Brusai became… Alexander-Arnold for Olympiakos

Olympiakos defeated Asteras 5-1 in the postponed game of the 17th match day of the Super League Interwetten. The Reds and Whites had their most productive game this season while clinching their biggest win of the year and putting on a terrible second half. Pedro Martins’ team had 2.12 x Goalsthe third-best performance this year in terms of expected goals, but found his way to the net five times.

One of the most important factors in this dominance was a player who didn’t score but was necessary in the Red-Whites’ game. That was Marios Brusai. The Portuguese coach put the 23-year-old in the right-back position from the start, for the first time this year in the league and second if counting the cup game against Panetolikos.

It was all right

Marios Vroussai played the full length of the right side as you can see in the Opta chart. Overall, the 23-year-old 77 actions with the ball, more than any other player on Georgios Karaiskakis’ field.

As seen in the Olympiakos v Asteras transfer network, Brusai’s average of actions (17) was almost above midfield and he worked with eight of his top ten team-mates more than four times.

At the same time, Red-Whites’ play seems to be skewing to the right, although Red-Whites tried to create from both sides.

Faithful to his creative but also defensive duties

Marios Vroussai helped Olympiakos very creatively. He helped make it 2-0 when he fed in Carvalho, who gave Masouras the assist, while in 57′ he was the one who served up Masouras’ cross to make it 3-0.

On the an assistantBrusai had others three key passes (four in total), meaning passes that create chances, more than anyone else on the field. Brusai had too 42 successful passes (5th in game), 28 successful transfers above midfield (3rd in the game) and 17 successful passes in the last third of the court (3rd in the game).

In addition to his creative tasks, he also practiced his defense. He came back when it was necessary to close rooms the few times it took him, and the proof is the fact that he did eight ball wins, most in the game.

“We are testing Mario in this position because Kenny is busy and we need him in this position sometimes.“Pedro Martins reported on Brusai’s testing as a right-back in a couple of games last Friday.