PaoOle

As for Tsiolis: I have to give him his due; he plays well on his specific rule; take headers and make long passes and let Zeka pressure. It seems that Sikble likes the Zeka/Tsiolis due; they have been good so far. Donis is the bast so far; can Fortounis and Mantalos match his play? This is the issue.

I watched the game and read all comments and analysis from the Greek media/radio. On the actual game, things are simple: The first 2 goals originated, IMO, from 2 very difficult to defend crosses. They where at the perfect place (not to close to the goalie) and from an angle that make it easier to the offensive player the moves forward than the defender that goes the other way. The real issue is that (as an analyst said); PAO allowed space and time to the Spanish players to make the crosses from right-side and just outside to the box. This is where quality makes a difference; a quality player would make the perfect cross. Now many said that in the first goal, our goalie, Vlahodimos, should have come out and get the cross. Well this is the issue for every Greek goalkeeper (may be except Anestis?). Vlahodimos is a serviceable goalie, good reflexes and does not make silly mistakes;. However, he never comes out of the box (like Tsorvas & Karnezis). So, this is too match to expect. One may expect that the CB's would get the headesr, but given the cross and the quality of the Bilbao striker, it also may be too much to expect. Now the third goal, is direct result of the Xatzigiovannis wrongly back pass and the quality of the Wiiliams. Here Moledo failed to stop him and he won a penalty (not sure if it was a real penalty, but I am the only on to see it this way;). BTW and I am in the minority here, Modelo while is superb in superleage (where talent is low and there are many crosses ), he is not very agile to make the difference is the European games. Even last year I believe he did not play that great. At the very least me must be paired with a different player than Koutroubis. Zeka and Loud were great. Bilbao coach said that Zeka was fantastic. Loud on the other hand is quietly becoming a very good payer. While not great, he is solid across the board (can also play LB) with the big plus that he can drible into the box and most importantly finish. The moves he made in the goal (control, move into the box and corner strike) not many strikers in super league can do (especially if you count how fast he made them).

Mandalos is a nice player but when both at their best Fortounis is better. Given that Mitroglou with all his strengths is slow, Fortounis speed makes him a better choice for NT. The problem is that Giannotas and Klonaridis that are fast, are not good for starters. Granted I have not watched Giannotas the last 2 years but i doubt he changed much. Poise and offensive quality (e.g, Donis) shows even in one game.

Great point! Tsiolis vs Bosnia illustrates this point. He had him in the right role and played well. The more tools he has the better it will be.

There is no logic for Lazaros not selected over Bakasetas. I guess everyone that watched any AEK game can see this. Klonaridis has some shortcomings (average ball skills and injury prone), he is nor starter material. However he can selectively help due to speed and his ability to score. Despite his miss chances vs PAOK in kypello, he gets the right place and scores. I guess that his goals/game stats would show this (and he never scores via penalties). From the PAOK games I have seen Pelkas is a nice player.

Also agree, apart from Karnezis that had an good game, and the usual Manolas Sokratis, Zeka and Stafilidis played the best. As a PAO fun and a Zeka supporter, I was not surprised a bit; he is way underrated even within PAO. I was laughing when people compare him to Maniatis & Tsiolis (that btw, had an OK game). Stafilidis was a beast; fast, aggressive, good crossing everything. He is on his way to be the best Greek Player. Bakasetas, Mandalos played poorly and Fortounis very average. Mitro had no service; Basically we play we defense, Tsolis & Zeka.

Game is on https://www.foxsportsgo.com/ but will get shown at 5:00PM eastern time. I close the radio and watch it then.

I assume that Skibbe watched AEK this season (so that he pickup Bakasetas). Then the question is: does he really thinks that Bakasetas played better than Lazaros.

Tsiolis ????? with Mantalos Bakasetas in the wings, they better run hard; otherwise it will be zeka against the bosnial mildfield. I would use Maniatios or Kourbalis in place of Tsiolis and Retsos in place of Bakasetas (and moving stafilidis to LM).

In my opinion one we need 3 midfielders dedicated to defensive duties. With Mandalos, Fortunis and Gianiotas in the same lineup (along with Mitroglou) we would be playing catch-up. I would only play 2 of them.