paokarag4

Scored to put Stuttgart 2-0 up today, they ended up winning 3-1. Seems we will have a quite a few players coming to the NT in good form this international break.

A brace from Bakasetas today as Trabzonspor won a tricky away game 1-2 against Kolovetsios' Kayerispor. The win sees them return to the top of the table and Bakasetas score his 4th and 5th league goals of the season.

No word, so at this stage the game is still on. Squad has been announced to that effect. Varela and Murg not able to shake off their injuries and will miss, Lucas Taylor is rested. It means Rodrigo gets a reprieve, I'll be surprised if he starts expecting to see Vierinha and Sidcley as our full-backs. Πασχαλάκη , Ζίβκοβιτς , Βιεϊρίνια , Ροντρίγκο , Λύρατζη , Μιχάι , Μιχαηλίδη , Γιαξής, Σίντκλεϊ , Τσιγγάρα, Εσίτi Κούρτιτς , Σβαμπ , Ντόουγκλας , Μπίσεσβαρ , Κωνσταντέλια , Μιτρίτσα , Α.Ζίβκοβιτς , Σφιντέρσκι , Άκπομ .

Squad announced for the do or die games against Georgia and Sweden. No real surprises, Stafylidis returns as well as Pelkas and Masouras who are fit again. No love for Kolovos, Athansiadis and still no Giakoumakis who is yet to play for Celtic since moving. Full squad Οδυσσέας Βλαχοδήμος, Αλέξανδρος Πασχαλάκης, Σωκράτης Διούδης, Θανάσης Ανδρούτσος, Μανώλης Σάλιακας, Παντελής Χατζηδιάκος, Κυριάκος Παπαδόπουλος, Κώστας Μαυροπάνος, Γιώργος Τζαβέλλας, Κώστας Σταφυλίδης, Δημήτρης Γιαννούλης, Κώστας Τσιμίκας, Λεονάρντο Κούτρης, Κάρλος Ζέκα, Δημήτρης Πέλκας, Γιώργος Μασούρας Τάσος Μπακασέτας, Σωτήρης Αλεξανδρόπουλος, Ανδρέας Μπουχαλάκης, Μανώλης Σιώπης, Μάριος Βρουσάι, Δημήτρης Λημνιός, Χρήστος Τζόλης, Πέτρος Μάνταλος, Βαγγέλης Παυλίδης, Τάσος Δουβίκας

Our best performance of the season so far, Bieseswar back to his 2018-19 brilliant best today. Sidcley and Schwab were both also very good. We've done well to come through this grinding schedule with the results we have managed to get, 2 more games and then most of the squad will be able to rest over the international break. With a little luck El-Kaddouri and Ingason will be fit by then too.

Vierinha isn't fit to play, Kagawa and Rodrigo have also been left out of the squad. Strange what has happened with Rodrigo I guess he's on the outer for some reason. He was the starter early in the season until he injured himself against Rijeka. It means we'll see Lucas Taylor at right-back, something that makes me nervous but let's see how he goes in his first real test. The squad in full: Πασχαλάκης, Ζίβκοβιτς, Τέιλορ, Λύρατζης, Βαρέλα, Μιχάι, Μιχαηλίδης, Σίντκλεϊ, Τσιγγάρας, Εσίτι, Ντόουγκλας, Σβαμπ, Κούρτιτς, Μπίσεσβαρ, Μουργκ, Μιτρίτσα, Α.Ζίβκοβιτς, Σβιντέρσκι, Άκπομ και Κούτσιας

Another goal for Douvikas overnight as Utrecht beat NEC, 0-3. You can see his goal below starting at the 1.04 mark

PAOKTV is officially back to broadcast all home Superleague games for the 21-22 season, this includes playoffs. 79.90 Euros for the year, and you can purchase it anywhere around the world except Greece and Cyprus. https://www.paokfc.gr/nea/20210921-paok-tv-season-ticket-2021-22/

Between our form and the number of games we have recently played(and have ahead of us) I expect this to be another scrappy game. Need to find a way to score a goal and then hold onto the lead, how ever it comes we need to just win and move on. Not expecting a brilliant performance, we just need the 3 points. Not sure if Sidcley plays a third game in 6 days, I'd say chances us Rodrigo goes to left-back with Taylor back at RB with Vierinha on the bench despite his injury being nothing serious. Would also expect A.Zivkovic to start.

The much maligned in these parts, Bakasetas has started this season in brilliant form. 3 goals and 2 assists in 5 games as Trabzonspor sit equal top in Turkey. He scored the winner over the weekend with a lovely strike just outside the box. Add his goal and assist for the Ethniki a few weeks ago and his numbers are very good, it's not hard to understand why he plays at a top 4 team in Turkey and is a starter for the NT. People will always find reasons to criticise him, but that shouldn't take away from the fact that he is valuable and his stats back it up. Here's his goal over the weekend

Schwab needs to come on at half-time, he will make a big difference.

The misuse of Esiti by multiple managers is honestly mind-boggling. He is always played in games where we have plenty of the ball rather, than being played against better opponents where possession is 50-50 or we have less of the ball. It's not the reason we are struggling, but having one guy who isn't creative with the ball at his feet isn't helping.

