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Solid win first up, seems we never really got out of 2nd gear and still managed to score three and hit the woodwork another 3 times. On another day we score 5-6. Not too much more to take out of it but the 3 points. France beating the Netherlands is good news, it means assuming we beat Ireland in Greece in June (we also play France in June but we assume that's a loss and anything we get out of it is a bonus) we would be leading the Dutch heading into our match-up in September. The Dutch don't play in June due to the Nations League finals. It will be important going to the Netherlands and being 3 points clear of them in September, meaning a draw will keep ourselves clear of them heading into the last 4 matches. Schedule has helped us, and France sweeping the group will also help. We can keep our noses in-front of the Netherlands until they come to Greece in our 2nd last match. A lot of water to go under the bridge until then, but if we take care of business v Ireland (not easy) and Gibraltar we are in with a fighting chance to pinch 2nd spot.

EPO officially announces that the Stadio Agia Sophia aka OPAP Arena will be the new home of the national team! Should be much better than OAKA.

First MD of this series. Nice to start against minnow Gibraltar in Portugal. Konstantelias is the new diamond and Gus said allready he will be included in the squad. Every MD one country will play a friendly or Nation League match. The other match this MD is France vs the Netherlands. MD 2 will be Greece's "day off".

Father Greek, mother Dutch so I must root for The Netherlands. Sucks that both countries are drawn together. @Omonoia9 has the same with Greece and Cyprus.

This line up would be so much better if Fortounis replaced Mantalos and Konstantelias replaced Pelkas..

Kourbelis is out injured and will miss these games. Reports saying that 8-9 players are locked in to start, they are: Vlachodimos, Baldock, Mavropanos, Chatzidiakos, Tsimikas, Siopis, Bakasetas, Mantalos, Fortounis. Question marks are over whether Pavlidis/Giakoumakis starts and Konstantelias/Masouras on the wing. Bakasetas, Mantalos and Fortounis could be played in a few different positions, just depends on how Poyet wants to go about it. Either way I think that team is probably the best we can put out, and it should have enough attacking talent to score a few goals and record a routine victory. https://www.sport24.gr/football/ethniki-elladas-ta-dyo-senaria-sto-myalo-toy-poget-gia-tin-endekada-me-to-givraltar.9982928.html

Even though this group is the group of death and chances of us qualifying are slim I really hope we can show progress and hold our own with the Netherlands and France. even the other teams will pose a challenge. It's unfortunate we got this group but until we start climbing the FIFA rankings these are the types of groups we can expect. We know the Netherlands and France will most likely only drop points to each other and i fully expect them to sweep through the other teams and at worst maybe getting a draw against us or Ireland. As we've said before our best and probably only realistic chance to qualify is through the Nations League that's why we would also want Turkey to qualify directly to avoid them as they would be our toughest challenge. But for now lets start of strong and bury Gibraltar.

Gibraltar 0-3 Greece FT

Also Alexandropoulos deserves a start Ik he’s not a starter at sporting Lisbon but that’s still a champions league level club

Regarding the call ups, I’m not totally satisfied with them. I don’t think players like Papanikolaou, Rota are ready to play for Greece. Tzavellas doesn’t need to be there as he’s old and we have better. Nikolaou plays Serie A every week and deserves a call up. Lykogiannis and Kyriakopoulos play in the league too every week and Lykogiannis scored and Kyriakopoulos got 2 assists recently. Players like Tzolis and Alexandropoulos can help this team massively in my opinion. Tzolis was fantastic recently for Norwich and Alexandropoulos is our best CM in my opinion. He should be there instead of Papanikolaou. Bouchalakis, Retsos and Chatzigiovannis haven’t played enough to justify a call up. Although I do think Retsos is good player. What I liked was the inclusion of Fortounis and Konstantelias. Two players that can win you a game. Kotsiras should be there and Douvikas is top scorer for the Dutch league and should’ve been included for sure.

