UEL Round of 16 1st Leg: Olympiakos v Arsenal | Thursday, March 11 | KO: 20:00 UTC | BT Sport

[GDeep™]

Why would i have anything against Indians ffs. One, i watch cricket and have spent time doing so with Indians and two, half the people helping with my broken arm have been Indian. Dismal race baiting.

Sorry Richard. I hope I didn’t offend you. You should post more though, we all miss you.

I hope your arm gets better soon.

 

[Rex Stone]

Your questions answered in The Knowledge

High-scoring defenders, going Irish in Greece, racking up goals in extra time and that shocking home record thing (again).

www.theguardian.com

DO PANATHINAIKOS HAVE SECRET IRISH CONNECTIONS?

"What is the origin of the shamrock on the Panathinaikos crest?" asks Diarmuid O'Brien. "Is there any overt Irish connection there, given their crest and green strip, or is it, as my mate claimed in the pub during one drunken Champions League viewing, that Greece is the only place outside Ireland where shamrock grows?"

Much as it pains us to say it - for we love a good yarn more than most - neither story is true.

In 1918 Panathinaikos chose the shamrock - or trifylli as it's known in Greece - as their emblem on the suggestion of Mihalis Papazoglou, an athlete from Constantinople who played for Chalkidona, and Chalkidona had the same symbol. The idea was accepted by Panathinaikos's council and confirmed as the team's official badge.

As for the colour of the kit, again there's no overtly Irish connection. Green being the colour of the trifylli no doubt had something to do with it, but the choice of kit seems to be partly a practical one too. Until green became the team's official colour, most players turned up and played in different coloured outfits.


Well, i think its a coincidence, however i think (maybe i m wrong) that there is a fan club of Panathinaikos in Ireland....

Ah fair. Always wondered that tbf.

 

[Mo Britain]

First off, I am delighted we won. I'm always buzzing when we win. On the performance, it was a mixed bag. Partey is clearly not fit but he is essential as a security blanket, to play forward and to play quickly and decisively. He had sloppy moments but again, that first time pass to set up Ødegaard's goal is a difference maker and he did those little things a few times even though its the giveaways that stick in my mind. For the Olympiacos goal, the lion share of the blame lies with sloppy Ceballos and brainless Leno but the problem started at 56.12. Xhaka has the ball. His cross field pass goes into touch for a Olympiacos throw in. Tierney and Willian were free to his left. They lose the ball and we're in possession ready to play from deep. The ball goes to Xhaka who is actually positioned correctly before he turns and gets his body shape wrong. Quiet panic, he passes to Gabriel who is running towards his own goal. Its 57.05. Leno receives a good pass from Gabriel to his right foot. Luiz is alone on the touchline. That's where you pass. Ceballos has one either side and another breaking his neck to close the route to Luiz. I kind of expected Ceballos to turn to his right and play forward but he's slow and quickly swamped. Leno was back peddling slowly with four Olympiacos players in close attention. If he had run on the half turn, he maybe closes the angle. The ball is in the net at 57.13. Just over a minute of sloppiness. So many little things. Xhaka when he played the ball out had the right body shape. Less than a minute later in the same position with the same options, his mind freezes and he can't get rid of the ball quick enough-backwards to Gabriel. No blame on Gabriel for me. Leno has the option to go long or to Luiz. Why play to a team mate who has just come on and almost got us eliminated in the last round? But, Ceballos must be sharp and aware. He should be pointing to Luiz if he's still settling. The collective have to make better decisions. Ødegaard's,Partey and Luiz had some momentary madness and sloppiness but it's the same glaring poverty from the same individuals.
The pattern that Arteta set up was ok. We were controlled and created chances but all the goals were from individual brilliance. That mustn't be coached out for any project or structure. Word to Bellerin who I thought was very good and stopped a thunderbolt that might have given Olympiacos a second. The same for Gabriel and Elneny. This tie should be dead but we will have to play much better than we did tonight.
Sorry for the long post.

Excellent post. Too often a player gets roasted for an "individual error" - especially if he is disliked by a vocal minority (some get a free pass) - but more often than not there is a build up of avoidable incompetence which leads to the avoidable error.

 

[rich 1990]

Sorry Richard. I hope I didn’t offend you. You should post more though, we all miss you.

I hope your arm gets better soon.

I wouldn't be posting at all were it not for lack of things to do.

 

[GDeep™]

I wouldn't be posting at all were it not for lack of things to do.

Well, that’s said to hear, as you’re a much cherished member here.

 

[Mo Britain]

Granada, Villareal (Good ebening!), Ajax or Rangers in the QF for me.

 

[Iceman10]

These errors are very reminiscent of Emeryball growing pains when learning to play out of the back, the only difference is that our attack is a lot worse than back then.

I call that regression. He was getting praise for organizing our defense early in the season after all, and it's not like we have lost vital players to injury or anything.

The parallel with Emery is spot-on, and it is frustrating taking the two managers together we are still not over these issues after three years total, because the idea is to get beyond having to worry about basics. I think we have tightened up overall in open play, we are ranked well in the PL for goals conceded, but it is mainly this issue of playing out from the back.

 

[Mrs Bergkamp]

Excellent post. Too often a player gets roasted for an "individual error" - especially if he is disliked by a vocal minority (some get a free pass) - but more often than not there is a build up of avoidable incompetence which leads to the avoidable error.

