paokarag4

You got any sauce with that? @pash

he did well, was always gonna be tough v Isner who is such a big and consistent server. Had one bad service game in the first set which allowed Isner to break and take out the set. Took him to 2 tiebreakers after that. No shame in his performance, he's had a brilliant run and there should be another nice little jump for him in the rankings. Hopefully he can carry this form into the US hardcourt season

Warda I believe caught the same flight with the team out of Thessaloniki. Prijo is currently on route to link up with them in Holland. The Warda v Henrique battle for the final "xeno" spot on the squad will have to be decided in the coming weeks. Unless of course Warda is on his way out then no decision to be made

Kourbelis/Kone are players that should be given a go. Galanopoulos I haven't seen play much, so I can't really comment on his ability These same arguments were happening pre World Cup 2014, people were calling for Samaris and Taxi to start, now they aren't wanted. All I'm saying is you don't know how young players are going to develop. That needs to be done at club level. Fundamentally we are in agreement on this issue, I just can't justify giving caps to players who are still unproven at club level just because "it can't be worse than what we currently have" The same things were said leading into the Euro 16 qualifiers (I was one of them) and we all know how that turned out

While I agree that Tziolis and maniati (think he's okay for depth) aren't the way forward, we can't be penciling in guys like Androutos who aren't starters at club level. He played a total of 521 mins last season. The reality of the situation is we are going to see Samaris(who I know had minimal mins this past season as well but coaches will defer to "experience") and Taxi for a while, until these younger guys start to perform at a good level at their clubs. "Bouchalakis can shoot" is not enough to justify him starting for the ethniki. I understand people want to see something change, which is fair enough but you can't just throw guys in for the sake of it.

Apparently it's only a one year contract? I know he's 33 next week but still, surely he was worth a 2 year deal at least Edit: Reading on contra it's actually a 3 year deal with an option for one more year. I got the info of the one year contract from an italian website, not sure who to believe here ? http://www.contra.gr/Columns/to-evaggelio/napolitana-4-5-ekat-gia-ton-oresth.5252138.html

He's through in 5 sets!! Onto the 3rd round for Tsitsipas, where he will have Italian qualifier Fabbiano, who took out Wawrinka in straight sets (2 tie breakers) His side of the draw has opened up with Dimitrov being dumped out in the first round. 4th round very much within touching distance and then a potential match up with the big serving but not unbeatable Isner. One match at a time though I suppose

The Lazaros and AEK break up was never going to be a clean break, much saltiness All salt no pepper

I saw it was 3-4 Donaldon's way in the 4th set with Stefano just having had his serve broken?

Donaldson is a tricky match up, hopefully Stefano can get the better of him. Waiting potentially in the 3rd round is the very dangerous and unseeded Wawrinka, who took out Dimitrov in the first round.

Great and in-depth interview with Manolas. He covers everything, from why he's no longer an AEK fan and will only play for Olympiakos if he comes back to Greece. Talks the ethniki and not qualifying for the World Cup, that goal against Barca and heaps more! He's very honest in his assessment of Greek football and his ego (and believe me if you read the whole interview you'll see he clearly has one) http://www.sport24.gr/Columns/longform/h-eksomologhsh-o-kwstas-manwlas-egine-aytokratoras-ths-rwmhs-gia-mia-hmera.5242990.html

absolutely ^^^^ He has always been a poor right back, it's why olympiakos had to convert him into a DM. To his credit he was/is hard working and forged a pretty solid career for himself given his limited talent. But yes in such as a game having a sub par right back cost us dearly. Not to mention playing our best defensive mid as a winger (Zeca) Plus the things out of our control, Manolas suspension and Donis being injured cost us dearly.

I think we need another midfielder. I would take Wernbloom in a heart beat, although I agree his age is a little concerning. But that's the path we've taken (in most cases) the last 2 seasons at least. Experienced players who need minimal time to adapt and can have an immediate impact. As for Mysta being the no.2 striker, I'm still not sold that's his best position. I think he's best spot is similar to Pelkas, playing as a 10 but not quite a classic no.10 like Biseswar. Regardless if Prijo stays on, with Mysta's injury record I wouldn't feel safe going into the season with just 2 recognized strikers. Defs need to sign someone

I'm interested to see how Lazaros goes at olympiakos, and see if he celebrates harder vs us or AEK if he scores. So far nothing that strikes fear, if we are at our best and manage to sign 1-2 more of our targets then there's no reason we shouldn't be right in the running for the league

I read that the friendly vs Anderlect on Friday will be played without any fans as per the request of the Dutch police. Not sure if something has happened or they were expecting a pretty big turn out. Maybe they don't/were unwilling to sent adequate police numbers to the game.

Here's the official announcement https://www.paokfc.gr/nea/20180621-ston-paok-o-leo-zampa/ As initially reported it's a five year deal.

I too am disappointed we are losing Djalma. A really solid player with great work rate. A physical beast too. But as someone else pointed out we got a really good 2 years out of him and we're not prepared to offer a 31 year old 1Mil a season (unless it's Wernbloom ?) But if this Jaba kid is worth 4-5 mil, you'd have to assume he is a star/has ridiculous potential for us to sell him for 15-20mil one day. I too find it unusual that that we would splash out 5 mil out of the blue for a player. Is this a statement of intent from Savvidis that he wants Champions league qualification/A real sustained run at the title? Hard to know without having seen this kid play, but if this is true then the financial commitment is defs there from Savvidis. (not that i ever doubted his financial commitment to PAOK but this would be taking it to a new level)

many of the paok fan sites making it sound like its basically a done deal because of little Savvidis insta post...

Without knowing both teams too extensively, I feel Basel is the tougher opponent. They beat both Manchester United and Manchester City (all be it a slightly weaker city side) in the last 6-7 months. Don't know if they've lost any players but this will be far from easy. Keep a clean sheet in the first leg at home and it's game on

He worked hard, as did the whole of the Egyptian team and deserved a result but as you said his passing was particularly poor. Egypt no doubt missed Salah, when they would brake they had no conviction or pace. There was a goal or two their to be had against a poor Uruguay had Mo been playing

lol JVC, why do you take Greek football so serious? It's a joke of a league with a rubbish standard of football. You shouldn't care so much about futile things my dude

it wasn't bad, always to nice to see some stuff from the inner sanctum and how players prepare and see a little more of their personalities come out

It seems not all are excited about his move to Arsenal http://www.goal.com/en/news/sokratis-can-help-arsenals-defensive-philosophy-but-is-the-wrong-/69cfgo1lsnls1x9c1ib066rds

Malezas has resigned for the 2018-19 season. Happy to have him on board, always solid when called upon a true professional and clubman

@Bananas I agree in theory. You would think Malezas would be happy to play 4th fiddle as he did so most of this season/his career is winding down. I guess the only issue is Crespo happy to start as the no.3 CB playing when the squad is being rotated. I don't mind Crespo either, defensively he's generally okay. Can make mistakes, especially on the ball at times. Has a little pace as well which is handy. Having those 4 and we are deep in that position full of experience. Will come in handy if we are to compete for the league title/have a run in Europe (make it out of the groups in the Europa league)