Bananas

I think it's time Mystakidis got a hair cut. Looking a bit scruffy there.

I didn't realize Georgiadis was the coach of Trikala.

Nice play by Trikala. He should have at least got it on target.

Where is Korovesis ? He's just disappeared. I thought he did quite well in some play-off games last season.

The word "inflation" is a bit like the word "Byzantine" in that it has negative connotations. There are times when you actually want a higher rate of inflation and this is one of those times. The world in general is neck deep in loans and a high but reasonable rate of inflation would make the relative value of these loans much more affordable. It would also put real spending power into the general population and spurn business growth. But like anything it has to be done right. If this "extra" money just feeds back into the 0.1% then it's of no use. If it actually gets distributed fairly evenly across the economy it would be very beneficial for the economy as a whole.

What would someone have to pay Alafouzos to buy the club ? Does Alafouzos own all the shares, or a majority stake ? Having said that, I don't even know how it works with PAO.

Return to a gold standard is crazy talk. Yep, right. As for banks being free to do what they want, I'm cool with that so long as they get zero government assistance and zero government guarantees if they get into trouble. Something tells me the banks would stick with the current system as whatever it costs them to comply with Dodd-Frank would be less than the cost of paying the returns required to get people to risk putting their money in the bank.

Who knows if the rumours were real or not. If they were, the club should have sold when they could. No idea if he will fit into the club now or if he's even good enough. Obviously the club didn't think so at the start of the season. At best he'd be 4th pick in the midfield behind Canas, Cimirot and Shakhov.

Kace is finished with his loan and will return to the team. He will be allowed to train with the team from December the 8th, assuming they want him of course.

Solid 11. Need to rest some players where possible. I'd consider Pereyra as well assuming he's not part of the clique.

@teke817 nice post. In any normal league Ivic's reaction would be considered way out of line for throwing players under the bus as well as embarrassing in general. Ivan taking his bat and ball is comical, but this is Greece and owners of clubs are almost expected to say stupid things after a bad loss. Regarding the Ivic-Tzavellas dynamic, I see two possibilities. It's possible Ivic just had a meltdown post game and has put the blame on Tzavellas. If this is the case, it does not bode well for either of them, but especially Ivic. If the squad perceives his actions as unjust or unstable he's lost the dressing room already and the clock is ticking. The other possibility is that Ivic has felt that Tzavellas is a cancer to the team for a while, but wasn't sure how to handle the situation given that he's a core player in the team and his relationship with Ivic's son. And he's seized this "opportunity" to make the team in his image. A normal president would be appalled at the way this has been handled, but Ivic knowing the way things work in Greece, this could be a master stroke. Regardless, if this is a "master stroke" it's a one shot. You can't do things like repeatedly without looking like a fool. As always, time will tell.

