“Every beginning is difficult,” as the Greek people say. In the case of Olympiacos and Al-Ghawathil, it’s very difficult. The Basque coach got off to a rocky start on the “red-and-white” bench, suffering a 1-0 loss at “G. Karaiskakis Stadium” to a formidable OFI.
The Piraeus side is clearly going through a slump, having already dropped five points in the first four matches and struggling since the start of the season, with the experienced coach—who, for the first time in Europe, is on the bench away from home (he has also worked in Saudi Arabia with Al-Shabab) is now being called upon to pull the team out of the mud.
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The experienced coach is now getting to know his roster and is tasked with bringing together a team that has undergone many changes both since the end of last season and in the recent past.
The former Real Sociedad coach doesn’t have much time at his disposal (as one might expect), who is tasked with boosting his players’ morale and making whatever adjustments he can as he prepares Olympiacos for the opening match of the Europa League group stage. The “Red-and-Whites” host Jagiellonia on Wednesday (9/16) at the “G. Karaiskakis” Stadium, playing one of the matches they had… circled when the draw took place.
Alguacil generally followed in the footsteps of his predecessor, selecting the starting lineup of Ortega – Pedersen, Retsos, Pirolas, Tiknizian – Puerta, Froiler – Fortounis, Chikino, Silva, and Gonzalez. He’ll have a few more days to work on the match against the Poles so he can begin to instill his own philosophy. Aside from the first match, it’s worth noting that Fortounis was sent off against Nijmegen.
At the same time, the atmosphere isn’t the best it could be, since a large portion of the fans—as was evident in yesterday’s match—are a cauldron that’s… boiling over, having booed the team during the game, afterward, and chanted Medilibar’s name in unison to express their dissatisfaction with the coaching change.
*photo source: KYPE
