paokarag4

Really? I thought he was very good once again in a big game and showed exactly what he can offer when we are playing a European match. He was a cool head with the ball, always making the right decision and playing the right pass. He showed his quality and you don't come across players like this everyday. Anyways I'm a long time out-spoken fan of Omar, he seems he could be sold given he only has one year left on his contract and he wants a return to Italy. But if he was willing to take a pay-cut (doubtful although in the post COVID footballing landscape who knows) then I would be keeping him, he is an important player to have for derbies and in Europe. I didn't think the game suited Schwab, it was very stretched and end to end. I feel he's the type of player that will thrive when we have possession and can build up. He was solid never the less and the ball he played out to Giannoulis for the 1-0 was brilliant.

It's a combination of prize money and a share in the market pool which is essentially money from TV rights. I think we are guaranteed just under 6 Million Euros and that could increase with prize money for wins/qualification from the group stage. I'm seeing different numbers bandied around, it seems to be between 5-7 Million Euros. Obviously if we manage to qualify for the Champions league we're in for a larger piece of the pie.

Surprising that Matos has been left out, could've offered something from the bench especially if we go into extra time with his aerial ability from set pieces. It makes me start to believe the reports that Limnios will start as a right wing-back. I don't think this is the game to experiment and play somebody in a brand new position. It is a huge game in terms of keeping our Champions league dream alive and also guaranteeing Europa League football. I wouldn't be doing it I'd be starting Rodrigo, who isn't great defensively but at least in a back 5 he can be more easily covered.

Greece are always late with the call-ups when compared to other nations, I'd say there's a good chance they are announced tomorrow. Although traditionally the squad has been revealed on a Friday, so it wouldn't shock me if we have to wait until the end of the week before they go public with the announcement.

Wernbloom is officially gone, he has been sold to Swedish club Goteborg. I'm not sure if we actually received any money from them or they covered part of the apozhimiosi that he wanted but either way he's gone and off our books. https://www.paokfc.gr/nea/20200820-sti-gketeborg-o-wernbloom/

Wernbloom is officially gone, he has been sold to Swedish club Goteborg. I'm not sure if we actually received any money from them or they covered part of the apozhimiosi that he wanted but either way he's gone and off our books.

Re-sign I assume means, we have a buy back option so basically if we make an offer they are obligated to sell the player back to us. I've read about it happening in the Premier league I recall Chelsea having a buy back option for Ake who had been sold to Bournemouth. The 2 teams had set a date and after that date the option expired.

Over the last few days he's been linked with a return to Serie A, with Napoli and Roma reportedly interested. https://www.sport24.gr/football/omades/Roma/endiaferon-kai-ths-roma-gia-papastathopoylo.5743190.html

He wasn't really given a proper chance. Barely started early in the season and was condemned to being on the bench/out of the squad a few months into the season. After his little blow up on social media he started getting minutes again and was actually solid and his set-pieces were worth half a goal a game. A little surprised they've let him go but I think this system Ferreira wants to play is less suited to wingers. That's why Limnios has been trialed as a right wing back, Jaba as a striker etc. If we do revert back to a 4-3-3 at some stage we still have 4 options. Jaba, Limnios, Tzolis and Warda. Although I wouldn't be playing Warda, he's been given plenty of chances and to me he isn't that great a player, not worth the hassle IMO.

I've thought all along that unless you can get someone head and shoulders better than Paschalakis he stays and is our starter. He is better than Zivkovic and we never really saw a lot of Rey (he's half way out the door anyway according to PAOK's media) Paschalakis makes mistakes, but he's capable of winning you a game. My issue is I don't think we're getting anyone to Greece who is going to be clearly better, it'll be a young kid coming for a lesser league or a more senior keeper that has probably ridden the bench at a mid-lower table team in a better league. It's an issue across the league, even Sa who most agree is the best keeper in Greece right now makes mistakes. He wasn't punished for them this season but I've seen multiple passages of play where he has mad pretty big blunders but the other team couldn't capitalize/defense covered him. Similar to Paschalakis in 18-19, even when he made errors he was rarely punished. My point is I think we have to live with mistakes in our keepers, remembering what league we play in. Pascha does have his flaws but when he's on he can be a wall and he's had massive games for us. His form stabilized in the play-offs, so unless it's an offer of 3-4 million I wouldn't be selling him.

It's a big year for Mavropanos at Stuttgart, needs to be a starter and keep himself fit. If he does that can easily see him starting for the Ethniki, there is no one player atm who has cemented their spot at center back for the NT. I can't see Sokratis/Manolas returning anytime soon so the spots really are up for grabs. Stafylidis is serviceable against weaker opposition but he's not a long time solution, plus he hardly played at club level over the last season. Hatzdiakos looked solid but is coming off a long term injury and is still a little unproven. Siovas is aging but has a role to play, especially with Sokrati and Manolas out. Retsos too has missed a lot of football through injury and then falling out of favour. Bottom line is there are spots up for grabs, it's on the certain players to perform at club level and make those spots their own.

