Bananas

1789, I'm getting a bit off topic, but it's really tricky to try and work out if "socializing" medicine is in the common interest or not. I agree with you 100% that the vast majority of medical breakthroughs have been from the U.S., and the profit motive is key to this. But I think you need a balance. There is definitely a point at which spending X amount of dollars benefits the country. For example say immunisation. Even if it costs now, the country benefits more in the long run. The tricky question though is how far do you take it ? I remember reading a story years ago about someone in the U.S. that had severed their thumb while working in their garage, and when he went to the hospital, he didn't have insurance or something, and out of frustration he went to walk out of the hospital and on the way out threw the thumb in the bin! The doctors feeling guilty ended up doing the procedure. Or so I remember the story. It was a long time ago that I read it. In "socialized" countries, that would never happen! And that's a good thing. This person, say he was a manual worker, if he can't work he's now a drain on the country. But if he's working, he's earning, contributing to the economy, paying taxes etc. Again, the question of "is it worth it" is not simple to answer. In Australia every worker pays 1.5% "Medicare". I don't see any harm in having some sort of basic health care system. I actually think it's beneficial in economic "capitalist" terms.

In order for Greece to get their periodic payments from the EU, they are meant to implement reforms. I haven't heard much about actual reform and if it's beginning to benefit the people. Even if the debt can't be realistically repaid by Greece, implementing reforms should in theory at least help increase employment. Does anyone know of any reforms that have actually been implemented ? - Have any of the closed professions been made more open ? - Has red tape for business been decreased ? - Is there any movement on the land register, that was meant to be finished years ago ? - You could say that the public service has been "reformed", in the sense that it's cheaper to run today than it was 6 years ago. This is due to forced pay reductions, which I suppose is better than laying off thousands of people in one hit. - Is Greece a better place to do business in today than 6 years ago ? - Has foreign investment increased ? In theory it should have as their is massive amount of excess labour, reasonably educated and the wages are low by EU standards.

Let's not be premature on predicting the demise of Olympiakos. They've played 2 average games, yeah, but there is still time for them to make some serious transfers, and they have the money should Marinakis choose to spend it. The big question on everyone's mind now is, is he losing focus now that he has Nottingham Forest as his new toy ?

To be fair, it's not as if politicians from other countries put their national interest above getting elected. The short term goal of getting elected is always the priority. At least that's the way I see it. I personally think where Greece fails is in its institutions outside of the government. Things like the Reserve Bank (or whatever their equivalent was), business councils, judiciary etc. If these institutions are strong, then can help to keep the country sort of on the straight and narrow, as well as keep the politician(s) in check. In Greece though, these institutions appear very weak, which further increases the power (and damage) these politicians can/did do while in power.

Any chance on getting Berg to show Klaus how to finish ? Just a couple of lessons maybe.

When I put "tax form" into google translate I got this,

Fully agree, in theory. In practice it was like giving a 100K credit card to rednecks living in trailers and then expecting them to be responsible.

I'm just having a look at the squad now at http://www.transfermarkt.com/paok-thessaloniki/startseite/verein/1091 and I came up with the following 26 players for the squad. Goalkeepers (3) Brkic Glykos Vellidis Defenders (8) Matos Kitsiou Varela Crespo Tzavellas Malezas Leovac Korovesis - can play as attacking winger if required. Midfield (6) Cimirot Charisis Shakhov Canas Tziolis Kace - will he stay ? Attacking Midfielders/Wingers (6) Biseswar Pelkas Rodrigues Jairo - will he stay ? Djalma Mystakidis Strikers (3) Pereyra Klaus Koulouris As far as transfers go, we have in theory upgraded in several areas. Whether that remains to be the case, we can discuss in a few months or so. 1) Brkic > Glykos 2) Matos > Skondras/Kitsiou/Konstantinidis 3) Crespo > Vitor/Chatziisaias 4) Varela > Vitor and Chatziisaias 5) Shakhov > Golasa 6) Mak > Djalma ??? This one will be interesting. I don't think Djalma will be better than Mak. Just different. I don't think they are the same sort of player, but overall, if I had to pick one, it'd be Mak. I really believe with his explosive pace and Ajax's high defensive line, he would've wreaked mayhem. Oh well, it is what it is. 7) Canas. I'm expecting good things. He's meant to have a very high work rate. Could be the replace for Kace. 8) Biseswar, I don't know. He looks like he's gained weight instead of losing it,

Looks like Chatziisaias is done for. That's Skondras, Chatziisaias, Antonis and Sabo (so far that I can think of) that have definitely been told they aren't in this season's plans. Also, you'd have to think that thinks aren't looking solid for some other players like Konstantinidis, Korovesis, Kace and Jairo. Even Pelkas who I expect to be in the squad, I can't see him playing so many games this season.

Great summary.

So we have :- - Arouca (POR) v Olympiacos (GRE) - Dinamo Tbilisi (GEO) v PAOK (GRE) - Br?ndby (DEN) v Panathinaikos (GRE) In an ideal world, all 3 teams should we both home and away, with the possible exception of PAO who I think have the toughest game vs Brondby. We should have at least 4 or 5 wins here which should earn us 4 or 5 co-efficient points (they are halved during qualification). Every little bit helps.

So true, so damn true.

Are we playing a blind team ?!

I don't want to get into a long back and forth ala the Samaras thread (that one will go down in history), but you need to ask yourself, if Fetfa is playing 5 good games in 6, why isn't he being selected ? It could be that what some perceive as a good game, is different to others. Could it be that every single manager he's had (except for this Saudi team) has been wrong about him ? Is Fetfa so misunderstood as a player ?

Have we played them before ? Sound familiar.

Dinamo Tbilisi it is

Dutch Eagle, Last time you beat me by 5 seconds. Do you have your finger on the trigger again ?

Check out this link. http://www.uefa.com/uefaeuropaleague/news/newsid=2394928.html#europa+league+play+number+crunching Nice pic of Klaus/Djalma and the article says we are in a record 7th play off round.

It's not just about the formation, but also about your opponent. Against a team weaker than Greece, that formation is probably ok. Against Belgium, we're conceding 4.

It's just the truth according to people that believe in his ability. Some believe in him as a player and others don't. I personally don't. The only consistent thing about him (and he's 25 years of age now) is that he's not consistent. So why would you use a player that you know doesn't perform consistently ? I can't understand this reasoning. For me, the absolute only time I'd even consider him is against weak opposition where you're chasing a goal with say 20 minutes to go. This "but he can do wonders sometimes", I just don't buy it. It's not good enough to sometimes play well 1 in 4 games.

The draw for AEK will be tough for the foreseeable future, since they haven't accumulated many points in Europe in the past 5 seasons. It's like a nasty feed back loop. AEK will be in the non-seeded half of the draw so playing teams like Saint Etienne will be the new normal for a couple of seasons. This is where you just need some luck. One good run in the EL Group phase and you guys will be on your way.

You made me giggle.

You do get +4 bonus points for qualifying for CL group stage. But yeah, I agree, I think it's probably best for now to be in the EL. That is the standard that our teams are at, to be fair.

Once Ajax made it 1:1, the game changed because Ajax weren't forced to press for a goal. From the beginning of the game until they scored, we broke their lines 4 or 5 times. Afterwards, I don't think we did at all, because they didn't have to get a goal as such. They could afford to be a bit more patient and not play such a high defensive line. We should have scored at least a 2nd goal during that 1st half spell.

When you put it that way, it does sound pretty bad!