paokarag4

Rallis scored again over the weekend.

Awful performance, crazy how we looked more dangerous playing against 11 than we did playing against 10. Just no creativity, no drive from any of the players, moved the ball super slow which is the exact opposite of how you need to play against 10. I can't move past the Michailidis error to hand them their goal, a schoolboy mistake at this level and it costs us the game. The dynamic is very different at 0-0 compared to 0-1 when they get the red card. Inexcusable to dive in there and allow your opponent to skip past you. He really isn't fit to tie Koulierakis laces and he will end up being our 4th-5th choice CB by seasons end IMO. Tough slog to qualify now, probably safe to say top 8 and direct qualification to the round of 16 is gone. We'd almost have to win 5 out of our remaining 6 to achieve that. Hopefully we can bank a few wins and squeeze into the 9-24 bracket and head into the playoffs.

We. Apocalypse is upon us.

Rumours already rife that we won't survive the upcoming international break.

And Rallis scored overnight in his first start for Heerenveen, with a great strike!

If you're still interested! https://www.epo.gr/News.aspx?a_id=53968&NewsType=22

The 4 home games will make or break our European Campaign this season. Must win especially coming off the loss yesterday. FCSB beat Riga 4-1 this morning, but Riga is probably (on paper at least) the weakest team in the Europa League. Game is pretty close to a 50-50 IMO, without knowing too much about FCSB. They haven't had a great start to their domestic season, winning only 2 out of 9 so far (4 draws and 3 losses).

Agree with the sentiment in here, we had moments and in games like this the moments make the difference. Some luck at either end of the pitch and the result is very different. Colley was impressive, did pretty well to contain Oshimen who was always a threat. Kotarski is a star, so glad we held onto him, when it comes time to sell we will pocket a nice chunk of change. Overall it is disappointing result but all of our away games are tough (except for the Riga game), a point would have been nice but our 4 home games will make or break our European run. Big one next week against Steaua at Toumba.

Galatasaray with a comfortable 3-1 away win over their rivals Fenerbahçe earlier today. They are 6 from 6 in the league and have now scored 20 goals in those 6 wins. They are a squad choc-full of players with experience from Europe's top 5 leagues Osimhen, Torreira, Batshuayi, Davison Sanchez, Mertens and not to mention Icardi (who I believe is injured and will miss this game), plus plenty more. It will be super tough to go there and get a result, they have quality all over the pitch and are a clear level above the rest of the Turkish league. I agree with Blackhawk, a draw is a good result.

Good win ahead of a big week with 2 massive fixtures. Doubly important since Olympiacos lost to Aris, so we go three clear of them at this very early stage in the season. Great to see Chalov get off the mark, even if it was in strange fashion😅 Hopefully the goals start to come for him now, he puts himself in the right spots, he just has been a little unlucky thus far (until last night!). Aris next week at Toumba, will be tough as it always is and they will be brimming with confidence after their win.

All European matches in Australia covered by Stan Sports!

Lovren is sign, sealed and delivered. A 2 year contract for him. He will the number 6 which he wore at Liverpool.

Agree 100%. Kids coming up through the youth team is different and that has clearly been our best avenue over the last 5 years to getting quality Greeks into the team. They will continue to invest in the academy and if players are good enough they will be given a chance, like Kottas seems he will be given this season. I was more referring to Greeks like Tsiftsis, or Tsingaras, who yes played a role coming up through the academy and had a part to play in the team's successes. But hanging onto these guys for the sake of it because they are Greek was the point I was making. Just to be clear, I am happy with Tsiftsis as our no.2. I was just using him as an example to make my point.

