Bananas

Delias wasn't "made" by our academy. You can't make players like that. He's in the mould of Hatzipanayis, Karapialis, those style of players. The things he's done, we may not see again for a long time, if ever. If the kid left of his own accord I'm ok with it, but still sad. If he was pushed out, I don't know what to say. As for our academy, it has only really produced 2 top class players that actually made a difference in the first team, Delias and Koulierakis. All the rest left early and didn't have time to make an impact. If we're happy to be an Ajax (020?) and produce players and then sell them off, so be it, but I'd have liked a few more seasons with them all in the first team. And as for the timing, it's terrible. The club should have a policy of no sales before the qualifying matches of Europe are completed. If we lose to Brann, we're done probably 13-15 million in revenue. That won't make the sale look too good. Why take the risk? Interesting times ahead.

@paokarag4 I completely agree with you. I think it's crazy the club sold Delias. When you sell a player you should always be thinking how can I replace him and how much will it cost? If it's for say a player like Camara, there are lots of players of this type. You'll find one. But Delias is as you say a once in a generation. You won't find a player like him. And even if by some miracle we do, we probably can't afford him. Further to that, we currently rely on him heavily in attack. I would say almost exclusively. Maybe the manager will change things up to compensate - I don't know. I don't see where our goals are going to come from now. If we had a solid defence and were happy to win a bunch of games 1:0 I wouldn't be that concerned, but we concede goals easily. I can't understand why our American friends are so excited by the sale. 30 million! Not much these days. Olympiacos just sold Tzolakis for 24 million - a good keeper, but very very replaceable. Have a look at Panathinakos in the last few years. They have bought a few players in the 6 to 10 million range and for what? They are still not much improved. I think for now the club has to in addition to finding a number 10, but a midfielder who can solidify the middle and protect the defence. The ease with which we concede goals is the biggest problem. The ball gets into our box with ease. Anderlecht ... a fair result. If we played them again, we'd lose again. Conference League is our level at the moment.

As yes, you're right. Damn it, not happy he was sold. He was quite good.

Holy crap I didn't even realise our first game of the season was on. Good result ... I guess. Scoring goals, not a problem. Seems like the same defensive fragility we had last season has carried over. Hopefully we can fix it, otherwise I see this season going the same as last season. Depth seems to be an issue. Only quality on the bench was Camara and Taison. Will need more to see out a long season. What's with Gomez - I thought he was sold? Or am I going crazy. I guess both could be true. He had a decent world cup.

Let's see if he can break the record that was set by the last Italian manager we had.

Stats can be misleading when you don't have enough data, but over a season stats don't lie. We haven't had a problem scoring goals. We have a problem conceding. If I can see it, that should be obvious to the team (you'd think). Hopefully we strengthen the backline and DM positions. A lot of of our early season success was on the back of solid games by Meite but you can't rely on one player being fit and in form all the time. Work also needs to be done up front. Zivkovic being out has been a problem. His usual replacement Despotov hasn't worked out (injuries and form). Now there is the question of Giakoumakis. Keep? Look for someone else? Again the same question of relying on one player to be fit and in form all season. Jeremejeff is not a striker to rely on - he's a throw him off the bench if you need a goal kind of player.

Congratulations to OFI. It is refreshing to see a team other than the big 4 win the cup (even though I say it with a sad heart). And good luck to them in Europe. As for us, it's all gone off the rails since our EL campaign ended. Injuries, lack of form. The team just isn't clicking and has dropped multiple gears. It's a shame not only because of the 100 years but also because a couple of months ago when the team was doing well, I really believed we were the best team in the league when at our best. I really thought after our EL campaign ended that the players would have time to refresh and would be firing for the play offs. Alas, not to be. The club has to now sit back and work out what's gone wrong.

Massive rotation, good to see the boys win easily. Hopefully Konstantelias is all right for the cup game this week. If we get a fine for the pyro show I will be surprised. Let's see if common sense prevails.

Obviously Lucescu has his reasons, but not sure why you wouldn't throw Pelkas in for the last 20 or so minutes. He's got that ability to nab a goal with his running and energy. Our defense has been and will continue to be our weak spot. If we can sort it out, it will help immensely as in general our offense deliver and do their job.

Also good for us (PAOK) in the league as it means PAO and AEK will be playing just as many games as us through the year. No rest for them by not having European commitments.

That's how you do it!

Big win to secure european football (plus $$$$). Yes we played badly but isn't it this way every year with these qualifying games. These games are about one thing and that is the result and we got it. If they had a half decent striker we could've lost by 3 goals on aggregate. Then again we could argue we don't have a decent striker also. Shout out to Pavlenka who surprised in a very good way. Agree with pash's comment re Kotarski and Pavlenka.

I do hope Konstantelias stays. Firstly agree with Blackhawk that we could get more for him. Second and more important, he isn't easily replaceable. I think if he left and we get some whatever transfer we'd lack up front. We're already down a proper striker for 3 seasons now and rely on the front 3 behind the strikers to create. Losing him would be too much. I don't want a repeat of Koulierakis where once he left we didn't replace him with an adequate player and it showed last season.

I'm happy there aren't even stronger teams. These are all winnable match ups assuming we show up. Too many players last season regressed so let's see what pre-season brings. Hopefully some freshness. We can't rely on Camara to save us all the time. So if we win this round, I think we're guaranteed Conference League group stage. Am I right? P.S. I have a feeling (call it a hunch) Dutch Eagle is really kassiesa in disguise.

So it's 12 million per season with Nova Sports which isn't bad. I'm guessing the bonus is for making the playoffs. I forget, how much were the other mob offering?