paokarag4

So has that restored your faith in him or is he spinning more BS in your opinion?

Rafa Soares has begun training fully, whether or not they deem him fit enough to start is the question. If not then it's most likely Tsaousis who starts at left-back, considering Vierinha is suspended.

Scored over the weekend in Celic's thumping 5-0 win. They have started the season well with 3 wins from as many matches. He has also been linked with a move to the Premier League! Although it's probably too soon in his Celtic career for a move like this to eventuate, it speaks volumes to how far he has come in just 2 years. And really is an indictment on now Greek teams manage Greek players.

Colak I feel was a little unlucky with us. You could see he would get to the right spots and was always a threat in the box, his finishing was just a little off. As happens with PAOK, he didn't set the world on fire immediately so he was benched early and lost his confidence without being given a chance to settle with the squad. He has since done very well in Sweden, looked solid for us in the 6 months he returned and I am sure he will continue to score for Rangers. Basically PAOK doesn't try to help or protect their investments, it's more "you didn't perform in your first 3 games after we dropped 3 million on you? Then you are done" Poor man management and all around management of the squad. If Lucescu was the one coaching when Colak first arrived I dare say we would have been a success. But it's a moot point now, we need Oliveira to remain fit for this upcoming campaign.

The second one in particular was a brilliant finish, albeit under little pressure. Never the less a great strike and great for him to get his confidence up nice and early in the season! You can see both his goals starting at 5.22

They would still be alive in the Conference League. They would have to win through the play-offs of that competition to get into the group stage. If they beat Slovan it guarantees them group stage football one way or another.

Looks like we are going to go with Narey to lead the line. bit of a risk considering he's a winger but Lucescu obviously wasn't impressed with Koutsias and Thomas isn't fit enough to start yet. Reported starting line-up ----------------Kortarski Lyratzis----Ingason----Kargas---Rafa Soares -------Augusto------Kurtic Zivkovic--------Dantas--------Biseswar/Quagliata --------------Narey------ Lyratzis returning is a big plus, interesting to see how Kurtic goes with all the rumours that he's trying to force a move since we didn't offer him a bigger contract following his career best season. The issue seems to have been resolved for now so let's hope he gets back to his best and maybe even manages to score and helps us turn this around.

Rogic? A talented attacking mid, who has one brilliant game every 5 and the other 4 just floats around doing the bare minimum. He would fit right in?

You also give me xwrio vibes, with calls to sack the manager 20 mins into the first game of the new season?

Levski & their fans are giving me real xwrio vibes. Celebrating every missed place pass like it's a goal. It's on us to take the sting out of the crowd but atm is contributing to the frustration that is making us not play our game and constantly hitting aimless long balls.

Disaster, time to turn it around but we have been very poor so far. Need a big lift to turn this around.

link https://www.vipbox.lc/levski-sofia-vs-paok-1-live

Some highlights are up, not the best angles of any of the action but it's something.

@ChrisT hey and welcome! No final tournament for Greece, that is for the nations who top their group in League A. We have won promotion to League B and guaranteed a spot in the Euro 2024 playoffs.

Sastre (Loan deal made permanent) Rafa Soares (left back), Gianni Karagas(Center back), Nicolas Quagliata (winger/attacking mid), Tiago Dantas (Midfielder on loan from Benfica), Dominik Kortarski (keeper), Andre Ricardo (Winger, signed for the B team initially?) and although not officially announced, reports for weeks have said Ivan Nasberg is a done deal from Valarenga. PAOK is just waiting for his contract to expire at the end of July. Apparently Norway has different contracts that end in July and not June. Others that are apparently almost done are Khaled Narey and now Brandon Thomas, but nothing official on those guys just yet.

Seems like the Colak sale is indeed going through. Rangers will pay 2.5 million plus 500k in potential bonuses, so we are roughly making our money back on him. Since the club has known Colak was likely to be sold, apparently they've been working on his replacement so we shouldn't have to wait too long.

