pash

Where are you hearing this?

El Kaddouri is sick and it seems he won't be available for the game. A change of pace from being injured.

That is true, but I honestly think it's becoming less and less of an issue as time goes on. Medicine progresses fast, and I struggle to remember the last time we had a guy tear a meniscus who didn't look fine coming back. Maybe Mistakidis? But I kind of feel the team just moved forward without him, and by the time he was back there was no room for him.

I'm guessing that is not a rhetorical question so I'll answer it straight: the team got butthurt that his son signed with Benfica, it led to some weirdly bad blood between the two sides, and ended with Varela has been training with the B team for, what, 6 weeks now? I believe he was removed from our European list when we moved past the group stage as well. There were some rumors that his old team in Romania was interested, but were not willing to pay the salary he's on. So he's content to ride out the remainder of his contract and then try his luck as a free agent. A sad end to a great partnership.

PUT HIM IN COACH!

Michailidis out for six months: https://www.paokfc.gr/nea/20220314-iatriko-deltio-gia-ton-gianni-michailidi/

He needs a few long-term injuries before we consider that!

As he should!

Btw Lodygin was fantastic today. But that's not surprising considering how long he's been so good. And to think, Greece almost managed to cap him ?

Fantastic that we scored. Did Michailidis already get confirmation of torn ligaments?? Absolutely terrible.

What is that symbol on the right side of their chest? I thought I was looking at the FFF logo. Their jerseys are by Kappa, aren't they?

Aris lost 2-1 vs Olympiakos (obviously a late-game penalty was given to make the result a sure thing). PAO and AEK are currently playing through stoppage time, and it's a 1-1 there. These are pretty good results for us. Assuming AEK does not win, we'll go into this game with a 6-point advantage. A win today will go a long way towards solidifying 2nd place.

Here's my super-fun lineup: --Zivkovic-- --Sastre--Michailidis--Ingason--Sidcley-- --Schwab--Tsiggaras-- --Jaba-- --Soares-- --Mitrita-- --Colak-- I would actually prefer to start Mihaj over Ingason here, and I think Lucescu will put Augusto or El Kaddouri in over Soares. But this will probably be the "easiest" game of the playoffs, so there probably isn't a better time to start the new guy.

So do you rest Zivkovic and Kurtic here? Or, since they can't play next Wednesday, do you push them to be available and not risk injury to those who can play?

Also, I think our GK was more hurt than we assumed at first. Was surprised when I saw him asking for that magic spray, and it may account for some of his weirder movements later in the game. https://inpaok.com/722246/sta-pits-o-paschalakis/

I told PaokCT that Tsiggaras was turning into Cimirot and he threatened my LIFE. Anyway, is that what happened with Kurtic? I thought he was fouled, flipped out over it, and then was subbed off? I could have misunderstood though.

Murg got the Limnios haircut

Big, big win. I hate that they stopped trying to score a second with 25 minutes left to play. Our GK clearly has a groin injury. Not great. Vieirinha was made to look like a chump multiple times. Poor performance. Kurtic and Zivkovic just can't control themselves, huh? Fortunately we have depth. Hopefully it'll be enough. Some very nice runs and passes by Lyratzis. He's no Giannoulis but he's getting better. Murg underrated. Biseswar was so clearly gassed halfway through the game...I counted him watching the ball slowly ooze by him three times in a five minute period. Needs to be subbed off sooner.

Only four days. I foresee another European hangover in our near future.

Seems we were fined 10k for the pitch invasion and another 34,750 for the flares. Got off lightly. Guaranteed if we win tomorrow, there will be another incident.

I'm convinced he hasn't played in like three years.

We truly have a feisty group. Surprised El Kaddouri doesn't somehow have six cards in this competition.

I legit don't know how you can rebuild a team if you refuse to let go of your worst-performing players. I'll grant that Biseswar offers something none of our other guys have right now, but that's what the transfer window is for.

Apparently Biseswar is on course to be renewed. Let's see how long until the wheels fall off. At this point, I can 100% see them re-signing Crespo, Biseswar, and Vieirinha...

LA Galaxy* Scale's a whole different monster when you consider that they play in the Panthers' stadium. I thought they had attendance capped for MLS (wiki says 38k), but the founding of a new team is as good a reason as any to open the floodgates. I'm still cheesed that NE's stadium caps at 20k for Revs games.