Bananas

Probably the only player that ... maybe ... can get away with not playing regularly would be Holebas because the guy is just an athlete through and through. Even then though, if you haven't been playing regularly it's a risk. If we're relying on players like Torosidis, Holebas and especially Tachtsi to save the day, we are in more trouble than we thought. The only thing I know about Tachtsi for sure is that you'll get one good game from him in four. Loving that avatar tasos13.

That would be the icing on the cake. :)

Out with Klaus and Tzavellas (who happens to be playing very well this season). They have too much influence and aren't worth the trouble long term.

Olympiakos, PAO and AEK can rejoice. If they were worried that PAOK might finally get their sh-t together when they signed Arnesen, this proves there is nothing to fear. The prezonia fans that love the club oh so much are victorious once again. The world makes sense again ... to them. Marinakis, Meli and Alafouzos can have a lovely get together where they can all laugh at Savvidis. Savvidis wants the short cut to success and on the cheap. Den iparxei manga. And witch hunts might make you feel good, but they haven't helped. Any PAOK player with half a brain that has the opportunity will leave the club. Any manager with half a brain will see our history with "patience" and firing of managers and not come. Let's see what the next "project" will be ...

Well, if I was Savvidis I would invite all the players and "fans" to a great big venue, and ask the fans what do you want ? Results or a young core to build on. You can't have both in the beginning. If the answer is results, I'd fire Kitsiou, Konstantinidis, Pelkas, Mystakidis, Charisis, Cimirot etc. on the spot. Sorry guys, don't have time ... need results now. Then I'd go and get washed up over the hill players in their 30's. Seems to be what the "fans" love.

Just got mine today. Serial Number 0552. Any idea how many there will be in total ?

Kind of like this ? Cue to 2:07.

Looks like, the mob and the prezonia win again.

Aw come on, are we serious now. How is it divided ? Who is dividing it ? Sounds like excuses for not being good enough. As for the reporters, they are just doing what they do.

Boston, would you be interested in becoming PAOK manager ... if you were offered the gig ? Maybe have pash as an assistant ?

Fernandes Rodrigues same same. ;)

Spyropoulos lol. Now you made me laugh. Has to be the worst signing in the last 5 years. What I do like about Arnesen's approach is that there is the chance of discovery of new talent. In the past when we relied on experienced players, it meant for a tougher team because our signings were "men" not "boys". That's why those teams did better in Europe where it's tougher. But the team had a ceiling as to how much it could improve. Probably the only players we took a punt on were Stafylidis and Vieirinha and at the end of the day the club made ~5 million on both in transfers, and they were sold under duress. Furthermore, we've had plenty of dud signings of experienced players like Maduro, Maartens, Costa. The intent of the club was good, to sign quality players, but it doesn't always work out. I personally think Fernandes has been a revelation this season. He's had some off games, but it's generally been when the whole team has been off. When the team has been clicking, he's been very menacing to the opposition. The same could be said for Mak last season and this season. What I do know is that the spine of the team is weak. We've had problems in the CB area for over a season now. Hopefully signing Chatzisias will help, but we still need better. In the DM position we are not bad. In the CM, AM and striker position I think we are weak. We don't have a quality CM in the mold of Natcho (f--k he was good), a true number 8. Charisis is the only one I can see playing that position but we can't expect him to do it week in week out just yet. Up front, in theory we have Berbatov as the number 10 and Klaus as the number 9 but pffft, for me, they're both not good enough. They haven't clicked playing with each other, both have a low work rate too. It just hasn't worked. But like I've said before, these are difficult position to sign players for. There are no guarantees. One other thing, we have had a ridiculous and I mean RIDICULOUS amount of injuries this season. This doesn't help. If you look at even the top sides, an injury to a critical player and things go awry and out of balance. Tudor still hasn't worked out our best 11 but f--k me even if he did, he'd be lucky to play them 3 games in a row. As for our signings this season, I saw it more as a clear out of the old players. How many old players do we have left in the squad ? Hardly any. We brought in a lot of young players. Some are showing promise. Others not so much. Other players have surprised me. I expected Tzavellas to be gone this season. He was woeful last season, but he's improved greatly this season. Either way, we need to strengthen the squad with some quality because its obvious the current crop can't take the pressure week in week out.

I think we've gotten some decent players in the last 3 transfer periods. Mak and Pereyra being the better ones. Charisis, Cimirot and Fernandes could turn out to be good. And then you have the guys from the K20 like Konstantinidis, Kitsiou, Pelkas and Mystakidis. But yeah I agree, we have not made any superb signings. No we haven't and I don't expect us to either. Such players won't come and play for PAOK. We can try and revert to the old ways and sign guys like Garcia, Contreras and Muslimovic, but do we really want to go down that road again ? As for the PAOK fans, they should be careful what they wish for. No Savvidis equals back to the bad old days of Batatoudis, Voulinos etc. I can just picture them salivating waiting to get their grubby hands on the team again.

We'll never know. If PAOK wanted a proven manager, they shouldn't have picked him seeing as he was an up and coming manager.

