Bananas

To be fair, I didn't rate Konstantinidis at all last season. I didn't think the kid was anywhere good enough. Well, so far this season he's given me the big f--k you. He's doing really well. All of the above players with the exception of Koulouris are solid first team players. It's great to see.

After what Mak did to Brondby, do we need Toivonen or Stoch ? Honestly, if I had to have one of Mak or Stoch in the squad, it's Mak everytime for me.

This is where someone like Mak can be very useful. You put him up front next to the last man, and it "should" force the opposition to play deeper. The only way to counter this is to have a very fast defender or play a deeper line. And just like that *poof*, space in the middle.

I think it was a little of both. Mak was inspired today which helped. The critical difference is Tudor, as well as the fact that we look to have some depth in the squad. The players know that if their level drops, their is someone ready to slot right in, and Tudor won't hesitate to drop a player. I'm just guessing of course but that's how I see it. We will get a better idea as the season rolls on as to Tudor's competency. We also started brightly last season and for a time there Anastasiadis looked like a tactical genius. Having said that, I'm feeling optimistic about the new PAOK project.

Impressive result. All of the goals were very good. The build up play on the first and the steal by Mak on the second, excellent. I actually think Mak can play in the CF position if the opposition are playing a high line. The 4th and 5th goals I don't think any other player on the squad would have scored them. At least I can't think of anyone that would have. His ability to run with the ball with pace is very very good. With both those goals he essentially took the ball from close to the half way line. I think his market value just doubled overnight. ;) Pelkas has been a revelation. The good thing is Tudor won't let him slack him off. Just keep getting better Pelkas! For f***s sake, extend Kace's contract already! The GSL will be a different story as most teams won't play with such a high line, so I don't see Mak in the CF role on a regular basis, but I think he's shown enough to give us confidence he can play the position if required. Will be interesting to see how the other new signings will fit into the squad. With the exception of Leovac, I don't think any of them are guaranteed starters just yet.

Boston Thanatos, you found the old avatar. The world makes sense again ...

So true. Somehow, someway Greek governments find a way to screw their own people. Burn the lot of them I say.

I liked the good old days when you could only have 3 foreigners in your squad. Maybe 3 is a bit low, but it's all moot anyway. It's not like those days are coming back. What was good about those days was that you could measure the level so to speak, of each country. The Serie A was an exception since they generally bought the most expensive players. Now you play a team in the EPL and 10 out of 11 players aren't even English. Yay, we beat an English team! Um, no you didn't.

That's why I'm encouraged by Arnesen's emphasis on player attitude. Hopefully the team starts developing a mentality that isn't so defeatist.

I think the truth is, our defense has been shaky for a while. I had faith in Vitor but I don't think he's at the level required. Costa, we'll see. Malezas will help but if we come up against a team with a dangerous attack, we struggle. That's why I believe Tudor is experimenting with 3 at the back.

So true. I never expected it from him. It's not like he wasn't an integral part of the team. This kind of came out of nowhere. Having him and Lucas would have been great this season. Is the situation with Pereyra beyond reconciliation ?

The Veroia goal was bad, but that's the only really bad error I've seen him make. The penalty against him was farcical. Granted, he gave the referee rope with which to hang him. I won't make a judgement on him just yet. Having said that, I am a little concerned. I expected a little better. All of the signings so far, with the exception of Malezas are all young. I can only reason that Arnesen thought Olsen > Itandje based purely on age. And Arnesen also wants players with a good attitude so that also could have led to Itandje being shown the exit door.

I wouldn't be surprised to see Mak playing up front. His pace and dribbling will force Brondby to play a deep line. If only his finishing was a little more clinical.

Boston Thanatos, welcome back rimali. Yes, you've been missed and it's AWESOME you're back. What's with the new avatar ? I do miss the old one. ;) As for the old gs website, $50,000! That is an impressive number. I wonder if the owner would take alternate currencies or some sort of barter in lieu of dollars. 50,000 patates maybe ?

Either way, we need to get the ball rolling. If he was to agree terms with another team, does that mean he can sign a contract with them on 01-Jan-2016 (a full 18 months before his contract expires) ? And if so, when can he leave PAOK and join them ?

After what happened with Pelkas between last season and this season, I'd prefer when possible for our loan players to play outside Greece. His improvement has been surprising. I find it hard to believe that he would be the same player today if he'd played in B Ethniki.

I haven't seen a Foster's Beer in person in years. Really, like 20 years. It's actually bizarre that we have an international beer that no one ever buys in the country it's made in.

No. It's against the law to speak Greek in Australia. If you do, they sentence you to prison and force you to say "put another shrimp on the barbie" until you're brain is destroyed. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PXLQwrgAKbA

Good to hear about Klaus. He's still really our only "senior" striker. Salpi is past, at least as far as playing 90 minutes week in week out. And the others are youngsters.

Will be interesting to see how Antonis performs in the GSL. Hopefully he gets a decent chance to show his worth. He's definitely not in the mold of traditional Aussie players ie. physical but lacking in the technical department. If anything he's the opposite. transfermarket has him as a DM. That's not right, is it ?

Any idea when the season tickets period ends ?

Blackhawk, are you sure about Kace ? His contract expires in mid 2017.

I actually don't mind the Cup format ** ducks head **

Fair enough. I forgot from the above list :- - Rodrigues, 24 Also, you could count the following as new transfers :- - Pelkas, 21 - Mystakidis, 20 - Charisis, 20 - Korovesis, 23 Having said that, our squad size is getting kind of silly. There will need to be a cull at some point soon.

The Stoch you're referring to is not the Stoch I want. He played when he felt like it, and felt PAOK was beneath him. Which it probably was, so go elsewhere! Not sure who the other Stoch you're referring to is. Maybe Natcho ? A superb player, much more professional than Stoch, but let's face it, he was never staying beyond his 6 month loan. As I've said earlier, when PAOK has revenue of ~15M and Olympiakos has revenue of ~80M, you can't compete by buying Stoch like players. Olympiakos will always come out on top in that battle. Players like Roberto, Mirallas, Campbell will never come to PAOK so we'll always be one step behind. However, if we buy young talent, then maybe, just maybe, we might make a team. This season, for the first since I can ever remember, PAOK has done two things. They have gotten young players, and secondly, they've actually payed for them. In the past most of our transfer were free transfers. Our transfers so far :- - Cimirot, 22 - Leovac, 27 - Sabo, 23 - Olsen, 25 - Jairo, 23 - Antonis, 21 - Malezas, 30 (which is all right for a CB) I believe if we stick to this model we will do better in the long term. Definitely the short cut methods of the last 3 years haven't worked out, and have left us with a disheveled squad that needs rebuilding from the ground up.