paokarag4

They've both been a bit unlucky IMO. Giannoulis started the season as their left-back, Norwich played Liverpool and Man City 2 of the best teams in the world and were dully spanked. Giannoulis was hooked off at halftime of the City game for a poor 1st half and didn't see the pitch for a while. He worked his way back into the team and started their last 2-3 games before being dropped again last night. Tzolis has been under utilised considering Norwich's struggles, and most Norwich fans seems to think he should've seen the pitch more. In a cup match against Liverpool he took a penalty he wasn't meant too (took the ball away from the usual PK taker) and sure enough missed it. Seems he's been in the bad books since then only coming off the bench twice since then. I think ultimately Giannoulis isn't good enough for the Premier League, defensively he just isn't at the level. Going forward he is elite IMO. He will hopefully settle, in Germany or Italy because he is too good for Greece. Tzolis could be anything, he needs to stay grounded and work hard. His tactical and defensive game is what hold him back, but he has age on his side. We'll see.

I don't think it's beyond the realms of possibility that Georgia take points off Sweden, I have a feeling they will. Sweden have ridden their luck against us and Spain, Georgia similarly have been unlucky against the same teams. Luck has to swing eventually doesn't it? Of course it's all moot if we can't pull off what would be a historic victory.

Here he is signed, sealed and delivered!!! Well done to the club for getting this done, we've lost too many players for free/cheaper than what we should have.

I just realised that Ingason was not included in the European squad due to his injury so there goes that idea. Guess we'll have to score 2-3 to win in Bratislava, with most likely Varela/Crespo starting at CB.

Awful result, poor defending and I agree with @Athens4 Paschalakis should probably be doing better on the 2nd goal. Hard to fault the last 30-35 mins, we created plenty and the ball just wouldn't go in. They got lucky we got unlucky it was the reverse in Denmark, I guess that's football. Really apart from the first month of the season, we create enough to win most games. It's our defending that has continuously let us down and Lucescu is a defense first coach. But I guess if you don't have the players, you are bound to concede. Bottom line we are in a dogfight to qualify 2nd now and into the round of 32, top spot unfortunately is gone IMO. We have to go to Bratislava and win, something that won't be easy. I just hope Ingason is back and into the swing of things by then.

Call-ups for the 2 final qualifiers. Surprised to see no Kyriakos Papadopoulos given he has become a regular in the squads over the last year or so. A few changes from last month.

JVS has done a massive interview with sport24, where he covers plenty of topics it is worth a read! He address the Manolas/Siovas/Sokratis situation. He basically clarifies what we already knew, at the start of the qualifiers he reached out to Manolas and asked him to come back. JVS claims the conversation was a good and healthy exchange. A few days later Manolas calls back says he won't be returning. JVS expresses disappointment and tells him the door is always open for a return. Similar story with Sokratis. They have refused the call-up, presumably having being offended by not being called up for over a year by the time WC qualification rolled around. As for Siovas he said it is a different situation entirely, he feels Siovas spoke out of turn and hurt the teams comradery. He also talks about Tzolis, Tsimikas, Giannoulis and plenty of other topics. Full interview here https://longreads.sport24.gr/John-van-Schip/index.html

Chatzidiakos and Bakasetas are suspended, it also seems like Mavropanos picked up an injury while playing for Stuttgart. Not sure how serious but he didn't play over the weekend for them. Our defence is going to be stretched. The outs open the door for Tzavellas, K.Paps and Mantalos to return to the starting XI. I fear we are looking at either Stafylidis/Tsimikas as the third center back, especially with Mavropanos potentially missing. As for the game itself, this one isn't rocket science. We need to defend compact and well, give nothing silly away and look to break when we get the chance. Spain boss the ball like no other national team in the world, so we are most likely looking at getting 2-3 chances a half to counter. So when these rare instances occur we are going to need execute and be perfect. It's a tough tough game, but we have to play it. You go and give 110% and you never know what can happen.

He is currently injured, but before that he had lost his starting place and was only playing off the bench and in the Europa League. Not sure what the reason is, if him trying to force a move to Olympiakos in the off-season has contributed or not. He did start a few games after that and then lost his spot in the team, so it seems he had one or two performances that Spalletti wasn't happy with.

Playing for one of the 2 big Scottish teams can be brutal, one or two poor games could spell the end of you. At least the miss wasn't against Rangers, that tends to be fatal. You can see the penalty miss at 3 mins, he also manages to miss a chance even deeper into stoppage time after that.

Book those tickets, you are rich!!

Keep that energy big man?

KARO-GOAL!!

He's gonna be offside...........

We probably created enough to be in front, but again sloppy defending has come back to bite us. We have time and I think we have goals left in us tonight. Long term we really need to tighten up defensively, hopefully the return of Ingason will help but right back remains a big problem for us. Only a matter of time before Rodrigo is the starter IMO.

He missed the chance to have 2 goals from 2 league starts, missing a stoppage time penalty in Celtic's 0-0 draw.

Taylor defensively is a gaping hole, he had perfect body position when the cross came in. I have no idea how he let the Apollon player get goal side from where he starts, just awful marking.

Drinking and gambling........ who am I to judge. I wouldn't take it, when we have been winning this season we haven't been winning well. 1-2 goal wins for the most part, I actually don't recall us winning by 3 or more. Lucescu teams traditionally are not the stand on your throat type of teams.

Seems like Ingason will make his long awaited return through the B team. It's being reported he will play a half against Larissa to ease him back into competitive action. I don't mind the idea! Adds a little more interest to PAOK B's season opener, hopefully he gets through unscathed and returns to the first team ASAP.

Sidcley and Mitrita have been ruled out until after the international break at least. Vieirinha will either have to play the next 3 games at left back, which is unlikely given his age and he apparently played on the weekend with an injection. So more likely we see he and Rodrigo split the next three and Taylor will play at right back. Of course there is the old fix of Crespo playing at left-back, which I hope we don't see in this game.

Better in the 2nd half but we still struggled to create clear cut chances. Didn't deserve the win at the end of the day, but our last 30 mins was better. Subs helped. The Volos capitulation hurts even more now.

Awful showing so far, long way back now.........

Sloppy goal to concede, a little unlucky but when you lose the ball that deep in your own half trouble is bound to ensue.

Except for the fact the group winners go into the round of 16 rather than having to play the round 32.

Runners up in the Europa League will play a 'preliminary' knockout round match (basically a round of 32 match) against a 3rd placed Champions League team. Group winners will go straight into the round of 16 and avoid a round of matches. Same applies for the Conference League, runners up play 3rd placed teams from the Europa League, while group winners qualify straight for the round of 16.