For all those rumours swirling around that Savvidis is ready to sell the club I say BOOM Σαββίδης: "Όσα λεφτά κι αν μου δώσουν, τον ΠΑΟΚ που είναι η ψυχή μου δεν τον δίνω" https://www.sport24.gr/football/savvidis-osa-lefta-ki-an-moy-dosoyn-ton-paok-poy-einai-i-psychi-moy-den-ton-dino.9356449.html https://www.paok24.com/podosfairo/285224/savvidis-o-paok-einai-i-psychi-moy-den-poleitai/ Multiple sources there since some people have problems with one site or another. Just because we haven't spent on transfers this season doesn't mean Ivan is done with PAOK. Not sure why he would've signed Lucescu to a 1.7 Million 3 year contract, if that was the case. We clearly reduced our budget in terms of paying for players, looking for free agents or loans but we are still giving out pretty big contracts (Oliviera, Kurtic) For a final time I'll say, Savvidis has been a great owner and president. He has given us success and stability. Is he perfect? No, but the small percentage of fans who think we are better off without him or want him gone are delusional.

You have criticised the team for not making signings and justifiably so. That isn't Lucescu's fault, he wasn't given a technical director and therefore we weren't able to sign our first choice player in most instances. So with no signings and the squad arguably weaker than last season when we finished 25 or so points off the Championship, you think he is the problem? After one game? I respectfully disagree.

Remember when Lucescu said we didn't need a keeper......

Murg has been awful, really missing A.Zivkovic today

Biggest surprise for me is Zivkovic starting in goals, Paschalakis has had some shaky moments. I guess Lucescu wanted to wait until after the international break to minimise the disruption to the team. Not shocked Kurtic is being rested coming off 2 full games in the space of a few days for his NT. Combined with the fact we have 7 games over the next 3 weeks, he'll get plenty of game time.

Game available on PAOKTV for those of outside of Greece/Cyprus. 4.99 Euros for the game, no word yet on if they'll offer a season pass. I'm sure they will it's probably just come too soon to organize and get out in time for the PAS game. I think this might be a scrappy affair, we will win but it won't be pretty. I think a classic Lucescu 1-0.

@Bananas You make a lot of sense..... YOU ARE NOT WELCOME AT GATE 4 MEETINGS!! We are anti-Athens, anti-EPO, anti-POK and most of all anti-logic

We have some good young talent, fortunately for us most of that talent will continue to be developed across Europe rather than in Greece. We have a few holes in the team(Center mid/right-back) but on the whole this is a team which should be qualifying for a 24 team Euro. World Cup qualification is harder, we were unlucky to cop a very good Sweden team from pot 2. If he somehow pulls of a miracle (first step was taken last night) and gets us to Qatar 2022, then of course he will stay on. The only way he stays on if we don't qualify for the WC is if we heroically fall short on the last matchday. What I mean by that is we beat Kosovo on the final matchday and Sweden and Spain have colluded for a result which sends them both through at our expense (very unlikely I know, as that would entail us having beaten both Sweden and Spain before that point, which would probably render my above scenario impossible anyway) Unless we fall off a cliff in the next 4 games, I would keep him on for the Euro 24 qualifiers which I realise is an unpopular opinion. I think this team, as you point out is good enough to qualify for a 24-team Euro and I think JVS should be given the chance to guide us to that particular tournament.

Qualification is just about gone, for what it's worth we play our final hand in this game. As poor we were against Kosovo the reality is if we somehow manage to beat Sweden we would only be three points behind them with 4 games to play. The team needs to re-group and go again, if we pull off what would be a famous victory we are still alive. We currently have a very very faint pulse, but it's still a pulse. The staring XI needs to be changed, Bouchalakis can not start. He was our worst against Kosovo, Sweden will run rings around him and feed off his poor touches and constant turnovers. I start Zeca instead of him and it doesn't bother me that he and Siopis are similar players we need to play our best available with so many outs. Hopefully Tzolis is fit to give us an option in attack.....

Novasports reporting that JVS is considering playing 5 at the back, like he successfully did in the Norway friendly back in June. It would make sense given we have so many players out who would play on the wings normally. He covers them with wing-backs instead. I don't mind it, but the fact he did not try this formation against Switzerland(I didn't see the full game so correct me if I'm wrong) coupled with the fact he doesn't seem like a coach to take massive risks lead me to believe it won't happen. You never know though so we'll see, seems like 9 players are locked into start with 2 positions up for grabs depending with which formation JVS ends up going with. Full article for anyone interested: https://www.novasports.gr/sport/podosfairo/event/fifa-world-cup/article/12074496/ethniki-skepseis-gia-tria-stoper-kai-siopi/

Agree. One game at a time, we can't get all the points back at once. Take care of business against Kosovo and then we can look forward to a massive do or die against Sweden. I am relatively confident we will beat Kosovo, we will get chances just whether we are able to bury a couple. I am interested to see what JVS does on the wings, with all our outs. Assuming Tzolis isn't fit to start (maybe off the bench), it will probably be Giannoulis or Mantalos on the left and I don't know who on the right could be a few players (Even Mantalos) The fact that Limnios got no minutes against Switzerland leaves me reasonably optimistic that he won't start in this game.

I heard/read it was from Sheriff Tiraspol the Moldovan team who qualified for this seasons Champions League. Kolovos and Athanasiadis (the goalkeeper) play there.

That is correct! At the time of my above post that information had not been made public.