Olympiacos Piraeus

[bgardo]

Wow, Manolas looked poised to sign for Arsenal. To be honest Faliro, it could have been huge for greek football to have a top player sold to the PL.

Portugal started to make great sales once Paulo Ferreira, Ricardo Carvalho, Ronaldo and Mourinho took the PL by storm.

Today, football in England is that big that if you are sucessfull there, then doors open and that could have been an importante step for Greek football and their players. With all due respecto to Samaras, Manolas could have been that star. Mitroglu could have been as well, but that transfer to Fulham was a shot in the foot.

[bgardo]

who you replacing the position with now that manoulas left?

An inferior Spaniard called Botia we picked up from Sevilla for €2 million...
Siovas (good player - always injured)
Avraam (finished as a footballer)
Abidal

I used to think highly of Botia. When he was with Sevilla a thought he could have been a good option for Benfica. But he clearly hasnt lived up to his potential. However i think for that price he could be a great surprise for you guys.

[Faliro]

Wow, Manolas looked poised to sign for Arsenal. To be honest Faliro, it could have been huge for greek football to have a top player sold to the PL.

Portugal started to make great sales once Paulo Ferreira, Ricardo Carvalho, Ronaldo and Mourinho took the PL by storm.

Today, football in England is that big that if you are sucessfull there, then doors open and that could have been an importante step for Greek football and their players. With all due respecto to Samaras, Manolas could have been that star. Mitroglu could have been as well, but that transfer to Fulham was a shot in the foot.

I agree completely. The Italians and Germans are usually first to Greek players.
I did not want Roma for him. I don't like the league.

I don't like Arsenal either if I am honest, I actually thought Manolas was too good for them. I was hoping for a Chelsea, Man City, Man U, either of the two Portuguese giants, etc.. But Greek agents always love dealing with Italians.. the more complicated the deal, the more Greeks salivate...

Mitro to Fulham was a disaster. Damaged Greek players coming to the Prem. Samaras was seen as a mistake by Man City. Karagounis did fairly well as did Stelios at Bolton, Kygriakos at Liverpool etc.. Nothing sensational like the Portuguese... I was kind of hoping Mourinho would take a Greek player at some point... Whatever he touches instantly becomes valuable.. and he seems to have a soft spot for Greece maybe..

Maybe it is for the better... as long as the Brits keep thinking Greeks are football donkeys, the players are cheaper for clubs like Benfica and we can shock the prem teams every time they come to Greece...

[Faliro]

who you replacing the position with now that manoulas left?

An inferior Spaniard called Botia we picked up from Sevilla for €2 million...
Siovas (good player - always injured)
Avraam (finished as a footballer)
Abidal

I used to think highly of Botia. When he was with Sevilla a thought he could have been a good option for Benfica. But he clearly hasnt lived up to his potential. However i think for that price he could be a great surprise for you guys.

Hopefully. He looks good on paper, but on the pitch he just seems a little slow and doesn't back off enough when attackers are running at him....

[bgardo]

Wow, Manolas looked poised to sign for Arsenal. To be honest Faliro, it could have been huge for greek football to have a top player sold to the PL.

Portugal started to make great sales once Paulo Ferreira, Ricardo Carvalho, Ronaldo and Mourinho took the PL by storm.

Today, football in England is that big that if you are sucessfull there, then doors open and that could have been an importante step for Greek football and their players. With all due respecto to Samaras, Manolas could have been that star. Mitroglu could have been as well, but that transfer to Fulham was a shot in the foot.

I agree completely. The Italians and Germans are usually first to Greek players.
I did not want Roma for him. I don't like the league.

I don't like Arsenal either if I am honest, I actually thought Manolas was too good for them. I was hoping for a Chelsea, Man City, Man U, either of the two Portuguese giants, etc.. But Greek agents always love dealing with Italians.. the more complicated the deal, the more Greeks salivate...

Mitro to Fulham was a disaster. Damaged Greek players coming to the Prem. Samaras was seen as a mistake by Man City. Karagounis did fairly well as did Stelios at Bolton, Kygriakos at Liverpool etc.. Nothing sensational like the Portuguese... I was kind of hoping Mourinho would take a Greek player at some point... Whatever he touches instantly becomes valuable.. and he seems to have a soft spot for Greece maybe..

Maybe it is for the better... as long as the Brits keep thinking Greeks are football donkeys, the players are cheaper for clubs like Benfica and we can shock the prem teams every time they come to Greece...

Earlier this summer I was really hoping to see Manolas at Benfica. With the arrivel of Samaris and the talk a few weeks ago of Karnezis it would have been perfect. First because of his quality as a center back and also because adapting to Portugal would have been easier.

Too bad, I honestly feel he deserved more then Serie A.

[iKatz]

Faliro, what happened with Panathinaikos?

I saw them squad now, and they are so poor.

