Papazoglou, Bong, N'Dinga, Pele, Machado (65' Weiss), Fuster, Dominguez (57' Ibagaza), Mitroglou (76 'Scepovic).
In the last day or so, the Turks kicked out Rafik Djebbour and so he has returned to the club. Djebbour is probably oblivious to what he has done when he says that he wouldn't mind playing for us again. Oh, thats very fucking nice of you Rafik!. Tell you what, how about NO - FUCK OFF YOU MERCENARY BASTARD!!
Djebbour did his damndest to leave the club in the summer, publically courted Poutanas tis Vorra and then claimed he was out of contract and could move anywhere he liked. Now his season is down the shitter and he couldn't score three goals in the Turkish league he wants to come back. No thanks, send the prick off to Ukbekistan or somewhere. See how he likes it then - the ungrateful opportunistic little shite.
Olympiakos 1-0 Asteras Tripolis
We had our matchday 6 tie tonight with us playing Asteras Tripolis at home. Its been a couple of weeks since my last report due to holidays but I'm back and writing again. This is our last superleague game before we take a weeks break for international duties and we really want to grab a win here to make it 6 victories from 6 games so far.
Onto the game though and it was Tripolis doing the majority of the attacking in the opening minutes although their long ball methods was easily ran out of play. We also helped break up their momentum with smart counter attacks whenever possible. After the first ten minutes we were getting more possession of the ball and starting to apply some pressure on the Asteras goalmouth albeit without any success.
We were still fighting for control of the game after the first fifteen minutes and our efforts on goal were being matched by Tripolis at the other end of the pitch. Our best chance of the game so far coming in the 20th minute from a free kick just in front of the box which required the goalkeeper to intervene and push the ball over the net. A following opportunity was cleared off the Tripolis line so it looked like, slowly but surely, we were getting closer to goal.
We continued with the pressure on the Tripolis goalmouth throughout the half but were having trouble in breaking through their defensive line. Our best chances were still coming from dead ball situations and not open play. On the wings, Machado had not been performing well and Ibagaza was being closed down in the centre too often so the playmakers were being reduced to the two defensive midfielders and Abdoun (who was trying to dribble all too often).
However two minutes before the break we got the goal we had been waiting for. An indirect free kick gave us the chance to make a shot on goal and up came Holebas for the shot. He absolutely spanked the ball and shot it into the goal like a bullet to give us the lead at halftime. That shot has to be the goal of the week if not the month - an total cracker of a shot!
Early in the second half we made two changes to the lineup to allow for tactical changes and a couple of slight knocks that the players had picked up. The game however had reverted to what was seen for long stretches of the first half - a lot of possession and runs up the field but very little final chances in the Tripolis area. Asteras for their part were getting a little more adventurous as they needed to equalise but we were coping with their occasional forays into our half of the pitch.
During the second half of the match, Asteras started to control the possession more whilst we changed to counter attacking once again but we were still coping with closing down their attacks. The defensive style didn't meet with the crowds approval though and they voiced their discontent. Especially as we weren't showing any sort of domination on the field at the minute.
We had a couple of chances on goal in the final 15 minutes of the match but so did Tripolis with a header ricocheting off the post in the 82nd minute. The opposition had another direct chance on the 85th minute but luckily Carroll deflected the ball off his feet with a diving save. We managed to hold onto the lead for the rest of the game and the match finished after four minutes of extra time. The crowd rightly booed the performance (despite the win) at the final whistle.
Olympiakos 1-0 Asteras Tripolis
43' Holebas
Olympiakos : Carroll, Modesto, Contreras, Manolas, Holebas (50' Torosidis), Maniatis, Siovas, Ibagaza (50' Fuster), Machado, Abdoun, Djebbour (83' Mitroglou)
Team announced for Asteras Tripolis
After the mornings training session, Leonardo Jardim announced the 19 players selected for tomorrows match. The players making the list are :-
Goalkeepers (2)
Carroll, Megyeri
Defenders (5)
Siovas, Holebas, Manolas, Torosidis, Contreras
Midfielders (9)
Greco, Tatos, Ibagasa, Fuster, Modesto, Maniatis, Fetfatzidis, Abdoun, Machado
Attackers (3)
Mitroglou, Pantelic, Djebbour
Diakite, Diogo and Vlachodimos were not included whilst Papazoglou, Fejsa and Zaradoukas are not fit enough to take part in the game.
