BostonThanatos

This result and the result of the other match has made any dreams of advancing VERY unlikely.

Good job by Schwab (??) gaining control of that ball

MURG 1-1

Is it too late to sign Klaus?

Take Colak out NOW....

A lot of bad decision making on our part.

Goal scored with 2 PAOK players playing spectator.

Colak with a shot on goal that looks very similar to the ones the 8 year olds I coach make...

He's not eligible for this first round of European matches, right?

We don't have any foreign players on loan?

Seems like a solid line-up to me. Hopefully Colak can rise to the occasion and prove me wrong.

Let's be honest....we haven't had a good clear cut Transfer window in years, if ever. Not once have we ended a season and made the proper signings that would A.) Improve positions that were lacking the previous season B.) Improve to a level to compete in whichever stage of European Competition we were faced with and C.) Renewed existing contracts or Selling unwanted players, in a timely fashion. A couple years ago, although we had a successful season, we KNEW that we needed to beef up the midfield with more speed/creativity and what do we do? Let go of Sakhov and Canas, and borught in WHO, exactly? We switch Technical directors and Coaches every year so there is NEVER a solid long term plan in the workings. It's basically a revolving door of 1.New Coachh 2. New players for that coaches system 3. New TD to get those players 4. Coach leaves in a year 5. Scramble for New coach 6. Get Rid of players we just signed for the previous coach 7. Find NEW players for the new coach 8. Hire a new TD to get those players and round and round we go. Every Signing we make is a BAM that turns out to be Pew To Mauro Pistoli. It's honestly exhausting. So far Colac and Weiger (or however you spell their names) have been absolute duds (I know it's still early to tell).....In Traditional PAOK fashion we're dropping points left and right, and before we know it we're battling for 2nd or 3rd place by the 6th Week of the season. This off-season we knew we were keeping the coach. We knew that Akpom wanted to leave (per the TD press conference). We KNEW that we had issues in the midfield. We KNEW we needed a solid CF to go into CL. We knew Matos wasn't in the plans (and now he's back). We knew, we knew, we knew and still we got kourades, and last minute signings that are the equivalent of when you're the last one to get to the supermarket and have to pick from the crappy produce that's left over. I know everyone likes to talk about Marinaki and Melissanindi, but make no mistakes. Savvidis is a Mafioso. You don't go from squalor to becoming a multi billionaire in Russia by being an upstanding citizen. Just the fact that he's held high positions in the Russin govt proves that. Even if his intentions may be genuine, and he may love his Greek roots, and is proud of his Pontian heritage, and a champion of the Greek church/faith...it's all about the Rubles in the end. Did he buy the team to keep his mildly retarded son occupied and out of his hair? Maybe. 60-100 Million Euro's is a small price to pay to keep a Neanderthal, loser son out of the limelight (Current political events in US prove that point)... BUT FOR CHRIST'S SAKE AT LEAST GET SOME COMPETENT PEOPLE TO RUN THE BUSINESS!!! All this PAOK TV, PAOK Youtube channel, and heavy improvements in Social Media presence is basically like putting a Gucci belt on a pig...Sure, now you have a fancy pig...but it's still a pig. "...But, Boston....we won 3 Cups and had an undefeated season and made history!!" Let's clear things up....did the team WOW you on the field at all that season, with a few exceptions? Did we win or did everybody else just lose? Ok, that's probably the longest post I've ever written here...I'll just be like Bill Murray in Groundhog's Day and watch the match today...if we win I'll be jumping up and down screaming "PAOK S'AGAPW, PAOK EISAI O ENAS" and if we lose, I'll blame luck and fate or whatever other excuse I can find.

THere were reports he didn't want to return.

I always like Boloni as a coach. Also, if Mauricio has a decent season then PAO is on the right track to get out of these dark times...

Jaba is staying on and has been told that he has a role with the team in the upcoming hectic schedule. He'll have to earn his minutes. He's generally been a disappointment IMO

I'm seeing a lot of chatter on FB and IG about we should pass easily....I'm not sure what they know that I don't but this is NOT a slam dunk group for us, not even close. Im not very confident in us advancing.

So Our Group is: PSV Eindhoven PAOK FC Granada Omonia Nicosia

The money would have been great, but looking at the teams in CL, I can't name more than 4 or 5 that we could hope for more than a luckywin or tie against.

Watching Wague play yesterday, and some of the "hype" from his signing reminded me of this classic:

There are 2 reasons we lost. Its very simple. 1. We had Crespo playing Matos' position AND in the style of Matos, even though it isn't his skill set WHILE MATOS IS SITTING AT HOME BEING PAID! 2. We started without a striker. I would have AT THE VERY LEAST started the Swiderski and get Colak in there early if it didn't work out....or just start Colak straight up. Those are all coaching issues. Crespo, to his credit, played his heart out. He just isn't built to be an attacking player. He doesn't have the smart pass or shot for it. I think a 4-2-3-1 formation would have been more compatible to our roster.

...and yet ANOTHER team celebrates their entry to the Group stages on our field.

Matos' skillset was missed in this match. If we had him instead of Crespo in that position... The first half would have been much different. Dumping Akpom for chump change before the biggest matches of the year also didn't help. You can't expect miracles out of a CF that's been on the team for 8 days. It's clear that, at this level, the teams you face will make you pay for your mistakes. All 4 goals we copped vs Krasnodar were directly related to our own bad play. Krasnodar showed up to Greece looking like a lame duck, and we couldn't seal the deal. I'm not usually one to hop the "Sack the Coach" train but Abel has made it clear that he's not fit to lead this team to anything. All around disappointing.

Did this guy actually play for Barceona, or was he the janitor?

WTF was that??

Crespo + No CF in the first half cost us.... Tragic. We deserved so much more than what we got.