pash

It would be a huge sign of Lucescu's faith in Shoretire if he drops Murg. I actually would have thought Otto would be a candidate to drop, because he doesn't seem to be able to consistently own that spot anyway. It worries me, though, because if both fullbacks (on each side) aren't there, then that guarantees Vieirinha will get minutes. The only time he should be playing, is as a sub in the Riga match.

My guesses: Samatta, Gomez, Shoretire, Ozdoev, and one of our three strikers. They should cut Vieirinha, but I doubt they would.

I still think we will - Greece's transfer window is open for eight more days. Cyprus is open for six more.

Yeah! Take him down!!!! Worst owner in team history; he stopped us from having an eventual merger with Makadonikos

Are you familiar with the term "salary" ?

He has played as CB in most of his career appearances. Lucescu saying he can "also play as a midfielder" also tells you where he sees him. Paoksyd, you are one weird guy. What money is being pocketed? This summer's salaries are probably gonna bankrupt us, chief

At this point, a free transfer is about all I could expect out of him. Saving a few euros on his salary makes it worth it all on its own. Chatzidiakos is off to Copenhagen so that leaves us with only four CBs (if you count Thymianis). Personally, I want to see a youth player there, but I'm sure that won't happen. Eight days to go!

Good luck to him, I hope he absolutely crushes it there. I have a feeling Otto will be gone after this season; let's see if he can pick it up from there. And now for MY exciting news!

Panathinaikos fans have another reason to be pissed; they have drawn again (this time vs Kallithea). Too bad next week's game will be at home; I feel this would be a good time to take advantage of the ugly atmosphere among their supporters...

Perhaps it was related to his exchange with Warda, who can blow a bag 'o dicks for that celebration

I legit thought they would because of the play acting by Dutch Eagle's countryman

Guys even when they don't make contact with your face, you should grab your face and drop to the ground anyway. That way, you can get goals disallowed. Frankly, I think Baba was the one who was fouled there...

Garcia has them well-drilled, unsurprisingly. Hopefully we treat this like most of our recent away games and let them tire themselves out before taking control. This should at least play to our advantage by letting us counter...

Wow, Shola gets the start

Interesting. Looks like these are cumulative; so if you get five wins your chances of making it into at least 8th place is 75%. If my (probably optimistic) projection of one draw and five wins comes true, that increases to a 97% chance. Says it's elo-based, which is probably skewing this, though. My guess is they're using UEFA coefficients as the ranking criteria. Keep in mind that all three Turkish teams have "artificially" low coefficients; it might actually be a little harder to get through than this implies. Though there may be a few teams that are overachievers ranking-wise as well (but I wouldn't bet on it).

Taison being out might guarantee we see some Soretire, methinks? Even if just as a sub

Andre Ricardo has been announced as on loan to Chavez in Portugal's second division. By my count that leaves the below players as in limbo: Samatta Lyratzis Tsaousis Funny enough, if those three leave and we sign the new midfielder and center back, we will be right at Lucescu's sweet spot of 28 players. Funny how that works out.

I am curious where these simulations are? Very intriguing. I'll say that I think this group is very doable for us (not that "group" means much here). If we play to our potential, I could see two losses, one draw, five wins. If we perform to Blackhawk's more conservative guess...that's still pretty good odds for a "bye" to the next round.

The same guy who kept getting the job as interim manager?!

YEEE HAWWW URRYTHIN'S BIGGER IN TEXAS Y'ALL -edit- another quick update - we have (given away?) Charalambos Georgiadis to Nuremberg, retaining some resale percentage. He'll be joining their U23 squad. I believe he was on loan in Italy last season.

Can we all at least agree that Real Sociedad has possibly the most absurd logo in international football

There are some players who are, let's say, "the best position player in a league, excluding the actual contenders." And when you pick them up, you either get someone who is naturally at that level (nothing exceptional), or someone who was being held back by his team and now has a chance to take his game to a new level. I think Soares was the former. Hopefully Gomez is good. From what I understand he's much more of an offensively-minded guy. Lucescu has been chasing that ever since Matos, so I can see why he'd want a chance to develop someone like that.

Dutchy are you personally acquainted with the ladies representing AZ Alkmaar? Asking because it's been a cold summer

Looking forward to it, I can't wait to see how this new format will look. I "liked" this post even though I want Panathinaikos to be miserable. We just need those coefficient points too badly for me to root against them 😞

Game being played at a fun pace, but it's clear everyone is happy to just let this end and move on.