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.

Bakasetas is hanging around for another qualifying campaign, you better believe that. He wasn't initially called up for these games but called up as a replacement once Konstantelias was injured, that doesn't scream to me well planned out goodbye testimonial. I maintain Bakasetas has a role to play(off the bench), and to a lesser extent Kourbelis and even lesser extent Masouras. The team's defensive issues can't possibly be laid to blame at Bakasetas' feet. We created a bucket load of chances, as you mention in an attacking sense we have really turned the corner. Defensively we have massive issues. Individual errors which need to be rectified by the players themselves but also our structure and system doesn't seem to provide adequate protection. Jovanovic needs to sort it out and ASAP. You can't be going 3-0 up with 30 minutes to play and the match turns into a rodeo. We must get better at seeing out matches and playing out time to get the result. Otherwise no matter how beautiful we play or how many goals we score, qualifying for a major tournament will remain a pipe dream.

I heard some murmurs earlier in the season (around July/August) that he had some issue with Lucescu or vice versa. All I know is he wasn't a nailed on starter from the start of the season and as a result his form seems to have dipped noticeably.

Insane how our MVP from last season has so quickly fallen out of favour this season. Ozdoev is 33, and while he is having a great year I would much rather keep Camara on board for next season than renewing a soon to be 34 year old Ozdoev.

Konstantelias and Ioannidis both have been replaced due to injury from the original call-ups. Bakasetas and Tetteh (Kifisia striker) have replaced them. Tetteh becomes the third player being called up for the first time during this international window, following Triantis and Kostoulas. https://www.sport24.gr/football/ethniki-elladas-se-dio-gkroup-i-proponisi-episimi-i-anaklisi-gia-ioannidi-konstantelia/

Correct. Looks like Lovren has returned to training so he'll most likely start next to Michailidis. This is one of our 4 "winnable" games, obviously winning against Lille gave us 3 points we didn't expect to get. Young Boys form is improved since PAO went to Switzerland on Matchday 1 and came away with a victory. At least their European form has improved, winning their last 2 against Ludogorets and our old foe Steaua (FCSB). It won't be easy, but we have been in great form and a win can really set us up well.

On this, I think it is poor from Jovanovic to not make the tactical adjustment from the first game. The Danes suffocated us high up the pitch, cut off all the passing lanes and essentially forced us to play the ball into dangerous spots where they would turn over possession and pick us off. We were dangerous in the first 10-15 today, what was different? We pressed them deep in their half, okay we couldn't sustain that but we also weren't afraid to play direct and long. Ioannidis chance was off him winning an aerial duel and then us winning the 2nd ball. The Tsimikas chance 30 seconds in, a long direct ball from Koulierakis finds Karetsas who in turn picks out an unmarked Tsimikas in the 6 yard box. I know it's not modern. our style or particularly attractive but we know from game 1 we can't play through the Danish press. There had to be an adjustment and apart from the first 10 minutes there was none.

All so preventable too, it is the most frustrating part. We aren't ready, we aren't far off but individual mistakes are costly and we have been punished by just about everyone we've made over 3 games. 9 goals conceded in 2 and a half games is not going to cut it at any level.

It's over, such a shame.... AND NOW 3-0 another mistake, so many errors.

F***

Good start from us, Tsimikas should've hit the target from inside the 6 yard box.