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CL–PO-L1: Benfica Lisbon - PAOK (21-Aug-18, 22:00 EEST)


Blackhawk

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Great result.  Couldn't ask for anything more really.  I wanted a score draw.

Benfica outplayed us but should we be surprised at that ?  They are a quality team and no matter what your tactics, it's impossible to restrict teams of that quality to no scoring opportunities.  The best you can do is limit their chances and those they do have to apply as much pressure as possible.  It would've been interesting to see how Pontus would've helped had he been fit enough to play.  Even 3 in the middle against a team of Benfica's quality is an option.

I fully expect Benfica to still control the flow of the game in Toumba.  It's not like their quality will suddenly drop because they'll be playing away.  It will come down to moments, but at least we have given ourselves a good start and that's all I wanted.  The important thing is we are developing a winning mentality, well at least a better one than we used to have.  It doesn't guarantee anything and even if we don't qualify next week, the team is moving in the right direction.

@Yiankos your favourite player, Crespo, apparently had a great game. ?

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Great result for PAOK! Benfica were dominating for much of the match but they could not convert there chances. They were lucky to be given that bs pk. I hope PAOK can finish the job and book there place in the Champions League.

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2 hours ago, Bananas said:

 

@Yiankos your favourite player, Crespo, apparently had a great game. ?

I don't want to say anything negative after such a joyful day. We draw 1-1 and I loved it.

But, since you want to tease me I will answer. In my opinion both Crespo and Canas shouldn't be starters. Did Canas score an incredible goal against Basel? Sure he did. Does this change my opinion? I am afraid not. Crespo can be humiliated by any skillful forward. His strength is limited and the opponents easily take good positioning in front of him. What we saw today is the best we can hope for and again, that's not good enough against solid forwards. If he has a role in the squad, hell yeah. With all those games coming, he will be extremely helpful. But I am skeptical we didn't get another CB with different characteristics than Khacheridi and I am really worried if we play against Champions League teams with Crespo or Canas as a starters.

But you know what? Who cares? If we make it to CL stages I will be celebrating for the entire year. And we are PAOK for the craziness of it. I just write down my football opinions on them. I would be fine to go to Toumba and cheer for 90 minutes "Crespo, Crespo, Crespo" if that would lead us to the group stage of Champions League!

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One step at a time, I guess. Signing players like Crespo/Canas/Matos/Biseswar/Campos gave the team a solid foundation to build on; if Michel does his job well, then this stability will allow him to keep reinforcing the team and replacing those guys with better and better people. We have some variation of the below team as our second string squad now, which would still have wiped the floor with our best players a few seasons ago.

                       --Rey--

--Kitsiou--Malezas--Kacheridi--Tosca--

           --Shakhov--Canas--

  --Warda--Biseswar--Lamprou--

                 --Akpom--

 

vs the soon-to-be starting lineup of

                --Pashalakis--

--Matos--Varela--Crespo--Vieirinha--

      --Mauricio--Wernbloom--

   --Limnios--Pelkas--El Kaddouri--

                 --Prijovic--

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El Kaddouri didn't play only because he had missed some training. I still think Lucescu would start him first.

Personally, I think Warda is the better player, and their positions should be flipped in the above.

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7 hours ago, BostonThanatos said:

Its amazing how we get excited about our signings then play a big team like Benfica and they just show how small we really are.  Good result, and if anyone can kill the giant, it's PAOK.

Well, we are 1 result away from CL group stages, so we are a huge leap from where we were not long ago

 

 

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That's what Prijo is though, he hasn't a striker to create, he's a poacher and a very good one at that. He also has some height so he's a threat in the air. Prijo is always going to struggle in games where we counter, he's simply not pacey. All that said I still think he did okay yesterday, worked hard tried to hold up the ball. 

We had 2 and a half clear chances yesterday, 2 fell to Warda. He skied one and buried the other.

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