With such a drop in pressure, and in the passing game, 13-3-0 is an achievement

Olympiakos started its 2022 engagements with a gel. Martins’ team was left 0-0 in Rizoupoli against the tail and beaten by the Covid-19 Apollon.

Both the Portuguese and Valbouena used the same word in their statements after the game: alarm clock. Martins said characteristically: “On the positive side, the game will work as a lesson today that nothing is over. “We haven’t won anything if we don’t play as well as we can.”

The next day, Martins called to the players and insisted that he would not tolerate such an appearance again.

“So” is the average for the Olympics this year

Portugal’s reactions are justified. But there is an asterisk. And he says that on average the appearances of Olympiacos in this year’s Super League Interwetten are “like this”.

He played a lot better when he beat PAOK or AEK, we agree. But he also presented a picture that is even more “anemic” than the one from Wednesday in Rizoupoli.

To sum up, this year’s Olympiakos of championship is on average what we saw in Rizoupoli, especially in attack.

In Rizoupoli this year he threatened as much as he threatened, no difference

This is the picture of the final and the expected goals in Rizoupoli’s 0-0.

Olympiacos’ xG was 1.30, Apollon’s just reached 0.26. Well, that’s Olympiacos’ offensive average in this year’s championship.

Before the game started in Rizoupoli, Olympiakos’ average in xGoals was 1.25. This is this year’s Olympiakos in attack, that’s where he moves.

Admittedly, it is logical for Martins and the friends of the team that the champions will manage to become much more threatening with an opponent in the table. It is never good to stay close to your average, even when you have a low obstacle in front of you.

But in the end it’s not a lie, it’s true: Olympiakos was the one who is on average in the league this year against Apollon. So threatening.

And higher this year, but much less

See in the corresponding graph the comparison of this year’s Olympiakos with the two previous seasons. The red bars are the 2019-20 season, the blue bars last year, and the gray bars this year.

In the attack Olympiakos fell from 1.71 xG in the previous year to 1.26. Defensive performance doesn’t make much difference, from 0.59 last year to 0.613 this year.

However, Olympiakos’ sharp drop in aggression obviously affects the average difference between xGoals and the opponent.

In the two previous seasons Olympiakos won the championship with the same and unchanged performance. The red-whites were on average 1.12 xGoals “better” than their opponent.

This year the difference has dropped to 0.63 xGoals. In short, Olympiacos is still better than his opponent, but his superiority is less.

This was ultimately reflected in the final results. Nine of the 13 victories of the red-whites are with one goal difference.

A similar imprint on the Great Scoring Index.

Olympiacos were the king of big chances last year with 2.7 great chances to score per game. This year’s performance is just 1.6, under 1.8 from AEK and just over 1.5 from Panathinaikos.

The fall of Olympiakos in high pressure

The fall of Olympiakos in the xGoals index and the great opportunities are actually the result. These indicators reflect the decline in reds and whites in other things.

Olympiacos is a lot less threatening than last year and the year before last because it stopped doing other things. With the first to push up and steal.

The red and whites are playing “backwards” this year. The average height of new attacks is 18.62 m from Vatslik’s hearth, less than last year.

In the middle bar you can see the pressure drop up. For the past two seasons, Martins’ team has consistently had 7+ high sales, new attacks that started with regaining possession high on the field.

This year Olympiakos is on 5.9. It is not only the team that is pushing higher in the league anymore, but also in fourth place on the list, behind Panathinaikos, AEK and Aris.

The number of finals that Olympiakos takes due to the high pressure has fallen from 1.4 per game last year to 1.1 this year.

The fall in the passing game

A similar picture for the indicators of the passing game, always according to the information from Opta.

Olympiakos has an average of only 11.9 ball possession on 10+ passes and thus obviously has fewer attacks: two in each game, down from 2.5 last year and 2.4 last year.

The only indicator that has increased are direct attacks, that is, those that start below the bar and quickly end in a final or action in the opposing area.

There Olympiakos rose from 1.2 in the previous year to 2.0, obviously because it is playing lower on the field this year and has been looking for more immediate transitions from one half of the field to the other.

It’s not just the absence of Fortuni and the short time Valbouena

When a team has seen such a dramatic decrease in aggression over a 16-game period, only one thing can be to blame. Especially when we talk about Olympiakos, which have consistently been the best team in the league for the last two seasons, with a difference from the rest, especially last season.

So it’s not just the absence of Fortounis who was the league’s top creators last year. Not just the reduced participation time of Valbouena, who was the second leading creator behind Fortunis.

Their creation is a matter of course that is lacking, especially if we add to the picture the fact that Olympiacos have taken on some things from the players that were acquired to contribute in this area.

But we can’t just talk about the faces of the midfield or the huge drop in performance of Kamara.

Opta data clearly shows how different the image of Olympiacos is in areas that have nothing to do with whether Fortounis is missing or Oniekourou has proven to be good.

A team with less “I can” than in the previous two years

Olympiakos pushes less, runs less, is much less aggressive compared to the image it has had for the past two seasons. Martins and his staff know what role the fatigue played in last year’s “abnormal” season or how much proper preparation was disrupted by Covid cases.

In any case, it is clear that the red and white’s physical “I can” is not what they were. Martins obviously knows and is obviously doing it from the start of the season.

Fewer measures, less pressure, results management. We saw Olympiakos sitting in the lead and over time even playing against teams like Lamia, Panaitolikos, Ionikos.

Martins managed

If the red-whites had a new coach, we’d say it’s in his philosophy. But we know Martins. Such management in the games, such an image in the league as a whole, can only mean that the Portuguese also play.

He’s aiming for maximum points with a team that doesn’t “pull” like in the previous two years. With this in mind, the Olympiacos 13-3-0 run is more than satisfactory within the limits with all the data from Opta.

You could say that this is another performance from Martins, who, despite the reduced “I can”, has the same record with his team as last year.

Wins from the stipulated phases, not even 50% of the goals from the open game

The Portuguese knows he has to win regardless of his team and he does. Even if he constantly has to win thanks to goals from set phases.

Even if Olympiakos has such an image in attack this year that they don’t even get 50% of their goals from the open game, from the normal flow of the game. Even if it is more dependent than ever on the set phases.

The fate of Olympiakos this year

With this image, 13-3-0 is an accomplishment. And no, we won’t take into account the difference. Because two factors ensure this: the champion and the following teams. The difference not only grows in the one who is ahead, it grows mainly in the problems of those who are lagging behind.

And that is the luck of Olympiacos so far at this year’s championship. Faced with their own difficulties, the AEK and PAOK came up with their own, even larger ones.