Superleague
He was a true Olympian when the obvious became obvious and individual quality “spoke”.
Dimitris Christofidellis writes about the individual quality of some of the players who led Olympiacos to victory and Mitchell’s risk taking with his experiments.
This time the individual quality of some Olympiakos players prevailed and brought victory in the match against OFI.
The turnaround and the conquest of the three points was a result of the personalities and the rational eleven of the second half.
A vertical pass from Hames, a right pass and a goal from Gary Rodríguez to equalize for the Reds and Whites. Two players who came on in the second half to make the difference.
Valbuena came off the bench for a foul assist execution on Bakabu, who scored the three goals in three innings.
So when Hames, Gary Rodríguez, Biel and later Valbuena, Embilla, Inbom Huang and Bakabu were in the same line-up, things became easier for Olympiakos.
Player personalities came forward when everything went wrong. Things went terribly wrong for 55 minutes after the Red and Whites fell behind on the scoreboard through Doi’s own goal and gambled away the chance of the first equalizer with Hames’ penalty.
Mitchell’s experiments pthey struggled in the first half
However, in order for the Piraeus team to react and see the real Olympiacos in Crete in the second part, the red-whites had to spend the first half first.
A time when Mitchell was experimenting. However, in critical games and especially in the development of the league situation, there is no room for experiments.
Who was the best stopper (and Olympiakos player in general) in the game against Qarabag last Thursday (6/10)? The question is of course rhetorical. Embila.
Who was used as a regular in central defense alongside Papastathopoulos in the match against OFI? doi First off, the 19-year-old football talent is a defensive midfielder, not a stopper. Therefore, it’s not easy for a young player to make his Olympiakos debut in a difficult away game and play in a different position than he knows well. It doesn’t help him, on the contrary.
With the Spanish coach lacking Cisse, Ba and Rezzo, the most logical thing would be to put Embila back in the stoppers like he did in the second half when Doi was substituted.
Also, someone will say that Mitchell’s changes in the second half turned the game in Olympiakos’ favour. To a certain extent it is true, but there are two sides to the coin.
Another might argue that Hames and Gary Rodriguez should be in the starting XI. A classic “ten” and a fast and penetrating winger should be there so that the red-whites don’t throw away the first part.
The reality is that Olympiacos with Agibu Kamara as the inside left midfielder, Biel on the touchline, Doi as a stopper, Bakabu could barely reach with the ball and Masoura moving in shallow water wasted the first half.
Complete change with the entry of quality players
Everything changed for the Piraeus team as more quality players came into play and there were certain roles and the 4-3-3 became a 4-2-3-1 and later a 4-4-1-1.
Embila pulled back to the stoppers for safety, Inbom Huang became a 6-8, Agibu joined the South Korean, Hames was the “ten” who could use classic winger Gary Rodriguez, Biel and Bakabu, Olympiacos now had one rational development and so then everything went its way.
Of course, the fact that the OFI players gave their all in the first half and in the second 45 minutes helped the Red and Whites a lot, and important footballers ran out of strength.
In any case, it was a very important win for Olympiacos, both in terms of points and for the players’ psychology and the calm in the dressing room.
The positive balance for the red and white
On the positive side for the red-whites, James has come back in very good spirits and ready to offer a lot, Bakabu has found his way back into the net, Inbom Huang is doing a great job in midfield, Valbuena is coming off the bench and still is makes the difference, the signs of Marcelo’s improvement and that the players in general reacted when everything looked difficult and achieved the upset victory.
For his part, Mitchell makes it clear from his mission choices that he’s trying to reduce the number of players he’ll be traveling with.
For now, however, there’s no need for experimentation, test after test, just to keep Olympiacos safe.
In terms of the league, Hames should be in the starting XI, as well as Embilla, Inbom Huang, Biel, Gary Rodriguez, Bakabu and if he reaches the desired levels, Marcelo too. And in the equation of 16-17 players, Samasekou, Fortounis, Leidner should also move in at some point.
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Source: sport 24
I am a writer at Sportish, where I mainly cover sports news. I’ve also written for The Guardian and ESPN Brasil, and my work has been featured on NBC Sports, SI.com and more. Before working in journalism, I was an athlete: I played football for Colgate University and competed in the US Open Cross Country Championships.