You are a wordsmith sir

 

[panathinaikos_athens]

This tie should be dead but we will have to play much better than we did tY

Don't you think that 1-3 is a good score? Ok, you made some mistakes, but i am satisfied with your performance. Arteta tonight surprised me positively, i didn't expect that. This gives me confidence that he sees the chance of moving on to europa league seriously.

 

[Mrs Bergkamp]

Don't you think that 1-3 is a good score? Ok, you made some mistakes, but i am satisfied with your performance. Arteta tonight surprised me positively, i didn't expect that. This gives me confidence that he sees the chance of moving on in europa league seriously.

This Arsenal scare me so I'm always nervous. The score is good abd if we don't make mistakes, it should be more than enough.

 

[kanooo]

I knew we were gonna win once I saw Sokratis in their line up.

 

[mirrorstare]

Sokratis forgot to tell them the secrets about Willian and Elneny

 

[Melquiades]

I didn't love this performance. It had a good start for 10-15 minutes and a good finish for 10-15 minutes, and was pretty lousy for 65-70 minutes in the middle.

Result was good but Olympiakos were crap and we seemed to lose intensity and drift out of the game for huge stretches. And the dicking around sloppily with the ball in our end was symptomatic of that lack of intensity. You can beat a team like this with an effort like this but in subsequent rounds against better teams if you don't play a full 90 minutes you'll get skinned. And same thing against Burnley in the last PL game. Started quickly, then drifted out of the game and let them back in for a result on the back of our sloppy play. Need more leadership on the pitch from some of the veteran players.

 

[Riou]

Surely we can't **** the second leg up now!

 

[MikeVinna]

Surely we can't **** the second leg up now!

No, but after that we’ll probably face a half-decent side. We’ll have to be much better than we were last night to have a chance there. I don’t see Mikel pulling it off to be honest.

 

[albakos]

A very good result last night and absolute wonder goals by us, all three of them.

Also when setting up threadmarks this morning, I noticed @Rimaal seems to have had the quickest Live TV or stream, as it was first the first post on us scoring

 

[Rimaal]

First off, I am delighted we won. I'm always buzzing when we win. On the performance, it was a mixed bag. Partey is clearly not fit but he is essential as a security blanket, to play forward and to play quickly and decisively. He had sloppy moments but again, that first time pass to set up Ødegaard's goal is a difference maker and he did those little things a few times even though its the giveaways that stick in my mind. For the Olympiacos goal, the lion share of the blame lies with sloppy Ceballos and brainless Leno but the problem started at 56.12. Xhaka has the ball. His cross field pass goes into touch for a Olympiacos throw in. Tierney and Willian were free to his left. They lose the ball and we're in possession ready to play from deep. The ball goes to Xhaka who is actually positioned correctly before he turns and gets his body shape wrong. Quiet panic, he passes to Gabriel who is running towards his own goal. Its 57.05. Leno receives a good pass from Gabriel to his right foot. Luiz is alone on the touchline. That's where you pass. Ceballos has one either side and another breaking his neck to close the route to Luiz. I kind of expected Ceballos to turn to his right and play forward but he's slow and quickly swamped. Leno was back peddling slowly with four Olympiacos players in close attention. If he had run on the half turn, he maybe closes the angle. The ball is in the net at 57.13. Just over a minute of sloppiness. So many little things. Xhaka when he played the ball out had the right body shape. Less than a minute later in the same position with the same options, his mind freezes and he can't get rid of the ball quick enough-backwards to Gabriel. No blame on Gabriel for me. Leno has the option to go long or to Luiz. Why play to a team mate who has just come on and almost got us eliminated in the last round? But, Ceballos must be sharp and aware. He should be pointing to Luiz if he's still settling. The collective have to make better decisions. Ødegaard's,Partey and Luiz had some momentary madness and sloppiness but it's the same glaring poverty from the same individuals.
The pattern that Arteta set up was ok. We were controlled and created chances but all the goals were from individual brilliance. That mustn't be coached out for any project or structure. Word to Bellerin who I thought was very good and stopped a thunderbolt that might have given Olympiacos a second. The same for Gabriel and Elneny. This tie should be dead but we will have to play much better than we did tonight.
Sorry for the long post.

With posts of this quality, you can have them as long as you like, darling. Excellent post!

 

[Rimaal]

A very good result last night and absolute wonder goals by us, all three of them.

Also when setting up threadmarks this morning, I noticed @Rimaal seems to have had the quickest Live TV or stream, as it was first the first post on us scoring

I was watching on TV. It's odd, because beIN usually has a 2-3 sec delay. Must be the fact that it was transmitting from Greece that made the difference.

 

[CaseUteinberger]

Result was good but Olympiakos were crap

I must admit I really struggle with silly blanket statements like that. Olympiakos are a decent side that knows how to play. No, they are not Barca or Bayern at their pomp, but they as hell are not “crap”. Statements like that are just meant to piss on your own team! Hope you can do better!

 

[Makavelii]

Why don’t we have thread dedicated to talking about the Europa league?

I think this has got to be where most of our season hopes are for the rest of the season. Would be good to have a place to discuss it.
We know Mikel can make a good cup run!