Highlights For Olympiakos 7-2 Asteras Tripolis
Olympiakos 7-2 Asteras Tripolis
Our game earlier today saw us face Asteras Tripolis in our penultimate match in Karaiskaki. The Superleague championship was already virtually won and if we could get a win today, we would only need a draw away to secure our 39th title. We had turned out a strong side for todays game and so we should have been able to get a positive result.
First Half
It was just bad in that we started with an aggressive display (taking shots and winning corners) but were then caught out twice in three minutes to go beind. Tripolis managed to perform the same trick twice and counter-attacked when virtually all our team was at the wrong end of the pitch. Our defence was stretched wide and the result was going 2-0 down at home within the first 16 minutes of the match. We pulled one back in the twentieth minute from the spot after Makoun was fouled in the area but our opening performance left much to be desired.
After our initial aggression in the match, we then started to look a little shakier even after pulling one back. We weren't controlling the midfield enough and some of our attacks were being rushed with the ball being subsequently lost. Rather worringly Tripolis were still counter-attacking on occasion and getting the ball into our box before we cleared it away. After the penalty we didn't really manage to trouble the Tripolis defence in the first half and we looked very shaken as a team. This is probably best shown when Marcano almost managed to roll the ball into his own net and then make a two footed lunge in a tackle afterwards (he was very lucky not to receive a straight red). A very poor first half...
Second Half
With the changes made at halftime (Modesto off for Maniatis and what must have been one hell of a talk by Valverde), we improved by an infinite amount and just ran riot in the opening stages of the second half. Three goals in under five minutes changed the game around for us and almost ensured the victory after such a dismal first half. The onslaught continued with us narrowly missing two more chances before Tripolis finally got over the shock and started to take part in the game once again.
Kevin Mirallas completed his hat-trick in the 70th minute to increase the daylight between the two teams even further and Tripolis just seemed to give up at this point allowing us even more control of the ball and more attacks in the half. The upshot of this was another goal in the 82nd minute with Fuster being allowed a simple tap-in after Mirallas had broken through the defence on his own. Mirallas finished the match off with a final goal (his fourth of the night) in the last minute of normal time.
Summary
What to say... We scored 6 goals in one half of football to totally destroy a team which was near to the top of the table. It was one of the best halves of football I've ever seen and to make it even more bizarre, it followed such a turgid first half.
Olympiakos 7-2 Asteras Tripolis
13' Navarro
16' Martins
20' Mirallas (p)
49' Djebbour
51' Mirallas
53' Orbaiz
70' Mirallas
82' Fuster
89' Mirallas
Olympiakos : Megyeri, Torosidis (79' Fuster), Mellberg, Avraam, Marcano, Orbaiz, Modesto (46' Maniatis), Makoun, Mirallas, Abdoun, Djebbour (71' Kazim-Richards)
Asteras Tripolis 2-0 Olympiakos
Despite our greater ball possession, Tripolis were doing a reasonable job of breaking up our attacks and defending in numbers then counter attacking. It did seem however that it would just be a matter of time until we opened the scoring though as we seemed the far more comfortable and competant team when in control of the ball. Having said that, Tripolis came close to scoring again when one of their attacks was not closed down properly and they managed to get a low shot away which Megyeri had trouble in saving.
With the first 30 minutes of the game over, it would be fair to say that Tripolis are getting into the match more and more whilst we seem to be having trouble in making any impact on their defence. The best way I could perhaps describe today is to say that half of the team is trying to get a result but the other half seem totally indifferent. On the 40th minute. Megyeri brought down a Tripolis player in the box, giving them a penalty (luckily only getting a yellow card). The penalty was converted (on the second attempt) and we found ourselves one-nil down.
At the halftime whistle, we couldn't have complained much about the scoreline. We would need to improve all over the field in order to turn this score around and get a win out of this game.
With Pantelic's appearance at the restart, we became more aggressive on the pitch and started to move the ball further up the pitch whilst Tripolis tried to combat our moves by counter attacking. Unfortunately even with Pantelic's addition, we were still having trouble in breaking down the Tripolis defence and then getting caught out when they counter attacked. It didn't help that the referee was turning a blind eye to all the fouls that we were suffering. Some of the 'tackles' that we were suffering were truly atrocious.