Agree that Boloni was the best we've had since Santos. However, the main reason he left was because the club had serious financial problems. Players were being sold or leaving the club unpaid and I don't even know if Boloni was paid what he was entitled.

The club has not invested wisely, and its strategy has been short sighted. In summary, the club has tried to "buy" success "on the cheap". In the first season, we brought in over the hill greek internationals and thought one Stoch on loan would be enough. Same again in the second season. Third season was better in my opinion, as we went for a fresh approach and brought in players like Mak and Pereyra and actually had the beginnings of a good squad. Not enough depth though. This season we spend BIG ... queue irony. Two transfers over 1 million euros. Now that's a first for PAOK (and chicken feed for Olympiakos). Leovac and Cimirot are the only players in the history of PAOK that cost more than 1 million euros. So we spent ~6 million on transfers this season but you also need to subtract the money we got for Noboa and Lucas. In total, we spent around ~3 million euros. 3 million! Wow, hey big spender, spend a little time with me .... If spending 3 million on transfers and getting a young manager is all it takes to win a title, then every team would be doing it. If the club had spent 20 or 30 million then I'd say fair enough, now you're trying to compete with Olympiakos, but let's be serious now, we're not on the same level and have no place even thinking about anything other than coming second at best, for the foreseeable future. The other option if you don't want to spend big (which I fully understand is a big risk), is to invest in youth or players from lower leagues and hope that you can do it that way. That's been the approach this season, and for the most part I've been happy with it. Lots of young players, and let's be fair, not all will work out. It's just the way it is. But, if you can manage to keep this core of players like Kitsiou, Chatzisais (I can never spell this kids name), Charisis, Cimirot, Pelkas, Mystakidis can you imagine what they'll be like in 3 years from now when they've been playing together for 2 or 3 seasons ? All of sudden, maybe then you have a core that you can build on. But no, we want results now! And we want it cheap! And if we don't get it (someone mentioned we have some of the best fans in the country .. really ?) we'll trash your cars and threaten you. We want youth but we want results! Sorry, can't be done. It's either the old formula of over the hill players past their best trying but not so hard so they can prolong their career. They'll give it all in the derbies (and make the fans oh so happy) and then their level drops. Or it's go with youth, development and player "discovery" from lower leagues. As for managers, at PAOK we are experts at crucifying them. It makes feel ... oh so good ... and I mean, if you look at the past, it's been such a successful strategy.

for( ;; ) { if( paok loses or draws to "small" team ) { expect post from Reaper; } } . . . kill -9

I happen to agree with Nea Bafra. If you don't think the kid is good enough, why buy him ? Or if you think he needs development, loan him out. Having said that, we all have our opinions (and you could very well end up being right about Antonis) but there is no need to make derisive comments about others' opinions.

Jairo can be downright menacing if the full-back marking him lacks pace. He doesn't seem too bright when in the middle of the pitch, but if he's hugging the touch line, he can be useful. If you're going to play on the flank, you have to be able to dribble, get in behind the defense and cut the ball back, and he can definitely do that. Having said that, some his passes are outrageously bad. ;)

If I had to say which current PAOK player does Antonis resemble, I'd probably say Golasa. He's never going to dominate a midfield, but is a useful link up player. The worth of these sorts of players is difficult to measure because statistics alone like goals or assists won't paint them in a favourable light. They don't have that "explosive" show like Mak or Rodrigues either. The only way to measure them is to watch how they play. Someone like Roy Keane back in the day, looking at statistics alone, you'd think he's the least required player in the midfield, and yet, he was the most important.

I still think Anastasiadis was thrown to the wolves. Yes, he's a bit of fruit loop but the fact is, he got us into 1st position for the first time ... this century. The problem of course is his personality but I still rate him as a manager. Either way, it doesn't matter anymore. What's done is done.

Our injuries have been ridiculous. The tricky part is working out if there is something the club can do about it. Is the training too hard ? Are the facilities or doctors not good enough ? Add to that the fact that you don't really know with new players what they are capable of. What I mean is, we buy a player, but more than likely they have come from a team that doesn't play in Europe regularly and then when they have 2 games a week, their body can't cope.

Tricky subject. There is no answer that everyone will agree with. That's what you get when you have 7 billion people living in one place. And the simple fact is that certain people (for whatever reason) are self destructive. I'll have a spliff and get back to you on it.

Chatzisias is looking so far like the CB we've been lacking. One more of him and I'd feel a lot better about our defence. I think it's time to let Vitor go. Up front we have problems. Berbatov and Klaus are not high work rate players and then when you add Tziolis into the mix you've got 3 players that don't run hard. Makes it difficult for everyone else. They are all good players in their own way but I wouldn't have all 3 playing at the same time. I also think that Klaus is not good enough to be a starting CF.

He's not quite there Amorgos. When he's on, he's on. But he often fades in and out of games. There are times when it's like he's not on the pitch. Overall, he's still had a great season and is definitely worthy of being in the squad, but he's still got some work to do. Will he succeed ? Time will tell.