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According to reports from both English and Greek media, it seems Norwich are trying to cut his loan short and get him back to England. Norwich's new manager David Wagner has apparently asked for Tzolis to return to the club as he wants to use him for the 2nd half of the season. Hopefully his return means he gets some consistent minutes under his belt and he is able to develop into the player we all want him to be. https://www.pinkun.com/news/23284574.norwich-city-transfer-news-christos-tzolis-set-return/ https://www.sport24.gr/football/diapragmateyseis-tis-norits-me-tin-tvente-gia-tin-epistrofi-toy-tzoli.9921921.html

Kedziora announced officially, 6-month loan from Dynamo Kyiv. Remains to be seen if we bring in a striker in the final few days as has been rumoured for the whole of January.

He beat Lehecka 6-3, 7-6, 6-4 and for the third straight year Stefanos is through to the semi-finals here at the Australian Open. It will be his 4th semi-final in Australia overall but unlike his previous three, he will go into this semi as the favourite. He will take on Khachanov of Russia, who Tsitsi owns a 5-0 record against.

Tsitsipas breezes past Aussie qualifier Hijikata, 6-3, 6-0, 6-2. He'll face a Dutch opponent next in the 3rd round, either Griekspoor or the 32nd seed van de Zandshlup.

Sakkari through to the 2nd round with a comfortable 6-1, 6-4 win. Tsitsipas plays in a few hours, his opponent Halys has displayed some good form in the lead-up events. Stef may be in for a tricky night I expect Halys to push him to at least 4 sets. Hopefully I'm wrong and it ends up being a comfortable first up win for him.

Biggest story is the injuries to Lyratzis and Felipe Soares. Lyratzis is really starting to become injury prone, Vierinha will have to be on deck as cover for Sastre and Rafa Soares. Similarly it's a shame for F.Soares, just back from injury himself and pre-world cup was starting to play some good football. With Kurtic rumoured to be on his way out and El-Kaddouri's constant injuries we start to look a little thin in midfield. On we march to the next round to play PAO, pretty sure we are going to be looking at 3 games in about a week with them, with the league match sandwiched between to two cup fixtures.

Tzolis, while talented in his own right does not compare in terms of ability to Konstantelias. Konstantelias if he continues as he is tracking will be sold for double what Tzolis was sold for, which means those sort of clubs would be the ones willing to stump up that sort of $ for a 19 year old. I don't think he gets sold this transfer window, I think the sample size is too small for the money we should be demanding for him which IMO should be 15-20 Million. It would be great if we kept him for another full season and we get to enjoy him as a player for a little longer. Most importantly he needs to keep performing and not end up down the same path as other young Greek players who have fizzled out and never reached the heights they were capable of. Ninis and Fetfatzidis being the most notable amongst a group of plenty who never kicked on.

His contract is up on the summer, can't see anyway it's renewed. Felipe Soares is fit and training fully again, which hopefully means he is included in the squad. I think he was missed against Atromitos and would have got on the end of one of those late game cut backs which all flashed across the 6 yard box/pk spot without anyone arriving to finish the chance. F.Soares has scored a few goals like that for us, so will be good to have him back as an option.

JVS? Someone might wanna tell Poyet that he's been replaced by the guy who he replaced. In all seriousness though would be extremely dumb to change coaches now, Poyet did a great job in getting the team to top the Nations League group. We are in a tough qualifying group for Euro 2024 but changing manager doesn't magically make France or the Netherlands more beatable. Poyet has earned the right to see qualification through, including the playoffs.

Actually a sad day, we wait for the next site to pop up but man hesgoal was reliable.

Out for 3 months after injuring his knee in Hull's match against Watford. Puts him in doubt for the Ethniki's first Euro 2024 qualifiers in March.

Squad for this game and the friendly v Hungary has been released. Some high profile have been given a rest with Vlachodimos, Mavropanos, Tsimikas, Giakoumakis and Baldock not being called up. If I recall correctly, Poyet said post Nations League he would be using these friendlies to experiment, so I suppose these guys being rested will allow him to try some new blood in those positions. Also worth noting, Tzolis is out injured and Pavlidis only recently returned from a decently long injury lay-off. Πασχαλάκης, Μπάρκας, Αθανασιάδης, Γούτας, Χατζηδιάκος, Κουλιεράκης, Ρέτσος, Τζαβέλλας, Γιαννούλης, Κυριακόπουλος, Κώτσιρας, Ρότα, Αλεξανδρόπουλος, Μπακασέτας, Μπουχαλάκης, Κουρμπέλης, Μάνταλος, Παπανικολάου, Σιώπης, Χατζηγιοβάνης, Δουβίκας, Φούντας, Ιωαννίδης, Μασούρας, Πέλκας.

Expect the same starting XI as the weekend, with Nasberg most likely replacing the injured Koulierakis. Looking forward to seeing if we can put it another solid performance and get the 3 points. Fair to say the inclusion Schwab and El Kaddouri playing in his natural position played a pretty big part in our improved showing. Also excited to see Konstantellias play!

