Carvalhal’s second debut: The next goal and the emphasis on defense

Carlos Carvalhal scored his first goal for Olympiacos. In his debut on the red and white bench, Batska Topola won 5-2 and ensured Piraeus’ continuity in Europe right up to the play-offs for the round of 16 of the Conference League.

Now Carvalhal is preparing for his next goal, improving the red and white’s competitiveness. He himself admitted that Olympiacos Piraeus played a good but not perfect game against the Serbs: “We played a good game, but not a perfect game.

Offensively we were good, we scored five goals and created chances for more, defensively the team can improve because it wasn’t nice to concede the two goals. But we can improve the speed with which we regain possession when we lose the ball.

Olympiacos threw “fire” aggressively and had 20 finals “worth” 2.43xG. Defensively, however, he showed problems again and conceded six finals with a “value” of 1.33xG and two goals. Backa Topola’s first goal resulted from a mistake, while the red and white defense showed sluggishness on Cirkovic’s second counterattack.

Carvalhal is trying to solve this problem in defense, correcting individual mistakes as well as improving the opponents’ great phase production. In the Stoiximan Super League, Piraeus averages 0.78 xG per 90 minutes, a figure worse than the previous two seasons.

The Portuguese will look to improve his team’s overall function and defensive behavior in order to bring that number down. Carvalhal knows he has a lot of work ahead of him and the competitive commitments are “ongoing”.

His second debut in Greece

The game against Panserraikos on Monday (December 18th, 6:00 p.m., NOVASPORTS PRIME, LIVE Sportish) on the 14th matchday of the Stoiximan Super League marks the beginning of Olympiakos’ improvement. Carvalhal will make his second debut in Greece in this game.

The first was on August 30, 2008 as Asteras trainer. He then met his current team Olympiakos Piraeus and lost 3-1 to Georgios Karaiskakis. On his second debut in our country, he doesn’t want to think about anything other than winning.

The Portuguese coach obviously wants his team to improve from game to game. In short, he will demand more from his players, especially in the areas he focuses on. Defensive stability and quick switching.

As far as the selection of people in the center of defense is concerned, Carvalhal will have failures. Panagiotis Retsos is suspended, while Freire and Porozo are expected to be available after the Christmas holidays. So it looks like Doe and Biancone will carry the load, with Ibora also an option.

All signs point to the French centre-back being called upon for the first time by Carvalhal (he was ineligible to play against Backa Topola) as he is clearly keen to show things and that he could be the player to connect with the defensive Combining red and white improves white.

Let’s also not forget that over time the Portuguese will begin to add his own touch to the Olympiacos team by re-evaluating the squad and the footballers he has in his hands.