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Congratz to the PAOKtzides from Oz for slaughtering the galopoula! What a nice way to wake up (game ended about 8 AM here and I will watch the highlights rightaway).

Greetings from Maui, Hawaii. Happy New Year to all the forum members and all the PAOK fans. Also Happy 100th Birthday to PAOK in 2026.

Made the mistake of listening to that Hellas Footy podcast and had to turn it off when they decided collectively that we had to play like cowards (and the spastic-chipmunk-sounding-guy trash talking Thessaloniki didn't help, but I guess you can't expect miracles when a bunch of fans of Athens teams get together). Anyway. Bitterly disappointing here. We can hold our own against any f***ing team, which the first 60 or so minutes showed us today. When we revert to scared tactics, we get our assholes torn open. Big frigging shock.

The full 3 points was almost too good to be true. Slightly disappointing of course but we are sitting in a great position by not losing to them. For me this is about securing Pot 1 and raising rank.

GROUP A2 STANDINGS Greece-6 Netherlands-4 Germany-1 Serbia-0

Really? Up until Feburary, we were absolutely playing the best and most attractive football in the league. Then injuries took hold and we have fallen apart since. Strongly disagree with that point as I do with saying the league was "down" in 2024. Olympiacos won a European title that season. We only just pipped AEK to win the title. Saying it was down is simply untrue and inidcates you either drink too much (likely) or are just desperate to justify your point (less likely but still plausible.) Not wanting Lucescu is fair enough, it is okay to not like him for whatever reason, but claiming we played ugly football all season is not true. We were lauded across the league for playing attractive football, we scored brilliant goals, were top of the table and were drawing comparisons to the great team of the 70's. Let me finish by saying, I don't think Lucescu should be guaranteed to coach next season. There clearly needs to be a review and assessment conducted. The jungle drums are rumbling and pressure mounting more than ever from fans and media alike. There comes a point when it is better to just shake hands and move on.

Bakasetas is hanging around for another qualifying campaign, you better believe that. He wasn't initially called up for these games but called up as a replacement once Konstantelias was injured, that doesn't scream to me well planned out goodbye testimonial. I maintain Bakasetas has a role to play(off the bench), and to a lesser extent Kourbelis and even lesser extent Masouras. The team's defensive issues can't possibly be laid to blame at Bakasetas' feet. We created a bucket load of chances, as you mention in an attacking sense we have really turned the corner. Defensively we have massive issues. Individual errors which need to be rectified by the players themselves but also our structure and system doesn't seem to provide adequate protection. Jovanovic needs to sort it out and ASAP. You can't be going 3-0 up with 30 minutes to play and the match turns into a rodeo. We must get better at seeing out matches and playing out time to get the result. Otherwise no matter how beautiful we play or how many goals we score, qualifying for a major tournament will remain a pipe dream.

The minute there’s a little hype around this team and they start pulling in crowds they lay a massive egg in big games. They did it with the game against England here, they did it against Georgia and now Denmark.

GROUP A2 STANDINGS Greece-7 Netherlands-5 Germany-4 Serbia-0

Also previewing the Netherlands match

Might speak more to the caliber of the German team. We should not get ahead of ourselves. Our defense and midfield need a lot of work. However, taking advantage of their weakness in order to guarantee we stay in the better "league" (and lock down a pot 1 spot for Euro 2028 qualifiers) will let us build on this by continuing to play against better competition and then having an 'easier' run at qualification. Steel sharpens steel or whatever.

With this, we have also now beaten every active European country at least once!

Historic Greece win in Germany. Bravo paidia!! Kourbelis goal! Androutsos solid performance.Tzolikis great saves. Karetsas what incredible skill!!

If and big if. We can shock everyone and squeak out a win, our Serbian brothers tie the Dutch… we can realistically be in a position to not just secure top 3 in the group, but maybe even compete in this Nations League tournament! Yea yea all we did was beat Serbia but in the last 15 yrs that game would have ended in a tie or loss for us 99% of the time. I am choosing to be hopeful again. The Dutch and the Germans are both not at their best. Klopp will need some time to get his culture into the program. Who’s to say we can’t finish second in this group and leap frog one of them? PAME

We deserved to win that game. What a high going into Germany now! We got our three points, so there’s no pressure. We still need to clean up our defence as we were lucky not to concede a second.