Mavropanos scored a 98th min winner for Stuttgart against Hertha Berlin in a 2-1 win. He also made a crucial clearance off the line with the scores locked at 1-1. You can see the clearance at 1.02 and the goal at 1.34 below.

Europa League group stage comes to an end, with Trabzonspor winning their final group game against Ferencvaros 1-0 via a very nice Bakasetas goal. That was his third goal in the competition to go along with his 4 assists. He's having another very good year, and has been able to replicate that form in Europe. Unfortunately for him and his team, they weren't able to qualify for the knockout stage in the Europa league, finishing 3rd with 9 points (1 point behind both Monaco and Ferencvaros in the top 2 spots). They will keep playing in Europe in the new year though, in the Conference league.

I think similar to the Olympiakos game, this game will suit us in terms of playing on the counter. Now the biggest difference is that AEK is in good form and is riding the wave of emotion, playing in their new stadium which is creating an electric atmosphere. Obviously big issues at full-back, Sastre has been poor since a promising start last season and he is just dumb defensively. Constantly diving in to win the ball even when it's clear he won't get there. Hopefully Rafa Soares plays and shows us why he came so highly rated from Portugal. A big ask to be thrown in to a derby with a hostile crowd after having not played for 3 months. I've read that Nasberg is an option being considered at left back. He has played there in the past and considering we are down to bare bones, it might end up being the only feasible option.

Well there you go, sometimes when you are out of form and struggling a game where you don't have to dominate possession is exactly what you need. Good win always nice to win at the karaiskakis, regardless of how poorly Olympiakos is travelling. In terms of what it does for us, I don't see it really turning our season around. We are where we are and this is looking more and more like a rebuilding year. We had 3 of our back 4 under the age of 22(4/5 if you count Kortarski), I think we will be up and down and will probably finish 3-4. Unfortunate since this year 2nd goes to the Champions League. In saying that I'd love to see us pick up a head of steam and win our last 5 games before the World Cup break, then we can regroup and most of our players will have a mini pre-season since most won't be going to Qatar. Our last 5 before the break: Asteras, AEK (away), PAS, Ionikos (away), Volos. 13 points would be a dream, AEK at Agia Sophia will be a different beast to what we've encountered over recent seasons.

Tough to see us getting a win here. While Olympiakos have improved their results in the league under Michel they have been horrid in Europe, they are still finding their feet considering the massive squad turnover and the fact they are onto their third manager for the season (crazy) If we were in anything that resembled decent form I would give us a good chance at winning but our form hasn't been great all season and now 3 games without a win and the mood is starting to become tense. In saying that maybe a game where we sit back and defend and are able to play on the counter will suit us, allow Narey to run at them and he'll cause problems. Zivkovic will be missed for the same reason, he would have been useful on the break. A few selection issues for Lucescu, does he revive Rafa Soares and potentially give him a look at left back? Who replaces Zivkovic on the wing? Biseswar/Konstantelias (has looked good in his cameos not sure Razvan would trust him to start in this game) look like the only options, we might get see Quagliata in the squad.

Tzolis was subbed on in the 58th minute over the weekend but only lasted 8 minutes before injurying his knee and being subbed off. It isn't as serious as it could have been and he is out for 2 months. Basically he will return after the world cup break. https://www.sport24.gr/football/o-tzolis-ypesti-meriki-rixi-eso-plagioy-menei-ektos-gia-dyo-mines.9788519.html

A 96th min Giakoumakis winner gives Celtic a 2-1 win over St.Johnstone, see the goal starting at 4.30 below

Nations league pot is so those teams can be drawn into groups with 5 teams, so they can participate in the Nations league finals next June.

Yeah worst case we end up with Belgium, France and Sweden from pot 3. Thank god we have the play-offs up our sleeve because we could end up with a really tough group. In saying that we could also get Hungary from pot 1 and avoid France/England in pot 2 and all of a sudden the path looks a little more straight forward. Still would be tricky, Hungary finished above Germany/England in their Nations league group and just missed out on top spot to the Italians. All teams in the top 4 pots are tricky in their own right and generally have at least a couple of players who are playing at a decent level in one of the top 5 leagues.

Stay with me here, we need a striker, we love signing big names who are aging, we also love signing them for nothing. Garcia has been sent to Uruguay to talk Luis Suarez into joining us in January, when he will become a free agent😁

This X 1000, you mention other guys like Pelkas(I agree too inconsistent) and Douvikas(still young willing to give him time) but to me it is so bleeding obvious that Bouchalakis is not at the level it's crazy. Every time he tried to play a ball over 10 meters he would horribly miss the mark by a long way. I understand we are short in central mids, Bouchalakis should be a depth option but he really should not be coming on when we are chasing a score. Siopis, Zeca, Kourbelis, Alexandropoulos, Bakasetas, Mantalos are all better options. He should be no.6/7 in line, making it boarder line whether he makes the squads.