BostonThanatos

It looks like Anderlecht have fielded their K19 academy...This can't be their A squad.....this is disappointing.

Exactly that.... Against stronger offensive teams, there would be some problems for sure...

The good thing is, I feel like the coach has a lot of options for how to play certain teams. It's up to him to analyze the opponent and set our guys up to exploit any weaknesses of the opponent, and counter their strengths.

It is but I'm afraid that then you only have Esiti regulating the midfield and may force our defenders to play higher up in support.....that may be OK with some teams, but in European competition, I think it would be disaster. Jaba, Stoch and Biseswar are pretty worthless on the defensive side of the midfield.

I like that lineup. Having a guy like Esiti in the midfield with El Khaddouri or Auguto will be huge. I'd personally prefer to have Biseswar in Pelkas position and a guy like Stoch on the wing....having Biseswar play behind Akpom, almost like a 4-4-1-1 or 4-2-3-1 that we traditionally play. Biseswar CAN score, but really excels at controlling the ball and creating opportunities for other players. Coach knows best though, and he's explained that he's gonna have players coming out of their comfort zone, position wise....so let's see what we have in store.

Esiti DOES look legit. I think he'd be a key player considering his skill set.

Yeah, I know.

PAO currently up 1-2 against AJAX. ?

I guess the Rain excuse was bogus then....according to that link the game started.

Im reading there is heavy rain and the teams haven't been brought out yet.

Wasn't the match supposed to start 20 minutes ago?

Eh, Benfica fans. Like Oly fans commenting about PAOK players. I've been a Sporting supporter for 10 years (I married into it). There were complaints about him during his time in Sporting, regarding fitness, but it wasn't about drinking and partying. He has more of a mental issue. He's a bit of a basket case. He is the kind of player who could end up being a cancer in the locker room, but having a Potuguese coach, and Vieirinha who are both familiar faces to him could be a difference maker. The climate in our team is MUCH different that what he's been dealing with the last few years. He was in a very toxic situation in Sporting, and basically took a huge pay cut last year to play at Rio Ave, but that was because he was expecting Sporting to call and sign him, which never happened, and the general feeling was that he REALLY wanted to stay there. I think his confidence has been shot down the last 3 years and that all just trickled down to him not training like he should.

According to who? You? Do you have an article of proof, or are you like the Greek newspapers pulling anything out of your a$s and stating it as fact? Maybe you mistaken his with:

The guy played 4 years for REAL, has 100 matches in Champions League and Europa League combined. He's coming in as a free transfer, with a relatively low salary (Imagine calling 750K a low salary for PAOK 10 years ago). He's exactly the type of player that could come to Greece and excel. He was a great player for REAL, but he was very injury prone, and then he was competing with MArcelo for a job....good luck with that. It was all down hill after that. He went to Sporting on loan, and then took a pay cut to go to Rio Ave. All in all, I don't have any HUGE expectations, but will not be surprised if he finds a new confidence in Greece. With Giannoulis on the squad, and Vieirinha on deck come December, I think it's fairly low risk high reward scenario. Interesting article with some good info on the player: https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2793704-real-madrid-transfer-news-fabio-coentrao-speaks-after-blancos-exit Also here is a page with multiple articles on the player from the past year....including the time he pulled down Samaras shorts during a match for not helping him up off the ground: https://en.as.com/tag/fabio_coentrao/a/

Let's be honest. This kids Instagram posts and responses are WAY better than any MetroSport or Nova articles. Before any huge signing.... Georgie drops a gem. After a player/coach leaves the team.....Georgie drops a gem. Let's get some updates from Georgie shine on their own here....

In my opinion Mauricio was a couple levels above Wernbloom (what little we saw of him) when they were both healthy. I think age is also a factor. Wernbloom is 33 and Mauricio is 30....in Football years, that's a huge gap.

just added him...

So as of right now the squad is STRIKERS: Akpom, Swiderski, Gaitanidis WINGERS: Jaba, Stoch, Limnios, Pelkas, Biseswar, Lambrou, El Kaddouri, Henrique MIDFIELDERS: Augusto, Misic, Kace, Mauricio (injured), Wernbloom (injured), Tsiggaras DEFENSE: Vieirinha (injured), Matos, Crespo, Michailidis, Giannoulis, Varella, Ingason, Hatzisaias, Mihaj, Soares GOALKEEPERS: Paschalakis, Zivkovic, Melissas Am I missing anyone?

I think Wernbloom is too much of a risk to count on his return. The likelihood of him reinjuring, ,or just not being able to play at a high level is HUGE, so I wouldn't put too much stock in his return. Mauricio is also coming from a pretty significant injury, so it may take a couple months to get into any kind of groove. I think having Kace this early in training makes him a great option for Cup matches and bottom 8 team matches...ESPECIALLY if by some miracle we get into Group Stages of CL and will have a couple months of 9-10 matches/month lined up.

I think Giannoulis will remain, even with the signing of Coentrao (if it happens) and there will be a reevaluation in December when Vieirinha is set to return. (Who knows, if Coentrao works out, we may see Vieirinha at winger again). But the midfielder that's supposedly a done deal will surely mean an exit for Kace and with the return of Mauricio and Wernbloom, Misic is surely to be next out the door.

I think the amount of work that goes into trying to get good, decent player to agree to come to a league like Greece's is extremely undervalued. ESPECIALLY if your not willing to absolutely outbid everyone else by a lot.

Word on the street is he's a player with talent (obviously....i think he was in REAL Madrid for 4 years) but isn't really taking football very seriously lately.....Hopefully coming here and seeing the PAOK fans in a frenzy can rekindle a spark in him.

"O PAOKtzis einai griniaris" -Aristotle (338 BC)

Georgie's latest post on instagram (a black screen with LOADING written) suggests they've got a signing on deck. If it IS Bradaric, it's a pretty solid move.

What about Warda? What's his current situation?