Γιώργος Αθανασιάδης, Αλέξανδρος Πασχαλάκης, Οδυσσέας Βλαχοδήμος, Τζορτζ Μπάλντοκ, Δημήτρης Γιαννούλης, Λάζαρος Ρότα, Κώστας Τσιμίκας, Παντελής Χατζηδιάκος, Κωνσταντίνος Κουλιεράκης, Κωνσταντίνος Μαυροπάνος, Παναγιώτης Ρέτσος, Γιώργος Τζαβέλλας, Τάσος Μπακασέτας, Ανδρέας Μπουχαλάκης, Δημήτρης Κουρμπέλης, Πέτρος Μάνταλος, Γιάννης Παπανικολάου, Μανώλης Σιώπης, Τάσος Χατζηγιοβάνης, Κώστας Φορτούνης, Γιάννης Κωνσταντέλιας, Δημήτρης Λημνιός, Γιώργος Μασούρας, Δημήτρης Πέλκας, Γιώργος Γιακουμάκης, Φώτης Ιωαννίδης, Βαγγέλης Παυλίδης.

Next national team friendly game: March 27, 2023 Athens - OPAP Arena Greece - Lithuania

Tzimas is now the youngest scorer for PAOK ever. The lad is born January 6th 2006 !!!!!!! He broke the record of nobody else than Koudas.

No. We play Lithuania in a friendly on March 27th, @J1078!

He is the type of player who can break down defenses who sit back and defend. We usually struggle vs the minnows who employ this tactic. Also is useful as a counter threat to teams who send numbers forward. Kid can play many roles

Lineup for Friendly 4 1 4 1 / 4 3 3 : Athanasiades Rota Mavro Hatzi Giannoulis Siopis Bakasetas. Fortounis Chatzigiovanis Limnios Pavlidis

BAKASETAS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I believe the Euros are head to head

F - NL 3-0 !!!

No. The Ethniki is not a kindergarten. Best players of the moment should play. Not prospects. They play in U21.

I think he's a great player but I can see the exclusion...

Still for someone that could be the future of our midfield playing Gibraltar could give him some good experience and confidence.

France - The Netherlands already 1-0 for Les Bleus.

Alexandropoulos is on the B team for Sporting, not even on the bench.

GIBRALTAR 23 Coleing(GK) 12 Olivero 14 Chipolina(Captain) 4 Sergeant 11 Valarino 22 Torrilla 20 Britto 6 Lopes 17 Ronan 10 Walker 7 Casciaro BENCH 1 Banda(GK) 13 Hankins(GK) 2 Jolley 3 Chipolina 5 Hartman 8 Pozo 9 Styche 15 Santos 16 Mouelhi 18 Hernandez 19 Yome 21 Coombes Manager: Julio Ribas(URU)

Bakesetas will be an automatic starter. I'm not saying i agree with this at all but to be honest the last campaign he produced for us regularly and was a big part why we won the Nations League. You can tell he has the Greek passion and he wants to win with the NT team. I need to give credit where credit is due. In saying that i would love to see fortounis in as I think he can become the main player that controls the game as his talent is miles ahead of players like Bakesetas and company and has the skill to really control the pace of the game and break down opposing defenses. Give Fortounis some capable wingers and a decent striker and i think the dynamic of this team drastically changes. Just my two cents

Baldock deemed fit to play after missing training yesterday, he trained fully today. Bouchalakis and Ioannidis in doubt at this stage. Don't think we'll see anything out of the ordinary in terms of the eleven, would be nice to see Fortounis and Konstantelias starting on the wings given it will be a game where we will dominate the ball and need creativity to break down a parked bus. Don't think Poyet will start Konstantelias though, he's probably more likely to go Masouras or Pelkas. Pavlidis incredible form this season commands a starting spot for him, he'll be leading the line.

PAOK and Macron renewed till 2027. Like it because the kits look good and the quality is dito. Bought some items in 2019, wear them often and they still look brand new.

Those who remain at the club during the break for the national teams will play a friendly against Farul Constanta on March 25th. The legendary Georghe Hagi is their coach.

A win in a derby is a win. Lovely.

This game is coming up. Let's throw out some starting lineup possibilities and predictions. I am hoping for a comfortable win. And hopefully the France-Netherlands game ends in a draw.