In the 70th minute, we suffered a second goal which effectively killed off the game for us. A counter attack by Perone, broke away from Marcano and as Megyeri came to intercept the play, he was simply lobbed in the middle of no-mans land and we were now two goals down. Again, I can't complain as we were defensively awful tonight (and not too brilliant going in the other direction either).
With no other options left, we threw everyone forward in the last fifteen minutes of the game but we needed a miracle to get a result. As if to confirm this, Djebbour missed a point blank range shot and pushed the ball wide. Again, our complacency was evident to see when we got the ball into the box then waited as we got closed down and the ball eventually cleared. Another one on one chance for us went begging when Djebbour fired wide of goal. We had made plenty of attacks in this game, some of them quite skillful but we just couldn't get the final chance or final shot away to score the goal(s).
The game finished after 4 minutes of extra time and the loss here pushes us down to 3rd place, 5 points behind the Vazeloi and 4 behind the Turkoi (who have played two more matches than us). Our next match will be on Wednesday against Doxa Dramas and we can only hope for a win in this game. It has to be said that the fans were superb in the game and made themselves heard thoughout, they didn't deserve to see this...
Asteras Tripolis 2-0 Olympiakos
42' Martins
70' Perone
Olympiakos (Valverde) : Megyeri, Torosidis, Mellberg (22' Holebas), Papadopoulos, Marcano, Maniatis, Modesto (66' Fetfatzidis), Mirallas, Fuster, Monche (46' Pantelic), Djebbour
Asteras Tripolis 0-1 Olympiakos
The half does kick off with ourselves showing some aggressive moves in front of goal although it is actually Tripolis who manage to get the first shot on goal from a long range effort which is easily saved. We do look pretty bright in this opening quarter hour though and we press to get the ball forward quite convincingly. We have an early chance of our own in the game with Torosidis having a close range header on goal and again with Mirallas taking a shot on goal but we find the Tripolis goalkeeper justabout able to save both efforts.
We maintain the attacking play as we get further into the half, whilst Tripolis are having to make their first substitution in the 19th minute due to injury (Poulido for Argyropoulos). Tripolis however are pressing more into our half when they have control of the ball although there is nothing dangerous about the plays that they are making so far. As for our own chances, Pantelic is doing most of the running although Fuster has also had some chances on goal of his own. In the event, we actually open the score with a penalty gifted to us after a piss-poor challenge made on Fuster within the box. Fuster converts this easily enough to make the score 1-0.
After the goal, Tripolis start to fight more for the ball in the middle of the pitch although this doesn't seem to halt our attacking play at all and we still press forward, controlling the ball and play and threatening to score a second goal in the game. We don't seem to be able to create much at the minute as the ball is getting bogged down in midfield too often. This, and the state of the ground after so much rain is hampering our attacking play and so although we can get the ball forward quite easily, we are having trouble in creating the final pass through to our forwards. Tripolis do have a great chance on goal from a long range free kick but luckily their shot skims past the post and out for a goal kick. The first half ends after a minute of extra time and we carry the lead into the break.
The second half opens with Tripolis making more effort to get the ball forward and put their stamp onto the game. This of course is leading to us having some chances through breaks and counter attacks, one of which are particularly impressive though. Tripolis are however getting more chances on our goal though and we will need to keep a good performance at the back in order to avoid conceding a goal. Tripolis continue to come forward and make chances on our goal, the best coming from a free kick, but luckily we either manage to clean up their attacks or their own shooting is not on target and we escape without conceding.
We have a good chance to increase the scoreline in the 60th minute with a free kick delivered from the right from Riera, unfortunately although the delivery is ok, the shot on goal is soft and the keeper is able to gather it up without problem. We make more efforts to go forward but we seem to be getting caught offside more often than not. When we do manage to both hold onto the ball and break forward through their lines, we end up shooting well over the net and wasting our chances. We manage to knock the ball into the box again but suffer the same thing happening, our shots are either off target or are deflected off from one of the numerous Tripolis bodies in the box. To be fair, we are getting closer and closer to scoring a second goal but we just need to improve our game in front of goal.
