Olympiakos: 2022/23 Midseason Review

 

Olympiakos: 2022/23 Midseason Review

By Stephen Kountourou

It has certainly been a different season from what most Olympiakos fans are used to. Thrylos are 10 points adrift of their age-old rivals Panathinaikos who are currently undefeated. European football is already over for the current Greek champions, having crashed out of their Europa League group. Three managers have come and gone with an over-bloated roster of new arrivals, old faces and players that should have left in the summer. But with signs of improvement over the last month and a winter break to set things right, Olympiakos despite the uncharacteristically poor start are far from being down and out.

Signing Spree 

Throughout the summer transfer window, Olympiakos signed a total of 17 players overall which is a lot of players and under normal circumstances would require players to depart to make room for these incoming players. However, this did not happen with the club struggling to make actual sales of players, some of whom were of some value to the club and others deemed surplus to requirements. 

Other than the few that eventually went out on loan this led to an extremely bloated squad with nearly 40 first-team players registered, something that has caused more issues than it has benefited the team. A large number of players further impacted the continuity of the first team and its identity and while rotation options can be helpful, it is extremely hard to manage all of those players and keep them happy as was shown with the downfall of Carlos Corberan and what Michel had to fix upon his return to Piraeus. 

The biggest of these signings was undoubtedly Real Madrid Marcelo. His arrival sparked a wild celebration from Olympiakos supporters and garnered attention from the world media that a player of his stature in the game could join the Greek champions. Unfortunately, he has struggled with his fitness and without made a real impact since his arrival, with only a handful of appearances in the league and Europe

This also impacted the club's European campaign with some integral players such as Cedric Bakamu and James Rodriguez arriving after the European squad deadline and leaving a rather thin Olympiakos squad to crash out of European competition.  

Domestic season and Playing Catch-Up 

After an inconsistent start to the season, which included frustrating draws to Volos and Asteras and a disappointing 2-1 loss to Aris, Carlos Corberan was prematurely shown the door. Overall this was a harsh dismissal as the Spanish manager had been brought in to create a long-term project at the club and had guided the team into the Europa League group stages. But with poor performances on the continent, Thrylos rivals in the league making much better starts and an impatient board of directors, the Spanish manager was sacked after just six weeks in charge. 

Corberan felt like a waste of a good opportunity for Olympiakos to see a progressive change to their previous ideology and he has since returned to the Championship with West Bromwich Albion. Thrylos, needing a change of coach for the third time that season opted for an old face and fan favourite in the form of Michel. After seven years the man who had led the Piraeus side to numerous league titles and some amazing European nights was back. But this time he had a big job on his hands. Not only did he need to overturn Olympiakos'' title fortunes but also salvage anything from Europe and downsize a huge squad of players to at least 26 from 40. 

Since Michel took over there have been definite signs of improvement, with continuity to the starting squad for each game and the squad overall. He has ruthlessly made clear plans and who will be departing in January as well as doing what he was always fantastic at doing in introducing youth prospects to the first team to inject some much-needed fresh energy. This came in the form of Andreas Ntoi who has been a revelation in defence for Olympiakos since making his debut against OFI in the league.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             

As the weeks progressed, Olympiakos looked fitter, and sharper and showed much more chemistry and rhythm than what supporters had seen previously under the latter era of Pedro Martins and Carlos Corberan. Olympiakos Supporter and part of the Hellas Football team George Dakis said: "He is not trying to fit the new high-profile signings into the side rather he is working with the players who seem to want to be part of the squad, some who were exiled under the previous coaches. It's not necessarily working out perfectly but the team is starting to show identity." 

It was clear the level of the team overall had been raised when the derby of eternal enemies came around against league leader Panathinaikos. Thrylos dominated most of the game in Leoforos, but sadly their efforts were not rewarded after a controversial penalty was given seconds before the match was due to end and a 1-1 draw was all that the champions could take from their bitter rivals. After that, the team had a clear intent to right the wrongs of the early part of the season, and finish strong in the final two matches. 

After a comfortable win against Levadiakos, the much-anticipated derby against AEK came. Despite a fantastic defensive performance Michels men struggled to create and take their chances as they had done all season with AEK causing the home side issues throughout the match. The 0-0 draw was a disappointing way to end this portion of the season, but with the World Cup break now just starting and pre-season 2.0 organised, there is hope from Thrylos fans that they will see a much stronger Olympiakos going into the second half of the campaign.  

The Fall of Pedro Martins and European Nightmare

Sadly the qualifiers of the champions League would spell the end of Pedro Martins at Olympiakos. The man who had rebuilt the team took them to numerous domestic honours and some brilliant European nights against the likes of AC Milan and Arsenal met his end after the disaster against Maccabi Haifa. For one of the greatest managers in Olympiakos' modern era, it was a shame that he did not go out on a high at the end of the season and instead left after enduring the lowest of lows with a team that had admittedly been stuttering and needed refreshing. 

After his exit, the Greek champions opted for a progressive move in Carlos Corberan who had just guided Huddersfield town to the Championship playoff final. Early signs indicated that it was a good change, with the Spaniard guiding Thrylos through two crucial Europa League ties against Slovan Bratislava and Apollon Limassol both involving penalty shootouts to reach the group stages. 

That was as good as it got with Corberan and, as mentioned, a poor start to the Europa League campaign and inconsistency in the league were enough to see the board of directors pull the plug on the Corberan project. With two losses from two, Michel was given the task to save Olympiakos European campaign. But despite his best efforts to at the very least qualify for the Europa Conference league, the Greek champions finished bottom of their group and out of Europe at this stage for the first time since 2017/18. On Top of that Thrylos now have the unwanted record of a 14-game winless run, a record for all Greek teams.    

Looking to 2023

It feels like a mess of a season on the surface, and to be honest it kind of is. But, and this is a big but, there are signs of improvement. Michel is starting to find harmony in the squad with consistent starting players, stars in the squad like James Rodriguez, Hwang Imbeon, Pep Biel and a surprise of the season in Andreas Ntoi who has been in fine form in defence. With new moving parts, this is the best football Thrylos fans have seen in a long time as Michel has found an identity the squad has lacked for at least a season. 

The World Cup break will only do wonders for the current Greek champions for multiple reasons. Firstly it will give the club a chance to downsize the bloated squad as well as bring in a couple of needed reinforcements, but only players have departed. Second Michel will have time to work with most of the players who have not travelled to Qatar with their national teams with pre-season matches already organised in Spain and against Nottingham Forest in Piraeus. Lastly and most importantly it will allow the soft reset so evidently needs to start fresh for the new year and compete on all fronts. 

If Olympiakos supporters are being realistic the title is going to be a huge ask and requires Thrylos to be perfect and Panathniakos and AEK to fall away, which is unlikely. George Dakis also believes this when he said: "Whilst anything is possible, I think it might be too far gone. In saying that it'll be good to be the team going hunting rather than the hunted one. We have nothing to lose now whilst both Panathinaikos and AEK will be bitterly disappointed if either falls past us on the table come season's end."

However with half of the regular season still to play and the playoffs too, Olympiakos and its player need to give themselves the best opportunity to finish the season as strongly as possible with some kind of European competition to look forward to next season, a realistic trophy in the Greek Cup and, either attempting an unlikely title retainment or at the very least build to reclaim the title next season.  

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