paokarag4

Apparently we are on the cusp of signing Swiderski, a 21 year old Polish striker from Jagiellonia (currently 4th in Poland) Obviously a signing with one eye on the future, he has upside and potential resale value. I guess it means Akpom will be given the chance to cement his spot as our starting striker. Not the worst move in the world, he is young and will hopefully develop into a handy little player. I'm happy for us to back Akpom, Karelis and give Swiderski some mins off the bench. Let's see how it plays out. https://www.sport24.gr/football/omades/Paok/paok-pairnei-karol-svinterski.5414763.html

In recent years they have indeed been the most successful in Europe. Historically Panathiniakos has reached a European cup final (champions league) as well as being a two time semi-finalist on 2 separate occasions. Therefore IMO making them the most successful greek club in Europe. Understandable though that current generations view Olympiako as the most recognisable and biggest club in Greece

Great start for them both! Good to see the Greek youth keep the tradition going and vocally supporting both players. Us oldies are far too old for that now (25 in a few days ?) Troicki is a former top 15 player so could be a tricky match-up for Stefano. If all goes to plan he'd be lining up in the fourth round against the Goat Roger Federer, still 2 rounds to go before that eventuates.

Varela and Bieseswar are most keeps. Crespo as well but I don't think he is quiet on the level of the other 2. The first 2 need to be signed sealed and delivered asap. In terms of a Prijo replacement I (along with most others) said initially back what we have. Akpom has looked good and Karelis when fit and firing is capable. I wouldn't be heart broken if we don't sign a striker. I understand only 2 centre forwards leaves us a little thin in that position but Jaba is capable of pinch hinting as a striker if need be. Or for the love of good break one of our loans! No idea why the club is so against this. Bring back Kolouris (for depth) and Giannoulis and send Warda to Atromitos, it's his megali kapsoura anyway. Everyone wins we are happy and address 2 of our problem areas in one swoop *mic drop*

Wow huge result, wasn't not expecting such a comfortable score line. Even if the performance was not as comfortable as the scoreline suggests. A place we always struggle to come through that with a win and minus Prijo is a huge plus. Bravo paokara, fantastic 3 points

It means nothing that Lucescu chose Warda instead of Henrique. Managers get it wrong all the time. We can't judge Lucescu as a manager because of who he prefered to keep in the summer. As you say Warda hasn't reached the levels of last season, although he hasn't really had a consistent run in the team. They are similar players for me. They both want the ball and drive at defenders. It's something we need. I always liked Henrique but he doesn't track, something Warda is mildly better at. Who is better with the ball? I think it's too close to call, I haven't seen Henrique play in 18 months so it's a little hard to judge

Tripoli is a place where we always struggle. Especially coming off this week, cup loss and Prijo transfer. If we somehow get 3 points out of this one, ill truly believe we have the metallo of champions. Big test let's see how we go. Interesting to see who gets the nod to lead the line Karelis or Akpom. I think it'll be Akpom assuming he's fit, which I think he is sounds like he was left out at Panaxaiki as a precaution

It is gonna be sad to see Prijo go. This type of move has the potential to derail our title charge. All season what has the main difference between us and olympiakos been? We score and they don't. Prijovic is obviously a big part of that. That offer is huge and it is completely understandable that he accepts but what do we do? I read some people saying back in Akpom and Karelis and I think I'm leaning that way. Akpom has looked good in his cameos, being a starter is a different kettle of fish though. Karelis pre-injury was more than capable of leading the line for us, injuries and limited playing time has stunned his development. If he reaches anything that resembles his best in Belgium we'll be fine. It's a risk but it seems the sensible choice. We can throw money at the problem and bring in a 'big name' (by greek standards) spend 5-7 mil and get a striker that theoretically dominates Greece. Usually hard to get decent players in January but then again Prijovic came across in Jan. Either way we are losing a key player, arguably our most important. It makes me nervous to say the least.

This is the cutest thing I've seen in a while. Potential power couple here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b3P-b56lufk Team Greece lost to Great Britain 2-1 and beat USA 2-1 in the group stage of the Hopman cup. Tomorrow we play Switzerland in the final match of the group stage, a win could send us through to the final. Perhaps of more interest Tsitsipas will take on Federer for the first time in what will be a great warm up for him leading into the Australian open

Not sure I believe someone is offering that amount for a player who's form has been patchy at best. Although I applaud the club's "no one is for sale especially when we are this close to our first title in years" policy, IMO (and most might not agree) Pelkas is replaceable. Biseswar has been given 2 games as the no.10 and has dominated (yes opponent's haven't been that great but still) Pelkas is not as crucial to us as Prijovic, Varela/Crespo or Maurcio. He is important but if we lost him I don't think we lose any momentum. So if those types of offers are coming in, we would be wise to consider them IMO

Welcome file, great to have another Melbournian amongst our ranks!

