Bananas

Yep, hope Charisis and Mystapashkidis get a run. Pereyra too needs some game time.

Overall, Savvidis has been a god send for the club. When he came in, we were financially up s%$#! creek. Remember having to sell Vierinha and letting players go for free because we couldn't pay their wages ? Any talk of Savvidis not doing enough for the club is lunacy. Truly, when he paid off the ~10 million debt to the government I was amazed. My only complaint about Savvidis is regarding the fiasco with managers being fired. In his first 3 seasons we had Huub, Anastasiadis and Tudor all fired roughly just after the Christmans break. Hopefully we don't go 4 for 4 this season. Of the 3, I only agreed with Huub getting fired, since he didn't want to be at the club anymore. Anastasiadis had us in the title race for half the season and although we dropped off after the Christmas break, let's face it, the team wasn't good enough for the title. Instead of strengthening the squad and trying again the following season, Savvidis took the easy route and threw another manager under the bus. At least the "fanatiki" were satiated. Tudor, yeah, he was a bit all over the place but let's remember he never said we were going for the title and he was a new manager. He was there to clear out the squad of all the older players and bring in some new blood to create a new core. To his credit, we got some decent players in like Cimirot, Charisis, Pelkas, Rodrigues and the team played all right all things considered. Again, instead of staying calm, analyzing the weaknesses and strengthening the team, he was thrown under the bus. Would Tudor have become less rigid with his beloved 3-5-2 and become a better manager in this second season ? We'll never know. As far as player budgets are concerned, it has grown massively under Savvidis. Before that we had maybe 2 or 3 player earning ~300K and the rest were on considerably less. Now, much of the squad is on 300K, 400K, 500K etc. And that's a good thing. With better wages we'll attract better players.

Campos, I'm undecided about. He hasn't impressed. Shakhov I think is good for depth and he has some height on him also which helps when you're playing tall sides. I actually really liked Biseswar yesterday for the first 20 minutes. He was in most of our attacking plays but he's still not fit. He was puffed out by the 25th minute. What I don't understand is why Ivic didn't have Pereyra on the bench. You know teams like Xanthi are going to park the bus. In that case having a player like Pereyra on the bench, who can be a good goal poacher, just makes sense. I can't understand it.

Great result ... for Xanthi, AEK, PAO, Olympiakos.

It happens, but it seems to happen to us much more often.

In that case you'd think having Pereyra on the bench would've made sense.

Ha! I better mute the Libero radio then.

10 minutes behind ?

Stream back up ?

Biseswar was good in the first 20 minutes but he's been quiet since then. As for Campos, that is a story for another day.

Thanks PAOKSWEDEN. You da man! :)

Kitsiou is good in attack, possibly better than Toro. But defensively he can be suspect. I think he's good if you're playing an opponent where you expect to have more of the ball and will generally be in their attacking half. In big pressure games against fast and physical opponents I wouldn't be confident with Kitsiou. Not yet anyway.

Νομιζω πως εχω χαζεψει με αυτα που εχω διαβασει σε αυτο το thread και τωρα δεν ξερω τι λεω. It's been pretty intense on subject matter that is for the most part extremely subjective. And then, somewhere along the way it got personal. Don't know why. I just skim over the posts now but the vaseline picture kind of stood out. Hopefully we are nearing the end of it. Hopefully.

I haven't, time being the enemy, but I remember reading a review somewhere on the best books to read regarding U.S. History and this was in the list and also highly praised.

I just watched the Qarabag vs Liberec last night. Yes, my life is exciting. Qarabag actually look like a dangerous team and were considerably better than Liberec. They played at a surprisingly quick tempo and their players seemed quite fit. They split the Liberec defence many times and on another day with better finishing could have scored more goals. Qarabag conceded a ridiculous goal in the 9th second straight off the kickoff and Liberec were all over them in the first 5 minutes but after they got over the shock of the silly goal they started to impose themselves. They were clearly better in the second half. Maybe Liberec will be better at home. PAOK would be wise to not consider these games a walkover. Our midfield and defence will need to be alert and cover space as Qarabag seemed able to play lots of nice through balls. The defence of both sides was suspect, and if Djalma and especially Rodrigues are playing to their normal level, they should do well. Even Biseswar I think can do well as we should in theory have the majority of the possession.

Homo attacks ? Vaseline ? When did this site become G-A-Y ?

Good article PAOKSYD. It's true what it says that some considered Fiorentina a team that is mediocre. Far from it.

