Bananas

js1000, unfortunately the pain and suffering is seen as justified for "voting wrong". How can you reason with such a mind ? You can't.

Not qualifying for the group stage would be a huge disappointment. I'm expecting our boys to make it, and to give us a few heart attacks along the way. :)

Welcome back Pontos. Good to see you back and nice to see that avatar again. :)

I agree, the ND posse were so much more malleable.

I think the kid is good when he's on. But he's inconsistent and drifts in and out of a game. This season is make or break for him as far as I'm concerned.

What are you guys expecting ? For PAOK to sign Mourinho ? The only club in Greece that has signed any decent overseas manager is Olympiakos and that is because they have 5x the budget of every club and are guaranted CL each year. All the other clubs fight over the scraps. Look over there, a pixie!

Now, this is when you need a translator. Where is Skinny Joe these days ? ;)

Link please.

I have my own republic ? I didn't even know.

The wording and interpretation is yours not mine. I was referring to Greek resistance/stubbornness. I probably shouldn't have used the word resistance. It's been misinterpreted, but the point remains the same. And that is, that getting the citizens of Greece to run their country in a manner similar to Germany or some other modernized nation is not only difficult to do, it's almost impossible at the moment. Maybe it's just not realistic in the time frame desired by the EU. This thread has one common theme, and that is that Greece needs reforms. And there are ideas and suggestions of what some of those reforms should be. But as to actual implementation details ... well, that's the hard part. It's easy enough to pass a bill through parliament saying "tax collection this and that", but getting the tax collectors to work properly, and then the judiciary and police to enforce those laws, and to make the reform work properly and holistically, that's the hard part. When it comes to the specifics of how to fix things, conversations mostly go quiet. Oh no, now I've done it. Here come the posts now about how it's impossible to have reform while any left leaning government is in power ...

It's unfortunate Arnesen wasn't brough in over the Xmas break, so that he would have had some time to really look at the squad as well as have time to hire a manager for next season. And to make matter worse, our play offs debacle means he now has even less time! I don't expect too much for this season due to the lack of time he has. Having said that, I do expect an improvement on the season just finished. The next few weeks will be enlightening. P.S. I hope the rumors about Di Matteo are just that. He had an awful season with Schalke.

That site has been around for years, and it's always been an excellent site. If you google "uefa coefficient" it'll be the 3rd or 4th hit usually.

Goalkeepers: only Glykos and he is on probation for a year. Perform or you're out. Defenders: Skondras, Vitor, Rats. Midfield: Kace, Noboa, Golasa. Attackers: Klaus, Mak, Pereyra. That's 10 players. So only need to sign another 15 or so. And those 10 are far from strong. They are squad players at best. The only player out of that lot I'd pencil in as a starter each week is Kace.

It's really difficult to say who the 12 will be. We'll soon find out if there is any truth to it. One thing I am happy about is that Arnesen has a sense of urgency about the situation. This was the case even before our woeful playoff (1 goal, 1 goal!!) performance. All I can say is the players cut will indicate the direction he wants to take the club in. Will he eliminate youth to make room for more experienced squad players with the intent of having more depth ? Will he get rid of players that are past it e.g Salpi ? Players that on paper should be leaders but aren't doing the job e.g Maduro, Tziolis ? All of the above ? I have no idea. The only player I don't see us cutting out of your list is Costa. He's on a decent wage so he won't be easy to do a deal with, and he hasn't really failed like many other players in the team over a number if seasons. Having said that, if Costa is happy to leave it wouldn't bother me in the slightest. I don't really want players of his age in the squad unless they are absolutely killing it, which he isn't.

Not sure what "epos tou 40" is. I don't think it's as simple as what you're saying. If the EU just wanted it's money back it would have never lent the money in the first place with the terms as agreed. They would have either lent the money on a short term basis, maybe 10 years or so with some sort of collateral. I know, the idea sounds farcical since the amount almost exceeds the nations GDP. What do you provide as collateral ? Even if Greece did everything that is asked of them, the final payments aren't due to 2054. 2054, that's a long way away and it tells me that EU may want it's money back, but they sure are patient and are prepared to wait a long time to get it all back. The EU is this romantic idea that's kind of evolved where the end goal was always to have a kind of United States but a European version. That is the idea anyway. And in this model of course the EU dictate how things are run. How could it be otherwise ? If it can't dictate how Europe is run, what is it's purpose ? Do you really think the people voted out ND because of computer chips? Surely there is more to it. The main platform or promise of Syriza was to (however unrealistic) end the austerity. The austerity is real and it's not an acceptable trade-off to the man in the street. There is real suffering and despair, and worst of all, a general lack of hope for the future. The people merely voted in the party that gave them the most hope. I'm sure the average Greek citizen would happily pay taxes if they genuinely knew most of it would be used properly. But it's hard to erase 50+ years of thinking. Hence, the intransigence.

