Hellas Football

  Poyet's First Greece Squad By Stephen Kountourou  For the first time in 2022, it's International break time! Some see this as a welcome pause to club football and a chance to see their national teams play. Others see this as a giant waste of time. With an appreciation of both opinions, regardless of what supporters think, this will be the full focus of many for the next couple of weeks.  Although there are only friendlies to be played for Greece, against Romania and Montenegro respectively, this will be an early opportunity for Ethniki fans to see what new coach Gus Poyet wants to set up his side. For a bit of a different blog this week, I will be briefly looking at each of Poyet's call ups and what they can bring to these two upcoming games     Odysseus Vlachodimos The Benfica shot-stopper has by all accounts a fantastic season with a Benfica side who have had a relatively poor season by their standards domestically. Although his side is 3rd place in Lig...

João Carvalho: The Quiet Rejuvenation By Stephen Kountourou  1 Greek champions Olympiakos, over the last few seasons, has become a haven for players to come and rejuvenate their careers. After a tough period in their careers elsewhere, Piraeus, several players have arrived in Piraeus with something to prove and for the most part, this kind of recruitment has been a success.  The likes of Jose Sa, Tiquinho, Gary Rodrigues, Ruben Semedo (to an extent) and the player I am going to be discussing today, January signing Joao Carvalho. Now, it's still very early days for the Portuguese playmaker in Piraeus, but we are already seeing signs of improvement from the player that lit up Nottingham Forest in the Championship a couple of years ago.   Carvalho arrived in Greece to sign for Thrylos on the 29th of January from sibling club Nottingham Forest. There was a mixture of feelings from supporters of the Greek champion's latest signing. The creative midfielder was talented as seen ...

Olympiakos: Regular Season Review By Stephen Kountourou With that, the Greek Super League season is over. The regular season that is. For the third consecutive season, the table will split into two as the top six teams play to decide the title, the European place and who gets nothing from 4th to 6th.  The playouts however will settle who gets relegated from the bottom eight clubs and who finishes best of the rest in 7th. Naturally, and with little surprise to those who follow my writing, I will be focusing on Greek champions Olympiakos once more. It has certainly been a strange regular campaign for Thrylos. An unspectacular start followed by winning without being exciting, a wobble at the turn of the year and an improvement in performances with new additions to the team, all culminating in an anticlimactic final match. Undefeated Without Being Spectacular.   On the surface Thylos' record until the turn of the year looked good. They comfortably topped the table, had the best de...

Olympiakos vs Atalanta  UEL Second Leg Preview  By Stephen Kountourou A moment of madness or lapse in concentration can change a game of football on its head. In the case of Olympiakos' visit to Bergamo to face Atalanta, it was two. Despite being in a winning position at halftime Thrylos conceded in the same way against the same player twice to lose on the road in the Europa League. There is however still a glimmer of hope for the Greek champions. Despite the away goal ruling no longer being active in UEFA competition, Tiquniho’s goal in the first half has left Pedro Martins's team with a chance to overturn the tie in Piraeus this coming Thursday. But can they do the seemingly unlikely again? Post Match   Thrylos lined up in the 3-4-3 against the Serie A side in Bergamo and for the majority of the match, Martin's tactics worked to an extent. Olympiakos were able to soak up much of the Atalanta pressure and were able to break quickly from defence to a more attacking shape ...

Atalanta vs Olympiakos:   UEL Playoff 1st Leg Preview By Stephen Kountourou  It's that time again! European club competition is back for 2022 and there are certainly some tasty ties coming up this week. Time to see which team can put one foot into the next round of their respective tournaments and which will be on the verge of bowing out for another season. Olympiakos supporters, despite their opposition being Serie A side Atalanta will be quietly confident going into this Europa League tie.  Despite being most peoples favourites to progress to the Round of 16, the Italian side managed, by Gian Piero Gasperini, have had some mixed form going into the new year and with Thrylos in the last month continuing their undefeated run with a watertight defence and a new burst of creativity, it certainly makes for a compelling match up. So without further ado, it's time for another European preview.  Recent Form Olympiakos Thrylos, have looked a much more exciting prospect duri...

Olympiakos’ January Signings   By Stephen Kountourou  Another January transfer window is done and dusted and it has been an interesting one for Greek Super League leaders Olympiakos. Thrylos have had a variety of players arrive in Piraeus at the turn of the year, including the return of an old favourite, a new face looking for a second chance and a couple of players for the future who might one day become legends themselves. So for this week, I will be taking a brief look at Ethryolefki’s January acquisitions and what we can expect from them. Abdoulaye Dabo  20 year old French midfielder Abdoulaye Dabo joined Olympiakos on the final day of the January transfer window. Dabo, as said previously stated, is a Nantes academy graduate having primarily played for the B side Nantes II, managing 39 appearances and 6 goals in that time. He made his debut in Ligue 1 against Monaco in August of 2018.  Dabo also played out on loan to Juventus U23s last season making 18 appearance...