{"id":2531,"date":"2021-03-10T18:17:21","date_gmt":"2021-03-10T18:17:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=2531"},"modified":"2021-03-12T05:30:28","modified_gmt":"2021-03-12T05:30:28","slug":"of-lions-and-legends","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=2531","title":{"rendered":"Of Lions and Legends"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<a id=\"Ubp1pAAmRSddZJpdgeCYFA\" class=\"gie-single\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.co.uk\/detail\/500661500\" target=\"_blank\" style=\"color:#a7a7a7;text-decoration:none;font-weight:normal !important;border:none;display:inline-block;\" rel=\"noopener\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'Ubp1pAAmRSddZJpdgeCYFA',sig:'SB1Bd4Ofd-H58kGxmzSX1o8iZXrUtyVdNdgQxmQ5n4M=',w:'594px',h:'412px',items:'500661500',caption: true ,tld:'co.uk',is360: false })});<\/script><script src=\"\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\" async=\"\"><\/script>\n\n\n\n<p>The ancient port city of Piraeus was named Porto Leone first by the Venetians because of a landmark sculpture of a Lion at the Piraeus harbor \u2013 the statue was later transported to Venice by the conquering Venetian navy after they besieged and pillaged Athens in the war against the Ottoman Empire. The statue was sculpted around the 4<sup>th<\/sup>&nbsp;century BC and by that time Piraeus was already an old port of great economic and military importance for Athens, and according to Thucydides even officially proclaimed to be a part of greater Athens. Over the course of few millennia the city has seen spectacular rise and fall \u2013 ravaged by wars and rebuilt multiple times, being nearly depopulated to now becoming the one of busiest ports in Europe.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As far as the references to antiquity are concerned, it is safe to say that no football club comes even close to Olympiacos, or to pay respect to their full name, Olympiacos C.F.P&nbsp;&#8212;&nbsp;<em>Olympiak\u00f3s S\u00fdndesmos Fil\u00e1thlon Peirai\u00f3s<\/em>&nbsp;&#8212; Olympic Club of Fans of Piraeus. Not only do they have the classical laurel wreath on their logo and the noble sentiments of the Olympian ideals of sports in their name, the club being founded in Piraeus, the port city gets its rightful place in the club\u2019s official name as well. It must be said that since being formed in 1925 they have truly lived up to the Olympian ideals of sporting excellence: by far the most successful club in Greek football with 45 league titles and six invincible seasons in the domestic league. The recent addition of four stars on their logo indicate the 40 league titles. The fans love to call their club&nbsp;<em>Thrylos<\/em>&nbsp;(legend) and rightfully proud of their astounding domestic record.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In recent years we have formed a habit of playing against these Greek legends in the European competitions. Last season\u2019s very Arsenal-esque Seppuku act in \u2018the round of 32\u2019 of the Europa League is best left unremembered.&nbsp;&nbsp;But before that we had played against them in Champions League group stages for four seasons in quick succession: 2009\/10, 2011\/12, 2012\/13, 2015\/16. In the last of those occasions, we had lost the home leg 2-3 but then won away at Piraeus&nbsp;3-0 courtesy a Giroud hattrick, including a gem of an assist from our Costa Rican journeyman Joel Campbell.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>However, our overall record away at Olympiacos is not at all convincing: 0-1 loss in 2009\/2010, 1-3 loss in 2011\/2012, and 1-2 loss in 2012\/13. Last season in the Europa League we had of course, won away 1-0 in the first leg before we Arsenalized ourselves at home.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Given our current league standing, and our impressive skills at manufacturing novel ways of throwing away points &#8212; despite an upturn in performance and result since the festive period \u2013 the Europa League remains the much likelier route to get back to Champions League. Last year\u2019s successful run to the FA cup victory can act both as an inspiration and blueprint for the team to progress through this competition.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>With the North London Derby at the weekend sandwiched between the two legs of this crucial tie against Olympiacos, Mikel will need to rotate and balance his squad to optimize individual and collective performances. Olympiacos is currently sitting at the top of the Greek Super League, with a 16 points lead over the runners-up Aris and AEK Athens, so they can definitely afford to put complete focus on these two matches and take their weekend league match relatively lightly.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Olympiacos is managed by Pedro Martins who was also the manager in their ties against us last season. They generally shape up in either a 4-3-3 or 4-4-2 formations with focus on overloading through the middle with the fullbacks providing width on the flanks. They also use a rapid switch of flanks very effectively to create 1v1 situations where tricky dribblers like Mathieu Valbuena becomes particularly dangerous. Their fullbacks and wingers are very adept at delivering high quality crosses into the box for strikers like El-Arabi to attack.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>At the base of Olympiacos\u2019 midfield the familiar face of Yann M\u2019Vila \u2013 who at one point of time was consistently being linked with us \u2013 reads the game well and plays the key organizer role. And of course, at the center of their defense we have ex-Arsenal Sokratis Papastathopoulos, or Papa to us Arsenal supporters. In his stint with us he might not have become the defensive lynchpin that many of us had hoped for when he had joined us from Dortmund, but he is a fierce competitor and well capable of using his strength and experience to marshal the back four efficiently. I am sure he will relish the challenge of facing against his old friend Aubameyang.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The tactics to overload the flanks using the fullbacks makes Olympiacos vulnerable against rapid counterattacks, and I think we will be better served opting for speed and penetration down the wings even at the expense of a bit of technical security, especially given the value of away goals. I would keep Saka (who still looked a bit fatigued away at Burnley) and Emile Smith-Rowe rested and fresh for the weekend derby, and Willian and Lacazette too earning a break to contribute to the weekend where a much more tactical approach focusing on technical security will be key. My preferred starting line-up against Olympiacos will be&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\">Leno<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\">Cedric \u2013 Luiz \u2013 Mari \u2013 Tierney<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\">Partey \u2013 Ceballos<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\">P\u00e9p\u00e9 \u2013 \u00d8degaard\u2013 Martinelli&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\">Aubameyang&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>However, I think Arteta will be a little bit more cautious and will put his faith in players he has been using more:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\">Leno<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\">Cedric \u2013 Luiz \u2013 Mari \u2013 Tierney<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\">Partey \u2013 Xhaka<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\">P\u00e9p\u00e9 \u2013 \u00d8degaard\u2013 Saka<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\">Aubameyang&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We should try to play on the front foot from the beginning and getting an early goal to then create a perfect set-up for subsequent counter-attacks will be ideal. I am going with a bold prediction of 3-1 win for us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Come on Arsenal!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Embed from Getty Images The ancient port city of Piraeus was named Porto Leone first by the Venetians because of a landmark sculpture of a Lion at the Piraeus harbor \u2013 the statue was later transported to Venice by the conquering Venetian navy after they besieged and pillaged Athens in the war against the Ottoman [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2531"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2531"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2531\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2539,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2531\/revisions\/2539"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2531"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2531"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2531"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}