It’s Not Impossible, But It’s a Very Tough Ask

It’s Not Impossible, But It’s a Very Tough Ask

By Christian Leggas

The first leg of this Round of thirty-two tie ended in a shattering one-nil defeat for Olympiacos at the hands of Arsenal.

The Greek Giants gave it their all but unfortunately, that wasn’t quite good enough, as a late Alexandre Lacazette goal has given the Gunners a valuable upper hand going into the second leg.

Olympiacos manager Pedro Martins did too praise his team for their level of competitiveness, but he also rued the chances that were passed up as well. Having seen the match, I concur with the Martins on this one.

The most notable chance we passed up was undoubtedly the wayward header from Giorgos Masouras inside the first five minutes of the first half, the game on the night and the tie itself could have both had a very different look should that ball have ended up in the back of the net.

To concede the way we did too was disappointing, I said it before the first leg, Bukayo Saka must be watched along with Arsenal’s A-List players, and unfortunately, we allowed him too much room in the eighteen-yard area to pick out Alexandre Lacazette for Arsenal’s goal. Saka’s performance before that assist was fantastic, his pace and skill were giving the Olympiacos defenders some serious headaches.

Olympiacos certainly played to their strengths in this one and didn’t let Arsenal bully them. Inside the first twenty-five minutes, Olympiacos did control the bulk of the possession and were playing a very slick-quick passing game which was great, plus created a host of chances, but as I mentioned, failed to be as clinical as the visitors.

So, how do Olympiacos come from the clouds to win this game and the tie? Here’s how:

Mathieu Valbuena must fill the Kostas Fortounis void

With Olympiacos’s star number seven missing, Mathieu Valbuena looms as the man who needs to have a stellar game for the visitors to be any chance of winning. I hope that Pedro Martins deploys Valbuena as a number 10 rather than a winger, and given the fact that goals are needed, a move like that would make sense.

Ruben Semedo’s Replacement Must Fill His Enormous Shoes to the Absolute Maximum

Whether it’s Avraam Papadopoulos or Pape Abou Cisse, whoever gets the nod to fill Semedo’s shoes has to put in a blinder of a performance. Aside from his stupid yellow card which sees him out of this game, Semedo along with Ousseynou Ba worked fantastically together for large periods of the first leg. The need for either Papadopoulos or Cisse to work so strongly with Ba is pivotal because Olympiacos cannot afford to concede a goal or goals.

Guilherme and Andreas Bouchalakis MUST Shield the Back Four as Best They Can

With the need for Fortounis to start, it means that I also think we’ll need to have two central defensive midfielders to almost completely cull any chance of any Arsenal attacks. These two I find will be more defensively solid than a Mady Camara, who is a great player, but being as adventurous as he is when going forward, is too risky for Olympiacos in this game.

Both teams will go into this one without too many squad changes from the first tie. Arsenal Left-Back Sead Kolasinac is one who is touch and go to make the matchday squad, as he suffered a shoulder injury in their domestic win against Everton. As mentioned, the visitors have a couple of big absentees’ in Ruben Semedo and Kostas Fortounis, it is unclear as to why the latter won’t be taking part in London tomorrow, rumors are going around that he is struggling with his injury recovery. On top of that, Olympiacos coach Pedro Martins used the phrase “No one is above Olympiacos” when questioned about the absence of Fortounis. As I said, while it’s unclear what the official reason for his absence is, I can’t help but think there’s a little bit of tension between the two.

Olympiacos must go all out and attack against Arsenal if they start the way they did in the first leg, but this time put a chance or two away, who knows what will happen.

Hellas Football