paokarag4

According to novasports.gr Tzolis has come to Greece and will be with the squad in the unlikely chance he can get himself fit for one of the 2 qualifiers. Mavropanos was also injured over the weekend but he too has linked up with the squad. Αντίθετα έγινε η έκπληξη και ο Τζόλης ήρθε στην Ελλάδα ώστε να συνεχίσει τη θεραπεία του μήπως και προλάβει κάποιο από τα επίσημα ματς με Κόσοβο και Σουηδία. Το ίδιο ισχύει και για τον Μαυροπάνο ο οποίος πιθανότατα να είναι έτοιμος πιο γρήγορα. https://www.novasports.gr/sport/podosfairo/event/fifa-world-cup/article/12068612/ethniki-kapoios-na-tin-ksematiasei-ektos-masouras-galanopoulos/

Ruben Semedo arrested for the alleged rape of an underage girl. Now makes sense why Olympiakos were desperately trying to unload him over the past few weeks. https://www.sport24.gr/epikairothta/roympen-semedo-ston-anakriti-o-portogalos-katigoreitai-gia-omadiko-viasmo.9338386.html

Awful luck for us heading into 2 must win games. Not to mention Pelkas was ruled out prior to the squad being announced, between him Fortounis and Tzolis that's our 3 best attacking players IMO. Gonna be a big ask to win both games with those outs, we struggle to score with a full team. Mantalos and Bakasetas (no matter how much people hate it) are going to play a big part in us getting 6 points from these games. We also need Pavlidis/Fountas to be clinical when they get chances.

Chatzigiovanis called up to replace the unlucky Tzolis https://www.sport24.gr/football/ethniki-elladas-chatzigiovanis-anti-tzoli.9337452.html

Well after a short stay which consisted of one 16 minute appearance, Kyriakos wasn't happy with life in Saudi Arabia and has left Al-Fayha as a free-agent. Early reports saying he wants to keep playing in Europe, which from an Ethniki point of you is ideal. https://www.sport24.gr/football/parelthon-apo-tin-al-faicha-o-kyriakos-papadopoylos.9336807.html

You m@laka who told you to keep drinking whiskey? ?

I must be the only one not super confident. Copenhagen is a good team, there are no guarantees we top this group by any means. Slovan as well, they managed a draw with Olympiakos over-night and they played most of the match with 10 men. I understand the attitude "if we can't get through this group in this competition then pack up shop" but I don't think it's that simple. Need to give the other teams credit and respect, we aren't Liverpool. My prediction we go through in 2nd place and play the round of 32/preliminary qualifying round against a Europa League opponent.

Put some respect on that man's name

No surprises in terms of the starting XI, let's get this bread!!

Have never heard of Papanikolaou, he's a winger 22 years old who plays in Poland. Played for Panionios and Platanias while in Greece but I honestly don't remember him from the Superleague. No real surprises otherwise, Giakoumakis being left out is the only surprising omission, he's in the middle of trying to orchestrate a move to either Celtic, or Weder Bremen. So perhaps that has taken priority for him and he's asked to be left out? Zeca is suspended for this game, as Giakoumakis would have been had he been called up.

In addition to those 2 goals, he also had 2 assists and was named Man of the Match! All on his debut. Hopefully he makes his Premier League debut this weekend!

The Norwich manager is probably disillusioned with how good his squad is. They were up against Manchester City, who had one on the most expensive starting XI's ever playing. It's been a baptism of fire for Norwich and Giannoulis playing Liverpool and City first up. I saw enough in the first game where I thought he'll be okay in the Premier League, we'll see. Norwich signed another left-back overnight a loanee from Manchester United.

Seems we are going the loan route for these final few transfers, Akpom seems to be a lock and apparently Sidcley a left-back from Dynamo Kiev (who Lucescu's father is the coach of) is the favourtie atm to come in. We have been linked with about 3-4 different left-backs of the summer so take it with a grain of salt. The final piece of the puzzle looks like its going to be Aexandru Mitrita, a Romanian winger who currently plays for New York City in the MLS. Far from the sexiest names but at this point anything is better than nothing, we need to cover these holes and in time we'll get to see the quality of the players. We still await to see if Giovinco reemerges as a possibility for the no.10 position, or if another player surfaces as a possibility. Whatever happens, it seems it's going to be a busy few days.

Great game from Tsimikas as he grabbed an assist in Liverpool's 2-0 win against Burnley. Cut out all the mistakes from last week and was quite solid defensively. He was named man of the match! The bad news for him is that Robertson is fit again (he was on the bench) and will probably take his spot in the starting XI next weekend against Chelsea. Regardless Tsimikas has shown Klopp he can trust him and use him more often this season, I suspect he will see more game-time this season.

Tough game for him against Manchester City, Norwich lost 5-0 and Giannoulis was subbed of at half-time with the score at 2-0. His coach said later on he was struggling with the level of City and they took him off to protect him. It'll be interesting to see what affect that half has on his standing within the team. Hopefully he starts next weekend. https://www.sport24.gr/football/farke-gia-giannoyli-den-ithela-na-ton-ntropiaso-einai-proti-fora-poy-paizei-se-ayto-to-epipedo.9330374.html

File do you genuinely believe we didn't deserve that title? A team that didn't lose a league game all season, a team that just fell short the season before (not because they weren't good enough but due to other stupidity)

Agree, the type to be given a gold crown and complain that it's too heavy. I honestly think the ultras/organised fans are kind of missing being heralded as heroes when they used to "stand up" to those dirty and corrupt presidents we had in the past. Back then they would demand action and chase these people (or try to) out of the club. Now with a president who actually pays and has brought success there is no real reason to go after the president, but they are trying to manufacture one IMO. The club has made mistakes, we have had a few poor summers in a row in terms of transfers no doubt. But the reality is Ivan has saved our club as you have pointed out Bananas. PAOK has never had a president who has sunk so much money into the club, yet as you point out people exist who won't ever be satisfied.

Huh? Stay off the Athenian news cycle file, not sure that has been reported by any reliable source. I have heard we were interested in Valverde but as to why he didn't come who cares, we got a legendary coach back instead. Just out of curiosity are you anti-Savvidis? You seem hellbent on airing any dirty laundry he may have and belittling his massive achievements with PAOK.

Good to see you have moved on and aren't holding onto any grudges ?

If there is any silver lining with that decision, its that it gives us some more time to get our house in order and sign these players that we so desperately need to. With only one weekend between the postponement and the break for the national teams, who knows if we actually see any domestic football before the international break.

Game will be on PAOKTV for free, for those of us outside Greece, Cyprus and Croatia. https://www.paokfc.gr/nea/20210817-to-paok-rijeka-zontana-sto-paok-tv/

Played well I thought. Looked a lot more assured on the ball than his fellow left back Tsimikas on the opposite side. Showed his trademark pace when he broke forward and always looked dangerous in attack. Dealt with Salah relatively okay, despite this Salah ends up man of the match with 2 assists and a goal, sometimes the opposition is just too good?‍♂️ He clearly tired in the 2nd half, and that is his challenge, at this level the top players stay dangerous for 90 mins you need to be able to have the legs to go with them. Overall I thought he had a slightly better match than Tsimikas, but both can hold their head high. Ultimately having this type of competition is a good thing, we have 2 left-backs playing in the Premier League and both didn't look out of place.

To me he seemed nervous and made a few mistakes on the ball where he took too long and was caught in possession. Was okay but will need to clean up the errors against better opposition he will be punished, something I think he is capable of doing.