We've come a long way from having no strikers to now having too many to call up! Douvikas misses out despite being in solid form for Utrecht. I have no complaints with the 3 strikers who have been called up, but Douvikas can consider himself unlucky. Limnios must be called up more to support and give his teammates a mental boost. He hasn't played for Koln yet since returning from his knee injury but he has had some minutes for their youth team. A little surprised Retsos has been called up, he's been very average for Olympiako this year. Not sure why Poyet doesn't like Nikolaou, called him up a year ago for his first matches in charge and he hasn't been seen since. Despite being a starter in Serie A for close to 2 years. I can see the logic with the Tzavellas call-up (he wants a 'senior' center back in the squad) even if I don't agree with it. An inform Fortounis can only do good for the Ethniki, if he and Konstantelias get on the pitch together we are going to see some magic.

The first three matches will determine how we will do. If we can win the first two and not lose in Karaiskaki we will be in good shape. We will then play two home games against Volos and PAO and we will be able to close the gap between the 1st and 2nd place. After that anything is possible.

They call me nostradomus

A healthy and in form Fortounis would be a huge asset for this team. I've been hoping to hear some news about him and hopefully Poyet calls him up.

I hope so. We need his quality.

In terms of Trophies won? Yes it is, from 2017 we have won 5 trophies where the club had 6 total honours previous to that recent success (League and Cup). A lot of older fans highlight the 70's as PAOK's golden era, with some legendary players, slick football and our first league title was captured along with 2 cups. My Dad constantly goes on about that period, and how they "Weren't allowed" to win more by the Athens clubs. Way before my time and I personally don't like to get swept up in all that other stuff. For me yes, recent yes has been the most successful. The weight of trophies I think supports that. Ultimately it depends who you ask, others may say the Koudas led team of the 70's was the most successful era for the club.

Absolutely not, given we have recently dropped points against Asteras and PAS we are in position to be that confident we will win and not have 4.5 starters, start the match. I don't think Lucescu will do it either, we may see one or 2 on the bench but I dare say Ingason, Koulierakis and one of Zivkovic/Oliveira will start (if not both). AEK plays Olympiakos this weekend too, so a win will see us either close the gap on AEK or jump Olympiakos on the table. Let's take care of business against Volos, something we weren't able to do in our recent travels.

We received 5,000 tickets from Volos. Sale started today and in the first hours more than 1,000 were already sold.

Propably the week before. I’m curious to see what everyone else would like the call ups to be. I want to see some new faces like Konstantelias and even Vagiannidis. I think Nikolaou should be given a shot to see what he’s like. Apparently Donis is doing well again. Always thought he could bring something. I feel like this team needs new players. Apart from Mavropanos Tsimikas and Vlachodimos I’d like to see different players getting a chance. Especially in midfield. Try and test new players there. I’m not excited to see players like Bouchalakis, Kourbelis and Bakasetas starting. It’s time to move on from them in my opinion. I know we haven’t got a great amount of players playing in the top 5 leagues, but I’m keen to see new and especially young inform players given a proper shot.

Six cup finals in the last 7 years and 4 cup titles in the same time span.

Superleague 2 resumes play this weekend. Here is the re-scheduled game for PAOK 'B' 2022 - 2023 Season: Round 14 (14.03.2023, 14:45 EET - OAKA, Athens) Panathinaikos Athens 'B' - PAOK 'B' Thessaloniki TV: no coverage

Andrija Zivkovic is in the prelim. squad for Serbia's qualifiers against Lithuania and Montenegro.

6-0 Tzimas. Good for him.

Can’t wait for the Ethniki to kick off the campaign!

Pictured is Ioannis Papagianakis, PAOK coach for junior water polo team and a volunteer firefighter at the Tempe train accident site. The picture speaks for itself. Nothing but respect.

Greece was the home team. Game was played at Nea Smyrni Stadium. Koutsias got some playing time before he travels to Chicago to sign with Chicago Fire.

Nikolaou plays every week in the Serie A. I think he’s over due on a call up.

In July 2022 the transfer was made permanent.

Its perfect that we play against Gibraltar our first game as you can throw him right in and see what he can do and build some confidence with the Ethniki.