Kolouris back playing abroad, sold from Atromitos for around 1 million to the Austrian side LASK

Kotarski officially announced! Hoping the kid comes in and makes the position his own. Paschalakis for all he achieved and his spectacular matches, always had errors in him and was never the solid number one we needed. Let's see how Kotarski goes, remebering he is only 22 but the fans in Greece are fickle and a mistake or two and they'll be all over him. Best of luck to the lad.

You would think someone will move on from the midfield with Augusto on paper seeming the most likely. Coming off a good season and entering the final season of his contract. As it stands we have 6 midfielders for 2 positions: Kurtic, Augusto, Tsingaras, Schwab, F.Soares and soon to be Dantas. That's not counting El Kaddouri and Quagliata who are attacking mids, so something has to give you would think.

Speaking of uncovering buried objects, what are the chances of them uncovering fossils and ancient artefacts under Toumba (which is almost the norm in Greece when they dig) do we expect these to cause potential delays? Or will we have the archaeologists on the take and get them to look the other way so we can get the stadium built?

Head to head results are the first tie-breaker in UEFA competitions, the Nations League included. So if we beat Kosovo here we will have secured top spot, promotion to league B and a play-off spot for Euro 2024. A draw would also have us in a decent spot, it would mean we could afford to lose one of our last 2 and we would still top Kosovo on our H2H record. The only way goal difference would become a factor is if Kosovo beats us 1-0. This is the full list of tie-breaking criteria If two or more teams in the same group are equal on points on completion of the league phase, the following tie-breaking criteria are applied: Higher number of points obtained in the matches played among the teams in question; Superior goal difference in matches played among the teams in question; Higher number of goals scored in the matches played among the teams in question; If, after having applied criteria 1 to 3, teams still have an equal ranking, criteria 1 to 3 are reapplied exclusively to the matches between the teams in question to determine their final rankings.[a] If this procedure does not lead to a decision, criteria 5 to 11 apply; Superior goal difference in all group matches; Higher number of goals scored in all group matches; Higher number of away goals scored in all group matches; Higher number of wins in all group matches; Higher number of away wins in all group matches; Lower disciplinary points total in all group matches (1 point for a single yellow card, 3 points for a red card as a consequence of two yellow cards, 3 points for a direct red card, 4 points for a yellow card followed by a direct red card).

An interesting comment from Chatzidiakos in the pre-match press conference about the difference in philosophies between Poyet and JVS. Essientially he said JVS wanted possession, while Poyet places an emphasis on grabbing a goal. Not surprising considering JVS is from the Dutch school of football where possession is everything. The truth is no matter how bad we want to be side that dominates the ball, it's hard to turn professionals into that. What I mean is that the change needs to be done at a lower level and passed on to kids who are currently 12-16. It needs to become a style that kids grow up playing, not one they learn when they are 24 and have been professional footballers for 6 years already. Poyet's style of grabbing a goal probably suits the NT currently and fits more with the current Greek footballing landscape. So we may see more success with him at the helm with this current crop of players. It's just an interesting comparison and does raise the question of footballing philosophy. The quote in full: Για το τι έχει αλλάξει με τον Πογέτ: "Ο Πογέτ προσπαθεί να μας δώσει το winning mentality. Αυτό έχει αλλάξει περισσότερο. Με τον Φαν Σιπ παίζαμε περισσότερο με κατοχή, τώρα παίζουμε για να βάλουμε γκολ και όχι να κρατήσουμε την μπάλα".

I thought so but it seems it is indeed unconfirmed but it appears the qualifying process will mirror that of the previous Euro. https://www.espn.com.au/football/uefa-nations-league/story/4678862/uefa-nations-league-2022-23-all-you-need-to-know How will the Nations League affect Euro 2024 qualifying? UEFA has yet to confirm the qualifying process for Euro 2024, though it is expected to be ratified in June 2022. The expectation is that there will be 10 groups, with the top two nations in each group qualifying alongside hosts Germany. The remaining three places are expected to be decided by playoffs, with one qualification path allocated to Leagues A, B and C.

Winning our Nations League group would guarantee us a play-off spot for Euro 2024. So if we aren't able to qualify directly through the qualifiers (to be played in 2023) then we know we have a shot through the play-off tournament. Not to mention improving our ranking and allowing Poyet and the team to gel and gain confidence heading into the qualifiers.