HELLAS WIN! Great comeback! We have so many attacking options its ridiculous.. Teteh and Douvikas came in and were incredible. Tzimikas what a cross on the goal. Tzolis an incredible footballer what a match! Greece need to work on the defensive side of the ball hard to believe that is our main issue after all these years of solid defending.

Germany away up next, easy 3 points! 😬

we are gonna be watching PAOK basketball this year

Bitterly disappointing, yet again. But our mustachioed friend is spot on. What do we have to show for the Savvidis years, apart from more trophies we've ever earned??? Like, folks - it's still August. This same thing happens each time Lucescu leaves. The team needs a fundamental rebuild and we lose our minds at the first sign of trouble. Did their planning happen poorly? Yes. Will they make it right? Hopefully. Am I happy we bought Santamaria and Elustondo? No, not really. But the team clearly is trying to make Lisci comfortable with those moves. It is no different than what we did with Lucescu or any other new coach. At least Lisci seems very willing to start new guys. Also - GOD BLESS PELKAS, WHO APPARENTLY GETS NO DAMN RESPECT FROM OUR FANS.

Gross overreaction by some. Only 2 years ago AEK were eliminated from Europe by Noah, now they're in UCL group stage. Yes the off season was mismanaged but burning the house down solves nothing. Make some good signings, keep moving forward, we can be back there no problem.

Ok ok let’s all settle down a little (not just you this is the sentiment I have seen from many PAOK fans). We haven’t just won “a couple trophies”, it is objectively the most successful period in PAOK history both in league and cup titles… 2 quarter final conference league births and getting out of the Europa league stage a couple times. AND EVERYONE KEEPS HYPING UP THE FACT THAT AEK MADE THE CHAMPIONS LEAGUE WHEN ALL THEY HAD TO DO WAS BEAT ONE SUBPAR TEAM. the only reason they had that opportunity was bcuz of us and Oly getting us coefficient points. They got Sofia when we would get Benfica, Ajax, Besiktas… actual champions league teams. People keep raving about AEK here, on IG, Reddit etc. what did they do? They win the league when us or Oly are in busy or in turmoil… yea they have had a good turn around, but we are acting as if they done anything really of consequence besides win the league. Come on. Bottom line he bought us out of debt and gave our club its greatest periods ever. I AGREE with everyone on here: him and the other higher ups have ran things very poorly the last 3 yrs, but we can not be this quick to forget that Aek would be playing 3 rounds of champions league qualifying against much better teams if not for us.

Change in plans the man is on his way. ΠΑΟΚ: Ταξιδεύει στις Βρυξέλλες ο Κωνσταντέλιας και τίθεται στη διάθεση του Λίσι https://www.sport24.gr/football/paok-taxidevei-stis-vrixelles-o-konstantelias-kai-tithetai-sti-diathesi-tou-lisi/

Gomez has impressed me so far in the two games he played. He really stepped up his game. The loan last season did him some good.

Another Greek Wonderkid gets a move to a big 5 league, Karetsas is off to Dortmund!

Razvan would consider him too young though.

Just around the corner is our next opportunity to make a major tournament. There is no ifs or buts. We NEED to qualify. Due to our participation in Nations League A we will have an extremely high possibility of qualifying. If we finish top 3 in our group for nations league we will automatically be in pot 1 for the qualifying for the Euros. https://x.com/fmeetsdata/status/2075908457471906165?s=46&t=ASqPGJRrtcVRyVr8hMrtIg

Looks like Lucescu's time with us is coming to an end, has been mooted for almost a month now. I think the writing has been on the wall for awhile. The Cup final loss was hard to stomach and the implosion against Panathinaikos which cost us place in Champions League qualifying no doubt sealed his fate. Although it's ending, he still leaves as PAOK's most successful coach ever and no doubt our most decorated. I have little doubt that he will return one day down the road, to steady the ship! Thanks for everything Razvan, you made us champions and returned us to the summit of Greek football! https://www.sport24.gr/football/paok-xekatharizei-oristika-to-thema-loutseskou-ola-deixnoun-diazigio-me-ton-roumano-texniko/

There is a diabolical scenario, where we win the title if PAOK, AEK and Olympiakos are tied on points at the end of the playoffs as we beat both in tie breakers. Current standings: AEK 67 PAOK 61 Olympiakos 61 R4: Olympiakos - PAOK tie AEK - Panathinaikos tie AEK 68 PAOK 62 Olympiakos 62 R5: PAOK - AEK (PAOK win) Panathinaikos - Olympiakos (Olympiakos win) AEK 68 PAOK 65 Olympiakos 65 R6: Panathinaikos - PAOK (PAOK win) AEK - Olympiakos (Olympiakos win) Final standings: PAOK 68 Olympiakos 68 AEK 68 I know it's almost impossible to happen, but I can dream.

