Arsenal v Olympiaks; everyone’s injured, and the Greek players are on strike like everyone else « Untold Arsenal: Arsenal News. Supporting the Lord Wenger; coach of the decade

By Tony Attwood

Theo is injured, Gervinho is injured, Koscielny is injured, plus all the others you know about, like Sébastien Squillaci, Jack Wilshere, Abou Diaby, Yossi Benayoun, Thomas Vermaelen, and Johan Djourou.

So who have we got left?

Goal – no problems

Central defence: Alex Song plus Per Mertesacker with Ignasi Miquel in reserve.

Wide Defence – Sagna, Gibbs, Coquelin, Jenkinson, Santos

Midfield: Fripong, Ramsey, Arteta, Rosicky

Attack: Arshavin, Van Persie, AOL, Ryo, Chamakh, Park

Personally I don’t think that’s too bad a show.  The fact that Song can drop back and play central defence because Frimpong can play in his normal position is a real bonus.

In fact I am rather looking forward to this.

Olympiacos F.C. are properly known as ΠΑΕ Ολυμπιακός but that is all Greek to me, and anyway they are all on strike.  But if they were not they would be called Olympiacos Piraeus or Oλυμπιακός Σύνδεσμος Φιλάθλων Πειραιώς, which is auto-re-transliterated as “Olympiacos Syndesmos Filathlon Piraios” which of course makes it much clearer.

Unfortunately the translators are on strike, but I think that means Olympiacos Club of Fans of Piraeus.

It is said that when not on strike Olympiacos is the most successful club in Greek football history, winning 38 League titles, 24 Greek Cups and 4 Greek Super Cups, sixteen bowls, three teapots, and one of those little things that comes with the tea set but which no one can remember what it is for.

Like Arsenal they have never been relegated from the first division, except that we were relegated in 1913, so that doesn’t count.

They play at the Karaiskakis Stadium but you can’t get there because the bus drivers are on strike.  Wiki says that they have 2.5 million fans in Greece all of whom are on strike, and 83,000 registered members in April 2006. We don’t know how many they have now because the people who count them are on strike.

Panathinaikos, who are also on strike, are their eternal enemies.

The fact that my plane from Cyprus to Birmingham on Sunday night was 2 hours late, allowing me to get home at 5.30am, due to strike action in Greece, has nothing to do with the unbiased and honest way in which this preview is written.

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