paokarag4

This game is before Celta right? So the players will be fresh and not fatigued from the European game. AEL is the league match between the two Celta matches. Agree this match is hugely important, but with a game in hand a draw isn't an awful result. That is not to say we will play for a draw, but if the cards fall that way it doesn't leave us too far behind the 8 ball. I believe PAOK has made massive strides over the past few years, with deeper runs in Europe and in the league. I think we are beyond choosing one pursuit and really can go for it all. We also have some good depth, when everyone is fully fit. Obviously we are lacking atm in the attacking midfield department, with all of Konstantleias, Pelkas, Ivansecu and Despodov injured.

He dedicated his goal to the 7 fans who lost their life in Romania.

Gugeshashvili has been loaned to Atromitos. He joins Chalov as an outgoing player (both on loan) during the winter transfer window. I think the window closes tomorrow (Friday), some rumours we are trying to bring in a "big" name as a left winger. In the Taison mould in terms of age and experience, I know pash loves to hear that. I am sure whoever it is isn't 38 but would be 30+ plus with experience playing a big league.

It will for sure be a tough tie. I guess Red Star was the "easier" potential opponent but that would have just about guaranteed fan clashes. As Dutch says, they are 3 big absences for the first leg. I wonder if Mythou or Jeremeff (I assume he'll be one of three added to the list along with Zaferis) will start the first leg. Obviously the game is a long way out, but early thoughts are also that Zaferis may start as the "10" with Ozdoev and Meite behind him in an attempt to keep our midfield packed and compact. Clearly form and availability will impact who is selected come Feb 19, and we do have a lot of football to play until the first leg.

There have also been rumours of Salikas (St Pauli in the Bundesliga) or Tsapras (Levadiakos) coming to us. Clearly we are in the market for right back, with Sastre on his way out in the summer. I heard that the reason we have (for now at least) ended the negotiations with Zenit is because we aren't willing to meet their asking price of 4-5 Million. With our offer sitting at around 3 Million.

Meite's scans were clear, so he should be okay to play in this one. We can't forget Zaferis is ineligible to play with us in the League Phase, so if Meite isn't deemed fit to start, it will most likely be Camara and Ozdoev starting in midfield. Konstantelias also didn't train on Monday due to illness, you would think he will be okay to play come Thursday.

Douvikas scored a double in Como's 0-3 away victory over lowly Pisa. With the victory, Como have moved into 6th place and are well and truly in the race for a place in Europe. Douvikas now has 6 Serie A goals this campaign.

I've been to Toumba once, in January of 2012 so pre Savvidis era and the seats then were attoricious. Tiny, uncomfortable and so many of them were broken. Foam cushions/pillows were being sold outside to make them half useable. Now I assume since then there have been some works done to repair and replace some of the seats but it doesn't surprise me in the slightest if most of the seats do indeed need replacing.

A hat trick of assists overnight for Tzolis in Brugge's 5-3 win over Karetas' Genk. He is having an extraordinary season in Belgium, as you can see from the tweet below. Hard to see him remaining in Belgium beyond the summer, a move to a top 5 league has to be on the horizon.

Quantity doesn't equate to quality. Lovren is 37 and out of contract in the summer, Kedziora is out of contract (I think there is an option to renew/automatically renewal clause in there) and Vogliacco is on loan and won't be here next season.

Doesn't exactly fill you with confidence that duo, not that Vogliacco being fit would either. I think it speaks volumes that Michailidis has become our most important and solid CB this season. He has definitely improved defensively, but I still don't think he is quite at the level to be a starting CB for us, that is a team competing for the league. No doubt his ability on the ball is top draw and certainly an asset that is required in plenty of matches. But back to this week's game, our defense has been shaky all season and the lack of options at CB doesn't exactly help that problem. We must win this, the loss to Atromitos means we can't afford to drop any points in this one. Stating the obvious, but we probably have to score at least 2 as you can't be sure that our back 4 will be keeping a clean sheet. Also interesting to see how Lucescu counters the Siopis-Konstantelias match-up. Siopis is dogged and disciplined. He will stick to the task and for the most part kept Ntelias under control a few weeks back (with a few fouls helping his cause.) Maybe having Konstantelias start from the left and drift inside will help either free him up or create some space in the middle of the pitch if Siopis follows him out wide.

Absolutely he is. He has probably been our most consistent center back this season, not to mention his ability on the ball with his long raking passes opening up teams and creating chances. With Konstantelias also out(hasn't trained fully as of Friday,) as well as Pelkas who would've started instead we are going to be missing a lot of creativity and a lot of quality on the ball.

Huge win, not an easy place to go, Levadiakos are 4th for good reason. They've played some great attacking football this season and have scored the most goals in the division. Not to mention they slapped us there a couple of months back in the cup (yes we had a rotated starting 11 but a 4-1 loss lives long in the memory.) Ozdoev is having a brilliant season, and great to see Giakoumakis get some reward for effort. To win these last 2 league games without Konstantelias says a lot about the team, hopefully he is fit by next weekend's league match against Aris.

Tough result, especially to concede so late. Top 8 is probably gone now, we'd have to win all three remaining games or at least collect 7 points. Must win in a few weeks against Ludogorets (who beat Celta Vigo this morning 3-2) as our last 2 are against Real Betis and Lyon away and there is no guarantees with either of those games. Last season teams qualified into the round of 24 with 10 points. So one more win gets us to 11 and hopefully is enough. Anything we can pick up from Betis or Lyon will be a bonus and would give us fighting chance at a top 8 birth and direct passage into the round of 16. Last season 14 points and a solid goal difference was enough to get 8th spot. First thing is first, take care of Ludogorets which will be tough and then the picture will be simpler and clearer.