I'd still keep Lucas. The situation with Deportivo where they want to buy him but can't come up with the funds should be reversed. We should bring Lucas back and raid their team for their best one or two players. That way Lucas can be all happy that he's got some of his chums at PAOK. http://www.deportivo-la-coruna.com/n-news.php?cid=6769&ctg=1&pg=1 http://www.deportivo-la-coruna.com/n-news.php?cid=6771&ctg=1&pg=1

And so Greece missed an IMF payment a few days ago. The doomsday scenario happened and no one really noticed. The media were oddly quiet as well. Normally they are screeching like parrots about anything to do with the Greek economy. The EU kicked the can down the road to Greece and Greece just squashed the can. Oops, sorry. So, the EU and the IMF just made another can. Now Greece has to the end of the month ... I really wish this situation would be resolved. Either allow Greece to stop using the Euro, or start printing money to get growth happening (with all the problems and moral dangers that entails) but this situation as it stands is farcical.

Whoever did that to you and your sister is a c*** plain and simple. I know that Greek mentality. He probably bragged about it afterwards and gave himself a pat on the back but not all Greeks in Greece are like that.

Both right and wrong ... sort of. There isn't a conspiracy as such. It's not like the EU was designed to bring down Greece or any other nation. But, the EU right now is in a tug of war (which overall they are winning) to try and control Greece. I don't mean control in the diabolical sense of the word, but they are trying to "fix" Greece and make it work like how a country "should" work. And they are astounded at the Greek resistance/stubbornness to this. But here's the thing. They can't fix it. For proof just look at the lack of reforms since 2008. If ever there was a time that Greece could have brought in reforms, that was the time. But why hasn't it happened ?? And this is where the EU fails. They think it can just happen ... like magic. You can't change the mentality of a nation in a space of a few years. And you certainly can't use the opportunity of a nation being on it's knees to try and force your will. People resist ... it's in their make up. It just is. The only way Greece can change is on it's own, not with a gun pointed at it's head. People just don't take kindly to threats. And the change will be incremental and gradual over many years or decades, or it won't but it will be their choice to make, not somebody else's. I really do believe Greece is better off without the Euro and the EU technocrats trying to govern it. They can't govern Greeks. Greeks can't govern Greeks and some no name whoever is going to do the job ? Spare me.

He was brought back to discourage Marinakis from sitting on the bench at a PAOK match. Just in case he thinks he can pull these stunts, Garcia will be there to set him straight ...

The scary thing is, if we come last on the table, our farcical season will roll over into the next because there will be a few weeks break only.

Gyros, you need to chill out with the hate. It's bad for the soul.

Asteras might get more fans at this game compared to the number of fans PAOK has been getting at home games lately ...

Unfortunately for a club such as ours, signing players that will make a difference isn't easy. You can try and sign a star, but realistically they are a fading star who may or may not perform. Just look at Maduro and Maartens for example. Same again with Stoch, he played when he felt in the mood. Even if you look at Vieirinha, he was always plump while he was at PAOK. Once he went to Germany, he lost weight and firmed up. Sad to say it but that would never have happened at PAOK. The players know what they can get away with (just like children with their parents!) and generally do so accordingly. This makes it very trick to get "star" players and to keep them motivated. Basically, it can't work for us. As you said Blackhawk, we need solid hard working players. Even so, I think we can buy better than what we have. Take Mak for example (yes I know he's under performed recently), but he came a German club where he wasn't getting game time. There are lots of players like these and for a player like this, going to PAOK is sort of an upgrade. We should also be looking at "lower" leagues in Eastern Europe. Are you trying to tell me that the best CB in all of say Poland or Hungary aren't considerably better than Tzavellas ? And again, for such players going to PAOK is kind of an upgrade. But for someone like Stoch or Natcho, it just isn't and they'll play on their terms.

We got knocked out of Europe and the Cup earlier than usual, so the players had to play one game a week. Not a big ask really. The only excuse is if a player is carrying an injury which can affect them from getting back to 100% fitness. Other than that, I don't buy fatigue as an excuse. I think the fatigue is more in their brain ... it's a mental thing.