New coach, new team, but there are things that Olympiacos take from the previous situation and need to correct some of them and eliminate some of them quickly. These are questions of competition, but also of mentality.

It is obvious that something went wrong in the summer training session of the red-whites under Pedro Martins, because the frequent muscle injuries of the footballers and the lack of strength after the 65th minute of the game are causing problems for the Piraeus team.

There hasn’t been a game that Olympiakos hasn’t missed two or three times, which makes Corberan’s job difficult. And it’s not just muscle injuries, there are casualties – like Embila – due to pharyngitis from… air conditioning.

Olympiacos therefore traveled to France for the game against Nantes without their two main central midfielders, Embila and Inbom Huang. And not just any key players, but two quality players who make the difference and are catalysts in the Piraeus team’s game. The two most important full-backs Vrsaliko and Marcelo were also absent.

Yes, the Croatian isn’t quite fit after a month and a half and the Brazilian just arrived in Greece, but the footnote is that we saw another Olympiacos at the Stade de la Beaujolais against Nantes and we’ll see another one soon with the fours more footballer in the eleven.

Also let’s not forget that Bowler made his Olympic debut against the French team, Biel and Retsos only played their second game and Ui Joe Huang his third with the Piraeus team and Rodríguez with Aboubakar Kamara, now they have returned from their injuries who have incapacitated them for a long time.

All this should be kept in mind before cursing the coach or some players for what has happened so far.

This does not mean, of course, that one should not criticize the poor writings in the Piraeus group. Olympiakos presented themselves undaunted and inferior to the conditions in France and psychologically unprepared.

There were players who easily made mistakes with their passes because they weren’t concentrating, others who took steps backwards instead of marking the opponent correctly or making tackles, others who didn’t have the right positions and others who didn’t Taken initiative by often turning ball backwards.

The three-man formation in defense did not help

The chosen system didn’t help either. The 3-4-3 or 5-4-1 formation as it developed during the game needs the right full-backs to operate them, the quick and efficient central midfielders to cover spaces and the fast wingers to create and threaten the opponent’s goal. using the center forward.

How many times was Wei Joo Huang fed and how many times was it right? Same for Biel when he played upstairs and Aboubakar Kamara or El Arabi towards the end of the game?

The formation with three stoppers does not automatically guarantee a team that they will not concede a goal. Especially in a team where the new coach hasn’t worked on this system for a long time.

Olympiacos conceded Nantes’ first goal through a vertical pass from Blas from the middle of the defense and a right-footed cross from Mohamed from inside the box, and the second through a header by the undisturbed Gesan from outside the box. In fact, in the second goal, Blas took the ball on the right side, moved forward, comfortably reaching the height of the area, and even more comfortably made the cross without being stopped by the red-whites.

By the way, in the last quarter of the game, Valbuena, who was on the bench, couldn’t be used? With his quality and experience and on a pitch he knows, he could have kept the ball, won a free kick, made a vertical pass, wasted time and created the conditions for the Red and Whites to exit the tie.

Of course, the fact that Olympiacos weren’t what they should have been doesn’t mean they couldn’t have left France with a draw. The competition is one thing that happened in the stage of Nantes’ second goal in added time, the other.

Referee Lechner should have stopped the game because of Aboubakar Kamara’s injury because it was a head hit. Palois, with the ball in front of him, reached back with his right arm and hit Kamara in the face, who went down in front of the Nantes penalty area.

And while the ball went from foot to foot the players of the French team for about a minute until Blas’ cross came out, the Austrian referee did not stop the game. Consequently, in the end, the Piraeus team paid knowing they had lost.

In the final he injured himself again

Olympiacos also paid for a lack of focus, mental preparation and the right mentality in the game against Nantes. It is not possible for a team that scores high to concede as many goals at the end of their games or back out after 70 minutes, shut down, not react and give the opposition the right to believe they will score.

The red-whites in the game against Maccabi Haifa in Israel parted ways with Haziza (1-1) in the 90s. With Olympiakos 1-0, the rematch in Karaiskakis and perhaps his fate in Champions League qualifiers would be different. In the game against Slovan in Bratislava, the Piraeus team equalized in the 94th minute through Saponic (1-1) and sent the game to overtime.

In the match against Apollon Limassol in Neo Faliro in the 90s, Olympiacos parted ways with Pitta (1-1) and the game went to overtime. And in France, the Red-Whites were defeated 2-1 by Gessan’s goal in the 93rd minute. A repeated coincidence thus ceases to be a coincidence.

It takes a lot of work both competitively and psychologically. And above all, Olympiacos should return to the triumphant march, because it was last in Europe ten months ago in the game against Fenerbahce in Karaiskakis (1-0) through a goal by Tikinio (89th).