paoboston

It's all about the virtue of patience. People just have to be patient.

It's hard to judge a team in the middle of the summer. Lots of new faces that haven't had a chance to play together. There are going to be growing pains until chemistry and continuity forms. It socks that they weren't able to get past Brugge but it is what it is. Expecting everyone to come in and seamlessly hit the ground running was always a silly notion. It takes a while. As for the fitness thing, I don't buy it. They had a month off between the end of playoffs and training. It's the same amount of time off they had the year before. My fear is people burying this team even before the SL starts. They just need to scrap by early on to get the points and it doesn't have to be pretty. Under Anastasiou, PAO has been a force in the 2nd half of the season. This year, I think he has the talent to make a serious run in the 2nd half as long as they are within striking distance.

You really can't "fix" that issue overnight. It takes some time for chemistry to develop. Just have to wait it out.

Hey, numnuts, no one put a gun to our head to watch the GSL. We willingly choose to watch it, even though the quality isn't that great. Also, all Sydney said was the MLS has improved a lot. Relax and get off your high horse. As for the other BS you wrote, I'm not sure it merits a reply.

That's my point. I find it odd that when comparing quality between MLS and GSL one would think the GSL is better quality. The MLS has more parity and probably more big names than the GSL at this point.

What's wrong with the MLS?

Umm..I'm not saying theoretically you don't have a point about the entire kiss and forget thing, but it's hard to accept that mentality in reality when you remember the Cyprus issue. But I do agree with that mentality when talking about people as a whole, not their governments. Overall, everyone has good and bad people. I tend to believe there are more good people than bad. Those people ultimately are trying to make ends meet like us. It's the government that can go F*** itself.

Fans of Azerbaijan club beat journalist to death over player criticism http://prosoccertalk.nbcsports.com/2015/08/10/fans-of-azerbaijan-club-beat-journalist-to-death-over-player-criticism/

For the record, Alafouzos isn't PAO's official owner. He's a caretaker (even though he's put in a good chunk of money himself to save the team a few years ago). He could leave tomorrow and PAO would be in the shitter. The reality is Alafouzos saved this club from the abyss. He stayed when everyone else jumped ship, proclaimed himself the de facto equivalent of the Troika and cleaned up PAO's financial situation. He has made mistakes. But he's admitted those mistakes as well. He's said he knows nothing about soccer and put people in charge of making the soccer decisions. It's disappointing that PAO didn't qualify this week but ultimately it's not the end of the world. Just a slight detour. This has always been a project from the start. This is year 3 of Anastasiou. I'd like to use what he can do with the team when everyone is healthy and established. It's still very early inext the season and there isn't any real cohesion yet. I think ultimately we are going to have a very good team this year.

Oh ffs

And so ends the legend of Fetfazinho. ..

Ballsy win. I know people are going to bag the defense but the reality is it is super early right now and there are a lot of new faces there (Wemer, Sanchez, Pranjic) on the backline. You had to figure there was and is going to be some confusion for a while. It didn't help Koutroubis was playing DM. It's going to take time. Hopefully we get an early goal next game to ice this.

Mother of jesus. They never make it easy on themselves.

For them to be looking for another GK, Steele must have something really wrong with him.

This post is utterly terrifying. Zero confidence in that happening unless some miracle happens.As for Karagounis, if it is true that he is a problem, I don't see how he can't get sacked as well. I find that entire relationship/situation odd though as Makarian was Kara's first and hand picked choice. Whatever the case,it doesn't look good with all that has come out.

You're right. Not sure why I thought their season already started. But they haven't won a friendly since they beat us 2-1 and they lost their Super Cup as well.

Is Steele still having lingering back issues? Also, Brugge hasn't exactly lit it up in their domestic league. They have been struggling.

I'm sure that exactly it Ethnikos. Kara didn't want Michel because he was the Oly coach. Not that Michel probably held out in finding a good club team situation rather than coach the train wreck that is the NT.

The issue is the corrupt EPO leadership who are in it to launder money and line their pockets. They don't care anymore. Makarian doesn't want to be involved with them anymore and rightfully tried to get out. Rumors have it Karagounis is trying to do the same. The NT is toxic. Sarris and Co. successfully ran out Santos out of town and the team has never fully recovered as they tried to place their puppet Ranieri in charge. That's the real issue. Not the coach.

In my prime I was a defensive midfielder. I'd like to run around and foul people. Now in the latter part of my career, I have indeed made the move to CB for the betterment of the team. But this team will never score with Accor up top. I haven't seen a palto like that since Rodrigo Souza.

At the some point, we are going to have to drop the young player label. Ajagun is now almost 23. Ditto for Klonaridis. They ate actually similar age to Karelis. The only difference is that Karelis grabbed his opportunity from the balls and has improved every single year he's been at PAO. The other two players just simply havent. They have been to inconsistent to be counted on as regulars. And as time passes, what you see is basically what you get. Not surprising they brought in Kaltsas.

Klonaridis is nothing more than a substitute or spot starter. He's been on the team 2 years now and hasn't really impressed. Thelander is coming off injury and is being eased in. Currently he is blocked by Tavlaridis who was our best defender last year and one of the leaders of the team. I expect Thelander to get thr starting gig next year. The rest of the young players (Atzagun, Donis, etc) don't justify a response because they are nothing more than squad players and haven't made the best of their opportunities. None of them deserve to start over the players like Petric or Pranjic unless it's due to injury or a rotation for a cup game. Just because they are younger doesn't mean they should be starting.

To be fair, I thought he had turned the corner early last season. He was great for a 2 month stretch until he hurt his back. He just wasn't the same after that.

Ase ton na ta leei etsi. Oti leei, to antitheto ginetai. Lol.

We are underdogs but it's the best draw we could have hoped for this early in the season. There's still a couple more weeks of training so hopefully the A squad will be primed and ready.