Why does a Greek fan learn to lose? Blog – Dimitris Konstantinidis

Dimitris Konstantinidis writes about the competition in this year’s tournament and the reasons why the “big boys” got over their sporadic failures more gracefully.

The good thing about a league with four teams crammed for three points is certainly the competition. We’re testing it for Season 2 and of course it’s (still) a special case. Well, there’s our grumbling, but it’s about the intolerable toxicity, when it manifests itself, as a result of this competition of everyone, against…everyone from time to time. There is also a second good thing to see after the bad defeats of contenders like Panathinaikos at the hands of Aris. Disaster is not (necessarily) coming!

And in Greece, and perhaps even more so here, our top teams in particular are… spoiled. Defeat, especially against competitors considered inferior, is almost forbidden. The shocks that lead to such outcomes are many times larger and disproportionate (several times) to the importance of the match. I’m not referring to a run of bad results that is logically worrying, but to a defeat or a draw that is “off the table” because the table says “we must win everywhere”. To be clear, I’m not saying that the Big Four and their fans are used to losing or losing, but there is a process to manage it better, without it being the end of the world. The most recent example is the fairly smooth acceptance (as recorded) of defeat at the hands of Aris at Panathinaikos, and the ultimate example is the impressive calm (for the organization’s standards) at Olympiacos after the heavy defeat to PAOK, while we had a similar atmosphere in the tournament. AEK and PAOK matches.

Because they deal with their defeats more calmly

Yes, Panathinaikos did not play well in Fikilides. Especially in the second half, it was fading away as time went on, and Aris (well-read and organised) seemed to counter-attack and close out the game, like a very strong possibility becoming a reality. If with this appearance and without Brignoli’s mistake (which led to a completely different management of the match as Aris took the lead) the Greens won… “half-zero”, many would talk about a “professional victory”. As, for example, AEK’s victory in Ioannina was described as “professional”, although the Union could not support throughout the 90 minutes the very good image in the first 40 minutes and if Pamlides had not found the post in an empty net the talk would have been different. But again, what won everyone over, much more than in the past, is that this conversation didn’t end with… hysteria. For several reasons.

The first is that everyone is paritsa (in terms of standings) and they see everyone losing points, so no one runs away and feels a lot of pressure on the other. The second is that with the playoffs ahead of us, the big pressure shifts towards the end of April when groomsmen’s haircuts begin. The third, and perhaps the most important thing, which mainly concerns AEK, Panathinaikos and PAOK, is that they have on their bench people (although not all with the same characteristics) who have won the trust of the fans with their person and with the smooth management of their team. The situation they managed to keep calm even after the “twists”. No, in Olympiacos and Martinez this does not happen to the same extent, but there is “we are building a team, let us be patient” and harvesting goals is enough to equalize the puff so far.

A Greek fan won’t become a Buddhist monk, but…

Of course, all this is changing. We are in Greece, and another season of “failure” when you chase the title, will reduce the coach’s confidence levels. At a turning point, in fact. It cannot be done any other way. He will not suddenly become a follower of Greece… a Buddhist monk. “Brewing” is an active and ongoing activity in sport, especially in a team and at this level of competition. Here they no longer have patience (for their own statements) even the English! But more importantly, there appears to be a break in logic, at least at this stage of the league.

After all, it is optimistic that when we can break away from the refereeing and balancing leagues of the EPO and the Premier League (things that unbearably tire the average fan who has more serious problems in his life), over the past two seasons we have been more involved in the competition part, with the tactics. The real progress of the teams on the field is the result of the correct work and professional behavior of the coaches and players. It is not an easy thing in this country to be heroes, the real heroes. After all, we are generally known for deifying the obvious, when put into practice, and therefore realize how difficult it is to do so.