Greekaus

Means absolutely nothing once any candidate known or unknown , proven winner or not comes to take over this NT . The proof will be when he takes a year or so into the job,( if they allow him to keep it that is ) learns the ins and outs of how disruptive and useless things are run at EPO and whether he can get the most out of the limited talent in current pool of players he can select from. Ranieri was an abject failure coaching this NT yet he is now coaching the only undefeated team in the EPL. . Was he a garbage coach coming from Monaco to our NT and all of a sudden he's a magician at Leceister City ? I doubt it.

It shouldn't take a medical degree or be a super optimistic PAO fan to figure out that Essien is injury prone the last 5 years of his career and his move to PAO would of been a high risk move. He will play when he will play if he will play. Just have to deal with it. Pointless to suggest after the fact now that PAO should never have signed him but should of bought with that money someone else. The problem with that is that this someone else most likely would of been a crap player if we go by who the club has brought in the Alafouzos era. So in the meantime lets all pretend Essien isn't even a PAO player and when he does get fit it will be a nice bonus for us fans to watch a great talent.

Diego Costa makes Luis Suarez look like a zen master on the field. How he acted today in the London derby was beyond disgusting. He should of had 3 yellow cards in one minute and sent off even before Gabriel stupidly raised his heel at him in front of the ref. Game ended right there which was a shame even though both teams hardly looked stellar up to that point. It had 0-0 written all over it. Very poor quality match with many star players from both teams woefully off form. If I was an Arsenal fan I'd really be annoyed at Wenger. Another Season the same ol story. He does nothing to change the predictability of this team and the weak underbelly it has. Arsenal were the only team in Europe who did not buy one outfield player this Summer. How nuts is that ? Mourinho dodged a big bullet today thanks to Costa who altered the game without doing anything with the ball. Major creep

Messi and Christiano Ronaldo have revolutionized football. What they do every single week for their clubs is a treat for us fans to watch.

Its fun to sit and compare players from different eras but it's not realistic. Anybody watch highlights from past World Cup finals let's say from 1970 through 1990 and compare the speed of the game then with what we watch these days. It was slow motion then and less tactical so easier to identify great skillful attacking creators then than it is now. Maradona was a phenomenal player but to suggest he had success at Napoli only through his own brilliance isn't exactly the entire story. Back then there were only 3 foreigners per team rule and Diego had high quality teammates as well. Plus in the Siera during the 80s not only Napoli won a title but also , Juve, Milan, Inter, Roma, Lazio and even Verona so there was plenty of parity and shared successes to go around. Indeed he was magnificent when Argentina won the 86 WC. Probably the most dominant individual performance ever in a NT knockout competition. Club level however his achievements pale in comparison ( No European Cup win for Maradona and had little success prior at Barcelona ) to watch Messi has done. , not even close. Messi does it week week out for 8 years now. To me he could and should retire when he does as the greatest footballer of all time but nothing absolute here , just opinions. Both Ronaldos , Zidane , Van Baasten ( incredible striker , cruelly cut short by injury at 28 ) and even Rinaldinho are some of the very best the last 30 years. Even before Diego , anyone watch Michel Plattini ( current UEFA hot shot ) French midfielder who scored 9 goals in only 5 games in the EUUO 84 finals , won a European cup and a few Siera titles with Juventus later on and I think 3 ballon d' or

Ha ha. You guys are smart

Well if he has the intensity of a declawed cat and is unwilling to focus on his defensive part of the game that's demanded in modern European football then all the tricks on the ball, the little shimmy and nutmegs wont get you anywhere but to a bush league full of sand. He belongs where he's at right now. He's not exactly 18-20 years old where one can easily say that he can work on his concentration and with more experience his confidence will turn into aggression to make him a compete player etc. I don't even see Fetfa as wasting his talent like some think here think he does. He earns great money playing a sport for a living. The cream of the crop in World football play for the big clubs. Many of those don't possess his ball skills but are miles ahead of him in every other aspect of the game.

This PAO team can't keep any attacking passing momentum. Players need to be more assertive on the ball and take matters into their own hands. They just pass off responsibilities to others. Playing it too safe

Need to put a ten year grassroots program together where all professional clubs are forced to finance their own academies and have at least half of their first team squads to be filled with players born or eligible to play for our country. This way the local players will get their necessary playing time to develop and harness their skills at a top competitive level and not be compromised with an array of s%$#! quality mercenary foreigners that enter our league. Wait ...I'm thinking of how Germany refocused their football after 1998. Could something like this work in Greece and the SL ? I'm dreaming, sorry. As for the Greek NT. Were going to suck for the next decade. No creative young quality players coming through the ranks and the 5-6 decent starters we have right now are either defenders or players past their peak years.

