Hellas Football

  Olympiakos vs PAOK:  Greek Cup Semi-Final Second Leg By Stephen K ountourou After the first leg in Thessaloniki ended all square, the tie between Olympiakos and PAOK is poised on a knife-edge going into the decider in Piraeus. Both sides will believe that they are capable of reaching the Greek Cup Final and earn the bragging rights over the other for the rest of the season.    Brief Post Match  After a poor performance against Panathinaikos in the league over the weekend, Pedro Martins set up his Olympiakos team more conservatively in 4-3-3 with the hope of catching the home side on the counter and not conceding too many chances. PAOK did much the same as they too had suffered a defeat to local rivals Aris and much like their southern rivals did not want to make it two losses in a row. This sadly made for a rather cagey affair between the two sides with arguably the best chance coming from the away side. Masouras thought he had put his side ahead in the f...

PAOK vs Olympiakos:  Greek Cup Semi-Final First Leg Preview By Stephen Kountourou After a few months of uncertainty, the postponed Greek Cup Semi-Final dates were announced, with the first legs due to play on the 20th and 21st respectively. The latter of these matches will feature the titanic clash of the top two teams in Greece, Cup holders PAOK and league champions Olympiakos.  Both sides have a lot to prove in this two-legged tie. For the Thessaloniki side, it's a chance to deny Thrylos the chance to win a potential double and put themselves in a final where they can claim a second consecutive Greek Cup.  Olympiakos on the other hand will want to shake off what was a disappointing European campaign and reignite their fans by claiming the League and Cup to put a positive spin on the season. There is always a fiery atmosphere on and off the pitch when the Athens vs Thessaloniki derby is played, and this tie should be no different.    Weekend Results For Bo...

Olympique de Marseille - PAOK report By Alain Anastasakis PAOK will face Marseille this Thursday night. The French club, are also the only club who has won the Champions League, is used to European Campaigns with 2 UEFA Cup/Europa League finals in 20 years. This season, the Sky blue and Whites are also in great form with a solid second spot in Ligue 1 with Jorge Sampaoli at the helm.  Can PAOK do it ?  -The players : We all know  Payet  and  Milik  and no introduction is necessary. The legend  Steve Mandanda  will likely start in  goal. We can imagine that all eyes should be on them but that would be a huge mistake.  Gerson , the Brazilian playmaker who signed last summer from Flamengo, has been shining in the midfield for couple of months now with his technique and his passing abilities and will be one of the biggest threat for PAOK's defense.   Mattéo   Guendouzi , a tireless worker who scored his first goal with the French N...

  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 ...