pash

Feels weird to be able to flip that old story around

Even if we lose and can't progress, every win will still net us coefficient points. So the need to try is still there.

This season's league is going to be as close as last season's, huh

Exactly. Isn't it strange that Lucescu will run some players into the ground, fatigue be damned...while we have a clearly superior option sitting on the bench here? Normally I'd think Camara would BE the guy he's overworking, but for whatever reason Ozdoyev seems to have impressed him more than last season.

The difference between you and me, is I have a boundless appreciation for how dumb Greeks can be. The bar is so low that it'll probably be uncovered when they get around to sinking Toumba's pitch.

The performance of the stipiki over the past decade is a classic case study in organizational dynamics. The quality of the players is irrelevant when both leadership and morale are lacking. If you want to quantify this, you can think of it as "momentum" - I'm sure one could plot a regression of actual results against an expected outcome (expected goals, expected wins) for matches, and show the clear terms how and where our mindset changed. That's a fancy way of saying, we were sad and so played badly. Now we're happy and are playing better. I would also call your attention to a similar situation that our Balkan neighbors over in Bosnia are experiencing. As someone with a few Bosnian friends, I can confirm to you that their NT is caught in the exact same issue we've had for most of the past decade. I hear about it constantly. The main difference between our situations is that their downfall started about four years after ours, so they're only now starting their descent to rock bottom.

I've been actively hating on the stipiki for a few years. These last two games have solidified my belief that they're FINALLY back. This team has an abundance of talent, both offensively and defensively. And on top of that, they actually have some technical skill - something we never really showed off in the Santos era. While we had glimpses of attractive football over the last few years, they've always seemed mentally fragile and only half-certain of their own game plan. We may have turned a corner; perhaps their rallying around Baldock's death did it...or perhaps it's Jovanovic (though I doubt a coach can make that kind of a change in so short a time). Maybe it's just that a lot of these guys have now been playing with each other for a while. Whatever it is, I think they may now be "clicking" and could actually do some damage internationally. For what it's worth, this surprised me. Surely we can't be favorites to win against England again? This is probably assuming a substantial (50%?) chance of a draw, to get us to that number (considering the 31% chance of a loss this chart implies). Can't imagine we'll be troubled by Finland either way.

I'd bring Pelkas to your parents' home so that in nine months you could have a new, much superior sibling. I missed the first goal because I was so busy trash talking Irish people on group chats that I neglected to actually look at the score line until the 65th minute.

Very nicely done

I'd let Pelkas marry my daughter, if I had one.

I noticed that too, but I just assumed the limey that was in front of our guy got a touch, after the ref said nothing.

Some claims online that a bottle of vodka was found nearby. Alcohol is huuuugely dangerous near pools (hell, people have died in bathtubs after getting inebriated). Sad ending to his story.

Bingo. Both rumors cannot be true. Also, he split duties last season and didn't seem to have much of a problem. We are hopefully going to play a LOT of games. Everybody will get a ton of appearances, especially with the five subs.

The streams today were some of the worst-quality ones I've seen yet, so you probably got a better sense of it than I did...

HOW IS IT POSSIBLE WE'RE STILL IN FIRST PLACE HAHAHAHAHA

Is this the biggest rotation we've ever seen from Lucescu?

Have we even managed 50% of possession since they went down to 10 men? Pathetic performance.

Awww our little bulldog!

We, or he??

Wouldn't be surprised if he starts Ozdoyev/Schwab in midfield again, to keep Camara a little more rested for next week.

Come on now, let's not play them up too much. FCSB is all right, but they're roughly as good as the mighty Aris. As long as our guys are dialed in, we should smack them around.

Despodov is better than Zivkovic!

I really feared this would be much more of a blowout. A draw is very possible. Hope for better than that, though!

It's like the sound of one hand clapping

wishing a good season for YOU, bud ❤️