Completely agree Asteras. Argentinians have not only great attacking instincts but a necessary

Rocha should be revered as a guru at PAO . The wise old head who has breathed this team since late 1978 when he first appeared at Leoforos and wear the Green shirt. There has never been a more loyal and dedicated foreign Green personality since then ( Warzycha I guess as well ) Even he would have a tough time managing and coaching some of the useless garbage that has paraded around this team last 5 years. As for Anastasiou's Ajax total football coaching ideologies and credentials. Yeah that's great in theory. In practice however that stuff is for kafeneio talk. Not with this talent quality.

That team that Rocha coached in the mid 90s had such stability and cohesiveness with mostly Greek players loaded with pride and passion and accompanied by only a few real quality game changing foreigners on it. The landscape of a Greek football has changed so much in The last 5 to 6 years that now every club including Olympiakos changes squads on the fly like a revolving door every Summer . Now we have foreign useless nobodies or ex has beens who join all the top teams that are out of contract and come to the SL already knowing that their tenure there will be short lived regardless of performances. No coach could do much under those type of circumstances. Anastasiou has lived a charmed life being kept as PAO coach for this long. That's unprecedented territory on Greece. OLY changed their coaches every six months it appears. Rocha with this same team right now ? Good question. I'd say yes just for the fact that these players now might need to hear a different voice and perspective on how to to do things in games. Sound fresh ideas are for sure necessary on this team today.

Wasn't Munch a left back ? Nilsson was decent for sure but not much to look at lately. Had someone called Moon play RB once.

Cause for the majority of his career ( past it now ) he was an adaptable, give everything for the cause all purpose defender. Excelled at nothing in particular but when you need a defender to come in and do a decent job last minute they don't come much more reliable than him. Played across the back four. Very few defenders can do that.

At least he should of tried to smuggle in steroids and other performance enhancing juices just to keep up with the baseball theme.

I think some here are reading too much not the Essien move and creating premature conclusions before the guy can play a few games. My bottom line all this as follows. Essien if he can stay relatively healthy and play 20 odd games for PAO this year ( always risky numbers with his medical track record ) he will be a huge upgrade over anything PAO had at central midfield last year. The man is a quality professional footballer Now the money PAO/ Alafouzos/Puma / my grandmother etc have spent to bring Essien to PAO is a big deal why again ? Didn't realize we have accountants here in these forums . All Greek SL teams piss money away every year on transfers. Some turn out to be ok and contribute to the team while most are garbage wasteful ones anyway regardless of total cost. In 12 months from now half the current PAO and OLY , PAOK and AEK squads will be different than the ones we are looking at today. Can't we all just be happy here that Michael Essien will be wearing a green jersey soon ? Even if its not that many games. I suppose a few here would prefer some unknown Portuguese or Ghana player to come to PAO on a free transfer and a 6 month contract just because he's cheap.

Rodgers is an idiot that believes his own hype with no success to back it. Look at the squad today after the transfer window has officially shut. They have no back up RB No recognized LB as a starter CBs still full of mistakes in them Has at least half a dozen number 10s, he has no clue who to play , who to leave out and when Yet Benteke his

Yes , total spending in 3 years. Did recoup more than half of it back from the Suarez and Sterling transfers but the problem still is so complete waste of outgoing funds. No more than 3-4 out of the 31 incoming players have done a decent job. Rest have been rubbish buys

American owners at Liverpool don't care enough as yet or have hired clueless yes men to run the club. Unbelievable that he survived the sack last Summer . He has spent over

No idea why anyone would bad mouth Samaras. He's had a professional career making millions playing the sport he loved as a kid growing up and dreamed of having. Wasted potential ? Really based on who's criteria , random fans who live an out of body experience through him ? Does he seem sad, unhappy, unfulfilled to anyone here ? The reason he didn't play for an elite World club was because he wasn't good enough for any of them to want him on a regular basis. You can't make Samaras be Messi, Suarez or Neymar and if he ran a little more at practice or spent an extra 30 mins a day trying to perfect his shooting or heading while lifting weight and drinking protein shakes in between would not guarantee he'd have a better career. You are either good enough or not good enough for the great clubs. Those teams look for the holy trinity in modern football. Pace, Power, Skill. Got to have all 3 in abundance all the time. Samaras was and is now where exactly he's supposed to be.

Essien gave up on playing at the highest possible level of football a few years ago. Greek SL is one pig pay out towards the end of his career , something PAO outbidded leagues like the MLS , Turkish,Chinese , Arab one etc Cambiasso was at Leceister last year , no CL football there but he came to OLY for the best money at this stage of his career, they just happen to play in the CL now. If you are a top level player at the peak of your career you just simply don't play your club football in Greece.

Manchester City are on the verge of signing Kevin de Brunye for

Best and most consistent keeper PAO has had in a long time. He's so composed , always in control. I mean he's better than all the Greek keepers of the past decade including Tzorvas , Karnezis, Kapino, Kotsolis etc

English born central defenders under the age of 22 are not worth

Like who exactly could PAO have bought with the money they had available as someone better than Abeid with such little time left in the transfer window ? He's as good as it could get in my opinion. Good player. , we should be pleased.