I'm curious to see people's thoughts on the squad. Here is my view. 5 - Superstar. Virtually impossible to find a replacement. 4 - Great player. Very difficult to find a replacement. 3 - Solid player but ultimately replaceable. 2 - Decent player but needs to improve. 1 - GTFO now. Goalkeepers Glykos - Rating 3 - Has improved considerably this season. Doesn't seem to be committing so many clangers and generally just appears to be more self assured. Brkic - Rating 3 - A bit difficult to judge as he's had little game time but based on his performance at Fiorentina seems to be about the same level as Glykos give or take. Defenders Matos - Rating 4 - The best right back we've had in a long time. For 31 years of age his fitness is impressive. I love his white line fever too. Leovac - Rating 3 - Does enough to justify his selection in the team without ever being overly impressive. I feel he's hit his ceiling but maybe Tudor's 3-5-2 held him back. Am curious to see if he has more to give. Varela - Rating 3.5 - A bit difficult to judge but at this stage his man marking seems solid enough but his positioning can sometimes be off. His height and physique is welcome as we were conceding stupid/cheap/weak goals last season from set pieces. Crespo - Rating 4 - He's impressed me so far. Very solid and seems to be calm on the ball. Tzavellas - Rating 3 - Attitude is rating 1. Malezas - Rating 3 - Very solid as a backup and is a club man. Kitsiou - Rating 2 - I feel he's hit his ceiling. Needs to improve or find another club. Midfielders Canas - Rating 4 - Solid DM that can actually play the role. Cimirot - Rating 3.5 - Seems to have improved with Canas next to him which allows him to get forward a little more. Not really a number 6 or a number 8. He's young though, has fight in him and is definitely in our best 11 when fit. Shakhov - Rating 3 - Gets a lot of flack for not being "attacking" enough but he can't play that role. He's a number 8 through and through. Runs a lot and is relatively calm on the ball. Charisis - Rating 2 - Has gone backwards this season. Needs to step up. Last season I saw Cimirot and Charisis as our best midfield duo. Pelkas - Rating 2 - I'm still unsure on this kid. After getting a lot of game time with Tudor he seems to be going backwards. Biseswar - Rating 4. Fitness is rating 1. Needs to get fit otherwise he's useless to the team. Probably the most technical player in the squad. Forwards Rodrigues - Rating 5 - Beast. Mystakidis - Rating 2 - Similar to Pelkas and Charisis, needs to show more improvement, but at least he has "mongrel" in him. Djalma - Rating 3.5 - Good on the ball, good dribble. Finishing is rating 1. Klaus - Rating 3 - Has become complacent and I get the feeling the stars aligned for him last season with his goal scoring. I don't see that happening ever again. Koulouris - Rating 2 - Too early to judge. Lots of enthusiasm but seems a bit deficient technically. Pereyra - Rating 3.5 - Tricky to rate. I don't think he can play the striker role for an entire season, but he's very valuable playing slightly deeper. For me, he can be made into a very good super sub to help pry open teams that park the bus. Unlike Klaus, I'd be sad to see him go as I feel he has immensely more X factor to his game.

Rodrigues is the best player in the team by a long shot. If Rodrigues keeps playing as he is, he'll be gone in the summer. The best we can do is to offer him a contract extension, a nice wage increase (he deserves it) and a decent minimum sell amount in the contract. I don't think we can replace him easily. Tzavellas I can't see finding a better club with the same amount of money, so I agree with pash that he'll probably bide his time being the rat that he is. It's unfortunate because he's improved his game 100% in the last 12 months but it's for the best if he goes. Regardless, we have Varela and Crespo now who are both just as good if not better than him anyway. For myself, the young greek boys have been disappointing. Kitsiou, Korovesis, Charisis, Pelkas, Mystakidis. Instead of really applying pressure for a 1st team spot they seem either unable or content to just be used as rotation players. Keep this up and they will be replace eventually. I don't include Koulouris in this group (yet) as he's really only been at the club this season.

Ah yes, forgot about Chatziisaias! Good lord I hate spelling his name.

I can only assume that when the club extended Tzavellas contract recently that either Ivic didn't want to rock the boat or he had no say in it. Either way, foolish decision to extend his contract at the time. If we get a CB during the transfer window then that'll be it for Tzavellas.

The situation seems bizarre. Hopefully we get some sort of clarification. Ironically, Tzavellas was actually MVP not long ago. I see one of two possibilites. Ivic is bang on and has knows for a while now that Tzavellas is more trouble than he's worth, but couldn't find the right time to give him the boot. To be fair, overall, Tzavellas has been playing quite well the last 12 months or so. The other possibility is that Ivic has just lost the plot entirely and is grasping at straws. We shall see. The other thing of note is that Ivic mentioned that they were multiple players, not just one, so again, it makes the situation confusing from our perspective.

Firstly, these games just happen sometimes, at least in normal leagues. Having said that PAOK are definitely specialists in self implosion. Blackhawk said it right when he said when is the team going to learn to play hard for 90 minutes. This is a sign of professionalism and a good work ethic. This has been a problem since, oh, probably 1986. This is where the manager and back-office need to step up. You can't rely just on the players to do it. Having a different manager and a different core of players each season doesn't allow for this. Simple as that. Being able to motivate the players for the "easy" games is how you give yourself a chance of even winning a title. Ivic was a little unlucky with the timing of the red card. It was straight after his 3rd substitution so he couldn't do a tactical substitution. If Ivic is talking straight about the "sabotage" then he needs to clarify this and get it sorted out. The idea that a dressing room is going to be harmonious is nice in theory but I believe rare in practise. Again to reiterate, it's up to Ivic and back-office to let the players know who is in charge. Based on PAOK's recent history, I wouldn't be afraid if I was a player, because I've seen plenty of managers go to the guillotine while the fans bay for blood.

