Leaderboard

Listen Bananas, I don't know who you think you are but don't come in here spouting your logic and calm minded thinking this is a football forum and that stuff wont be tolerated.

Worth the gamble at least as a 3rd CB.

to xeirotero paixnidi mas thn fetinh sezon ante na doume pote 8a ksupnhsete twra

I always thought you were Olympiakara11 or 12, not 10. You don't seem like a 10.

I've been saying it for a while, Dortmund should have signed K Papadopoulos instead. They would have gotten a, when healthy, better CB for less money, that would play and develop alongside his countryman Sokratis. I think KPap would flourish and the duo would be dominant.

Natcho is the epitome of a number 8. Throw in a Fortounis as number 10 (to illustrate the point) and a striker who is just a little faster, stronger, clinical than Klaus and you have a real team. Regarding our inability to force the tempo of the game, I can only assume Ivic doesn't know how or we just don't have the personnel to do it. It's not an easy thing to do. Time and again I see opposition slow the tempo, kill the flow and we don't know how to stop it. How is it when we play Fiorentina or Olympiakos we can play quite well and yet have 1 scoring chance against Trikala and a few against PAO. It's because in those games we are reacting to a strong/better opposition. It's ... easier in a sense. Forcing the tempo yourself is a whole different game. Even when we do it, the players don't know why ... it just happens. Regarding PAO, Ouzonidis played with common sense. He made sure (as I would too) that Rodrigues had no space to work with. He also made sure Campos copped a good bashing. Both wings nullified or reduced and we have nothing else. Nothing through the middle. This is where a number 8 and number 10 can make the difference. To be fair, I don't see an easy solution. As you say, these sorts of real quality players are not easy to come by. We would have to make offers that we traditionally don't make. I believe our record transfer ever is 1.4 million for Varela. We'd need to spend double to triple that to get the sort of players we're talking about.

Glykos is injured and is completely unrelated to the Tzavellas situation, expect for in the conspiracy theory alternate universe. Regarding Tzavellas, he can go f--k himself and even if Ivic is 500% in the wrong, I still hope Tzavellas leaves the club. His performances on the field overall, don't justify the trouble he's made of the seasons, coupled with his mangia klania attitude. Oust apo do palio rimali. Regarding Ivic, if we lose or draw against Sloban Liberec or Platanias I think he'll be fired. Also, if we're not within say 3 points of the play-offs by the break, he'll be fired. Then everyone who doesn't rate Ivic can rejoice, the PAOK media machine can print hundreds of stories about how we're about to sign the best manager in the world because his dream has always been to coach in the GSL and especially PAOK. Doesn't every manager aspire to this ?

I don't think that's the issue. I think it's really as simple as we just struggle against teams that play defensively. Ivic himself has a conservative mindset in the mold of Santos i.e. defence first. Which is fine except that in the GSL most of our opponents play the same way. I've noticed that Ivic favours straight 3 in the middle (Canas, Cimirot, Shakhov) for the "tough" games and he did that today. I get it, play safe. Don't allow the opposition space. It's still a derby. Grab a goal and you're away. If we scored first it could have been a different game. Plan B ? Throw on an unfit Biseswar. If the wings aren't firing or there is a lack space because the opposition sit deep it's difficult. Our defence is actually quite solid this season. The best in a long time. The bad games defensively this season were against Qarabag away and Atromitos which was just a freak event. Some people have the philosophy that you shouldn't concede silly goals, but every team does. It's just the way it is. I watched Juventus last week who are a great team concede 3 goals in 20 minutes to Genoa. These things happen. There's nothing wrong as such with conceding but when you can't score then it's a problem! Moving forward we just don't currently have the quality required in the number 8 and number 10 position. Striker is a problem too but I'd try to fix the middle first. Get me a "Canas" quality number 8 and number 10 and this teams lifts 300%. Easier said than done though. But I'm rambling. Does Ivic have the players support ? Who knows. Will Ivic last ? I doubt it. Savvidis will be going for 5 for 5 (5 managers in 5 seasons) I'm sure.