No doubt pash, Tsiftsis was signed as a Z.Zivkovic replacement never a Kotarski one. If and when Kotarski is sold we will definitely be in the market for a new keeper. It would be amazing if Kotarski decides this is where he wants to be long term, but unfortunately I think that is a pipe dream. He is good enough to play in one of Europe's 5 big leagues and based on what his agent was peddling this summer, it seems he has a desire to play in Italy. I agree with you about Greek players in the team, I think it is a big plus if you have quality Greek footballers part of your starting XI. Quality being the key though, give us guys like Koulierakis, Konstantelias, Chatzidiakos if we had been able to sign him. Guys like Tsiftsis, Tsingaras, will always just be depth at a big club and don't really move the needle. I would argue Lyratzis is also in that category, although I hold out a little speckle of hope for him compared to the others. IMO he is more talented, but has spent the last few seasons getting minimal game-time which has no doubt impacted his development. History is full of these types of players, not just for us but for the other big clubs in Greece too. Players who break into the team through circumstance (injury or poor form of someone in their position) and they end up playing regularly for half a season or even a whole season. But ultimately their limitations shine through and they aren't up to the level required of a big 4 club. It is a big year for Michalidis, make or break for him in terms of being a starter or becoming one of the aforementioned depth players.

As a Liverpool fan I can tell you at his best Lovren was a solid Premier League footballer. Never world class IMO, but part of the Champions League and Premier League winning teams in 2019 and 2020. He was also part of the Croatia squad which made the World Cup final in 2018. Since moving on he played at Zenit and spent the last 2 seasons at Lyon. Only 10 league appearances last season for him, so it will take him some time to get up to speed. He was never the best physical defender, despite his size he would often struggle against the more physical strikers in the PL. Obviously we are talking another level of attacker playing in England compared to what he'll face here, but still worth noting. He was capable of playing a nice long ball, which is always handy. I think it is an okay signing as he will provide depth for Kedziora and should be able to do a job in Greece against smaller-mid table sides. Remember he can't play in Europe, so expect to see him playing before or after a big European game to give Kedziora a rest. I am sure at worst his experience will be beneficial, hopefully he can find some good form and a player a role over the next few seasons.

I missed the game against Finland, so this was my first proper look at the Ethniki under Jovanovic. The 1st half felt like I was watching Greece circa 2010-13 in qualifying under Santos, being dictated to by a lesser team in terms of possession without really being threatened. And sure enough the breakthrough came and we were able to see out the game with relative ease, minus the deflected shot which thankfully sailed just wide. It is still early, so the style may change but it is clear Poyet was more willing to press and wanted to win the ball back as quick as possible against these type of opponents. Jovanovic was happy to let them have larger spells on the ball, back his defence and wait for them to make mistakes. It was a moment of quality from Ioannidis which gave us the lead, the guy is a star and really should have moved on from PAO this summer just passed. Between him Tzolis, Konstantelias we have some real quality in attack, hopefully Jovanovic plays them all together at some stage and gives the team licence to play quicker than we saw today. Regardless, it is a perfect start and that is all you can ask before. England away will be tough but they are not setting the world alight recently, despite making the Euro final. England's athletic and physical style has traditionally troubled us, which will probably be where the game is decided in a months time.

I could be wrong but I assume tickets for the Greek section will be sold by EPO? Keep your eye on the EPO site, but you will probably have more luck contacting the English FA and they will be able to provide you with more clarity.

As long as we keep winning trophies, we can stay at Toumba forever as I am concerned. A new stadium would be nice, but you love to focus on what Savvidis hasn't done instead of looking at what he has done. Talk to me about the fact that in his 12 years at the club, we have won the same number of trophies in that time compared to our previous 86 years of existence. 6 trophies in 12 years compared to 6 in 86 years. Not to mention doubling our League title tally, which have always been notoriously difficult to win in Greece. There is a small minority of fans who will never be happy, no matter the success of the club. The fact is PAOK has had it's most successful era with Savvidis at the helm. Has he been perfect? Of course not, but no owner in world football is. I know I just wasted my time typing all that, but it is always worth reflecting on what he has helped the club achieve. I feel many of us (myself included) lose sight of how far off it the club was before Ivan came onto the scene.

