Bananas

And that is encouraging. The "team" needs to just keep playing better each week. The PAS game was really a case of everything went wrong on the day. A quality CB and GK and a Klaus in form and all of sudden you've won 3-0. What I want more than anything this season is for the young players plus the new transfers to improve and become good solid squad players, and build from there.

Yes ... and no. Yes the objective is win the championship, but you can't do it by taking short cuts. You need to build a TEAM, with a CORE group of players. Then when you add a Berbatov or a Natcho it all just clicks into gear and the extra class of these players gets you over the line. At least Berbatov will sell a lot of jerseys.

Well, we needed a striker, and we got a damn good one ... in theory. Still, it would have been nice if we could have used him in Europe during the Group Stage.

We're a bunch of stooges. Maybe Savvidis thinks he can win the league now ...

This is pretty cool though.

Add to that I don't know what is happening with Skondras. He was one of our best players last season. Granted, the system Tudor is playing suits Kitsiou/Konstantinidis more, as he wants the RB to play a very attacking role, but hey, convert him to be a CB in that case. He's shown he can play the role.

Boston Thanatos, agree with you about Savvidis son. He needs to shut up. He makes himself look like a stooge. As to our transfer "policy" this season, I'm actually pleased with it, for the first time in ... forever. At least there is a structure in place. They are trying to remove players that are old, or who have a negative attitude, from the team. And, they are trying to replace them with young guys with potential. Sure, all of the transfers probably won't work out, but that's the nature of things. At least for the first time we are actively trying to do the right thing. Initially we started off slow. We got Olsen as our first transfer and then things went quiet for a couple of weeks. Then, it was one transfer after the other and they were all young guys. We've definitely tried to fix some areas that had problems. Lack of depth in the middle (Sabo, Cimirot, Antonis), the left back position (Leovac), and wingers (Jairo, Rodrigues). The CB and ST positions still haven't been fixed, and it's obvious we've left it late. Having said that, I'd rather we leave it alone rather than sign a player for the sake of it. That's why when I read these stories of Berbatov it just makes me roll my eyes. Just stop with the crap. We've done well this transfer period even if we didn't fill in all the blanks. Let's see what this bunch has got in them and we can go from there. The only thing I disagree with is Koulouris being loaned. If we had signed an ST then yes, loan him out, but since we haven't, just give the kid a run. This "panic" buying at the last minute is a crock of s%$#!. Then again, it's probably just media reports.

I'm happy to donate to the "Boston Thanatos rampages Thessaloniki" fund. But, it would have to be documented on video. Now that would make for some entertaining viewing!

Fetfa should not be included purely on principal. If you include him, it sets a bad example for future players. It's cool if he wants the money. You just can't play for the NT. I would feel no pity for him if he didn't get selected. Saudi Arabia, seriously ?!?

Any talk of winning the title is stupid. We haven't come close in 30 years. The only person that is entitled to talk of winning a title is a journalist, because in Greece their job is to write M A L A K I E S. Other than that, anyone talking of winning the league is a M A L A K A. If we get to say round 24, and we are say 3 or 4 points off the pace, then you can start talking. Until then, cut the crap and play the game. Until we build a core group of around 8 players, we won't do anything. Our core changes every year. I hope this year it's different. Having said that, I think the midfield will settle and be all right. Up front, yes, we need another striker. The big hole is still the centre of defence.

Pana97, the difference is this year it actually is a rebuild. All the previous years the transfers were done, thinking they would have a team ready to at least challenge for the title. That was the theory anyway. This year all of the old timers have been shown the exit door, and all of the new signings are young. Leovac is 27, but all the other transfers are 24 or less. I have zero problem with this approach. Do the PAOK fans however have the patience ?

So it seems Olsen has a problem with judging how/when to come out. He has the physique, it's not like he's small. Now that it's becoming a bit of a habit, I can see teams targeting this. Hopefully it's something he can work on and improve, and it's not an ingrained part of his game.

It is better to be wrong, than to be vague. - Freeman Dyson

This reeks of panic buying. Better to just stick with Koulouris. Let the kid get 15+ games under his belt and then at the end of the season you can make a judgement on whether he's worth keeping or not. This really is going to be a transitional year, or is it just me that is thinking that.

I'm apprehensive about the Marica deal as well. He's never been prolific.

12. Seriously though, now that we have him, we have to play him. If I was Savvidis, and Arnesen or Tudor came up to me and said "We are thinking about getting another keeper", I'd say "Sure mate, no problem. I'll pay for another keeper, if you can cut him loose. Any monetary losses made can come out of your wages. In the meantime, you play him or Glykos.".

Just had a look at Krasnodar's results so far this season. They have played 6 games in the league for 2 wins, 3 draws and 1 loss. Currently 7th on the league table with 9 points. The unusual statistic is that they've only scored 4 goals, so they are struggling to score, but they've only conceded 2, so their defence is good.

Just think of him as PAOK's version of Michael Carrick. I know that one is going to come back and bite me.

Ha ha. What a great movie. Thurman Merman ...

Tziolis has his place. He just needs to be played the right way. In games where you expect to have more of the possession, he is useful. Just have him in the middle distributing. Nothing special but maintaining possession and keeping the ball flowing. He can read the game fairly well. He doesn't do anything fancy so don't expect such from him. If you want him to run, hustle and tackle he's not ideal. If you expect to be under intense pressure or the game is being played at a quick pace, he can be less than ideal. He'll be a good influence on the youngsters. Some of the young guys can be hot and cold where as with Tziolis he's consistent without being flash, and managers like that. I'm more than happy to have him in the squad.

Superb post teke. I had no idea about the circumstances regarding Kace. Makes so much more sense now. How on earth did you know this ?! Impressive. Now I can stop whining like a biatch about Kace, at least for a while. As for Tzandaris, time will tell, but I think he's really made a big mistake.

Don't you think it's a bit suspicious that Boston Thanatos, paokarag4 and teke817 all "suddenly" make an appearance on the forum within a short time frame ? Were you guys all locked in a basement somewhere, or maybe went on an extended "camping" trip. You have some explaining to do ...

Giourkas, as a good friend of mine who is a PAO fan says "PAOK are Panatha's bitches" and he never fails to remind me. :)

No idea about Krasnodar, but I'm always wary of Russian teams. I'm sure they fancy their chances of taking 2nd spot, so looks like Match Days 3 and 4 are key.

Don't remind me of the game in Toumba. We had them. It was there for the taking, especially once they went down to 10 men. Only our mentality let us down. Nice goal by Klaus that day as well.