val

kotsolis never been taught when to come out

Zeca has been awesome, amazing stamina

Playing like men now

Well done kotsoli, that was a tug though

Problem is, we have 3 holders no ball retainers, we might just tire chasing the ball

30 is playing, i forgot

free header again, is it zonal or man guys? Jesus

I thought he might do this, 4-3-2 with 10 mean provides the best balance between defense and attack.

HT 1-1 Definitely been up against it. I mean concede, miss a penalty, red and all in one half ? Brugge have lined up in a 4-5-1, simply stetching the play. We started 4-2-2-2 and there was much confusion both in attack build up and off the ball. Brugge simply moved the ball out wide, leaving our fullbacks exposed and stretching our centre halves. The change to the 4-4-2 rombo with ninis in a free role, made things more clear. Zeca, ajagun now offering support out wide and ninis now dropping to dictate the play. It allowed us to control the rest of the half. That tackle from sanchez was disappointing. He has allowed diaby to get in his head. You have to expect more. I hope he is not a hot head. It now means that we have to take off kareli for another mid. It means we lose the presence of a second striker which helped create the penalty. Positive is ninis, great feet and decision making, precise passing. Berg knock downs have been crucial. We are going to have to use the long ball a lot more now in the second, let?s hope ninis doesn't get gassed. On a final note, the red might be a blessing in disguise. It will force us to throw men back, and try sneek a goal.

ajagun seriously

red

sanchez and diaby going at all game

Ninis playing like a stud

our midfield in tragic

dear god....

4-3-2-1 without the ball, 4-4-2 rombo in attack? we shall see...

The friendly against brugge showed no difference in quality. The difference is that they are much better drilled, whilst we on the other hand don't look like the side that took to the field for the playoffs. As always the timing is horrible. Two months ago, i would be a lot more confident. I remain hopeful though.

Isn't that what happened against standard? You're probably right though, the team tends to play better away. Leoforos is no longer a fortress. If you were to break down those games though, you will find that we could've done better. Didn't berg miss a sitter in belgium? Regardless we got an early goal in the return leg and rather sitting to protect, we overcommitted with a lot of bodies forward. Both goals came from counterattacks. I have to put this on anastasiou. His brand of football doesn't bode well for us in europe.

^^I don't know, i think we lack the individuals, a ball retainer for sure. Perhaps zeca, koutroubis as the holders, lod and ninis as the CAM's, but then again ninis rarely enters the box. That's why i like abeid, he was everywhere. When you have an extra player willing to join the attack, the opposition shits themselves. It becomes a necessity especially against packed defenders. That was the issue against udinese, at least how i saw it.

The 4-2-2-2 is all about possession, 4 v 3 in the middle in most cases. The lack of width is obvious, which is why you need great fullbacks. I can see why anastasiou wanted wemer. Not that great with the ball at his feet, but gets up and down the flank with ease. 30 can't do this. Against packed defenders, usually you would instruct one of your attacking midfielders to drift wide. They may both drift wide. After all that's where the space is. So you look to attack the flanks, as your attacking midfielder waits for the overlapping fullback. Most coaches opt for this approach. I read however that anastasiou wants us attacking centrally. The advantages to this are that there are more passing angles (360 degree motion as opposed to 180 on the flanks). The other advantage is that you can see more of the goal. The lack of space is the obstacle, it relies heavily upon clever movement and one touch passing from your central guys. Again in this case, you need your fullbacks pushing up to occupy the opposing fullbacks, in turn not allowing them to play narrowly, offering support to their centre halves. Bold move from Anastasiou, nonetheless very difficult to implement, not to mention giving you all sort of problems in the defense transition phase. In the friendly, as contradicting as it might sound, Udinese exploited us as a result of wemer going forward.

I agree and i mentioned this after the friendly. They are really good going forward, a lot of rehearsal in their movement. If we give them space, they will kill us. We haven't shown the same cohesion thus far, we have regressed since the playoffs. It is going to take some time before we start firing again which is why i suggested we play more cautiously and try keep them out. Assuming we can do this, we have berg who can decide the tie.

Firstly let me just say, that i loved udinese's game plan. They sat and picked their moments to get forward, more so in the second, upon realising that our guys were starting to tire. We tried to take the game to them as usual but the fitness levels are just not there at the moment. If the fitness levels are lacking, then so is your running and as a result you can't press and are too slow in your defence transition which was the story of the last 15 or so minutes. It also affects your attacking play, and unlike the first, we had more space to work with in the second but failed to capitalize. Not to fear because we will get better eventually, problem is though, that the brugge games are just around the corner and we are not ready, not for the type of football anastasiou want to play anyway. To give ourselves the best chance of qualifying, we need to change it up a bit, and adopt a more balanced approach. In terms of individual performances, there were both positives and negatives. Kotsolis, showed good form. Tavlaridis, His usual strong self but slow. At fault for the first goal. Sanchez never wasted possession, tried to communicate with the others at the back but looked slower than expected and was outmuscled on one occasion leading to a 1v1. Pranjic, good feet, i liked that he was careful with his forward runs, after all he had to offer some balance because wermer kept getting forward. Wermer, not as comfortable with the ball at his feet, physically insane, got forward but left us exposed on his side all too often. Lagos, lacks the intelligence to play the holder, grabbed an assist ajagajoun, appreciate his enthusiasm and pace but he never really releases the ball well, not starting material. ninis, if he is going to be our enganche, you can't help demand that he has more of an influence on proceedings. Never really been a trait of his though. zeca, energy overriding quality Berg, 8/10 will score Karelis, keeps improving 30, tragic to say the least

The way freez broke it down, it sounds like there's a good chance he could re-injure himself. Alafouzos and co. knew the risk the were taking. Let's hope he can come back and contribute. If not, we cut our losses, he's not the first or the last.

He is an energy guy, but i think when we signed him, we had hoped that he would develop into something more. It hasn't happened. Lod looks like one of those prospects you invest a lot of time in.

We have a blend of both youth and experience. This season we signed three young guys and three veterans. Also anastasiou gives plenty of chances to the younger guys and has even shown patience with the likes of donis, aja etc