Olympiacos clinched their first point of the group and held out hope of continuing in Europe and even in the Conference League in the second half of the season.

To keep the team as close to the goal as possible until the break

The way this season has gone it would be great for Olympiakos to be able to keep Europe open. In a summer in which everything went wrong, when the Red and Whites presented a team that was at the end of their tether in terms of football and a change was decided at the beginning of the year, the interruption of the World Cup gave him hope for goals.

Mitchell hopes to keep the team as close to their goals as possible through Nov. 13. Not going so far that the gap to first place can no longer be made up, to put his team in a situation where it is possible to win titles with the break work.

Thank goodness quality on the squad, no one can doubt that it’s there. The problem is that the team is merging, the squad is axed and of course the footballers who can make the difference to be in good shape. As Olympiacos enter this unprecedented process to capitalize on a 5-week gap in the season, keeping the European perspective open will be very important. Especially in an institution like the Europa Conference League, which can offer Greek teams the right to watch something big.

It is still a distant scenario for him to claim even third place

Certainly the picture of Olympiakos, even with Karabagh, was no cause for celebration. There is still a long way to go, it needs to be improved significantly to reach the level to achieve victory in a Europa League group stage. To continue he must either win two games against Freiburg away and Nantes at home, a scenario that seems unrealistic given the picture of the Germans and the situation of Olympiacos, or in the most plausible scenario of qualifying for Nantes not beating Karabagh and the Reds To let the whites of Nantes win on the last day of the game.

But even for the second scenario, Olympiacos must have improved significantly by the last game on November 3rd to be able to handle a game where their logic is to attack.

He did half the work

You can see in yesterday’s game he managed to look competitive in a game where he only had to do half the work, only being asked to defend to play a conservative halffield game. To be realistic and fair to the point Olympiacos had reached, even the fact that they managed to be even, not accepting serious chances and creating their own moments even with long shots was a positive step.

We must not forget what we have seen of the Red and Whites in the past, nor can we hope that a transformation will come overnight.

Low lines and with two backs on the right

Progress comes in small increments and through a competitive rally. What we saw at Karabakh was a small gathering. Mitchell showed he’s learned his squad better himself, presenting Olympiakos with a decent 4-4-2 from low meters and tight lines. He explained it himself, we saw it in practice too, that he wanted to protect Vrsalkos and brought Ryabchuk very close to him.

In practice, Olympiacos played without a right winger, it looked like they had two backs on the right flank, which gave additional support to the defensive duo, but of course Zubir also had to score. Mitchell understood that with the situation Vrsalko found himself in, he would not be able to do it alone with the Qarabag left winger and made sure they were not allowed to play one-on-one. He even managed to power them up from the opposite side, as 55% of Qarabag attacks were built from the opposite side, from the Azerbaijanis’ left.

He also managed it, setting the lines deep in 4-4-2 to create two defensive zones higher and in close proximity to his defensive duo to prevent the Azerbaijanis from getting a clear chance inside the Olympiakos area.

Make sure they do not isolate the back four under any circumstances

The red and white were regular and cautious in their defensive behavior and managed not to let their opponents hit with their weapon of speed and high pressure. They didn’t hold the ball for long, they only had 38.6% possession. Mitchell knew his opponents better than in the first game and did not allow conditions to be created for them to fall directly on Olympiacos’ last line of defense in every game situation.

Not allowing them to isolate and press his stoppers, he favored Olympiacos to seek big release transfers. It is significant that the correct transfers for the red and white team were only 69%. A very small number, under normal circumstances it would be unacceptable for something like this to happen against a team of Qarabag’s size.

There has been progress compared to previous games

Despite this, we do not have normal conditions, it is not possible to judge the appearance of Olympiakos through a strict prism. We don’t have a standalone episode, but there is a sequel. So we’re talking about an unconvincing feat in and of itself, it’s not Olympic-level, as Mitchell’s team chose to only do half the work, which is just making sure to limit Qarabag’s weapons and keep the game up to keep zero.

AComa and this, but based on what we’ve seen from the previous European games, considering last week’s picture, this is significant progress. Let’s not forget that Olympiacos were far from looking really competitive in a game of this particular group. He also managed it with a purely conservative plan and can now concentrate on the game against PAOK.

Take advantage of the measured Paschalakis

It also has some gains. Paschalakis started under the post and offered safety. He didn’t have to make a big appearance, but he was measured and offered security with a sovereign presence. Paschalakis is a goalkeeper with tremendous ability. He has impressive reflexes for his body.

This problem is that his ability gets him so carried away by the flights that his temperament allows him to, and he lapses into excess. Something that poses a problem in modern football where the goalkeeper’s position is played with absolute knowledge of where one should be standing depending on the circumstances of the moment. On his Olympiakos debut, however, he showed himself to be ‘moderate’ – a word that is important to Paschalakis – and was instrumental in helping his defense to remain calm. He didn’t have to undergo major surgery, he cleaned up all the stages and certainly gave his team more confidence than the stressful image that Tzolakis projected.

At PAOK there is an obligation to win

A first step was taken at Karabagh’s home ground with Olympiacos’ draw, but normalcy is a long way off. There’s a game coming up on Monday that Mitchell needs to look at differently. Against the also problematic PAOK there is no other result for Olympiakos than victory.

The picture showing Loucheskos’ team shows that the match is fit for this year’s Olympiacos to claim their first win in a big game. If the scissors do not come from above, they will begin to open dangerously. Mitchell needs to get his team as close as possible to goals at the break so he can do a good job at the break to put his players in a state where they can counterattack in the second and most important part of the season.