Olympiacos v Villa Pre-match Thread

[Brazilian Villain]

I think it might be 60/40 in our favour now the orange dot is out

You have no idea the power of that dot

Yep, we should have the orange dot as our new crest, we'd win every game.

[ChicagoLion]

Welcome gkap.
The ref definitely looked a wrong un and the constant decisions in your favour limited our momentum.
The Luiz penalty was correct and came at the worst time for us.

[eamonn]

How come the Fiorentina-Brugges game went rogue and was played on a Weds instead of the usual Thursday? TV/money? Can't have been worth more than 50p.

[Olneythelonely]

How come the Fiorentina-Brugges game went rogue and was played on a Weds instead of the usual Thursday? TV/money? Can't have been worth more than 50p.

Because Atalanta are at home tonight? UEFA try to avoid clashes like that.

[Sexual Ealing]

There's a religious festival in Bruges today.

[Brazilian Villain]

How come the Fiorentina-Brugges game went rogue and was played on a Weds instead of the usual Thursday? TV/money? Can't have been worth more than 50p.

So it wouldn't clash with Belgians drinking loads of quality beer on a school night celebrating Ascension Day with a 'Procession of the Holy Blood'.

[JD]

'Kin hell. They've got no chance now mate. Bringing out our trump card.

[gkap7]

Welcome gkap.
The ref definitely looked a wrong un and the constant decisions in your favour limited our momentum.
The Luiz penalty was correct and came at the worst time for us.

Truth is i caught myself wondering if ref caught his wife in bed with someone from Birmingham. I totally  agree with ya that Luiz penalty changed the momentum. I was expecting you to score another 2-3 goals after 2-2

[Brazilian Villain]

'Kin hell. They've got no chance now mate. Bringing out our trump card.

Is it so-called because it's orange?

[eamonn]

There's a religious festival in Bruges today.

Was that the script idea handed to Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson (a Villa man, no less)?

[PeterWithe]

Olympiakos fan here. Some comments make me wonder if we saw a different game. etc

Welcome.

I think the overall feeling was that we were shit, we didn't expect you to be so adventurous but ALL of the marginal refereeing calls went against us, all of them. On another day, we get at least some of those calls our way and we go into the second leg at least even.

As for tonight, if we get the first goal I fancy us. If we dont we have no chance. All to play for.

[Demitri_C]

Olympiakos fan here. Some comments make me wonder if we saw a different game. No one can disagree that Villa is the better team by far and for us to win the 1st leg happened because of luck, villa's injuries, villas overconfidence, tiredness and a very friendly ref towards us. But there is a huge difference between a friendly ref who gave the  few disputed incidents in our favor than the AL Capone that many of you present  him. He is not the Tunisian ref who allowed Maradona score with his hand. Sure he could.have allowed the goal instead of giving a foul but it's not like he invented something non existing. We all saw the attacker pulling the defenders shirt and then the ball hitting his head while he was down for an easy goal for Bailey. He could have given Baileys penalty sure. But also in this case the defender kicks the ball first before their feet entangled. About the penalty we were given, extended arm is always considered penalty and doesn't matter if he wasn't looking or if he had no intention. If all those cases were in favor of Villa instead, then it would have been us complaining about a hostile ref. Anyway we are expecting a tough game against a better team that won't make the same mistake to underestimate us this time. It's 50/50

Welcome re

The ref we felt wasnt great kast week tbh but thats taking nothing away from olympiakos as they were excellent and deserved the win. We played really really bad last week.

We of course are hoping for a improved performance today. I think we can play well we may make it nervy it all depends.

We also had some key players missing last week. We are hopinv they will be back tonight

[curiousorange]

Olympiacos were better than we thought they would be, we were worse than we thought we would be, they had some good luck, we had some cruddy luck, the referee was shit. All of these things are true.

[brontebilly]

Huge night for the club, third tier competition or not, it wasn't so long ago we were playing the likes of Rotherham away. We will create plenty of chances but are very vulnerable on the counter and at set pieces these days. Martinez is critical as he will need to be at his best. Early goal and that will put them under pressure. Nonsense selections like Konsa at RB need to be avoided at all costs but I've a horrible feeling Emery might do something daft like bringing in Carlos into a back 5. I know he has had a difficult season but Moreno could have a big impact tonight.

Martinez
Cash, Konsa, Torres, Digne
Luiz, McGinn
Diaby, Tielemans, Bailey
Watkins

[Dogtanian]

Emery is keeping his card close to his chest about who is available or not.

I'm expecting John McGinn to walk out the tunnel alone and muddy, when suddenly he stops and whirling tunnels of light start opening with players stepping out, ready for battle - Mings, Kamara, Buendia, Martinez, Ramsey, Tielemans, Ginger... - and then stirring music pipes up and they all charge into battle against the ref's hordes.

The ref is purple and for some reason has a giant glove, too.