We are now in the last fifteen minutes of the game and continuing with the attacking play which has seen us getting closer and closer to the Tripolis goal as the half has continued. We also make our first substitution of the game with Zairi replacing Mirallas on the right wing. This alteration is quickly followed with the replacement of Fuster with Maniatis whilst Asteras Tripolis attempt to attack our defence on the left hand side before running the ball out of play. (This substitution sees Maniatis' debut for the team).
We let another golden chance on scoring get away from us when Maniatis has a superb header on goal following a free kick delivered by Torosidis, Pantelic tries to shoot home the follow up only to shoot into the side netting. Tripolis manage to then attack with the ball all the way down the pitch and grab a free kick on the edge of the area which they blast directly into the wall to our relief.
We make our third and final subsitution (Riera replaced by Holebas) deep into extra time as a purely timewasting change and the game finishes after 3 minutes of additional time.
We can be grateful for the win but our performance has been largely indifferent.
Asteras Tripolis 0-1 Olympiakos
30' Fuster
Asteras Tripolis : Degra, Fytanidis, Ouribari, Poulido (20' Argyropopoulos), Orothko, Bastia, Ladakis, Karera, Roubil (72' Arsenievic), Martins (65' Fortounis), Frankou
Olympiakos : Pardo, Torosidis, A.Papadopoulos, Mellberg, Bravo, Mirallas (81' Zairi), Ibagaza, Modesto, Riera (91' Holebas), Fuster (85' Maniatis), Pantelic
Referee : Koukoulakis (Irakleio); Fantopoulos (Piraeus); Alexias (Messenias); Kyrkos (Epirus)
Yellow Cards : 31' Bastia, 45' Martins, 86' Orothko - 36' Mirallas, 82' Ibagaza
Asteras Tripolis 0-1 Olympiakos (Cup)
We started off in the usual 4-4-1-1 formation although with a very makeshift lineup (see below for list of players). Despite the lineup, we imposed ourselves well on our opponents and unfortunately we lost a number of chances to put ourselves forward in the match early on. In the first ten minutes, we saw good chances for goals from both Riera and Mirallas along with Pantelic just five minutes later. Unfortunately for us, the Tripolis keeper Degra had an impressive game and seemed to cope with our strikers and the shots we were creating.
As we got further into the half we saw chances from Ibagaza and Modesto, both of whom missed the goal. In fact, Modesto in particular missed a golden opportunity from only a couple of metres out. We also saw more chances from Ibagaza and Mirallas but despite all of our efforts, we could not manage to beat Degra in the Tripolis goals.
With regard to the second half, Olympiakos once again started the half well and created chances on the Asteras goals, the best of these coming in the 60th, 64th and 68th minutes from Riera, Mirallas and Pantelic respectively. However in the 78th minute, Mellberg received a second yellow card for a fairly innocuous looking challenge and was expelled from the pitch reducing us to 10 men for the final 12 minutes of normal time. Fortunately though, our domination of the game could not be halted and we finally managed to get the game winning goal.
The goal was created by the skill of Jaouod Zairi (a substitution for Galitsios) who made a great run from the right wing before making a low pass in the box itself to Ibagaza. Ibagaza took a first time shot and finally beat the keeper (86').
This was basically it for the match although we almost got a second goal through Mirallas but Degre's skill and good luck managed to deny us a second goal for the umpteenth time. The full time whistle sounded soon afterwards and so we won (quite convincingly) with just 10 men.
Olympiakos : Pardo, Modesto, A.Papadopoulos, Mellberg (Off 78'), Holebas, Galitsios (69' Zairi), Ibagaza, Hurtado, Riera (83' Potouridis), Pantelic (75' Fuster), Mirallas
Expected lineup for Asteras Tripolis (Cup)
Pardo is found in goals as our first choice keeper these days and in front of him, running from right to left, we have Modesto, A.Papadopoulos, Mellberg and Raul Bravo. The centre of midfield is being controlled by Ibagaza and Hurtado whilst in front of them are the usual three attacking midfielders. Zairi on the right wing, Fuster down the centre of the pitch and Riera on the left. Finally, we see Mirallas in the usual lone striker role.
We hope to see that this lineup is strong enough to beat Tripolis today and from there we can move onto our next matches after the christmas break.
Training - Monday 20th December
- Both Dennis Rommedahl and Kristian Nemeth followed an individual training program which included both treatment and some light gym work.
01:25
03:56
03:09
03:26
01:03
03:44
00:46
03:56
03:56
02:58