Bananas

Until Arsenal get someone in the midfield that is imposing, like a Yaya or a Matic, they will stay as they are. They need to create so many chances just to be able to score. They are a bunch of pussies. No steel. What's surprising is that Wenger hasn't realised this. His old "invincibles" team was made of stars, but it was Vieira that provided the steel in the middle. Add in a Campbell at CB as well and good luck trying to score. People remember Beckham, Scholes, Giggs, Henry, Ljungberg, Bergkamp, Pires. I remember Vieira vs Roy Keane. Now that a battle.

Relax everyone. Olympiakos played well, very well, and got rewarded for it. On another day, they could have lost 3-0 given the same performances from both teams. The ball is round ... as they say. Kudos to Olympiakos, if you play "correctly", you always have a chance. Keep bringing those co-efficient points.

Scalpers ? Time to flash those Aussie Dollars.

I wouldn't be surprised to see 3 DM's of Sabo, Tziolis and Kace, to try and pack the middle. It's difficult to say. It all depends on what Tudor wants from the game. Does he want PAOK to just go for it and play their normal game ? In that case, the formation will be similar to we've had in previous matches. Alternatively, he may try and play a defensive game, hope for 0-0 at half-time and open up in the second half. It's hard to say. The line up will reveal his intent ...

This will be an interesting game. So far this season, PAOK has played 12 matches (7 in the EL, 5 in the GSL) and with no disrespect to AEK or their supporters, you could say that PAOK has been the favourite for every one of those 12 matches. This will be our first serious test against an opposition who will be considered the favourite. Olympiakos will have an additional 2 days rest as they play their CL game on the Tuesday. Regardless of the result, I am interested to see how we play, and what tactics we go with. Traditionally, we have played a defensive game and hoped for something on the break. Tudor has had the team playing with an emphasis on possession. Will we try and "out play" Olympiakos ? I am curious ...

Berbatov, but I'm not sure if he has the legs to do it for 90 minutes.

I've been called a communist. I've been called a jew lover. And it just slid off like nothing. But now my friend, now I am truly offended.

Plenty in the other forums, all a lot more inventive and original that what I could ever come up with. ;)

Olympiakos will have 2 days extra rest compared to us, which sucks but what can you do.

I am hoping he gets "seduced" by PAOK and we can retain him for next year.

Yes, but ... at least he gets into dangerous positions. I think right now he's invaluable. His pace means the opposition can't play a high line, which creates space in the middle. Unless of course the opposition is just a few classes above us, or they have a very speedy defender. If he keeps this form up, I can see teams outside the GSL showing interest. On a side note, Lucas popped in 2 goals last night. F--k me I wish he stayed with us. Lucas, with Klaus and Berbatov. Now that is beginning to get quite scary. Throw in a Natcho, a class CB and a class GK and even I would be thinking we can get the title.

Great stories everyone!! Unfortunately, I haven't been to Toumba. The one time I've been to Greece back in '94, I had lost interest in football and sports in general, unless you count chasing girls as a sport. In addition, PAOK was serving a 5 year ban in Europe, and at the time, that would have been the only game I would have been interested in. I didn't start following PAOK seriously again until Bajevic become our manager. Those years in the 90's and early 00's were rough in terms of presidents. I don't know when I'll be going to Greece again, life always seems to get in the way, but when I do, I'll be organising my trip around PAOK games. How our priorities change ... Pontos, you're one lucky dude. Got to see the unveiling of Berbatov, AEK, Dortmund, Olympiakos. Man, it doesn't get much better.

It's encouraging that we fought back for the win, in some ways even more so that last weeks game. In Toumba, the team is expected to "fight to the death" and they generally deliver. Our achilles heal has always been our away form, and it always costs us too many points. Good to see Mak finish. Maybe the trick to improving his finishing, is to have half a dozen players between him and the goal.

Maybe it's an Albanian "home boy" dance move ?

Are you saying Bajevic is too old now ? For my money, he's the best manager in Greece in the last 3 decades.

Very lucky. Maybe the invitation from Savvidis to Marinakis helped ? ;) Gotta say though, what is wrong with some of our supporters. Isn't lighting 500 flares enough of a fix ?

And ..... 3 ..... 2 ..... 1 ..... KABOOM.

Agree Blackhawk. It's not entirely Olsen's fault. But, the team just needs to be aware that opposition teams will try the same thing, and prepare/train for it. I know if I was the opposition manager, I'd try to expose the apparent weakness.

I'm not sold on Olsen, but for now I think he will suffice. If we were a serious title contender and him costing us points along the way would make the difference, I would be seriously worried. But we're not there yet. At least he has time to improve unlike say Itandje. Besides, at the end of the day, the quality of keeper we are asking for probably won't come to a team like PAOK. We can't get one "ready made". We need to make one, so to speak.

He's conceded like that before. He seems to have trouble judging if/when to come out. I'm pretty sure opposition teams are targeting that weakness.

We are "much concrete team" ~19:12 in the video. Tudor is scary when he talks! I wouldn't want to anger him, ha ha.

Kace is probably the first name you pen into your 11. It could be he's not 100% fit. Or Tudor is playing games to try and get an "edge", when he fully intends to play him. The only possibility that actually worries me is a contract renewal issue, but I'd suspect we would have heard something about that.

With the exception of a class CB, I don't really want any more signings. We need to sort our what signings we have now.

Since PAOK hasn't signed a deal with Nova, how can they "distribute" matches ? Can they just do it themselves, say on their website ?

Could this 4-3-3 "leak" to the press just be a ruse ? I see no sense in playing Bueno out wide. With his dribbling and skill, you want him in the middle so that if he creates space, he can have a shot on goal or play a nice through ball to someone who can pop it in. Out wide, he'll still be effective but I don't think as much. As a PAOK fan, I hope he gets played wide ... after seeing his nice finish the other week. ;)