paokarag4

We deserved to win that match no doubt, created more than enough really good chances. An early goal changes the complexion of the whole tie, take your pick Tsingaras, Akpom or Crespo in the first 15. Their goal comes from a mistake, Crespo ran himself into a bit of dead end he was surrounded by Marseille players pressing but perhaps he could have been a little safer rather than trying to be cute in that moment. Regardless it's harsh to blame him for the result, mistakes will happen against 'better' higher quality teams. It all comes down to missed chances and we missed plenty. The boys, the team, the fans and the city should be proud. We came out and really took it to them, we didn't take a backwards step and deserved at least an extra 30 mins to qualify. Toumba giving a standing ovation to the team was special, the atmosphere throughout was special. I hope the team really bottles that energy and it drives them the rest of the season. They deserve the applause they got. It was a great European run and one the club had been craving for a long time. On another day we are celebrating a semi-final birth. It feels a bit empty currently, the league and even the cup semi don't seem super important at the moment. Hopefully the lads don't feel the same and are able to bounce back, especially for the Cup in a weeks time.

2 assists and a man of the match performance from him in the 2nd leg of the Champions league quarter final tie with Benfica. Match ended 3-3 and Liverpool qualify 6-4 on aggregate. Big improvement this season, he's played 21 games this time around with still 10 or so to play. Last year he only managed 7 total appearances. He is still no.2 behind Robertson, but it's obvious Klopp now trusts him and the fans love him too. Every time he plays he does well, it's all he can do. He just has one of the world's best in front of him. Will be interesting to see what he does this upcoming summer. It is clear he could be starting at 12 or so other Premier League clubs, but he seems quite connected with Liverpool the club and city. I think he'll stay as a back-up for another season before contemplating a potential move.

I'm just hope our fans don't do anything stupid, like throwing things at the Marseille players or storming the field post-game regardless of the result. UEFA has already warned this season and they will be on high alert given what happened in the 1st leg. Would be such a shame if we come up with a historic win and we have to play a European semi in front of no fans. As for the playing aspect, I get the feeling we are going to need to score twice to get this to extra time. Keeping a clean-sheet against this Marseille team would be seriously impressive, I think they will find a way to score. So we'll need to be on offensively and bang in a couple. Agree with what Blackhawk said, I want to see us come out and press, really try shake them up and grab an early goal in the first 15-20.

I personally don't mind the move, he has shown this season he can be important with his experience, overall football IQ and his quality is still there. Let alone his leadership, I am happy for him to stay. Off the bench and starting in certain matches he will be a useful cog. He's already a legend of the club, but imagine if he could captain us to another league title next year. His legend will grow bigger.

Despite our poor 1st half I feel the Marseille goals could have been avoided if not for individual mistakes, which makes it even more frustrating. The first goal we have Crespo not quick enough in getting up and in line with the rest of our defenders and therefore playing Gerson onside. On that goal Ingason was also probably too close to Crespo which created the massive gap which Marseille was able to pick through to score (Vieirinha may have also share some blame here) The 2nd goal as has been pointed out, Paschalakis turning it over but following that Ingason angrily puts it out for a corner when he had enough time to either clear it up-field on his left boot or readjust slightly and concede a throw in. Rather than lazily booting it for a corner because he was frustrated with Paschalakis previous error. All that considered a much improved showing in the 2nd half. We looked dangerous going forward and despite creating only 2 'clear' chances we got into plenty of dangerous areas and caused them problems. Marseille had chances of their own, it's going to happen they are a good team, it will happen in the 2nd leg too. All we can do is be solid defensively and give nothing cheap away, which unfortunately happened today and we payed the price. Never the less all to play for in a weeks time, and with no game in between it gives plenty of time for rest, recovery and Lucescu to prepare the squad.

Have fun file @Athens4 and stay safe! Very jealous of you, scream the lads onto a positive result

Looks like Mitrita has recovered from COVID and should be included as part of the squad. Don't think he'll start, the 11 picks itself in Europe I don't expect any surprises. The only position where there maybe a change is left-back with Sidcley for Vieirinha. As for the game itself, it will be tough no doubt. As per the game with Gent and perhaps more importantly in this match, if we can bring the tie back to Toumba without trailing we will be in a good spot to give qualifying a good shake. Marseille strikes me as a confidence team if they get into a groove early with their fans up and going plus some of their quality they can score quite freely. If we frustrate them early, their fans may become restless get on their back and we can hopefully take advantage. They have quite a volatile fan-base so they are either in full voice or baying for blood there's no in-between. Something we are somewhat familiar with 😂

That is a big part of the issue, we do not have an abundance of options in central midfield and the players that do play there are limited in one way or another. Kourbelis, Zeca, Siopis are all pure defensive mids who aren't great with the ball but are pretty solid at the defensive stuff (especially Siopis and Zeca) Bouchalakis lack of pace wouldn't necessarily be a problem if he made quick decisions but he doesn't. He wants time and space on the ball something not often afforded in modern football with so much pressing going on. His control is also hit and miss, at least a few times a game the ball will bounce off him and the opposition will win the ball back and launch a counter when half our team is up the pitch. Galanopoulos is the one who has a key role to play but injuries have completely taken over his career in the last 2 years. Disappointing for him and a big blow for the Ethniki. Alexandropoulos is still young and isn't a nailed on starter for PAO but he is an option, not sure he's the answer at least not at this stage. The buck starts and ends with our talent pool, it's limited. We can bicker on here about who should start over who but the reality is apart from a few (mainly defenders) we don't have many midfielders/attackers who are above Super league quality. And those who are have limitations which hinders them when they play at a higher level.