Didn't know where to put this so mods feel free to move it wherever. Might not be everyone's cup of tea but I enjoyed this. Merry Christmas everyone! Enjoy the +8! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sOypg5c0RBo

Good game for him overnight in Arsenal's 3-1 win to Burnely. Had a physical match up with Ashely Barnes and took no backwards steps (as we know he doesn't mind a scrap) Had a few crucial last ditch challenges as well when it looked liked Burnely was getting away. Getting mainly 7's and 8's from the sites giving player ratings. His no-non sense style is really starting to endear him to the fans. Bravo Sokrati, keep it up

I like that line-up

The solution to that re yianko is playing Biseswar as a dekari. Someone quality on the ball who can make things happen playing in his natural position. With Pelkas injured we might finally get a chance to see that happen

And that right there is the Greek mentality summed up. @Tzatziki, we can never take responsibility for what our teams have done. It's always "Olympiako did this but PAOK did this, you guys are just as bad. AEK is worse" blah blah blah. Greek football is sick and it has been for over 20 years. This attitude that all fans have isn't healthy. The people are very few and far between who actually say, yep you know what we messed up Karapappas was out of line. Theodoridis is a senile old man who shouldn't be in-front of the cameras. It's just considered the norm in Greece that these types of people are employed by the clubs. Could you imagine if Liverpool had a personal who works in an official capacity in the club posting on Facebook criticising refs and other teams alike? PAOK is guilty of this sort of stuff too, but come on now let's not act like our kaka don't stink. "You're president is just as bad" give me break re Let me say after all that, it's nice to see a Greek club doing well on the pitch in European competition. I hate that all this other stuff takes centre stage over the actual football. It's a shame but unfortunately it's a reality in Greece. Congrats on your win and qualification to the round of 32

Speaking of the man, nice little article on him https://www.goal.com/en-au/news/ex-arsenal-youth-star-akpom-revitalising-his-career-in/z0amear0p091k29ky6mkmppp

Biseswar as a no.10 please. Pelkas is sorely out of form, even in form he doesn't have Biseswar's quality on the ball. El Kaddouri although a smart player, doesn't have the killer final ball/creativity to make things happen. Stop waisting him on the wing and stick him in the middle. These two games are particularly important for Razvan given how we crashed and burned in Europe. Any slip up in this game or vs PAS and the vultures will start circling over Christmas. This is Greece after all

And so closes a very disappointing Europa league campaign. 1 win from 6. Just awful. Only positive is that we can now focus on the league but still, no excuse for losing at home to Vidi and Bate. I have no doubt Lucescu's inexperience in European competition played a role in our performance. Knock-out football is one thing, but having to go to these relatively unknown places like Vidi is a different challenge all together. 3 points on Monday please paokara

shame, we'll be lucky to get one let alone the 3 we need. We have them pushed deep into their box but just can't score. Still would be nice to get a draw and get something from this game

I agree with pash, our fans are capable of putrid behaviour. If something happens let it happen far away from the stadium, just another sub-plot of Greek football you have to hope your team wins on the pitch and hope no one pings a bottle at anyone.

Important win. Great to have an 8 point lead over Olympiako. We've won 2 out of 4 so far, need to close out the first half of the season with wins against Levadiakos and PAS and we'll be looking good. 2 down 2 to go. Wonder if Akpom's scoring and Prijo's slight drop off in form might pressure Razvan to consider starting the young English lad. I doubt it, but he's giving Lucescu something to think about.

I agree with pash, if the Greek player is better than the foreign one I'll take him. 3 guys i want to get back and see how they go are Lamprou, Xatziisaias and Giannoulis. Lamprou especially is having a great season in Holland.

No doubt in my mind come March Galanopoulos will be given a call-up. Whether he starts or not is a different issue but no reason he shouldn't be given a chance. A midfield of Galanopoulos, Zeca and Fortounis is hopefully what we'll see in Liechtenstein

Tricky draw, could've been worse. At our best we mix it with Bosnia for 2nd spot. We don't match up well with Finland but if we can take 4 points off them we'll be in good shape. Hopefully the boys turn around their form and we'll be in with a shot