paokarag4

Sidcley returns as expected, which is good news. Otherwise no real surprises. Still no Crespo, Ingason or Kurtic. Squad travelling to Denmark: Πασχαλάκης , Ζίβκοβιτς , Ταλιχμανίδης , Βιεϊρίνια , Τέιλορ , Λύρατζης , Βαρέλα , Μιχάι , Μιχαηλίδης , Σίντκλει Γιαξής, Εσίτι , Ντόουγκλας , Ελ Καντουρί , Σβαμπ , Μπίσεσβαρ , Κωνσταντέλιας , Μουργκ , Μιτρίτσα , Α.Ζίβκοβιτς , Σφιντέτρσκι, Άκπομ , Κούτσιας .

I would agree, but if we are close enough in January I can see us hitting the transfer market hard to bring in 2-3 players who can help us contend. (This has already been heavily rumoured) Ultimately even if we don't win the title this season, you don't want to be out of it from before the new year. Stay in the hunt for as long as you can and then as we get deep into the season you never know. As long as Lucescu is at the wheel I have confidence we will push to win the league this year, despite a poor summer transfer window, injuries as well our team being weaker than last year he has done a good job so far. Barring the Volos catastrophe, which IMO was more on the players than him, I can't complain about his coaching so far.

Might have to do the old 7 day trial with Net TV Plus for this one! A draw will do at this stage for us, and I think Lucescu will set us up that way. Obviously a win would be great and I'm sure we'll get our chances but it's more important IMO we don't let them pull 4 points clear of us even at this early stage.

Well said. It was a really strange match honestly, we started poorly then we looked a class above for half an hour and the 2nd half was crazy. We couldn't score despite all our chances and whatever they did went in. We must regroup and bounce back as we have 2 massive games coming up.

Players mate, dropped off massively. At the same time we missed a bucket load of chances, not sure if you've been watching from the start. Missed pen, plenty of good chances to score, Paschalakis has had a poor day too and here we are.

Go home you're drunk m@laka

This is crazy

This game will either end up 4-4 or 6-3, no in-between!!

Poor by Paschalakis IMO, Volos player was pretty wide and had pressure coming.

This has turned into a training drill, we are toying with them and scoring at will

GOAL! 1-1 Michalidis, with the help of a deflection

Appears Kurtic is indeed the player who has COVID, not in the matchday squad and all our other internationals are (Swiderski, Mitrita, Mihaj, A.Zivkovic and Paschalakis) Bad week to lose him with Copenhagen and Olympiacos coming up.

Yet another goal from Mavropanos last night as Stuttgart drew 1-1 with Monchengladbach. He scored a cracker with a shot from outside the box. Seems he's putting in a case to be turned into a striker, it's his 3rd league goal of the season and his 4th all up (1 in the cup) They've all been nice goals in their own right too! Also worth seeing at the end of the below video, he makes a crucial block to keep the scores at 1-1

I'd say we'll be moving for an attacking mid in January, whether we are able to find someone adequate or get who we want is the issue. It may also depend on what form El Kaddouri returns in, does Lucescu plan to use him as a no.10 or a winger.

Samaris doesn't have a team, before being let go for free by Benfica he basically hadn't played at all last season. Not to mention he's always been bang average to poor for the Ethniki. Fortounis is injured, so unless we roll him out on his crutches probably couldn't have played. Won't deny Sokratis and Manolas would've helped during this campaign, they have had off-field issues with management that has unfortunately ended their NT careers as long as JVS is at the wheel. But half the guys you mentioned it's not feasible for them to be playing currently. Samaris is done with the NT, he needs to find a club and he wasn't able to find one over the summer, clearly his career is winding down. Stick to AFL re, Blues for the flag next year Cerra to win the Brownlow.