Ok. So I had the game taped and got around to watching it in full last night. Concerning the teams, it's clear that Fiorentina are a quality team. They generally had that threatening "feel" about them where they could at any moment perform a nice run of play and expose our defence. To our credit, we covered lots of space and there was lots of good tackling and pressing in general. We made Fiorentina work for their opportunities of which they had 3 or 4 good chances. A few of their crosses almost hit the mark as well but that's football, you don't always put away all your chances. Regarding PAOK I'm fairly happy with the performance all things considered. It was a bit frustrating but Fiorentina did what they had to, to put pressure on us when we had possession. My only real complaint was that we gave up possession too easily. Very often when Fiorentina had the ball in defense someone from the midfield would run back, lead, receive the ball, control and lay off or lay off one touch, turn and run. And they would retain the ball. Too often we had the ball in a similar position and would just lob it forward because the midfield wouldn't "ask" for the ball. They wouldn't lead. If we would only start playing this way more often we would be a MUCH better side. Glykos: 7.5/10. Good. Did everything asked of him. He just refuses to give up that starting position, he he. Matos: 7/10 1st half. 6/10 2nd half. Fairly good. Good in attack. Not so much defensively. Got into their box a few times. On the other hand his flank got exposed a few times in the first half and then again the same in the first 15 minutes of the second half. This is I believe what led Ivic to bringing on Crespo and playing with a 3-5-2. Leovac: 6/10 1st half. 7/10 2nd half. Fairly good. Kind of the opposite of Matos. Offered nothing in attack in the first half but his flank wasn't exposed either so defensively he was sound. I thought he improved in the second and after the 60th minute offered more in attack. Varela: 7.5/10. Good. Looked solid. He seemed to cope well with the pressure of playing against a better class of team. He also looked strong physically. Those Fiorentina forwards were big boys. Tzavellas: 6/10. Fairly good. I think against a team like Fiorentina he struggled. He really had to work hard and it was a tough day for him. I don't believe he's a EL quality CB. Great for GSL and depth but at this level he looked under some pressure. To his credit he gave it his all. +1 for the 3 or 4 commando rolls he performed when he got "fouled". Academy award winning stuff. +1 also for eyeballing an opposition player. He's getting consistent at doing at least one of these per game. Canas: 7/10. Good. Covered lots of ground. Knows where to stand. Offered some calmness to the midfield. Cimirit: 6.5/10. Fairly good. Some of his touches can be off, but that's him. Offered his usual hustle and toughness in the midfield. Pelkas: 6/10. Fairly good. The surprise starter. Did quite well in the first half. In the beginning of the second half when Fiorentina applied the pressure he went quiet. Good to see him get some game time. Djalma: 6/10. Fairly good. To be fair Fiorentina didn't give him much space but to his credit he kept trying. Rodrigues: 7.5/10. Was the only player that really threatened up front. Would like to clone a few more players like Rodrigues. If only he put away that chance in the 85th that Leovac crossed! Klaus: 6/10. Tried. Not great, not bad. Similar to Djalma. It was tough out there for him. Didn't get much service and when we attacked Fiorentina didn't leave much space. Shakhov: 6.5/10. Fairly good. Looked more comfortable than Pelkas against class opposition. Also, went to the ball and asked for it. His control and passing was required to try and hold possession. Crespo: 6/10. Didn't really do much. Was just an extra body in the back to cut down space for the Fiorentina forwards. Thiam: ?/10. Wasn't on long enough. But he does look like he's got some pace on him. Will be interesting to watch him this season.

Gamisi xoris salio ... hmmm, so many thoughts running through my brain, not enough time ha ha. Regarding Matos, he's definitely a SUPERSTAR as far as the GSL is concerned. Not so sure about the EL as his flank was exposed by Fiorentina multiple times. It's likely Fiorentina did their homework and knew he's a very attacking RB and played into the holes he left at the back, so I wouldn't say it's his fault as such. This is where having 2 sold CB's makes the difference as it allows the RB and LB to attack with less fear. Either way, I'm ecstatic with him as a signing. Couldn't really ask for much more. His fitness and energy are very good for his age. One thing I've noticed with our signings this year are that they were concentrated in the defensive half of the team. Brkic, Matos, Crespo, Varela, Canas. This is a good thing as our defense has been porous for the last 3 seasons. A defense made of Matos, Varela, Tzavellas, Leovas with Canas sweeping in front of them looks so much stronger than Kitsiou, Vitor, Tzavellas, Leovac and Cimirot. Anyway, let's see how it plays out with Asteras. I've got some loob handy just in case ...

It's difficult to predict what Ivic could do. If anything, he's proven he's flexible concerning systems, which is a good thing. I can't stand "system" zealots who swear by this or that system. It all depends on who the opposition is, the state of your squad, and the status of the current game you're playing. Kudos to Ivic in the Fiorentina game switching to a 3-5-2. It was required as they were looking like they could score any minute. Regarding the player selection, again Ivic has been unpredictable so far. Pelkas starting against Fiorentina ? Pereyra not in the squad vs Ajax ? Regardless, it's time Charisis and Mystakidis start getting a run. Not necessarily in this match but in general. Regarding Varela, I like what I saw in the Fiorentina game. I think this guy is the real deal. He could be our best signing in a long time.

@ Thrylos7, totally agree. It is what it is, unfortunately. @grkjet @ pana97, nice to know at least at some point, it's taught to a higher standard.

At least somebody won. Drinks on Boston!

These were happening ever before Tudor, but with Tudor it went to another spectacular level. Let's see how it all plays out. We'll have a better idea by the winter break.

I think he's probably worth about 500K per season if you compare his wage to the other player wages. He was our best defender last season, which says a lot about how shaky the defence was. Yes, he was a lttle s%$#! when it came to his season with Anastasiadis but he is who he is, I don't think that will ever change.