pash

Bama PAOK

Russia looks out for Russia. They don't give two shits about Greece, I can guarantee you.

I would definitely be up for that. Our Alabaman (Alabamian?) brother said he comes up this way often, too. We can get a good little group going.

Isn't Itandje on his way out? Giakoumis doesn't seem up for it, I can see him getting dropped, esp if we go for a new keeper as competition for Glykos. I still think Vitor is good, and his pairing with Insaurralde last season was, in my opinion, great. Costa has been a letdown, but I suppose you can't expect them to gel immediately. Papagiannopoulos seems fast, strong, and aggressive, and frankly has made a better showing of himself than Costa. We'll have him for a while too, so I'm sure he'll be getting a lot of playing time. So, right now, it looks like we have Vitor/Costa/Papagiannopoulos + whoever we have out on loan. Qose? Seems we need one more solid CB to even this out. I think our team is otherwise fine for a superleague season, but we have a serious lack of depth when we hit the midseason break and fatigue/etc takes its toll. Add in European + cup games, and we have a big problem. I don't think Skondras should be delegating for Rat, when he himself should be getting a *lot* of play time on the right. If Tzavellas is on the outs, or doesn't improve, we need to replace him (aren't we getting Korovesis this summer? Is he good enough to be backup?). Until recently I agreed with you on the CM/winger front. But look at who we have playing - Golasa rarely seems to start, and seems more comfortable in the center. We end up playing Pereyra on the wing much of the time, but he's also much more effective as a second striker/AM. If we are playing these two out of position at the best of times, it tells me that we do need another winger to offset Mak. And we all know Salpi isn't up to it anymore - any coach worth his salt will be playing him as a super sub. Do you think we'll be resigning Dpaps? It might not be a bad idea. I would rather us play Koulouris than hiring yet another striker. Or if he's not ready to play, then at least loan the guy out. My longwinded point - we have an adequate team, but an adequate team does not win championships. We need another 3 or 4 Naboa/Pereyra/Mak-level players to truly and fundamentally change PAOK.

Russia's economy is in freefall and their army needs tow trucks to bring their armor to bear. This recent trip is very ill thought-out, even if it is only for posturing. Greece stands to gain little from dealing with an insipid dictatorship ruled by a pariah. Russia, on the other hand, might get some benefit out of playing Greece against its allies - you know, those countries that actually work together instead of annexing.

As far as coaches go - I saw a rumor about Ketsbaia being a forerunner...would be interesting if true. I like him.

If he does, I'm sure he'll be loaned out to a mid-tier team.

That's a good idea, but unfortunately I don't know how to get in touch with him

Haha best pre-name day present ever

GEORGIE BOY!!!!!!!!

Is it even Greek? Ugh

Katsikas, Spyropoulos, Tzandaris are all being released. If I had to guess, I'd say Tzavellas is going to be sold too (depending on who the new coach and technical director are). I believe Dpaps had a one-year contract, so he's out as well (and I doubt he'd be renewed). I think both Maduro and Martens have another year left on their contracts (although Martens will be on loan still, with us paying 50% of his wages).

It's pronounced "Victoria" -edit- like the spice girl

It's never too early to start arguing about summer transfers, am I right? I'll start off with a gem - Swansea and Stoke are apparently interested in Klaus. I don't buy it, but if an offer is made, I can't see him staying in this miserable league.

Pashalis? What the hell kind of name is that?

Tzavellas had a great chance to be the starter at PAOK last year, especially since Lino was atrocious for much of the (first half?) of the season. At this point, however, he is a shadow of the player that Rat is. He's a worthy backup (right now), but should not play CB. I can only assume he started the last match so that Costa/Papagiannopoulos could be rested for the playoffs. As far as the ethniki goes - as much as I dislike Holebas, I understand that we rely heavily upon our fullbacks to create chances and so on. It seems clear to me that similarly offensive-minded players are going to be used in the future (once Holebas declines) - mainly, Stafylidis. I should also note that Skondras, a RB, has also shown that he's a better LB than Tzavellas. A shame. Regarding this match - I watched the second half. We did all right, but we had the same problem we always have - we can't finish. DPaps has been doing better lately than Klaus (a LOT better), so thank goodness we had him there to score this brace. The goal against us was caused by a stupid, stupid mistake, as the defender was caught out very far up the field...

I'm having some trouble finding a suitable image. This might take some doing.

Online, we're all virgins. Thanks for the welcomes, all.

Don't worry baby birds, papa's here now. Everything's gonna be all right. Salpi and barca4 were different people. Will work on getting a hold of them. Some people from gs.com had salpi as friends on their PSN accounts, which might be the ticket.

I. HAVE. ARRIVED!