This is Loucescu’s PAOK, if Olympiacos ‘reads’ it, it will make a profit

PAOK’s victory was huge. First, it was scored against a strong opponent and even in its full home. Second, it came after the unacceptable performance in New Philadelphia.

Razvan Lucescu proved that the bad night with AEK entered the history closet and badly as he demanded they are still sitting and discussing. Every match is another story!

He himself was ready to take the match to “Georgios Karaiskakis” and he did so in an emphatic way. He was the calmest and most relaxed person on the field. Only five or six times, especially in the first half, he shouted at his players. Okay, and he went a little crazy with the two goals of his opponents at the end.

He was ready, he changed a lot in his team and he was justified. On the other hand, Olympiacos had no pulse, no tension, no rhythm, no pressure and I think Martinez chose to start wrong, losing a half. The defeat of the “red and whites” was certainly bad, but it does not change anything in terms of the goals for the future. At the beginning of November, titles are not judged, but characters and psychologies are definitely being built for the teams.

In PAOK they equalized in… seconds from Panathinaikos. They lost to AEK and beat Olympiakos in style. They had all three big away from home. The harvest I believe is good, with the only blemish not the score, but the appearance in New Philadelphia. That’s why Loutsescu made decisions at “Karaiskakis”…

Three and six changes!

Martinez decided to start like he did with West Ham, that is, with a trio of central midfielders to dominate in this area and make life easier for his defense. The issue, of course, was how the Piraeus would react in a defensive transition regime, as long as PAOK managed to get the width correctly. Something that happened.

You will read below about the unnecessary selection, which also brought the pressure of the Piraeus to low percentages. Also, on the initial set-up, the three midfielders covered the question of whether Fortuni-Podence would return or not, but they did not set a pace forward. It’s one thing not to want to lose to the English, another to want to beat PAOK.

Also, with West Ham, the two goals came against the original goal. Two personal actions of Fortounis and Rodinei were the unlocking, while against the Thessalonians, the team of Piraeus needed more carrying near the large area of ​​Kotarski.

On the other hand, Lucescu was starting from a certain base. That his footballers should not have the image of OPAP Arena. That’s why he changed faces and direction.

Six changes from the match against AEK with Kenziora next to Koulierakis (changed both stoppers), Sastre right back and Murg at “10” instead of Constantelia. Thomas over Samata and Tyson over Despotov. He also absorbed all the pressure of the 20 minutes in a way that only he can.

The… meters and the goal

PAOK played high. His image had nothing to do with that of New Philadelphia. It was also characteristic that Olympiacos initially looked for big balls towards El Kaabi and finally made the first big phase in the 23′ because classically once again the footballers of the “two-headed” lost an easy ball low, giving Fortounis the opportunity to take phase towards Pontense. In general, both tried to “load” their right sides.

Olympiacos with the ups and downs of Rodinei (especially as soon as Fortounis went from that side) and PAOK with Zivkovic as many times isolation was created for the Serbian striker.

He was the one who scored the first goal after Baba’s good turn (at the right time and Tyson’s pass) and Paschalakis’ unstable intervention. The visitors had shown from the beginning that if they get the chance they will do the damage to the hosts, as it happened.

Olympiacos without the classic Martinez system found themselves with one more player in the corner, but the pressure exerted by Alexandropoulos with his runs was much further than what the peripheral attacker (eg Masouras) was pressing.

PAOK – launch

What you have just read was also the biggest problem of the Piraeus. Yes, they wanted to apply pressure, but they did not do it in the intended way, since what would have prevented the opposing defense was missing, as soon as the ball came out of the big area.

PAOK started well in the second half as well, when Martinez made his team and was lucky to find a second goal with the penalty of Brandon Thomas (again from Baba the phase). Olympiacos above, which tried to regain the image it had in the penthouse, until the match with Panathinaikos, was obliged to play with two goals behind.

Ozdoev and Meite were quite faithful to their coach’s plan in an excellent night and being less in the first half against the red trio. Baba was the one having an awesome night. Terrible! As soon as Martinez decided to pass Solbacken at left back, PAOK’s third goal came, unrelated to the change as such. The ball was lost with Zivkovic, Murg and Tomas doing whatever they want in the big area of ​​Olympiakos.

The “two-headed” scored a goal without dribbles. The first 20 minutes of the second half were terrible for PAOK. Bubba and Tyson were the duo that took on the heavy lifting. Živković in quality and Tomas in execution… And Constantelias came on as a substitute but managed to bring out his quality in the fourth goal scored by Ozdoev.

Kostas is history!

It may have been coupled with a heavy defeat, but it should be noted. Fortounis surpassed Djordjevic in assists and that is no small thing. In much less years than Jole. He did so by serving the second red goal to Masoura. And after he himself had scored a goal for 1-4. Olympiacos was not better, they lost justly and if they face it calmly in the port, they might even make a profit from all this, because not all teams can be treated the same …

Razvan “cleared” for both of them

Olympiacos conceded the goals of the second half relatively quickly and to put it all, it was the penalty that shook the “red and whites”, after they came in strong to equalize and found themselves with a second goal on the back.

Martinez was putting his hands on his face, the man not believing what he was seeing. It should be said that the Spanish coach fell on one of PAOK’s best performances and the issue is not the bad defeat, but to raise the team’s morale again.

Everything else is fixed in football and time is a healer. As Lucescu said, “cleaning up” at the end and for Olympiakos, just because they lost 2-4 does not mean that everything is lost.

PAOK must continue even better and Olympiacos must regain the momentum it had before the match against Panathinaikos. Because on top of that, the “red and white” in the three big matches, had a draw, an interruption and a very heavy defeat! Now both will wear the European costume and we will see…

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