Ivic is set to be appointed as Watford's new manager on a 2 year deal. They were relegated and will ply their trade in the Championship in the upcoming season. Huge opportunity for him hope he does well! https://www.bt.com/sport/news/2020/august/serbian-vladimir-ivic-close-to-being-named-watford-manager

The biggest difference is Tsimikas was able to perform and show what he can do on the European stage. To the kid's credit he played very well and earned that transfer. We as a team over the last 2 seasons have failed in Europe and haven't been able to showcase our players in the Champions League or even the Europa League. If an offer comes around 6mil I agree we will take it, seems like a fair transfer everything considered although I'm not so optimistic we will get that type of money.

Agree it's a massive signing for him and Greek football. He is the 2nd Greek I believe to play for Liverpool after Sotirios Kyrgiakos, who went to Liverpool just as they were entering one of their darkest times in recent memory. This transfer has a far different feel to it. He will be given games, Robertson essentially only had the 34 year old James Milner (who is a midfielder) as cover over last season. So you would think he will get his chance in at least 15-20 matches across the season. Then it's up to him to prove himself and perform well. It won't be easy to dislodge Robertson but regardless even being his back-up is a pretty big deal. Congratulations to him and good luck!

Listening to radio from Thessaloniki, it seems a lot of people rate Insua and think we should've gone hard for him. Especially if we end up selling Giannoulis. Can't say I saw much of him except when we played them, he seemed okay nothing hugely impressive but again that's based off of a few games.

Damn, tricky draw. Are we sure it'll be Toumba? I saw something similar but I thought all one legged qualifiers would be at a neutral venue

Mystakidis at left wing back, setting up Mak for the 1-0 win in Dortmund ? I don't mind the formation, it seems to have worked in the derbies and tightened us up defensively. The issue is we aren't scoring with that system. I think for the Champions league qualifier it will be good given it's one game. Make sure we keep it tight at the back and don't concede, force the game to extra time and even pens if we have too. Based on what we've seen in the last few games of the play-offs and the Atromitos friendly this formation is going to see us struggle across the whole of a season. Hopefully it's just the players still learning the formation and it clicks at some stage, but I like it for derbies and European matches against "bigger" more fancied teams

Really unlucky, played well (except for some patches where some slack passing allowed Wolves to win the ball high up the pitch and cause problems) had more than enough chances to grab one goal and probably should've been 2. That's the way it goes, unfortunately it's an all too familiar tale for Greek teams in Europe. Fwiw I think Wolves pen was there, poor from Alain a double mistake as soon as his touch got away from him he should've stuck to his line, he had a rush of blood.

A 2nd player has tested positive to COVID and has been left home instead of travelling to the pre-season camp with the rest of the team. Not sure who the player is yet, he hasn't been named. Hopefully they recover quickly. I wouldn't be surprised if a few more cases pop up now given the nature of the virus, how easily it spreads and it's incubation period can be a few days or longer.

He did retire at 30, he was quite injury plagued from memory but his best football was quite good. I know he was involved in a coaching capacity at Iraklis and obviously in the last few seasons in Switzerland. There looks like there was a few years that are unaccounted for between his retirement and his days at Iraklis, so maybe you're right.

Giannis Amanatidis the former Frankfurt captain and Ethniki player has been announced as a new assistant coach. He will be in charge of the teams attacking play as he has been the last year and a half with Swiss side St.Gallen. For what it's worth St.Gallen this season has scored 78 goals, the most in the Swiss league. https://www.sport24.gr/football/omades/Paok/paok-sto-texniko-tim-o-amanatidhs.5738364.html

Arsenal beat Chelsea in the FA Cup final 2-1 to win it. Sokratis came off the bench in the 88th min, there was 10 mins of stoppage time so he played around 12 mins total. Nice that he gets to be partt of a cup winning team in England. He's now been a cup winner in Germany as well as in England. Whether he's there or not next season, we'll see but if he's not at least he signs off winning a cup.

They'll have to move quick, given the draw is in 10 days time. Can't see it happening, if the rules in Dutch football is goal difference then it's hard for them to overturn that decision. Even in this crazy year with COVID and everything.

Looks like Schwab has touched down in Thessaloniki and will be doing his medical and hopefully signing his contract today. In other news it sounds like we've rejected Besiktas's offer of 2-2.5 million for Akpom. It remains to be seen whether they come with an improved offer but apparently they are struggling financially so not sure how much higher they can go.

I'm reading this offer is quite a bit less than what he received prior to the playoffs. The bonus was also set at playing 15 games not 70%. He knocked that offer back apparently wanting a guaranteed contract of 2 years instead of the 1 +1 option. If that is indeed the case then it's hard to imagine him accepting this new offer, I think sadly we've seen the last of Vierinha at PAOK and if that's the case it's a shame the way it's all ending and a little surprising.