Olympiacos Piraeus

[Schweisen Tiger]

VP is a disgraceful coach everytime he's playing knock-out competitions. You can check his resumé, and easily watch that everytime he played an average opponent, he was knocked-out. Only progressed for a final once...and lost it.

[Faliro]

He clearly underestimated AEK. He probably saw how clueless PAOK were last week and assumed a second division club would be easier.. when in fact AEK have a team that would be pushing us at the top of the league if they were in the super league. They would even give a Portuguese top team a good game.

They were faster and more hungry. We were lucky.

[sbremoved_28408]

I really liked what I saw from AEK. Very well organised and with good players upfront.

Let´s see how they spend their money next season but they already have a good platform to build from

[Faliro]

I agree. To think their captain, Cordero and main striker Brescivic were injured and not able to play.. 

They bought players who played exceptionally well for clubs like Xanthi, Panionios etc and offered them high wages to play in the lower divisions as a type of bribe. Mantalos played very well at Xanthi for example and PAOK and PAO were stupid to let him slip through their fingers. Platellas was also a great find, I think he has some talent.

Their only problem will be playing in the OAKA next season - that stadium is so big... it is like a neutral pitch.. Their stadium development plans are still a war zone between the Government and Melissanidis. The problem appears to be 80 trees which need to be chopped down..

As for the return game.. some say AEK might bring around 50,000 fans...

[T1n0_SLB]

If they are able to bring big crowd it might be good for them playing in OAKA.

[sbremoved_28408]

If they are able to bring big crowd it might be good for them playing in OAKA.

Probably in most games it will be mostly empty and the stands are very far from the pitch,which is always a disadvantage in terms of atmosphere,pressure on opponents and refs

[T1n0_SLB]

If they are able to bring big crowd it might be good for them playing in OAKA.

Probably in most games it will be mostly empty and the stands are very far from the pitch,which is always a disadvantage in terms of atmosphere,pressure on opponents and refs

[Faliro]

If they are able to bring big crowd it might be good for them playing in OAKA.

Not so sure - I am happy the game is in the OAKA. The thing about the OAKA, is that you are miles away from the pitch because it is an olympic stadium. They can create a hell of atmosphere in there if it is full, but even 20,000 missing makes the place seem weird. 

Before AEK knocked down the Nikos Goumas stadium (the one they trying to rebuild now), they were winning non stop. The atmosphere in that place was hellish.. The OAKA can create a tough atmosphere, but nowhere near a football only venue..

Nikos Goumas:



OAKA:



Close up:

[T1n0_SLB]

I know what you mean, i've read both AEK and PAO fans complaining about this issue.

[Faliro]

Yea and many stupid Aektzis and Vazelos stated the OAKA was a good option!
But most realise it damages the club. That is why PAO now play all their games back at their shit-hole small stadium, Leoforo. To intimidate the other team and referee..

[sbremoved_28408]

The problem is,even if they attract crowds of 20,000 or 30,000 it will still look empty because the stadium is huge. The same happens with Besiktas playing at the Ataturk olympic stadium

[Faliro]

It's simple. Greeks want a stadium where you are able to spit and throw objects directly at players. In the OAKA.. you have to be an athlete to do so... unless you storm onto the pitch.. which happens very often at the oaka.. AEK fans usually storm the pitch when they are losing an important game.....to get the game abandoned. They did that a lot in their last season in the super league and kept getting -3 points..



The owner of AEK has just announced he will give the players €100,000 bonus if they beat OSFP and get to the semi final.

[Schweisen Tiger]

I'd say it's a cash-cow agreement for AEK players, because VP is going to be knocked-out...easily. I've seen that movie too many times. He simply wasn't built for this kind of competitions. AEK score in the first quarter, and then VP takes one or two more goals. In the end, he's going to blame the pitch, the referrees, the blocking actions in free-kicks, his grandmother...

[Faliro]

Well today I realised VP is either insane or very very brave.

He took off Santana at half time and replaced him with Affelay. It is the first time I have ever seen OSFP play with 1 CB. N'Dinga either refused to play CB, was not instructed to or simply forgot...

The team then looked like this after half time:

..........Meygeri........

Salino.....Siovas.......Masuaku

......N'Dinga...........Milo..........

Jimmy.....Fortounis...........Affelay

....Mitroglou.....Diamantakos...



A special mention to Affelay , Jimmy and Fortounis who did nothing all game. Annoyingly I recon if these players were offered to AEK for free, they would pass..

[Faliro]

News today:

Fuster broke his hand again yesterday in pretraining for the AEK match and played 45 mins with painkillers.

Benitez and Bouxalakis back from injury and trained today in the cold with the rest of the team.

VP was not happy with the team after the display against AEK and made them train in the freezing cold. He worked on finishing chances. Not sure why... we didn't create any..



AEK fans, aware that the rematch is their biggest game in two years, have crashed the ticket hotline trying to get tickets. The game will most likely be the 5th of March and they are treating it as a final. At this point I could envision a sell out. 69,000...