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His defeat Olympiakou from the PAOK 3-1 in Toumba makes the turbulence in his flight this year now look like a free fall in a vacuum. Three games before the final, the Piraeus team is third and its main interest necessarily shifts to winning second place, also bearing in mind that it is at a disadvantage in the event of a tie with PAOK at the end of the playoffs.
The incentive difference is obvious: Second place gives a “ticket” to the 2nd qualifying round of the Champions League (perhaps the 3rd, in the event that Aston Villa win the Europa League and finish in the top four in the Premier League, where they are currently tied for 5th with Liverpool). The third place, on the other hand, places its owner in the 2nd qualifying round of the Europa League, so it is logical that the “red and whites” want to remain on track of “sheet”.
It’s true this season that if sporadic impressions magically earned points, Olympiacos would already be champions and probably even further into the Champions League. Jose Luis Mendiliber’s team in the first part of the year looked capable of applying at a high level the relentless pressing they had learned over the previous year and a half, however – especially in the games of the League Phase of the Champions League – he did not convert as much as he would have liked into points the surplus of tactical energy and dedication he deposited on the grass.
With El Kaabi’s return from the Africa Cup of Nations and the subsequent drop in performance, Olympiacos gradually became less productive, less spectacular, less effective and (always of paramount importance to his world) less eye-catching. Like a machine that from the high revs you can feel it going to idle, the “red and white” in the last part of the season look “out of tune”. It’s as if the belief in the result that comes through perfect teamwork has been replaced exclusively by the hope for the individual excitement that will bring the goal, the victory, the points.
In such a multi-parametric sport as football, it is difficult when games follow each other to find the time and the way for certain answers and substantial corrections. You do what you can, what you can and move on. Victories fill you with energy, defeats sink you into introversion and doubt.
In any case, Olympiacos is in the phase where it cannot afford to dwell on whether this year is more to blame for the deformation of Cicinho, the prolonged “non-existence” of Podense, the fact that the system does not work with Taremi as the second center forward, or whether the people want to leave half the roster along with the “general” and the team to be rebuilt on new bases. These are discussions that will take place from May 18 onwards.
Until then, the “red and whites” need to find a way to combine their usual superiority (see game with PAOK) with efficiency (see ball in the net), in a way that will bring them in the end at least in second place, in other words. Why can the championship be a “constant and permanent need” for a team that has it in its DNA, like Olympiacos, but keeping the Champions League vision alive will give the new year’s targeting and planning the momentum it needs which will minimize vibrations.
