paokarag4

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

Tricky group taking shape. So far it's Italy Bosnia Finland (can't get rid of them) Greece 2 more teams to come

He's having a great season, could have a big role to play for us next season

In his first game back from injury he scored what turned out to be the winner against Ausburg in a 1-0 victory. Much needed win for Stuttgart it lifts them out of the relegation zone. He was subbed off at half-time apparently not injured but he asked to be subbed because he was feeling "flat" after 2 months out and an intense first half. Hopefully that's the case and he can finally get some consistent minutes leading into the qualifiers

So if we beat BATE and Vidi lose we have the 3 way tie for 2nd place, we all know that. Now I'm reading any win vs BATE will do. Not sure exactly of how it works for a 3 way tie but I've heard something about a Mini league being created so basically, it would cancel out the results vs Chelsea that the 3 teams have had. Can't find anything official from uefa, is anyone sure that no matter what scoreline we beat BATE by as long as Vidi lose we are through?

Guys this has been a problem for years. In Greece the NT is and always has been 2nd to people's clubs. Go watch highlights from our 2010 qualifying campaign, same issue then. People just don't care enough to go watch Greece vs Estonia not in Athens or Thessaloniki at least. Save for the 2006 World Cup qualifiers where we were reigning European champions. Karaiskakis was packed every match The irony is when we go on a run and get out of the groups (Euro 2012, World Cup 14) People pour onto the streets waving their flags and celebrating, it's just the Greek way.

What a save Pasxalakis

We already had a lead in that one @Dutch Eagle but I like your optimism

Well that's the worst possible start. Khacherdi sent off down to 10 from the 7th minute. Meh was going to be too easy 11 v 11

he's obviously going to try keep the midfield tight, not sure I agree with El Kaddouri on the wing for this one. Probably a case for Akpom to start over Prijovic as well. I know that was never going to happen but in a game where we're going to need pace on the break to cause any threat it makes sense. The only one with pace is Jaba. Hopefully we pull off a spectacular result. I have just woken up an hour and a half before my alarm was meant to go off, I was dreaming we had beaten them 0-5. You heard it hear first!

Lamia, Larissa, Giannina and Levadiakos. No reason we shouldn't take 12 points from those games and it starts Monday night against Lamia. If we play the football we are capable of we'll go into the new year with a handy lead up our sleeve but still a lot of football to be played. Let's control what we can and take 3 points one game at a time. Olympiakos plays some nice football. What they lack is a striker to finish their chances. We in the mean time have taken advantage of having the best goalscorer in the league and have our 6 point lead. Need to win all 4 of our remaining games in the 1st round and go into christmas with at least this 6 point lead intact.

Not sure if it's a good or bad thing, Chelsea completely outclassed in the London derby a 3-1 loss to Tottenham. So not sure if Sarri will be even more inclined to heavily rotate his squad given they've lost ground on Liverpool and City or will be looking for a bounce back and play a strong team. Logic says he'll rest and rotate. Either way it'll be tough even if we manage a win we need Bate to do us a favour (which I think they will)

Disappointing result no doubt. Once again we are reminded of how much we lack in the final 3rd and in front of goal. It took moments of magic from Fortounis (post) and Karelis (overhead kick) to produce our best chances. It's a bad loss but it hasn't changed where the ethniki sits in my eyes. We struggle to break teams down and create chances when denied space, we know that. We are suited to a counter attacking style of football. You're not gonna get those sort of chances vs Hungary, Finland and Estonia. Qualifying for Euro 2020 is going to be tough but not beyond us. Our key players need to be in form and stay fit and we'll be in with half a shout. Vlaxodimos, Manolas, Sokratis, Zeca, Fortounis, Donis, Mitroglou, Pelkas there is enough talent there for us to be somewhat optimistic moving forward. At least I am.

Indeed it was pao. We were deducted 6 points from that seasons playoffs. I guess not technically an away game given it's considered a neutral venue

Jesus Christ you'd think we were down 4-0 based on these comments. Just because you change manager doesn't mean your team automatically learns to play fluid attacking football. It wasn't pretty but we have a lead. It's what the Ethniki was best at for a decade! It can be better but so far so good imo. More goals there to take but finland have some pace up top and will be (and have been in the 1st half) dangerous on the counter

Looks like Siovas is coming on to replace Manolas who hasn't shaked off his ankle injury

GOAL!!! Lovely run by Toro to set it up!

it was kourmbeli just ran into a wall of 3 Finnish players. He hasn't looked confident on the ball in the first 10mins

That chance is a good example of what can be provided when Mantalos, Pelkas and fortounis are in the same XI they can all play with the ball at their feet and are clever in the final 3rd. Obviously not being natural wide players is the downside. Mitro maybe should've done better with the early chance but on his opposite foot was always going to be difficult

The tie-breaking criteria for all Uefa competitions the Nations league included is the head to head record. So us beating Finland 3-0 would give us a better head to head record and if we were to draw level with them on points on the last match day we would come first based on that record. If we were to beat them 2-0 it would get a little complicated. Basically it would come down to goal difference because we would be tied in all other tiebreaking criteria's. Which are Superior goal difference in matches played among the teams in question; Higher number of goals scored in the matches played among the teams in question; Higher number of goals scored away from home in the matches played among the teams in question;

For anyone interested Novasports are going stream Anastasiadis first press conference. It starts in about 25 minutes https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2MTt8bX8izc

Given as an own goal, it did look like one not that it matters