Voices on the game... Olympiacos

In our new feature here on tottenhamhotspur.com, we bring you some of the key opinions on each fixture ahead of kick-off, featuring a selection of voices from inside both clubs involved and the wider footballing world. Today, we canvass opinions on Olympiacos ahead of our UEFA Champions League Group B curtain-raiser in Greece (5.55pm UK)...

Pedro Martins

Olympiacos manager

“We need to be offensive, a team of quality and concentrate on the game. We know we are playing against a great team, but we need to show energy. We will make a strong statement. We will have our fans who will support us loudly. We are playing against a very good team.

“At this level, even a single mistake could make us pay. We need to be stable, decisive and passionate. We must make no mistakes and seize every opportunity that we have through our teamwork to win the game.

“In this group there are two big teams, Bayern Munich and Tottenham. If we manage to qualify it will be a very good result. This group is like a small tournament on its own – things might become clear quite quickly if there are no draws.”

Hugo Lloris

Spurs goalkeeper and captain

“Of course, we all know about Olympiacos and their history, a great club and we have a lot of respect for this club. We expect a tough game. It’s a hard place to play, not an easy place to start our Champions League campaign. We come here with humility and to try to start this competition in the right way.”

On fellow France international Mathieu Valbuena, who plays for Olympiacos, Hugo added: “We shared a lot of games in the national team, faced each other many times in France. He’s a quality player and he will bring his experience to the Olympiacos team. He’s played in Russia, Turkey and now Greece. He has plenty of quality and everywhere he played he’s been decisive for his team.”

Andy Brassell

European football expert, working for the likes of The Guardian, Independent, talkSPORT

“Olympiacos have players who can score goals in Kostas Fortounis, Miguel Angel Guerrero, Youssef El-Arabi, all decent goalscorers. Hillal Soudani as well. The most notable thing with Pedro Martins (manager) is they have a Portuguese flavour with Jose Sa, the goalkeeper, Ruben Semedo and Daniel Podence, who came over from Sporting (Lisbon). Then you have Mathieu Valbuena, a real touch of class. He can knit it all together and was really good in the play-off as well. He gives them that experience and guile in the middle of the park. I would say underestimate them at your peril, especially playing them early on in the competition. If you go back to 2014 when Atletico Madrid were losing finalists in the Champions League, their first game back in the 2015/15 group stages was away to Olympiacos – and they lost.”

Mauricio Pochettino

Spurs manager

“It’s another massive challenge for us, so exciting to start a new campaign in the Champions League, and we’re so excited to start here in Greece against Olympiacos. It will be an unbelievable atmosphere and when you are professional and compete at this level, you wait for these games. That’s not just me but the players too, they are excited to start another season in the Champions League.”

Are Spurs still viewed as outsiders after reaching the final last season? “No-one today is thinking of us as a contender to be in the final in Istanbul – that’s normal. That makes it very exciting again. We know very well to repeat last season we need to play at our best. It’s so early to talk about the final, the most important is to show our squad’s quality and to give our best. It’s about being focussed and trying to start in a good way.”

What about the challenging atmosphere expected tonight? “I love to play in the atmosphere we will find. I’m from Argentina, I love to play when the fans are so tough. Tactically, it will be a difficult game. We know how Olympiacos play, the quality they have, the manager, Pedro Martins, through his career loves to play football, to play from the back, moving the ball quickly. We know each other well. The key will be about matching the excitement and motivation of Olympiacos and then trying to dominate the game. Both teams have similar philosophies. It will be important if we’re capable of dominating the game to try to stop their transitions, forcing them to play deeper. There are lots of things we need to do and to be at our best to beat a team like Olympiacos.”

Michael Dawson

Former Spurs defender

Having made 40 appearances for us in Europe between 2005-14, captained the team in the knockout stages of the Champions League during 2010/11 and scored for us in Greece during a Europa League tie at Panathinaikos in 2012, ‘Daws’ played against Olympiacos in a friendly for Nottingham Forest in July this year: “I’ve got to say, the atmosphere even for a pre-season friendly was amazing,” he said. “Olympiacos were gearing up for the Champions League qualifiers. They were a week ahead of us in terms of preparations and better than us on the night. They were decent. The place will be rocking on Wednesday night!

“You’ll need to handle the atmosphere, but European games are like that, the players know that. Olympiacos scored from two set-pieces against us. They mark zonally, same as us, and in fact we could have scored a couple ourselves before they went 1-0 up. They pass the ball, look to build from the back and the game changed that night because they were 2-0 up inside 10 minutes. We actually started well! They passed it well and have good players. Andreas Bouchalakis was at Forest, did okay, he’s out there. The right-back, Omar Elabdellaoui, was with me at Hull, another decent player. It’s a tough, tough place to go.”