pash

This is a very defensive looking lineup to me. Tudor seems worried.

^ oh HELL yes!

Isws mporei...na xtisei kati :: rimshot ::

I think Skondras is fine offensively - he had more than his share of assists and served as a big driver of our attack repeatedly. I do agree that Kitsiou is more offensively minded, though. If we play 3 at the back, then Kitsiou makes more sense to start.

Skondras repeatedly showed last season than he's better than the others. Two season ago, I did not like him. Kitsiou, while great two season ago, was invisible last season until the last few games. Konstantinidis is going to be great one day. Long story short, I like all three players. This is a good thing. Would agree on Koulouris, too bad we won't have him available for the qualifiers.

Interesting interview with Tzavellas, much of which is focused on last year's troubles (involving him).

Wow, this is a really shitty run for us: 4

Perhaps even more likely ;)

No, you're right. I just got distracted by Mistakidis' beautiful hair.

No idea. Perhaps with the new bailout, things were put on hold until players were sure they'd keep getting paid. Or, maybe Arnesen wanted to see how we play competitively before making the call.

Very nearly a hell of a team --Glykos-- --Konstantinidis--Papagiannopoulos --Martens--Noboa--Golasa--Lucas-- --Pereyra-- --Klaus--

Good thing Salpi is a true forward. 3 CBs: --Olsen-- --Vitor--Costa--Tzavellas-- --Kitsiou--Tziolis--Pelkas--Kace--Mak-- --Mistikidis--Salpi-- 2 CBs: --Olsen-- --Skondras--Vitor--Costa--Rat-- --Tziolis--Kace-- --Mistikidis--Pelkas--Mak-- --Salpi-- Where is Konstantinidis in all of this? Is he with one of the NT youth teams? If not, interesting that Kitsiou has found a new lease with Tudor. Frankly I like that we have three dudes in such competition for that spot.

Can't tell you how many times I've heard him say "the numbers don't matter" in interviews lately. Yia na doume.

If discipline's a problem, let's nip it in the bud now, I guess.

Taut bodies, rippling in the sun. Tzatziki smeared...everywhere

Yeah that fanela is awful

One of our few bright spots last season.

Mitroglou is trash, but yes, our midfield is the problem. Doesn't matter who you put as striker, they will all fail as long as the team can't string more than two passes together. But people here would rather blame Mitroglou/Gekas/Klaus/Samaras than our vaunted Samaris/Tachtsidis/Mantalos/Fortounis boys. Holebas is also garbage, especially as LB. Move him up forward and let him dribble, we'll all be happier for it.

My guess as to our starting lineup is simple - the same one that started last match. These are generally our strongest players (although I'd argue that Sotiris should start instead of Tzavellas). As Bananas noted, we've been using wingers instead of fullbacks as these wingbacks; I'm guessing that's not just so Tudor can check them out - he plans to actually start them. Even if Tziolis drops back to cover as a CB, I think this is a very aggressive lineup, as we're essentially playing with four wingers and one super-aggressive DM (Kace). I think Salpi will definitely see some time, might even start. He's looked good each time he's played in our friendlies, and he's the only CF we actually have out there. Mistikidis might be an option to start over Mak as well.

That new macron training kit looks awful: Why is their logo more prominent than ours? Feels like I'm looking at something out of the 90s. I probably should have bought a few of last year's jerseys during that sale a while back.

So in other words, what you're saying is that you have nothing to add?

Mistakidis is actually a winger and second striker - so essentially, he's Pereyra. We bought him last year from Freiburg (he played for their reserves) and loaned him out to Pierikos. Seems he spent his youth squad years in various German teams, and is from Salonica. I've liked what I've seen so far. Esp since we haven't seen anything for Pozoglou. As far as Rat...didn't he miss much of preseason due to his involvement with his national team? Or, Tudor isn't as fond of him/doesn't think he has the pace to work as a wingback (something I was wondering about last year). I did see Korovesis play a few times as well, perhaps they're just trying to test out the new players more so than the guy they know is our best LB? Skondras, seems to me to be perfect for that role. Konstantinidis and Kitsiou, same deal. All fast, aggressive, etc. Our weakness is definitely not on RB/RWB.

Well, I never!

Do qualifiers count towards being cup-tied? If that's the case, perhaps Martens is named to the games, but they're expecting to sell him before. Eh, what do I know. Just making stuff up at this point. -edit- I mis-typed. Perhaps Martens isn't named, because an actual decent move has been figured out for him. We'll see, I guess.

I guess this speaks much louder than news of Maduro's agent being "in talks."