UEFA Champions League

[Don Giovanni]

It was a great goal. I think he was half asleep for much of the game and then he woke up towards the last 25 minutes when he realized he was letting chances slip away and Oly needed that second goal to kill the tie. Henning Berg's despair at the end said it all. Omonia had a lifeline if the game stayed at 1-0, but el-Arabi's goal killed it.

I thought Valbuena once again was very good. He's the player Ninis should have become. Randelovic also looked good out there, but not spectacular. I think if the fans were there, Olympiacos would have had a better performance to spur the team on to actually perform. All the players, except for Valbuena, took things too easy.

[Reaper]

Stunner and on his weaker foot.

[Amorgos]

2-0! El Arabi, great goal!

[Amorgos]

Omonia keeper with some huge saves

[Don Giovanni]

El-Arabi should have scored four goals this half alone. The last effort at least required an excellent save and it looks like he's energized to put another way, but on two earlier chances he took things too easy and didn't try hard enough. He has to do better and kill this tie.

[Amorgos]

A second goal would be a lot more soothing

[Don Giovanni]

They got a penalty and now lead, but this is all one-way traffic. Olympiaco should have little difficulty progressing to the group stages.

[Amorgos]

0-0, not much happening and we are in the 55th minute...

[Don Giovanni]

Oly take on Omonia tonight. I can't remember the last time a Cypriot team won against Greek opposition in the UCL. Maybe Anorthosis against Panathinaikos in 2008?

In any case, Norwegian Henning Berg, an EPL winner with Blackburn and Manchester United, is Omonia's manager. The only player of theirs I'm familiar with is Mavrias, who had scored against Olympiacos many moons ago when he was a young upstart at Panathinaikos.

[Kallithea]

Hasn’t Benzia played less than 100 minutes of football this season. It’s a bit early to be writing him off in my opinion.

[Don Giovanni]

Meriah has all the qualities you would expect for him to perform well, but he makes a lot of bad mistakes. It's hard to see him lasting unless he really steps it up and shows he can be trusted, otherwise he's a liability Olympiacos can't afford. He has to do better. No one can be happy with his performances to date.

Guilherme is good, but his positioning can be problematic and at times he doesn't communicate enough. I think Olympiacos might be able to find better, but they can do a lot worse too.

For me, Semedo, Sa, and Tsimikas are consistently great performers. With those three, you know they can deliver game in, game out. And I would agree the team is different when Valbuena or Fortounis play, although the team is better off without Benzia.

[Reaper]

- and I'm definitely not in the "swear-at-our-own-players" club.

That club is the majority of Olympiacos fans concerning Meriah. If there is any language specialist out there wanting to study Greek swearing - hardcore Greek swearing - they needed to be in any cafe in Greece watching the game and taking note what the fans scream when Meriah gave the ball away all game.. Fuck, they just needed to be in the stadium..

[Kallithea]

As for the result. we underperformed and badly needed a #10 in the lineup. You could see this when the crosses went in and there was only 2 bodies in the box to aim for.
It's annoying to see that we lined up with 3x DM, not getting into the box, all shooting from long distances and we still got caught out when Red Star counter-attacked!
As for Meriah, he needs time to compose himself and sort himself out. I'm not in the loan-him-out/sack-him-instantly club, he just needs time and patience to recover - and I'm definitely not in the "swear-at-our-own-players" club.

[Kallithea]

I’m doubting it. Even if Fortounis gets over his injury by early 2020, he’ll need time to be conditioned and match fit.

[Soprano76]

Do you reckon it's likely Fortounis comes back this season to contribute?