[Faliro]

Faliro, what happened with Panathinaikos?

I saw them squad now, and they are so poor.

They just have terrible terrible presidents. Just like PAOK. They spend very very little money. They one year had a millionaire in charge, he got them Cisse and some other players and they won the league easily. Then he was forced out and another typical PAO owner came, spending no money, attacking Olympiakos verbally every day.... They are a disaster and they have terrible players... The small teams of Levadiakos, Kalloni, Asteras, Gianina, OFI, Ergotelis can all beat PAO and PAOK easily because they know more about football and get better players.

PAO are a fallen giant. They had two choices when Olympiakos started spending big. Match us, or pay journalists to say we a re cheating... they chose the later. PAO and PAOK are exceptionally weak teams. 

[iKatz]

I see, and PAO fans dont "do" nothing?

They are slowly getin more smaller

[Festivus]

I was surprised when I found out that Panathinaikos had reached a ECC final back in the 70s which they ended up losing to Real Madrid. Their coach at the time being the famous Ferenc Puskás. Then again, as someone had said in the Hellas Football thread sometime ago, Panathinaikos have usually fared better in Europe than Olympiacos.

[Faliro]

I see, and PAO fans dont "do" nothing?

They are slowly getin more smaller

They are getting smaller. Their fans are very aggressive. To the police, to other fans. Very violent. They can still put on a big show in a derby, but they are dying for years now.

AEK played Roma in a friendly yesterday. 27,000 AEKtzis went and the game had to be abandoned because they stormed the pitch at the end. Even though AEK are in the second division this season, they are more healthy. Millionaire owner who previously won the elague with them. New stadium about to be built and huge passion.

PAOK fans managed to get hold of their president last night and one grabbed him by the neck trying to beat him before the president's security saved him. He is a millionaire but has spent 0/ The fans are now saying he fooled them for 3 years. PAOK will not tolerate disaster, neither AEK.. PAO will tolerate it.

[Faliro]

I was surprised when I found out that Panathinaikos had reached a ECC final back in the 70s which they ended up losing to Real Madrid. Their coach at the time being the famous Ferenc Puskás. Then again, as someone had said in the Hellas Football thread sometime ago, Panathinaikos have usually fared better in Europe than Olympiacos.

They lost to Ajax. Come to Greece, its all their stupid fans ever talk about. 

They used to be better in Europe than us, but not for a long time. Even Asteras are better than them now in Europe! 

[Nick Valensi]

Olympiakratos??

merdaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[brankinho_gaspar]

Don't mind him 

I've always heard that Greece is a great place for a summer vacation. Do you confirm?

[Festivus]

I was surprised when I found out that Panathinaikos had reached a ECC final back in the 70s which they ended up losing to Real Madrid. Their coach at the time being the famous Ferenc Puskás. Then again, as someone had said in the Hellas Football thread sometime ago, Panathinaikos have usually fared better in Europe than Olympiacos.

They lost to Ajax. Come to Greece, its all their stupid fans ever talk about. 

They used to be better in Europe than us, but not for a long time. Even Asteras are better than them now in Europe! 

Oh so it was to Ajax after all? Memory sure does play tricks on you sometimes 

Well, we like to talk about all the European finals we've reached as well despite not being from one of the best leagues in Europe. And, of course, talk about the 2 we won, well 3 if you wanna include the Latin Cup.

Some users on this forum saw the finals agaisnt PSV and AC Milan in 88 and 90 respectively. Maybe it's a time healing all the wounds kind of thing, but even though they're disappointed we've lost them, they also seem to have some nostalgia when talking about them. Maybe it's because we still won championships more often back then and because it's been so long since we've reached a ECC/CL final and probably wont' reach one again any time soon, if ever. As someone born in 1990, I can't even imagine what must be like having your team reach a CL final and being talked all over the world. When we faced Chelsea in 2013, there was a lot of tlak all over the web, probably because of our opponent being the reigning European champion at the time. I say this because the final against Sevilla didn't have as much pre-match talk about it. Neutrals seemd disappointed that the final wasn't gonna be Juventus vs. Valencia after all. Apparently they thought Sevilal and Benfica ahd average teams and would have ratehr seen Juventus winning the cup. Yes, that would have been pretty interesting and unpredictable, no doubt about it. 

Anyway, there's always a team or another with a lot of supporters and some history in their own country that just can't seem to achieve success in Europe for some reason. Sporting have never been good in Europe. They had a few of their best European runs of their entire history in the last 10 years. Not that that is difficult...

In England, Arsenal have never won anything other than a Cup Winner's Cup(I think) in the early 90s.

In Turkey you have Galatasaray with a better European record than Fenerbahçe.

It's interesting, really.

[Faliro]

Don't mind him 

I've always heard that Greece is a great place for a summer vacation. Do you confirm?

One of the most beautiful countries on the face of the planet.