paokarag4

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.

Bakasetas 30 appearances in Europe and Turkish League, 8 goals and 8 assists for the runaway league leaders (they are 15 points clear at the top) Ninis 20 appearances in league and cup for 1 goal and 2 assists. Playing for Volos who aren't a top 6 team in Greece and comfortably missed qualifying for the playoffs. So statistically there is no contest. Bakasetas turned down a move to a top 4 Portuguese team in January (Sporting Lisbon) Ninis isn't a locked in starter for a mid-table team, so no offer to a bigger league/club is on the cards. So maybe that's what he's basing it on.... Either all of the footballing landscape in Europe has no idea or maybe you are slightly off the mark with Ninis. Honestly this is so exhausting, you fail to give any evidence as to why Ninis is better but challenge people to do the same. Tell me why Ninis is deserving of a call-up? Do you actually watch him play? Or do you watch highlights of him when he was decent and think he must be the same player? Does his stats back it up?

Vlachodimos keeps a clean sheet in the 2nd leg of the round of 16 tie against Ajax, Benfica win the match 0-1 and are through to the quarter finals. In what has been a disappointing domestic campaign for Benfica it's a great effort to reach the quarter finals of the Champions League.

Real shame for the kid, hopefully he has a speedy recovery and we can see him early enough next season. That leaves us with 3 center backs for the rest of the season, I'm guessing they won't be recalling Varela so probably someone from the 'B' team or from the under 20's to be our 4th choice.

I perceived it as he didn't want to be subbed and he was expressing his frustration, as has happened in the past. But it seems after reading reports from people who were at the game he was asking to be subbed earlier to avoid the card and that's why he was gesturing so much. The man himself claims he threw the ball away to stop a quick-throw in but I'm not sure I believe that. Whatever his motivation it was a dumb way to get booked, as was Zivkovic's.

Great result and a solid performance, despite starting off quite nervy we settled into the match and were the better team for 80+ minutes. We deserved a 2nd goal on the weight of play, although clear cut chances were at premium for both teams. On Kurtic he is 33 and isn't going to change now but he really needs to address his carry on when he gets subbed off it isn't the first time. I dare say he we being subbed to protect him from a yellow which would see him banned from the return leg but because he was so annoyed at being taken off he chose to throw the ball away and get himself booked anyway. Now we have to go into arguably our biggest match of the season without our top scorer because he doesn't like being subbed? Pretty poor imo Paschalakis really isn't cut out to do it in European football, saved by the linesman flag and a botched clearance that luckily fell into the lap of Crespo. He's been good for a lot of this season but some of his biggest howlers seem to happen in European games for whatever reason. Otherwise everyone else was quite good, Lyratzis and Tsingaras didn't look overrawed at all. Lyratzis especially very calm when defending and just seems to pop up at the key moment to make a block or a clearance. I also thought Vieirinha was very good.

Goes without saying this is massive. With away goals no longer a rule, as long we avoid a loss here we will be in good shape heading into the 2nd leg. Obviously a win is ideal, but I wouldn't be disheartened with a draw. I expect an arm wrestle, we know Lucescu likes to keep it tight and not give too much away especially early on. Only question in terms of the starting XI is who will start on the left wing, probably will be Biseswar considering Mitrita only began training yesterday. Otherwise expect to see: Paschalakis, Lyratzis, Ingason, Crespo, Vieirinha, Kurtic, Tsingaras, Augusto, A.Zivkovic and Akpom.

I've half given up following the stadium news as it really has dragged on, but as far as I can tell we've hit snags with the government over some funding(this may have been resolved) as well as issues with where we are going to play while the stadium is being built. There has been lots of flip flopping over the contract to play at the Kaftanzoglio. So a combination of those things has slowed everything right down unfortunately.

Spanoulis has retired from playing all together, I believe he recently coached a youth team of some sort.

When he does play he takes out his frustration on his injury prone genes on fit and healthy opponents

Geia sou re Bananas, good to see you posting you need to pop in more often file! As for the draw I think it's comparable to the Midtjylland draw, not the best or the worst. It is doable for sure and man jumping ahead but imagine what it would mean to the club to make the quarter finals of European Competition, even if it's the third tier comp (let's be honest that's about where Greek clubs deserve to be atm)

Calling it now lads, Colak to score a late goal to send this one to extra time! We need to find a way to work through their press, it gave us plenty of problems in the first leg and generally this season we do struggle against teams that press well. Not sure whether Kurtic returning will help, he is prone to an error or 2 on the ball. I can see Lucescu keeping it tight for the first half and then throwing more caution to the wind as the 2nd half wears on. He is not the type of coach to come out all guns blazing from the first minute, I think his approach will be if we get a goal early great. But he's not gonna have us come out throwing numbers forward, at least not in the first 45. Whether you agree or not with that is a matter for a philosophical coaching debate, obviously the earlier we score the easier it will be. IMO I think there's something to be said for pushing early (first 15-20) and then seeing where you are at scoreboard wise. If you've managed to score in that time great! If they have scored on the counter well then you have 70 or so minutes to chase 2 goals.

A perfect hattrick at that! In a 3-2 win to boot! The winner came in 86th minute Well done to him, after a rough time with injuries in his first 6 months he has settled and has looked a lot better over the last month or so. The goals have been coming, he gets to the right spots and had been a little unlucky in previous games. Important win for Celtic too as they now go 3 points clear of Rangers at the top of the league.

I've only caught the 2nd half but Aris is having the better of it. We also have limited options for us coming off the bench in terms of a winger, probably need to freshen up the team a little. It'll either by Taylor or El-Kaddouri shoe horned in there if Lucescu decides to sub out Jaba

Disappointing performance, even if we did slightly improve in the 2nd half(I think Midtjylland fatigued and their lack of matches shone through) we still were not good enough particularly in attack. Their pressing gave us all sorts of problems, and for large stretches we could not move the ball into our half let alone into our attacking third. Biseswar helped in that regard but it wasn't enough. As others have pointed 1-0 is doable, my concern is are we going to be able to build up and create anything with them pressing us and our players seemingly unable to deal with that press. It will be different in Toumba but this performance was very lackluster and after waiting for 5 years for some knock-out European football that's what was dished up? Anyway qualification is still up for grabs, I think we are good for a goal in the 2nd leg. Hopefully there's a 2nd and a nice 2-0 win in regular time.

Looks like capacity limits will be increased to 50% on Saturday, so there will be a decent sized crowd in for this one. Will work in our favour for the return leg against Midtjylland, but will make a tough game that much tougher in this case.

Wasn't able to catch the press-conference, good to hear he handled himself well. Any truth to what I'm reading that Boto basically confirmed Ingason will be re-signed shortly and that it's a done deal?

Game has been rescheduled for Wednesday 2nd of March 8.30pm Greek time

Well it's looking more and more likely to be Poyet. Out of the 2 options I do agree Koller appeared to be the better option, at least on paper. We'll see how he goes, June will be a challenge for him with the 4 nations league matches in 2 weeks.

Ingason will be third addition to the list, he has been fantastic since returning to the starting XI.

I am considering it, just waiting for the schedule to be announced so I can get the right tickets. Although I went to his semi against Medvedev last year where he lost in straight sets, so maybe it's best I stay away this time!

Was not expecting such a dominate performance from him given he is coming off elbow surgery and his form had been patchy leading into the quarters. A really impressive performance and victory, now for Medvedev his old rival. Medvedev owns their head-to-head record 6-2. Tsitsipas beat him at the French Open last year, but I think the clay worked in his favour. It will be tough but you never know, Medvedev was down match point and had to come back from 2 sets down in the quarters to make it this far.