The derby is the season's first real test
Sunday at the Karaiskakis, Panathinaikos, 6th matchday. Olympiacos sit 4th on 10 points from five games, and that position flatters nobody (14). Manolis Salialakis did not dress it up: "Passion, will and concentration to win the derby" (14) (20). Against Panathinaikos there is no version of this where the league table is decided, but the mood for the next month is. Olympiacos have already lost at home this season, 0–1 to OFI Crete on September 12. A second home defeat, in this fixture, and the pressure on the whole autumn changes.
The basketball side has the reverse problem. They are 2/2 in the Stoiximan GBL and nobody in Piraeus is satisfied. The 99–83 win over Kolossos Rhodes came with 30 points from Gian Monteiro on his league debut, six of eight from three (8) (9) (17). Georgios Bartzokas still called out the defence twice, and by name: lack of seriousness in the third quarter (21), and the players' assumption that they would win "somehow" (11). Two wins, two warnings.
Yazici and the squad question nobody wants to answer
Yusuf Yazici is preparing a return and a possible loan, but his own performances may yet change whether he stays (7). This is the quiet story running underneath a loud season. Olympiacos have a European campaign that starts for real on Thursday at Marseille, and a league run where the margin between 4th and 1st is five points after five matches. Squad depth is not a hypothetical at Karaiskakis. It is the thing that decides whether October is a blip or a slide.
Bartzokas said something on the basketball side that applies perfectly well down the road from the arena: the rotation cannot lower the team's level, and the players who see fewer minutes have to step forward (22). Same building, same motto, different sport.
What to watch
Sunday's derby against Panathinaikos at 20:00 is the whole week. Then Thursday takes Olympiacos to Marseille in the Europa League, where they will arrive either settled or shaken, and Sunday October 18 goes to Panetolikos, a trip that has punished better Olympiacos teams than this one. Salialakis called wearing the shirt an honour (20). The next eight days decide whether that sentence gets repeated in May.
