paokarag4

Wow surprised to see Swiderski heading to the MLS, but agree it's a good bit of business for us. Nice little profit for us and this may fund the Felipe Soares deal who has been rumoured to be coming for 3 million for the last few days. I guess the sale means Colak is here to stay, at least until the end of the season. Unless they plan on brining in another striker but I think that's unlikely, we'll see Akpom/Colak and Oliveira later in the season as he continues his recovery from injury.

@PaokCT I am no host, I am but a humble analyst 😀 Thank you guys for the wishes!

If Jaba is able to recapture and build on his 18-19 form, then we will have some very good attacking options on the wings with him and Zivkovic. Good signs today, let's see how he goes. Not a great performance, but we take the win and move on to OFI in a few days.

Yeah we are struggling to see this game out, seems our form from the late December matches has carried on until now. On the plus side Jaba has looked positive since he came on, running at and beating defenders.

I guess we should change the footballing laws to say PAOK isn't allowed to win any penalties? Ask him if that would suit him

Olympiakos/Aris/AEK fans are going to be melting down with 2 penalties in the first 30 mins😂 I think they are both there, the 2nd one just then the Panetolikos defender is a bit unlucky because it hits his chest first but the way his arm comes up and is away from his body you are running the risk.

It is surprising to see Rodrigo in the squad let alone starting. Perhaps Sidcley was one of the many who had COVID and they felt he wasn't ready to start? Potentially the same issue with Vieirinha. I'm calling it now, Colak will come on score

My first pick is pash as assistant manager/head of scouting

Seems we are about to sign Joan Sastre on loan from Mallorca. He is a 24 year old, Spanish right back who has played 7 matches this season in La Liga predominately as a sub.

Why? There was a 3 million buy-out clause in his loan deal, seems perfectly reasonable to me that we reject half of that amount. (unless you mean you find it hard to believe that they would only offer 1.5m, in which case my bad) I don't think we are super desperate to sell him, I think if we get our 3 million we will sell but otherwise I get the feeling we want to hang onto him until the end of the season given our troubles with our strikers not scoring heavily and Oliveria still on the comeback trail. Who knows maybe the confidence he got from his stint in Sweden will help him and he'll start banging them in for us

Damn was looking forward to this game. Issue now becomes in an already packed fixture list, they'll have to squeeze this game in somewhere as well.

Again they are about the caliber of names you expect to be linked with the Ethniki. Gattuso has probably managed the most impressive teams out of 3, Milan and Napoli. Although his stints at both clubs weren't overly impressive and he left both before the end of his contract. He is also hot-headed and I'm not sure he'd get along with EPO and all the crap that comes with being a manager in Greece (although he did it at OFI for a short period). This is further evidenced by his short "stint" at Fiorentina earlier this season, where he left 3 weeks after being appointed. We aren't getting a manager who is going to inspire confidence name wise. Whoever is appointed the proof will be in the pudding after a few games. The Nations League in June where there are 4 games in 2 weeks will be a good indicator.

Looks like Mitrita was in social media post from the club, so I guess we can cross him off the list.

Interview with Pavlidis, nothing too nitty gritty asked but still nice to hear from him and learn about his story. He discusses a few things as well knowing that he needs to be more clinical and finish his chances. Interview starts at 10.48 if you don't want to sit through some of the vlogging.

We need to buy a better keeper, it's now on Boto and the scouts to find someone who is good enough. We have always struggled with finding keepers but I also think we have been quick to give plenty the boot as soon as they make a mistake. I think most likely Paschalakis is our keeper until the end of the season and then we will move to sign someone. I would be happy for Paschalakis to stay on as a no.2 but it seems based on reports that he wants a similar contract to what he is currently on (700k), which I don't think we will pay for a back-up keeper.

Well someone didn't get the memo, we are drawn to face AEK in the quarter finals. First leg at Toumba on either the 18th, 19th, 20th with the return legs 25th-27th of Jan. We got the toughest draw, but on the plus side every time we've faced AEK in the last 5 editions of the Cup we have become champions each time. 😉 If we qualify we face the winner of the Panetolikos-Olympiakos Full draw Παναθηναϊκός - Αναγέννηση Καρδίτσας Άρης - Λαμία ΠΑΟΚ - ΑΕΚ Παναιτωλικός - Ολυμπιακός

Ingason being linked with a move to Turkey, according to Turkish reports (who are far from the most reliable) Regardless in a few days he is free to negotiate with any club he wants for next season. I keep hearing that he is going to resign but until it's official there is always a risk. Especially if a deal hasn't been done as we approach January.

His ability and his captaincy credentials are two separate things entirely, I don't doubt his playing ability. Hopefully he is able to bounce back from his 2nd ACL injury and have an impact when he returns. I just disagreed with the idea that because he is the 'best' player he should be captain. You dislike Bakasetas, but IMO I see more captaincy qualities in him than Fortounis. Again don't get it twisted, I'm not saying Bakasetas is a better player.

Captain? This isn't under 12's, you don't just hand the captaincy to the "best" player. There's a lot more to do it, leaderships qualities, personality, liked by teammates etc. Not saying he doesn't have those qualities but I just find the idea that "he's the best lets make him captain" to be such an outdated notion. In fact it's thinking like that holds back the Ethniki, so maybe the idea does have some merit 🤷‍♂️ I agree that Fortounis has a place on the NT (assuming he gets fully fit) but let's not act like he is the 2nd coming and will automatically make us qualify for tournaments. Fortounis has been to one major tournament as a 19 year old, Euro 2012. Euro 16, WC18 and Euro 20 where he was a nailed on starter we did not qualify. One player can't carry a team, it's far more complicated than some people like to make it sound.

He had been booked a few mins before he scored his 2nd goal for a tackle. He clearly forgot and got swept up in the cracker of a goal he scored to make it 3-1 and ripped off his shirt

Does a 2 yellow red card carry into the league or will he be suspended for the 1st leg of the Cup quarter final?

AKPOM What a cracker! He's going to get sent off though😂

Goal Akpom 2-1

1-1 VAR says Larissa's goal is onside even if it looked to me the offside player ran and jumped at the ball. Gonna be a slog from here, can see plenty of fouls and time wasting going on

I wanted to do it, but the big boss overruled me 😜