Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 32 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Olympiacos can pretend not to have heard.
Two goals and a mark of 8.53 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
The name of Fotios Georgiadis has come up in conversations Olympiacos were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Two goals and a mark of 9.28 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Olympiacos is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Théodore Fournier was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Olympiacos, and it is not being withdrawn.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Fotios Limnios provided it, and the 8.66 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Olympiacos heard it as anything else.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Frenkie Berghuis will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Olympiacos the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Olympiacos can pretend not to have heard.
Two goals and a mark of 8.17 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Olympiacos heard it as anything else.
Grigorios Vrousai was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Olympiacos is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
3‑1 against Khazar, and a performance that will be described to people who were not there for the rest of the season. Martí Esteban was at the centre of the description.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Fotios Georgiadis provided it, and the 8.64 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.16 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Efthymios Retsos will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Olympiacos the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Fotios Georgiadis. 3‑2 against Levadiakos, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad28 Oct 2047
Words at Olympiacos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Stylianos Manolas is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
2‑1 against Spartak Subotica, and a performance that will be described to people who were not there for the rest of the season. Fotios Georgiadis was at the centre of the description.
22 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Olympiacos lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Two goals and a mark of 8.52 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Olympiacos is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
47 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Olympiacos lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Olympiacos will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Olympiacos, and it is not being withdrawn.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Olympiacos they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Olympiacos heard it as anything else.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Olympiacos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Involvement in 2 goals, from a player who spent the ninety minutes doing the thing a manager actually wants: being where the ball was going to end up. 7.95 beside his name.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Olympiacos will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The phone has started ringing about Fotios Georgiadis again, and this time the name on the line is Volos NPS. Olympiacos are listening politely and promising nothing.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Frenkie Berghuis will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Olympiacos the goodbyes have quietly begun.
9 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Olympiacos and OFI in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Olympiacos will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The offer from AEL Larisa for Fotios Limnios was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Olympiacos can pretend not to have heard.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Olympiacos they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Olympiacos will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Olympiacos can pretend not to have heard.
Add another name to the list: Volos NPS have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Michalis Giakoumakis. The answer from Olympiacos has not changed — yet.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Olympiacos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 118 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The offer from AEL Larisa for Michalis Giakoumakis was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Olympiacos can pretend not to have heard.
Add another name to the list: Volos NPS have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Fotios Georgiadis. The answer from Olympiacos has not changed — yet.
Everyone has stopped pretending: OFI will make the call about Grigorios Vrousai this week. Olympiacos have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
Squad17 Jun 2047
Words at Olympiacos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Fotios Limnios is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Qualification is done, and next season the floodlights come on for something bigger. A stage for the players, oxygen for the accounts and a passport for everybody else.
Two goals and a mark of 8.48 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and Olympiacos have had the benefit of it.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Pavlos Mandalos will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Olympiacos the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Olympiacos will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Olympiacos heard it as anything else.
Lorenzo Scipioni was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Olympiacos they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
0‑3. There is a level at which football is played every single week by clubs that have been doing it for fifty years, and an evening like this is what it feels like to arrive there without having done it.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 71 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The words a physio says slowly. 35 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Olympiacos can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Olympiacos is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The words a physio says slowly. 35 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Olympiacos will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Olympiacos, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Pavlos Mandalos will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Olympiacos the goodbyes have quietly begun.
24 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
Levadiakos will want this one forgotten quickly: 8‑4, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Olympiacos were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
96 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Olympiacos lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Olympiacos is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Lorenzo Scipioni was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Olympiacos heard it as anything else.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Aimar Herrera is living that version at Olympiacos, and it tends to show in the first month.
It is a specific kind of quiet, a ground watching a winning position dissolve. Kifisia kept coming because nothing stopped them, and Olympiacos will be asked about the last half hour all week.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Lorenzo Scipioni was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Konstantinos Mitroglou will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Olympiacos the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Thomas Alderweireld is living that version at Olympiacos, and it tends to show in the first month.
9 combined actions and 6.74. The job he did is the one that shows up as other people looking good, and the only reliable way to notice it is to watch what happens on the afternoons he is missing.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Michalis Giakoumakis trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ioannis Galanopoulos will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Olympiacos the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Olympiacos hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Squad5 Nov 2046
Words at Olympiacos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Grigorios Vrousai is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Marked 8.00 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
1‑2 against Thun. Continental football is unforgiving about the things a domestic league lets a side get away with, and this was a night spent finding out which of those the club still has.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ioannis Galanopoulos will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Olympiacos the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Olympiacos heard it as anything else.
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Olympiacos will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Olympiacos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Olympiacos can pretend not to have heard.
Lorenzo Scipioni was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Olympiacos they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Anastasios Lampropoulos. 2‑1 against Asteras, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
8.11. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Michalis Giakoumakis trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Fotios Limnios provided it, and the 9.23 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Olympiacos this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Olympiacos is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Beaten 4‑5, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad24 Sep 2046
Words at Olympiacos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Grigorios Vrousai is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Two of the goals had his name somewhere on them, which is the afternoon a manager wants from anybody asked to both create and finish. 7.91, and 2 involvements.
The offer from Levadiakos for Grigorios Vrousai was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Fotios Limnios provided it, and the 9.33 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Anastasios Lampropoulos provided it, and the 7.93 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Olympiacos can pretend not to have heard.
Lorenzo Scipioni was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Alejandro Cuadrado is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Olympiacos is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Olympiacos hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Thiago Parga is living that version at Olympiacos, and it tends to show in the first month.
The offer from Levadiakos for Grigorios Vrousai was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
A conversation is coming this week. Olympiacos will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.
Squad16 Jul 2046
Words at Olympiacos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Grigorios Vrousai is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Olympiacos is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Anastasios Lampropoulos and Olympiacos agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Olympiacos will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The name of Michalis Giakoumakis has come up in conversations Olympiacos were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Olympiacos is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Ioannis Retsos is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Olympiacos hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Nobody at Olympiacos will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Olympiacos will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Olympiacos they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The phone has started ringing about Anastasios Lampropoulos again, and this time the name on the line is Levadiakos. Olympiacos are listening politely and promising nothing.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Efthymios Retsos is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.