The result was good in Hungary considering the lineup and missing our top players. Greece three matches now without a goal that is concerning.. Jovanovich needs to start our young promising players we cant keep stating this enough. Kourbelis should not be on this team PERIOD! Bakesetas cant be starting!!

After that Denmark loss, he hasn't coached the same. He pulled the kids early and turned to a few veterans that have no place on the team. He led a solid Nations League tourney and s%$#! the bed in qualifiers. There was no reason not to qualify. I think many of us would agree that our best line up was the one against Scotland in the Nations League, and we haven't seen it since. Tetteh/Pavlidis Tzolis Delias Karetsas Mouzakitis Zafeiris Giannoulis Mavropanos Koulierakis Vagiannidis Tzolakis/Vlacho/Mandas (pick one)

At least Mandalos retired and he won't play again for the NT. Time for Bakasetas and Kourbelis to be dropped from the team as well.

KALO PARADEISO STA ADERFIA MAS

Its a disaster! Here in Canada gonna have to listen to all the build up without our beloved Ethniki. A lot of these minnow footballing nations with no history will be here, including Canada and USA lol... I was so looking forward to going to the matches in Toronto if we were playing there or NYC. Just so ANNOYED! This is our longest tournament drought equaling the Euro 1980 to World Cup 1994. I have a feeling it will be longer. I really do not have much confidence in seeing us make Euro 2028 especially after Greece got this draw. We managed to f up the greatest draw possible getting Denmark the weakest pot 1 team and Scotland from pot 2 and we made a total mess of it. Qualification done after match day 4? Even Poyet got us to the playoff in the Euros and we finished a respectable 3rd behind giants France and Holland and competed until the very last match day. This is very similar to the Euro 2016 qualification debacle that was intitally over seen by Ranieri that tool. Now Greece are playing in A league of the NL its going to be tough to say the least to get a back up ticket for the Euro 2028 playoffs. Just PISSED!!

I hate that I’m even saying this, because let’s be honest it’s basically over. We need an absolute miracle now. Scenario 1: Greece would have to run the table and beat Denmark, Scotland, and Belarus. Let’s say somehow, they pull off the upset and beat Denmark. Beating Scotland back in Athens and taking care of Belarus shouldn’t be too difficult. That would give Greece 12 points. If we assume Denmark and Scotland both beat Belarus, they’d each move to 10 points with one game left against each other. If that happens, we wouldn’t need help from anyone else: If Denmark and Scotland draw, they’d both finish on 11 points and Greece would take first place. If one of them wins, Greece would finish second and still grab a playoff spot. So, realistically, Greece still controls its own destiny, but only if they win all three games. Scenario 2: If Greece draws with Denmark, then we’d need Denmark to beat Scotland. That would leave both teams tied for second, meaning it all comes down to goal differential. Scotland currently has a big advantage there, so we’d need to absolutely smash Belarus and beat Scotland by a few goals to make it through. Not liking our chances at all but if they pull off a miracle on Sunday somehow beat Denmark that all changes. Group Standings Denmark- 7 Scotland - 7 Greece - 3 Belarus - 0

Our only chance now is getting 2nd as the chance at first is done. What looked to be a dream start by winning and having Scotland and Denmark draw, now looks to be a bad result for us. Would have been better if Denmark beat Scotland. To have at chance at 2nd and a playoff we need to beat Scotland twice and hope for at least a draw in Denmark. (Tough task) I’m still excited about this young team regardless of the result tonight. It’s by far the most skilled team we’ve had and as these kids grow together they will eventually learn how to handle these big games. We need to find a way to take 2nd I can’t handle missing another tournament..

