Bananas

Boston Thanatos, you found the old avatar. The world makes sense again ...

So true. Somehow, someway Greek governments find a way to screw their own people. Burn the lot of them I say.

I liked the good old days when you could only have 3 foreigners in your squad. Maybe 3 is a bit low, but it's all moot anyway. It's not like those days are coming back. What was good about those days was that you could measure the level so to speak, of each country. The Serie A was an exception since they generally bought the most expensive players. Now you play a team in the EPL and 10 out of 11 players aren't even English. Yay, we beat an English team! Um, no you didn't.

That's why I'm encouraged by Arnesen's emphasis on player attitude. Hopefully the team starts developing a mentality that isn't so defeatist.

I think the truth is, our defense has been shaky for a while. I had faith in Vitor but I don't think he's at the level required. Costa, we'll see. Malezas will help but if we come up against a team with a dangerous attack, we struggle. That's why I believe Tudor is experimenting with 3 at the back.

So true. I never expected it from him. It's not like he wasn't an integral part of the team. This kind of came out of nowhere. Having him and Lucas would have been great this season. Is the situation with Pereyra beyond reconciliation ?

The Veroia goal was bad, but that's the only really bad error I've seen him make. The penalty against him was farcical. Granted, he gave the referee rope with which to hang him. I won't make a judgement on him just yet. Having said that, I am a little concerned. I expected a little better. All of the signings so far, with the exception of Malezas are all young. I can only reason that Arnesen thought Olsen > Itandje based purely on age. And Arnesen also wants players with a good attitude so that also could have led to Itandje being shown the exit door.

I wouldn't be surprised to see Mak playing up front. His pace and dribbling will force Brondby to play a deep line. If only his finishing was a little more clinical.

Boston Thanatos, welcome back rimali. Yes, you've been missed and it's AWESOME you're back. What's with the new avatar ? I do miss the old one. ;) As for the old gs website, $50,000! That is an impressive number. I wonder if the owner would take alternate currencies or some sort of barter in lieu of dollars. 50,000 patates maybe ?

Either way, we need to get the ball rolling. If he was to agree terms with another team, does that mean he can sign a contract with them on 01-Jan-2016 (a full 18 months before his contract expires) ? And if so, when can he leave PAOK and join them ?

After what happened with Pelkas between last season and this season, I'd prefer when possible for our loan players to play outside Greece. His improvement has been surprising. I find it hard to believe that he would be the same player today if he'd played in B Ethniki.

I haven't seen a Foster's Beer in person in years. Really, like 20 years. It's actually bizarre that we have an international beer that no one ever buys in the country it's made in.

No. It's against the law to speak Greek in Australia. If you do, they sentence you to prison and force you to say "put another shrimp on the barbie" until you're brain is destroyed. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PXLQwrgAKbA

Good to hear about Klaus. He's still really our only "senior" striker. Salpi is past, at least as far as playing 90 minutes week in week out. And the others are youngsters.

Will be interesting to see how Antonis performs in the GSL. Hopefully he gets a decent chance to show his worth. He's definitely not in the mold of traditional Aussie players ie. physical but lacking in the technical department. If anything he's the opposite. transfermarket has him as a DM. That's not right, is it ?

Any idea when the season tickets period ends ?

Blackhawk, are you sure about Kace ? His contract expires in mid 2017.

I actually don't mind the Cup format ** ducks head **

Fair enough. I forgot from the above list :- - Rodrigues, 24 Also, you could count the following as new transfers :- - Pelkas, 21 - Mystakidis, 20 - Charisis, 20 - Korovesis, 23 Having said that, our squad size is getting kind of silly. There will need to be a cull at some point soon.

The Stoch you're referring to is not the Stoch I want. He played when he felt like it, and felt PAOK was beneath him. Which it probably was, so go elsewhere! Not sure who the other Stoch you're referring to is. Maybe Natcho ? A superb player, much more professional than Stoch, but let's face it, he was never staying beyond his 6 month loan. As I've said earlier, when PAOK has revenue of ~15M and Olympiakos has revenue of ~80M, you can't compete by buying Stoch like players. Olympiakos will always come out on top in that battle. Players like Roberto, Mirallas, Campbell will never come to PAOK so we'll always be one step behind. However, if we buy young talent, then maybe, just maybe, we might make a team. This season, for the first since I can ever remember, PAOK has done two things. They have gotten young players, and secondly, they've actually payed for them. In the past most of our transfer were free transfers. Our transfers so far :- - Cimirot, 22 - Leovac, 27 - Sabo, 23 - Olsen, 25 - Jairo, 23 - Antonis, 21 - Malezas, 30 (which is all right for a CB) I believe if we stick to this model we will do better in the long term. Definitely the short cut methods of the last 3 years haven't worked out, and have left us with a disheveled squad that needs rebuilding from the ground up.

I should add regarding Stoch, wages aside, I think if he came willingly to the club that he would do really well. When he came on loan, he knew he was there just for a short time and he also knew he was one of the better players in the league which meant he kind of slacked off. With the addition of more attacking players in the squad he won't be guaranteed a starting position if his level drops off. If he could stay motivated and deliver his A-game most weeks, I'm sure he'll be a very regular starter.

What's happening with Cimirot ?

Must have been a slow day for the media. He was definitely flat footed on the Veroia corner.

I'd be happy to have in the squad, but he would have to take a massive wage drop. His wages at Fenerbahce are astronomical by PAOK standards. From wikipedia, assuming it's correct ... Fenerbah?e gave Stoch a two-year contract extension in 2012. Stoch is contracted to the club until 2015?16, making ?1.75 million and ?15000 per match in 2012?13. He will earn ?1.75 million in addition to ?16000 per game in 2013?14, ?1.8 million plus ?16000 per match in 2014?15 and ?1.9 million as well as ?17000 per game in 2015?16.

As the posters above have stated, the A-League is inferior to the GSL by a decent margin. No real comparison. However, in terms of pitch quality and general TV coverage, it's light years ahead of the GSL.