Just on this point, I agree Manolas and Siovas would have helped particularly today. But if we are talking about moving forward, Siovas is 33 and currently without a team, Sokratis is also 33. So going forward these 2 aren't really options for the Ethniki, Manolas is the only one who could potentially be around for Euro 2024 and even then he will be 33 by the time Euro 2024 kicks off. To put a positive spin on having these guys out, is that it has fast tracked Mavropanos and Chatzidiakos who would have ridden the bench during this campaign. Instead they have gained valuable experience and caps. So yes not having these guys has hurt our chances of qualifying for Qatar but I don't think it should necessarily be a criteria moving forward for keeping JVS or not, IMO.

Although we mathematically are a chance to still qualify for the World Cup it's obviously going to be very tough from here. Reading the match-day topic it seems there are very mixed views on JVS, there always has been. I don't think it's possible to do in a post but I would be curious if we did a poll how many would want to keep and how many would want him gone post WC qualifiers. (Maybe one of the Moderators can help? @Blackhawk @Dutch Eagle) FWIW I would keep him, he hasn't been perfect but I think he has done a good job and has for large stints made us look like a modern footballing nation. He also has made the team much younger, most of the current guys in the squad are young enough except for 2-3 players, that they'll all be around for Euro 24 and WC 26. Not to mention Tzolis, Mavropanos, Pavlidis, Douvikas etc, guys who are just starting out and have 10+ years ahead of them. I think he deserves to take us into Euro 2024 qualifying, in a 24 team Euro I think he will get us there. Nations League will be important to secure a playoff spot just incase.

VAR can't be used to deem if the ball has crossed the goal line. Goal line technology has to be in place, so with no goal line tech, the ref/linesman don't give the goal it's no goal. Pretty silly when you think VAR was able to determine along the same line that the ball had gone out and they disallowed Pavlidis' goal.

It's unlikely we see a change in formation, I don't think JVS will go away from the shape that has given us 2 wins in our last 2 games. The only change I can see is Stafylidis for the suspended Tzavellas, which is a little concerning but hopefully with 2 other CB's next to him he'll be okay. We could also see a change to the attacking duo, Douvikas maybe to partner Pavlidis again? But I think he'll stick with Masouras playing off Pavlidis. The Swedes are a good team, especially up front. Plenty of firepower from their wingers and strikers. They will get chances as they did in Greece, we need our defence to have a big game and similarly Vlachodimos to have a good game. It's nice to be in the qualification picture this late in proceedings, no matter the result we are still mathematically alive going into the final 2 games. Let's how we go.

Olympiakos have been fined and received a one match stadium ban for excessive flares in the derby against Panathinaikos. So at this stage when we play them in 2 weeks it will be an empty stadium. They will probably appeal and lets face it this is Greece, so I'm guessing 30,000 sell out crowd when we travel down to Piraeus.

I don't mind the formation although, with Masouras, Tzolis and Pelkas fit there is probably enough there to go back to a 4-3-3 or 4-2-3-1 but I guess JVS is hoping the team can build on the momentum from the Sweden game playing 5 at the back. The reverse game was probably our worst performance under JVS, goes without saying we need a much improved performance. I think we'll need to score 2 goals to win this game, we haven't kept a clean sheet in 8 games. Our attack is inconsistent, we'll need to have a good game attacking wise and create 6-7 'classic' chances so we can score the 2 we need. We need an easy goal, whether that comes from a set piece, a Bakasetas strike from range or a penalty we just need an easy and preferably early goal. Final thing we need to watch out for is their winger Kvaratskhelia, who scored Georgia's equaliser in the first game. Tricky winger who caused us plenty of problems last time out. Siopis will play a key role in supporting Androutsos who will likely face him most the game.

Ingason is the big one, he'll probably need some time to get up to speed even when he returns but he is key to our back 4.

Kyriakos Papadopoulos also ruled out of these 2 qualifiers with an injury. Not sure if JVS will call up someone else as he still has 4 CB's in the squad (Tzavellas, Xatzidiakos, Mavropanos and he has previously played Stafylidis there) There will be no replacement called for Zeca.

Not only is he a starter but he is their captain, big loss for them and the Ethniki.

Seems Zeca has suffered a serious knee injury over the weekend that will rule him out long term. He would have started these 2 games for sure, so it's a blow. Expect Siopis to start in his place. Remains to be seen if JVS calls anyone up to replace him.