A player like Babacar would never come to the GSL. Even a lifetime supply of bougatsa wouldn't do it.

Another Matos on the left, Natcho in the middle, a fit and fast Biseswar and Babacar up front. A man can dream.

Where are these immigrants that Merkel wants to deport from ? Where exactly does Germany drop these immigrants off ?

We have Leovac for LB. And Crespo, Tzavellas, Korovesis for backup. I don't see a reason to get another LB unless it's a clear upgrade on Leovac which is unlikely. Leovac hasn't been anything special this season, unlike say Matos, but he hasn't been bad either. Just average I would say. Although, the media love to rip into Leovac, because apparently, they know what they're talking about.

Even if the PAO fans all unanimously wanted him back, would Tzigger even be interested in coming back ? Does he care anymore ?

1) Not going to happen. Such a player is already playing in the CL. We have to try and do what we did with Lucas, Mak, Rodrigues and "discover" them. I wish it wasn't so, but that's how it is. 2) Europa League top 32, let alone top 16 is very underrated. There's a reason why no Greek team can get past the round of 32. 3) Would be excellent, but again not so simple. Other teams have more extensive scouting networks than us.

Finally got to watch the game in full. Overall, I think we played very "correct". There is no way we were ever going to go to Italy and play Fiorentina off the park. Fiorentina are a stronger side, and when you know this, you have to play accordingly. Try and limit your opponents opportunities, apply pressure as much as possible, be clinical with your counter attacks ... and hope for the best. Fiorentina are quite a physical team, and there were times when they bumped our boys off the ball like they were kids. At the same time, they were cynical with their fouls quite a few times and with another referee they could have had more yellow cards. We created multiple opportunities. 5 or 6 very good ones. The 1st goal by Shakhov to be fair his finish was kind of weak, but the team did the "right things". Campos had the ball outside the box and Fiorentina didn't apply pressure. Sin 101 in football allowing the opposition to shoot freely outside your box. Campos as he should hit the shot. Keeper parried and Shakhov, as he should, was already in the box. If you do the right things, goals can happen. Same again with the post by Rodrigues when it was 1-0. This was due to 3 players pressing high and forcing the turn over. Rodrigues had a sitter as well from 6 yards out which he really should have scored. The 2nd goal again was good work. Good cross by Rodrigues and Djalma did the right thing by reading the play and running hard to get into position to give an option in the box. If you do the right things. The 3rd goal was just Rodrigues being a one man army. Kind of similar to the one he missed in Thessaloniki at the end of that game. Ultimately, Rodrigues was awesome and I'm afraid to think how much weaker we'll be without him. Regarding Fiorentina they had their chances too. The shot outside the box that hit the cross bar and post. The shot that crashed off the cross bar. Their 1st goal was good play and they definitely deserved a goal by that stage. What about that Babacar! I'd give my left nut to have a player like that at PAOK. He's a monster. Fiorentina were just bombing the ball to him and he'd control it, layoff, like Crespo weighed 10 kilos. His goal was a real striker's goal. The 1st goal came from his work as well. Fiorentina had lots of other "half" chances and were definitely threatening with Chiesa on the right flank but that's soccer for you. In general we played very deep and compact. Once we lost possession we'd become very compact at the back and even Matos and Leovac would tuck in towards the middle. Ivic had obviously instructed the team to defend this way and I guess he didn't want the Fiorentina wingers getting in behind the defence. My only disappointment was that we couldn't retain the ball a bit better. When you're 2-0 up that's when you should be able to start playing a bit of keepings off with the opposition but it just goes to show the class difference between the GSL and Serie A. We definitely don't have the midfield to do this. It's odd that Brkic was selected for this match (was Glykos injured ?) but he did well. Can't really fault him for the goals. Matos and Leovac did all right. Both played very defensively. Varela and Crespo did well. Crespo struggled with Babacar but to be fair Babacar is an animal physically. Crespo overall has been an excellent signing for us. Canas and Cimirot ran a lot in the middle and did good work applying pressure. Shakhov did all right. Up front Djalma made himself available and took some pressure off, did all right. Rodrigues was man of the match. Koulouris actually did quite well. Ran a lot and tried to apply pressure when possible.