From May 2021? Nearly three years. That's all it took for Omar Richards to compete again in 90 straight minutes. He did so with Reading at Championship level shortly before leaving for Munich and Germany Bayern. He did it again on Wednesday and Sunday for Olympiacos, in Jose Luis Mendeliber's rotation for matches with Aris and Lamia.
The Englishman did not lose seconds in the two matches. He was caught by José Luis Mendelibre in stoppage time. I talked to him. He made it clear to him that he wanted to see him enter the rotation equation and indeed not only for the league but also for Europe (he is usually announced in the list). Richards listened to his coach. Increase the intensity of work. When Ortega suffered a minor injury, he found the door to the starting lineup open. So he entered.
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What happened to Stefan Jovetic and Andrej Horta. What happens with Gelson Martins to whom Mendelibre has never hidden that he considers him a key player in football to be able to open the rotation to a satisfactory point to exit two competitions (the winger from Cape Verde does not play in Europe). What a normal coach should do. Who agreed two months ago today to travel to Greece for Olympiacos
Yes, today marks two months (9/2) since the most important decision Olympiacos made this season. The person who sent the plane ticket to Athens to the 63-year-old coach. It is almost impossible for a team in the same year to get anything from a different third manager. But the reds and whites benefited, as Medibar showed that he was “born” for the task. To intervene on the road in a group. To change his psychology. To make him believe in what he left in the basket of… unbelievable. To bring calm but also normalcy to all aspects of this work. Finally, settlement.
Today, two months after the Mendelibre-Olympic agreement, the red and white team, with seven wins and two draws, returns to the championship match. Thanks to two impressive qualifications (Ferenzvaros, Maccabi Tel Aviv), the team reached the quarter-finals of a European competition for the first time after 25 years. Today their roster looks well organized and the roles are divided. Today the fans are waiting for the “how and how” of the next match, in a story that reminds us a little of the spring of 2019: when Olympiacos did not catch PAOK in the fight for the title, but Karaiskakis filled the edge because the red and white were playing the most beautiful football in Greece.
He took from everyone
An essential note: In these two weeks Mindliber brought back the best Daniel Pontense of the season, but also showed off the fearsome and terrible Kaabi. He made the most of his predecessor's January transfers (Carmo, Orta, Tsikinho). It maintains the “constants” of the heart at a high level (Fortunis, Rodini, Masouras, Ritsos), grants second chances (Jovetic, Al-Arabi) or even… first chances (Tsolakis). He put the team in the socket. He has footballers in the dressing room who know they can be useful at any time. So they must be prepared for the next opportunity.
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