A Greek Brick Wall: Olympiakos 0 Chelsea 0
By dixon9
February 20 2008
I can’t make up my mind whether our failure to get a result last night in Athens was due to a lack of boldness on Grant’s part in switching from our constant 4-3-3 to 4-4-2 in the 2nd half or purely because we were up against a very experienced, extremely defensive Olympiakos side.
As expected it was a hostile atmosphere. Apparently bottles were thrown at the Chelsea fans that didn’t have their flights cancelled although these were duly returned and the usual flares were in abundance in the Greek crowd (How come FIFA let them get away with this?).
Very few incidents; Carvalho went close in the first half and the Greeks missed a heading opportunity from the one dangerous cross of the match but the 2nd 45 mins saw the home side literally retire to playing in their own half for almost the entire 45 mins.
Malouda and Joe Cole were presented with 2 men to beat too often and it was clear that we were hardly going to be able to get behind their defence.
Kalou should have done better when he came on – a frustrating 15 mins from him.
Drogba still doesn’t look 100% and could be seen clutching his hamstring at various points of the game to advertise this fact.
Terry and Lampard had been rested (presumably for Sunday) and indeed, Lampard´s entrance with 5 mins to go could make little difference.
One other thing - why weren´t we playing in blue?!
I’m not so sure the team deserves that much criticism although the few crosses we had were disappointing, we lacked penetration BUT we were up against an extremely defensive Olympiakos side last night. You could liken our squad to a Ferrari but a Ferrari has no more chance of going through the Greek brick wall than a Mini would.
We were playing with a side consisting of 11 changes (!) from Saturday although there could be no complaints about the selection or obviously the quality of the players.Olympiakos had their main defender missing through injury and they had 4 players all 1 yellow away from a suspension and seemed determined to get the 0-0 result from the off.
EVERY time we got the ball they piled back in numbers to get behind the ball. At times they had six playing across the back and 2-3 playing in front! Perhaps no other side would have had any success against them and this thought could be borne by the fact that last night’s match was their 5th consecutive clean sheet.
The only time we got it out to "wingers" unmarked was when we broke quickly from very deep - but once we played a sideways of backwards pass that gave them time to get the extra bodies behind the ball.
It’s clear that whilst they were at home they were under instructions to get the 0-0 draw (a good result to take to the away leg for them) - it was one of the best defensive, blocking displays I’ve ever seen by a team although serving to provide a boring spectacle.I was aching for us to go 4-4-2 with Drogba and Anelka up front and the extra man in midfield the extra man in midfield may have drew more of their defensively positioned players out of the brick wall that we were up against. Grant was to remain unmoved on the formation which is a shame as often this 4-3-3 turns into 4-5-1.
Anyway...hopefully we´ll STUFF them at the Bridge although it seems doubtful they will change their tactics.
Apparently Clarke threw a wobbly in the dressing room after the game and Drogba and Cech had been exchanging pleasantries (sounds a bit bizarre) although this is only a rumour.
If Clarke did barrack the team than this can only serve well to clear any bad air and psyche us up for Sunday’s final against Spurs.
Olympiakos: Nikopolidis, Zewlakow, Julio Cesar, Antzas, Pantos, Ledesma, Galletti (Leonardo 83), Torosidis, Djordjevic (Belluschi 76), Stoltidis, Kovacevic (Leonel Nunez 87).
Subs Not Used: Sifakis, Patsatzoglou, Mitroglou, Sisic.Booked: Belluschi.
Chelsea: Cech, Belletti, Carvalho, Alex, Ashley Cole, Essien, Makelele, Ballack (Lampard 86), Malouda (Kalou 75), Drogba, Joe Cole (Anelka 75).
Subs Not Used: Cudicini, Obi, Wright-Phillips, Terry.Booked: Alex, Belletti, Makelele, and Ashley Cole.
Att: 29,500
Ref: Konrad Plautz (Austria).
Lampard:
"I felt fresh but the manager didn't want to take a chance on me and John and we were in the same boat,”
"We understood the reasons for being substitutes. You have to be mature and professional but it doesn't mean we cannot be frustrated and want to play.
"The manager would expect that and it is just the way it is. It is a long season. I have been out for six weeks and played the other day. There are a lot of important games to come.
"You would have to ask the manager if it is a fitness thing or rotation but it is very important we get a settled team in the run-in.
"Any good team I have been involved with has had a pretty settled line-up and it will be down to the manager to find that. Any top player wants to play but you have to understand you are in a strong squad.
"They are a good team, very organised. They play more or less the same away and it's not easy to play against them.
Grant:
"We expect a tough game. They played the group games at Real Madrid, Werder Bremen and Lazio well.”
"In football I never gamble. We put a strong team out and when you have a big squad we get questions about the players that didn't play,"
"We played with a strong team today and with a strong bench and we will do it again and again in the future."
"We didn't create a lot of chances so it's disappointing even though we had the ball most of the time.”
"We're a team that always likes to win so if we're not winning we're not happy. The performance could have been better."
Joe Cole:
"It was tough and I'm sure it wasn't pretty to watch.
"It was a very tactical game and we'll have to improve at the Bridge to get the job done that's for sure.
"They are a good side and gave us a good run for our money.
"We look solid, everyone's doing their job tactically, but we need to start scoring goals. We want to get flowing again."
Still can't fathom why JT and Lamps were on the bench and why Drogba and Anelka didn't start together.
Anyway we didn't get beat and the scenario of the score-draw at the Bridge in two weeks - I will worry about it at the final whistle.
At least there is one positive outcome from last night's result - We might sell more tickets despite Chelsea's high prices (ie Premiership prices are in place for this one).
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