Bananas

We'll still lose to you guys in Athens. You can bank on that one, ha ha.

I think that this season is the first time during the "reign" of Savvidis that we are entitled to ... maybe (and I mean maybe) even think about the possibility of challenging for the title. All the previous seasons any talk of winning the title was just that, talk. There are too many variables at this stage. Will the home games with no fans have an affect ? You'd think there'd have to be something. So I'll take -3 points off just there. Will Olympiakos be as poor as they were in the second half of last season ? I don't think it's a coincidence that once Milivojevic left their performances dropped. Milivojevic was a gun. Will the players adapt to Stanojevic's tactics ? Or will he become a Tudor version 2 ? Will our new goalkeeper be any good ? Will Prijovic stay fit ? If he plays a full season it'll make all the difference. We don't really have a backup striker (no offence Klaus). Depth wise we're looking ... all right. Plenty of options up front as long as Prijovic stays fit. The other 3 attacking roles will be split up between Mak, Djalma, Henrique, Jairo, Pelkas, Mystakidis, Klaus, Biseswar. In the middle we have Canas, Shakhov, Cimirot and Kace. Good enough I suppose. In the back line, I still think we're lacking depth. An injury to Matos or Crespo and all of a sudden the defence looks a lot weaker. Not sold on Leveque, time will tell. In the right back position we loaned out Kitsiou, no idea why. Apparently Konstantinidis is going to be the backup to Matos but now the manager isn't so sure. I think we need to sort out that right back position to keep Matos as fresh as possible this season. The CB position is a bit flaky also. There is talk of Malezas leaving, then he's staying, who the hell knows. His performances last season were good overall but at times he got exposed. I'd like another CB Crespo quality to feel good about the back line.

Ha ha, some "hard core" Republicans are voting against it because it's not harsh enough. How are human beings (can you even call them that ?) like this even made ?

Final score Gent 2 - PAOK 0.

And that's the second goal for Gent in the 86th.

Oh Crespo, get it on target. -- edit -- He's been given the captain's armband and now he's shooting like Klaus.

I'd have given them water from Flint to drink. Fix 'em right up. Nothing like a bit of lead to get you going. -- edit -- I should try and stick to sporting commentary but this game is kind of dull.

Drink break ? What drink break! Run you dogs.

It will cost Mak 6 million to get that number from Warda™, ha ha.

Aye aye.

Ha ha, according to transfermarket, Varela is injured and due to return June 10, 2020.

Is that a fashion statement by Leveque or due to the injury he got in the last match ? Maybe both ?!

Stanojevic is definitely trying out the some formations, that's for sure. I've always thought 4-2-3-1 is the most "balanced" system personally, but it's good (and necessary) for players to be able to adapt, especially so when you're playing stronger or weaker teams, or even derbies. 3-4-3 is a bit extreme though.

Ochoa mught be better but the salary was almost obscene. I prefer Rey ... even though I haven't seen him, ha ha. You know, at 1.8 million I think he'll be our most expensive signing ever. I hope he's worth it. Anyway, let's see if it actually happens first.

Half time ?

I was gonna say, he's far from repealing Obamacare. You know ... his personality and style of presidency ... lot's of talk and hot air, he'd be perfect for Greece. Fit right in me thinks.

I'm still of the opinion that if he is going to do truly serious damage, his own party will do a Caesar on him. For the moment, he's excelling in embarrassing himself. Incidentally, because I don't follow U.S. politics closely enough, what has Trump done in terms of actual meaningful legislation and policy ?

Hell yeah!

One of the key requirements for the new manager was that he was meant to keep the core of the team. If you implement a system that doesn't use wingers as in the 4-4-2 diamond, then you basically don't need Campos, Henrique or ... Warda. Anyway, we shall see. I'm all for mixing it up as far as systems go and it's good to throw the opposition and have players that are flexible. There is no such thing as the "best" system or "we don't change our system for any opposition" unless you are in the top two or three clubs in the world and can buy the best of the best.

Oh God I'm over the Ochoa saga. I don't even care if we get him anymore. Surely there are other GK's out there ?

Yeah, I'm a bit confused about this whole 4-4-2 business. Especially so since Stanojevic said in his press interview that he'd be flexible regarding the system. Technically, 4-4-2 means your wingers drop back a little and play slightly deeper, and you do away with a number 10 in the hole in favour of a second striker. I can't see how you wouldn't play Biseswar, who is our best player when fit, and his natural position is a number 10. If anything, I can see us playing a 4-4-1-1 when Biseswar is playing, or he'll push him onto the flank, which is all well and good but a player like Biseswar you want roaming all over the place. If anyone is capable of a free role it's him. Anyway, we'll see.

Worse than that, he's following his own advice.

You would think that Warda would take things more seriously. Sure, maybe signing for PAOK is not the dream for him, but it's the best he's ever had and may very well be the best he will ever have. Add to that the fact that there is competition for the positions that he plays and also he takes up a foreigner slot, you'd think he'd be at the training ground early and raring to go. Oh well, like pash said, it's like we have to have one of these every season. Bye bye Warda, see you next season ... maybe.

1.5m per season for Ochoa ? That's a lot of cash.