Let's pump the break on all this negative talk. Konstantelias is uber talented, that is why PAOK is getting offer of $20M plus. We had not faced a team that was patient like Denmark and could counter like that. I am sure Jovanovic will see what we did wrong and fix it. We are a young team, these things take time..

This was a good lesson. We went away from what got us here. We beat England in Wembley and can't beat Denmark at home? Taking Karetsas out was the wrong move. Kourbelis should not start going forward.

First tie breaker is head to head points scored against each other. That’s means if we win this game we are on to the next round!

Impressive first half. We need to keep the same pace in 2nd half and don't give them a chance to come back.

WE NEVER DOUBTED YOU FOR A SECOND IONNIDIS (😂😂). He will now be a 4 year starter lol

What's funny is we didn't particularly play well but we still beat Germany, which says a lot about the calibre of the team now. I think we can play a lot better in the home fixture and really put it to Germany.

If you have five strikers who are all doing well, you gotta figure out how to play them. Some variation of a 4-4-2/3-5-2/whatever should be tried. Playing without a clear #10 isn't the end of the world, assuming you have the midfield to support it (which we do, when you have players like Zafeiris and Mouzakitis). Counting my blessings that Bakasetas was not selected. We would have lost. I think our defense still doesn't look great. This might be the start of an era where Greece has a ton of attacking threat but cops easy goals, as strange as it is to say. That run by Tsimikas, btw, was only possible because Michailidis used his weirdly good deep lying passing ability to open Tsimikas up for his run. I am wondering why Koulierakis did not play, but I guess it's possible the coach wanted him rested for Germany (and thought this would be a game where we'd be attacking more than defending).

Shoretire will be our savior

What a move by Delias to create the 2nd goal.

The relegation playout started with half the points (rounded up) of the regular season. I took 100% of the regular. My bad. Correct table: 5 PΑΟΚ Β 15 6 Kavala 12 7 Nestos 10 8 Kampaniakos 8 9 PAS 8 10 Makedonikos 3

This one stings from a diaspora perspective as well, we are never going to host a wc in Australia and this was probably the last time the Americans/Canadians were going to get an opportunity after the 94 debacle. A lot of us have family over there and many would have made the trip.

Great last 2 posts from @Bardouuu and @HellasLEAF agree with both you guys. Scotland is clearly an aging squad without much pace or threat on the counter, we played them off their feet in March with the younger starting 11 and Jovanovic should've (easy in hindsight) backed as close to that starting 11 again this time around. He got spooked by the kids being completely dominated by the Danes and reverted to experience (Bakasetas, Masouras). Despite those errors, the team created more than enough chances to win the game. Scotland equalising immediately after we finally scored completely flipped the whole atmosphere. The crowd got going and the Scots started to believe. The team's inability to deal with a dead ball ultimately cost us, I don't know how much of that is on Jovanovic. Probably a little, with regard to structure at set pieces but really it is on the players. The first goal in particular, we had 3 opportunities to clear our lines, and lost every duel in that passage. I don't care if you're playing Brazil or Belarus, that just isn't good enough at this level. It would take a miracle from here, we have to win our last 3 to have any chance of a play-off spot. Clearly beating the Danes away will be awfully tough. Ironically, I think the more experienced and physical Bakasetas and Masouras should probably start this next game. Denmark need to win as they have Scotland breathing down their neck, the Danes will chase the win but I don't think they'll do this from the outset. They will be patient and try to press us high and deny us the chance to build up. I think the longer that game stays at 0-0 the more they will open up and we MAY be able to expose them. There is a path to victory in Copenhagen, but it will require a 100% improvement in performance from the first game against Denmark and a bit of a shift in tactics IMO.

That lineup was doomed from the start.

I believe going forward Mouzakitis has to be starting over Kourbelis. The kid is one of the most sought after young mids right now. You cannot be starting Kourbelis over Mouzakitis. He was directly responsible for their first goal with his giveaway. Tzolis is our best player right now on the NT but he gave the ball away like 4 or 5 times unacceptable. Tzolakis had a complete brain fart on the 3rd goal. What was he doing? I also find Tsimikas to be a bit of a defensive liability that's why I prefer Giannoulis. We definitely need a win in Scotland to get us back into 2nd place. I hope all the players are fit for the October games.

Big fail on the changes. You’re chasing a goal You don’t take off your most skilled players. Now, as I say this watch them score.