pash

(let me know if any of the above needs updating) With at least a draw in Slovakia, we progress to the play off round of the EL qualifiers. We outplayed them at home with ten men, so I'm confident we'll get through here. I'm assuming we'll still have Lucas for this match, so I'm guessing we'll have an almost unchanged lineup: --Olsen-- --Poungouras--Costa--Tzavellas-- --Kitsiou--Tziolis--Kace--Mak-- --Pelkas-- --Lucas--Koulouris-- Costa was very good in the last match, hopefully he keeps it up.

vs MATCHUP: Spartak Trnava vs P.A.O.K. Thessaloniki COMPETITION: Europa League - Qualifying Round 3 - Leg 2 DATE: 06-Aug-2015 TIME: 21:05 GR - 18:05 UTC, 13:05 CST, 04:05 AEST (next day) CITY/STADIUM: Zlate Moravce - ?tadi?n FC ViOn (3,300) REFEREES: Tobias Welz - Rafael Foltyn, Christian Bandurski (all GER) TELEVISION: Nova Sports 2 (GRE), Dvojka (SVK) HISTORY: 2015-2016 Europa League QR3-Leg 1: PAOK - Spartak Trnava 1:0 (Lucas) 1997-1998 UEFA Cup QR1-Leg 1: PAOK - Spartak Trnava 5:3 (Maragos 2, Zagorakis (p), Frantzeskos, Olivares) - ATTD: 26,492 QR1-Leg 2: Spartak Trnava - PAOK 0:1 (Zagorakis) - ATTD: 9,000

Yeah, they all seemed miserable. Both teams. Should UEFA have postponed/cancelled? I did not notice any water breaks this time, too.

Perhaps so. I have low self-esteem, though, so I need to believe in at least one thing in my life.

Why not? We will likely be seeded, I think "even with" this squad, we should be able to get through.

I believe Costa is on 800k, Martens is on 700k, and Noboa is on 1mm, All higher than Klaus, all less important to the team. Stoch and Natcho were also on similarly (very) large salaries. I'm not sure what you're trying to argue here - that we're overpaying, or that we should be paying more? I'm sure our management realizes we need more people, but let's also keep in mind we have another month until the transfer window opens - and relatively easy matches to deal with up until then. -edit- until the transfer window *closes*

With Vitor out for the next game, Tzavellas will *definitely* be starting (as if we didn't know that already). Hopefully Tziolis won't be pushed back as CB. My guess is Papagiannopoulos to start, unless Tudor goes for a four-man defense (with just Tzavellas and Costa as CBs).

Lucas definitely our man of the match, but honorable mentions for me go to Kace, Kitsiou, and most especially Costa. Savvidis and Mistakidis were both excellent subs as well - I expected Mistakidis to do well, but Savvidis turned in a particularly strong performance. Skondras is the man, even playing out of position. Tzavellas very inconsistent for me. Tziolis came off slightly better, but it might be because his extreme lack of mobility cut off any opportunity for real disappointment.

I feel we'll end up having four teams in the group stage of the EL. This could be a very good season for our country coefficient

press conference about to begin

Good question. It's hard to justify starting him over Mak though - but once Lucas is gone, he might get his chance. Still no good reason he isn't playing as a striker while we are so low on players, though.

Absolutely. Mistakidis better in his three sub appearances this season than Salpi has been since November. We *NEED* to keep trusting these guys.

GOAL LUCAS 1-0!!!

Final sub, Mistakidis in for Mak

Savvidis for Tziolis, an excellent sub

Savvidis preparing to come on

How many more handballs before the ref actually calls one?

KACE YOU HAVE TO GET THOSE IN

Yeah, we definitely can win this. At this rate, they're likely to join us at ten men.

62% as of a few minutes ago. So many blown calls

This Toth guy plays rough

Skondras coming in for koulouris

I turned it on at minute three, he got a red card???

I believe Blackhawk said a while back that the deal was we'd keep him until we qualified to the group stage, then sell him to them.

Lineup just announced, exact same as before (with Koulouris).