Further to that, we went hard for Chatzidiakos who unfortunately for us, has chosen to go to Copenhagen. So it is clear we are not done with transfers and we are looking to add another center back. The fair criticism IMO is that we once again leave plenty of business until the last minute. This year was actually better than other seasons, Tissoudali, Chalov and of course Camara were all done pretty quick and have been with the team for over a month (Camara since the start of pre-season). Obviously the issue there is when we have to start playing European qualifiers so early, even players arriving in late July are behind the 8-ball. I don't doubt it is tough for the club to negotiate with players so early in the transfer window, but regardless after dealing with it for so many years you would think they would have found a way to navigate those situations. We will sign one more center back and I think that maybe it. Some reports say we still need a central midfielder but when you consider we have 4 players(Schwab, Camara, Ozdoev and Bakayoko) battling it out for 2 positions, if we don't add another CM we are fine, at least numerically in that position. AND of course they may very well end up playing Thymianis as a center mid, giving us another option. Even though as pash points out he played most of last season as a CB.

Shhhhhh! Don't let @PaokCT hear you say that about his boy!

He has officially been called up for these matches. We need a good CM so fingers crossed Zafeiris can help us in that regard. He scored midweek against Lille in the UCL qualifiers and hit the woodwork twice! Ο Χρήστος Ζαφείρης θα βρίσκεται κανονικά στη διάθεση του Ιβάν Γιοβάνοβιτς για τα παιχνίδια της Εθνικής Ελλάδας απέναντι σε Φινλανδία (7/9) και Ιρλανδία (10/9). https://www.sport24.gr/football/ethniki-mesa-gia-ta-paichnidia-me-finlandia-kai-irlandia-o-christos-zafeiris.10371748.html

No easy teams, in there. Except for maybe 1-2 teams in pot 3-4, the rest are big names and will be tough. Dream draw: Rangers and Slavia (Pot 1), Maccabi Tel Aviv and Ferencvaros (Pot 2), Malmo and Bodo/Glimt (Pot 3), Riga and Elfsborg (Pot 4). Even that isn't easy, just probably the most winnable game on paper at least. UEFA got their wish to increase the level of the Europa League by creating the Conference League and that is certainly the case. In the League Phase, 1st-8th will qualify directly for the round of 16. While 9th-24th will battle it out in play-offs to join the top 8 in the round of 16. 25th-36th will be knocked out as there is no dropping down to the Conference League with this new format.

Jovanovic's first squad has been announced for this match and the game vs Ireland a few days later. I like the call-ups, our attack looks exciting. As ever, our central midfield options leave something to be desired.

He has been a adequate stop gap when we have been short of central mids, but ultimately he doesn't have enough weapons to be a consistent starter at a big club. He isn't a great passer, or driver/dribbler of the ball, he isn't a goal scorer from midfield, he isn't a beast defensively. He works hard but that only gets you so far, unfortunately. His level is probably a team that is 5th-8th in Greece pushing for that final European spot. I for one am happy he is getting a move, kid has wanted to be a starter coming up to 2 seasons now and a move has been mooted for all that time but Lucescu has wanted to hold onto him for cover. I hope he goes well and makes a good fist of it.

I have to agree, both penalties are on the softer end. I can live with the Kedizora one, because the shirt was being held for a considerable amount of time (there is a difference between some tugging and clinging onto someone's shirt who has a step on you, so you hold on for 4-5 steps). The Chalov one, I don't know, VAR sees the stamp and gives a penalty. But IMO it is soft and was a passage of play reminiscent of under 10's with 30 players around the ball and the ball pinging around everywhere. Some contact was inevitable. Regardless we need to improve, it seems we start almost every season very sluggish. International break is only 2 weeks away, take care of Shamrock and have 9 points in the league and it is a good starting point. Can't believe I am saying this, this early in the season but the 2 weeks off will do us good and will allow Chalov and Tissoudali (and hopefully whichever CB and midfielder we sign) more time to gel with the team.