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Lambros Balafas writes about Medilibar which operates with its principles, believes in its work and its plan and does not… read social media, the restless 17-year-olds of Olympiakos and PAOK who are being tested.
There is no need for second thoughts, what happened in Tuba had the signature of Medilibar. Vaskos does masterful coaching, sets up a team which has not appeared again with the same faces, but knows exactly what to do, completely dominates PAOK and the 3-2 probably flatters Lucescu’s team.
This year’s best Olympiakos, brought out all his virtues, presented himself fresh, as if he hadn’t played a minute on Thursday. In theory he shuffled the… deck a lot. As if the absence of the pivotal Rodney was not enough, he was left on the bench and Ese, Pirola played on the left side of the defense. In a headquarters… furnace, which lives and breathes to welcome the “red and white” Mendilibar threw Mouzakitis and Kostoula into the battle.
The first page of history
The two 17-year-olds, the … unstoppable as I have written before, entered the field as if they had received a huge gift from their coach, as if they had been waiting all week for this moment. They seized the opportunity, they starred, especially Kostoulas wrote the first page of his story.
He became the youngest scorer of Olympiakos, with a goal in Toumba. I’m writing it again, because the circumstances, the pressure, the opponent, the stress, the weight of the responsibility matter. None of the above can stop what’s inside him. A genuine talent, who works like a… dog and his coach rewards him for everything he does every day.
Mediliber doesn’t give anything away to anyone. He evaluates everyone’s effort and judges based on the good of the team. He doesn’t care about contracts, who is a transfer, who is the name, what people say.
Talent is rewarded
He is such a regular coach that Olympiacos will remember him forever. Obviously for winning the Conference League, certainly and for the legacy he will leave when the time comes to leave. He is the ideal who guarantees the future, he is the one who changes the level for the kids who came up from U19, he does it in a very smooth way.
He throws them into battle when he is sure that they will withstand the pressure, that they will actually help the team. He doesn’t pretentiously try to please the management, he doesn’t care what people say, he operates according to football criteria, he has learned football in a country where talent is rewarded, the young man doesn’t wait to… get old, he takes the opportunity when his blood boils .
No more stress
Kostoulas struggled to score his first goal. Less about himself. Mainly for his coach, he wanted to score, it was his way of saying thank you. “I hope I made Mendiliber white-faced” he emphasized after the end of the match, in a few words he explained his state of mind.
This goal will take away a lot of the stress that he probably had in the previous period. He will be released next and then we will find out how much football he has in him. He understood it from the first moment he saw him, the Basque technician. He knows he will get a lot out of this kid and he will continue to make demands.
The cruel world of social media
Let’s go back to the plan that Olympiacos had in Toumba. There was an uproar on social media the moment the lineup was announced. Where… coaching is left over, they wrote… monsters.
The risk for the selections dominated, Danny Garcia had his honor and how he could replace the irreplaceable Ese, Pirola how he will withstand the pounding on the left wing, the two children the pressure of the stand.
A mosaic of findings, which had discounted not just a defeat for Piraeus, but a very difficult evening, which would leave deep wounds for the future.
Fortunately for Olympiakos, its coach does not deal with social issues, he works with his principles, he believes in the work and the plan, strictly speaking.
PAOK is being tested
I close the note with a couple of words about PAOK. He stepped on it. He was taken by surprise, he couldn’t stand at the same height as the red and whites. His people are worried, Toumba has become from… a castle, a center for passers-by.
The last home win came in August. We had a heatwave and now Christmas is approaching! The team suffocates, blocks, this situation drags away even the good players it has. It also has some who don’t deserve to be in the group, transfers fail to help.
Lucescu is the only one who can turn it around, but the team itself must help him. It is the moment when endurance is tested, it is a difficult period, maybe the interruption will provide the solutions…
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