Is Valverde trying to send Derbyshire a message?

By: Peter Katsiris | February 13th, 2009

Ernesto Valverde is one tough guy. He’s known for his tough love. Olympiacos fans, and most players, know you better not impose your thoughts about his starting line-up, or else…

It’s not that he’ll torture you, or take you out behind the woodshed. No, not that at all. Instead, you might never get a chance to grace the pitch again.

While egos at Olympiacos are currently stories of the past (cough cough Rivaldo cough cough), there is the rare occasion that one player will show his frustration at his lack in playing. Instead of a civil approach, such as approaching Valverde, which would likely be the proper way to handle such a case, players like to use the ever dramatic Greek media to reveal their feelings.

Last Friday Matt Derbyshire voiced his opinion on what needs to be done at Olympiacos in order for the England U-21 international to be successful. On Saturday, Olympiacos tackled Thracian club Panthrakikos in Komotini, but the on loan Blackburn Rovers striker never made it onto the pitch.

The win wasn’t a blow out or anything, it was comfortable as Fernando Belluschi and Luciano Galletti both scored to give Olympiacos a 2-0 win in Komotini. Now, we all knew the starting games thing wasn’t an option for Derbyshire; I mean come on, you can’t just come to a club such as Olympiacos, and steal a lone-striker role from a guy like Diogo. It’s just…not right.

With that being said, there was still the option that Derbyshire would play the role as a substitute – in my opinion that isn’t fair to Mitrooglou, but his off-the-pitch affairs allow me not to side with him. But anyway, Derbyshire was favourite to be coming off the bench if Olympiacos could grab a comfortable lead. And they did just that; I mean the part about Olympiacos getting a good enough lead on Panthrakikos. Up 2-0, and a stiff defense in front of goalkeeping legend Antonis Nikopolidis, that’s good enough if you’re in the red-and-white.

So as Valverde shuffled his line-up, and substitutes warmed up along the sidelines, it was interesting to see that Derbyshire never got off his seat; well, maybe just the bathroom break at halftime. Other than that, nothing!

It was really odd to be honest. I mean you have to warm-up when you are told you are going; you just have to. So that leads me to believe that Derbyshire was never told to warm-up. While watching the game you could say maybe Valverde was worried about the result, 2-0 is 2-0, but again it was an away game.

Once the substitutes were, that’s when I started to ask myself, what’s he doing? I mean the first swap was understandable, a familiar one as Sebastian Leto made way for Predrag Djordjevic. Likewise for the second move, this time Oscar Gonzalez came on for Luciano Galletti. The third, not so much. I mean I was happy to see Giannis Papadopoulos finally get some minutes, but when he came on for Diogo, I wasn’t sure what to think.

It was clear that something was going on off-the-radar. Somebody had crossed the line, and that somebody appeared to be Derbyshire. After making a late appearance against PAOK in the Greek Cup on Wednesday, it was clear he still needed more time – hence the outburst on Friday. That time was expected to come on Saturday, but nothing more than a substitute’s role.

Now you may argue that Derbyshire was only stating his desires in the interview with the Greek media, and you are probably right. When I read it, I interpreted it in two ways. First I thought he was acting like a prick, and was being a bit stereotypical just because he had come from the English Premier League. Then I reread it, and it came clear to me that Derbyshire just stated what he thinks would be best for him to better himself as a player, and not the “I’m better than you” stance.

So now I am here, and I sympathize with this guy. I can understand he is just defending his performance from the Cup match, but a word of advice…ZIP IT!

Seriously, don’t take my word for it, just look at Mirnes Sisic. The now Red Star Belgrade midfielder was released by mutual consent ahead of the transfer deadline, and it was likely a move due to the consequences of a verbal altercation with Valverde.

The Slovenian was upset he wasn’t get a chance to play, and he made it clear; he thought he was good enough, or even better than his teammates, in his bid to appeal Valverde’s refusal to play him.

With his selfishness, it didn’t take long for Sisic to be shown the door. Agreeing to terminate his contract with the club, Olympiacos and Sisic parted ways this winter by mutual consent; however, it is likely the term ‘mutual’ has been negatively skewed by the club – maybe a little something, something under the table.

In conclusion, we all knew Derbyshire wasn’t brought to Piraeus to start games for Olympiacos; that’s Diogo’s job. Instead the youthful Englishman was acquired to add some temporary depth to what was a lacking forward line.

Though he was expected to get some playing time once the deal was signed, if he keeps up this behaviour, Olympiacos fans might be seeing more of bad-bay Konstantinos Mitroglou…