The previous week she made the final at the Masters at Indian Wells. Slip ups happen and is somewhat understandable especially after her great run the previous week. So not all doom and gloom. Maria has had a great couple of years, going deep into Grand Slams. The next challenge for her is to take that next step and really compete with the top 3-4 players and win those semi finals and become a finalist and a potential slam winner. I am not sure her game is quite at the level of those very top players but she is a fighter and very tenacious. Hopefully that can help her get over the line in those semis and finals.

I believe it was Mavropanos who stretched to cut out the pass but just couldn't quite get a boot to it.

Shhhhhhhhhhhhh don't say that! Don't you know it's all one players fault? One guy is the only reason Greece hasn't stormed into Euro '16, '20 and World Cups '18 and '22! Don't give us truths that we don't want to hear! We are a top 15 nation, the reason for failures is on one player, get with the program re Jimmy

Are we? I thought I read that we can only make changes if we sign players from Russia or Ukraine. If the case is we can make the 2 changes regardless, then he may do Varela in for some insurance incase disaster strikes. Wouldn't be surprised to see Jaba come in maybe for Soares? As always Lucescu does not rush any signing into the team, we'll see more of Soares from next season. So unlikely he'll get any minutes in Europe especially when you consider we already have Kurtic, Tsingaras, Schwab, Augusto (who can go back to his natural position) and even El Kaddouri who can play deeper if needed.

Does anyone have footage of it? That image above isn't working for me.

Since when is @pash a PAOK reporter?

Looks like Masouras and Vrousai are out of the friendlies, Xatzigiovannis has been called up as a replacement. https://www.novasports.gr/sport/podosfairo/event/nations-league/article/12353866/ethniki-klithike-o-xatzigiovanis/

Looks like we are asking the Superleague to postpone the Olympiakos match (April 10) which falls between both games against Marseille so we can get maximum rest. Apparently there is a rule which states if a Greek team is playing in a quarter or semi final of a European competition, the league must accept the request to postpone any domestic match. So seems we will be going in fresh for that 2nd leg. The issue then becomes where the hell do all these games get played? Remembering that we still have the Cup semi-finals to play.

Seems he's in good scoring form, scored the winner for Fener against the 2nd place Konyaspor to win 2-1. The win puts Fener within 2 points of Konyaspor and a spot in the Champions League qualifiers.

Agree fantastic result especially coming off a big European night. Our record over AEK since that night in 2018 is really something to behold, one loss in around 15ish games? Including the cup of course. The team is really starting to have that trademark Lucescu toughness about them, hard to beat. Even when we aren't playing well we are disciplined and hard to break down. Able to find a goal even during tricky games, it's a fantastic trait and necessary for a title challenge. Next season we are going to be up to our ears in the title race.

Absolutely for a Greek club, over 7 million Euros in revenue is a fantastic outcome. In terms of the draw I vote Slavia Prague, not only do they appear to be one of the more 'beatable' opponents on paper but considering they also had two players sent off today they will be coming into the first leg a touch weaker. Anyway every team left has made it to a quarter final so it will be tricky regardless. Bodo-Glimpt battered Roma 6-1 in the group stage and have taken out Celtic comfortably and now AZ en route to the this stage. No easy draw just amazing to be here!

LEEEETTTTTTTTTTS f***ing GOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

These fans are tripping the mans head is busted open, you'll get your stoppage time. Now I'm tripping Taylor coming on.... I guess for pace on the counter, could work let's see

Gent's center backs are so poor anytime we've applied pressure across both legs they look vulnerable. It's just a shame we can't create consistently.

Crespo must be injured, not good. Mihaj is on.

We'll need to score another because I agree, unless we somehow find a way to keep the ball for longer spells it seems inevitable that Gent will score another. Mitrita to come on and hopefully give us something on the counter, we haven't really been able to execute any counters properly. Biseswar has been a bit lucky just slipping or mis-controlling balls at key points.

Michailidis unfortunately suffered a serious knee injury over the weekend and will be out until October/November. As for Lyratzis and Tsingaras it seems odd he didn't select them, although there is some speculation that he left them out as the under 21's have important qualifiers. Kyriakopoulos deserves a call-up, become a locked in starter at Sassuolo this season. He's having a terrific year. Interesting to see only one traditional right-back in the squad, I wonder if he's considering using Vrousai at right back potentially given he did recently have a decent game for Olympiakos there and has played there in the past. Also don't quote me but I think Stafylidis may have spent some of this season playing right back for Bochum, so that maybe another option Poyet is considering. Overall there is nothing inspiring about those call-ups, I was looking forward to Lyratzis/Tsingaras. A few strange options as per every ethinki squad but let's see what Poyet's game plan and tactics look like.