paokarag4

The winners of League C have been decided, along with Greece the other group winners are: Turkey, Georgia and Kazakhstan. These 3 along with Greece will be promoted to League B for the next edition of the Nations League. Furthermore, they are potential opponents in the event Greece doesn't directly qualify for Euro 2024, in the playoffs. Of course if any of those group winners qualify directly they would also be replaced with lower ranked nations in the playoffs, so we may end up avoiding them all together. As things stand assuming none of the 4 qualify directly, we would have to beat 2 of Turkey, Georgia and Kazakhstan to qualify for Euro 2024. The format is a one-off playoff game, 2 semis and a final with the winner gaining qualification.

Zivkovic played the first half and grabbed an assist in Serbia's come from behind win. I've noticed that a bit with him and the Serbian NT, he plays the 1st half and is then subbed off. It's happened too often for it to be due to form, clearly some sort tactical plan the Serbian coach thinks works.

Koulierakis called up to the Ethniki for the final 2 matches of the Nations League!

18 year old PAOK center back Kostas Koulierakis called up to replace Tzavellas for the 2 Nations League matches. Bit of a surprise call-up but considering the games have no bearing on where we finish, it's a good opportunity for the kid to get a taste of international football. https://www.sport24.gr/football/ethniki-elladas-koylierakis-anti-tzavella-stin-apostoli-gia-ta-mats-toy-nations-league.9763794.html

They just needed all of 102 minutes to equalise. Oh well you don’t finish your chances that can happen, we’ve been playing with fire for weeks with our inability to finish teams off when we have our chances. We had more than enough to be 2-3 up so no one to blame really but ourselves. Just a shame we couldn’t hang on, would’ve been big for confidence heading into the international break with 13 points on the board

@Nea Bafra http://www.hesgoal.com/news/PAOK vs Lamia.html

Couple of nice finishes in that hat-trick which you can see in the video below. Also worth noting that Barkas kept for Utrecht and Siovas played for the losing Fortuna.

Awful result, he picked up only one game in the opening 2 sets losing 0-6, 1-6. He would eventual lose the match in 4 sets. He hasn't had a great year but his best is still very good, last week he beat Medvedev on route to a Masters final. His biggest issue is clearly mental and until he can get that sorted he will be prone to these type of results and his inconsistency will always hold him back from competing for slams.

20 year old midfielder has been signed by Sporting on a 5 year contract for a reported fee of around 4.5 million Euro (+ 500,000 in potential bonuses) Good luck to him as it's a big step in his career this early on! Sporting is playing in the Champions League this season too, so an opportunity for him to play in the top European club competition.

Wow, poor by Aris! No matter how poor PAOK handles some situations I can always count on another Greek team to do something more ridiculous and put things into perspective. Burgos is a big reason a lot of their signings moved to Aris, now he's gone 2 games into the league? Crazy stuff man, just when you think you can't be surprised anymore in Greek football you are.

Good to win first up, just to ease the tension after the disappointment of being knocked out of Europe. Some interesting selections by Lucescu, starting Thomas over Oliveira and Koulireakis over Kargas. I suspect Kargas will return next week. With Nasberg getting a crack at the spot next to Ingason once he is fit. Don't think we'll see Thomas over Oliveira too often either but who knows, still plenty to play out. Interesting to hear Lucescu say he wants a no.10 or a winger, someone who is a dribbler and will run and drive at defenders. We need a no.10, not sure we need another winger though. And even with regards to a no.10 we have heaps of midfielders (none of whom are clear dekaria) so hard to see anyone else coming in unless one of Kurtic/Augusto is sold.

So has that restored your faith in him or is he spinning more BS in your opinion?

Rafa Soares has begun training fully, whether or not they deem him fit enough to start is the question. If not then it's most likely Tsaousis who starts at left-back, considering Vierinha is suspended.

Scored over the weekend in Celic's thumping 5-0 win. They have started the season well with 3 wins from as many matches. He has also been linked with a move to the Premier League! Although it's probably too soon in his Celtic career for a move like this to eventuate, it speaks volumes to how far he has come in just 2 years. And really is an indictment on now Greek teams manage Greek players.

Colak I feel was a little unlucky with us. You could see he would get to the right spots and was always a threat in the box, his finishing was just a little off. As happens with PAOK, he didn't set the world on fire immediately so he was benched early and lost his confidence without being given a chance to settle with the squad. He has since done very well in Sweden, looked solid for us in the 6 months he returned and I am sure he will continue to score for Rangers. Basically PAOK doesn't try to help or protect their investments, it's more "you didn't perform in your first 3 games after we dropped 3 million on you? Then you are done" Poor man management and all around management of the squad. If Lucescu was the one coaching when Colak first arrived I dare say we would have been a success. But it's a moot point now, we need Oliveira to remain fit for this upcoming campaign.

The second one in particular was a brilliant finish, albeit under little pressure. Never the less a great strike and great for him to get his confidence up nice and early in the season! You can see both his goals starting at 5.22

They would still be alive in the Conference League. They would have to win through the play-offs of that competition to get into the group stage. If they beat Slovan it guarantees them group stage football one way or another.

Looks like we are going to go with Narey to lead the line. bit of a risk considering he's a winger but Lucescu obviously wasn't impressed with Koutsias and Thomas isn't fit enough to start yet. Reported starting line-up ----------------Kortarski Lyratzis----Ingason----Kargas---Rafa Soares -------Augusto------Kurtic Zivkovic--------Dantas--------Biseswar/Quagliata --------------Narey------ Lyratzis returning is a big plus, interesting to see how Kurtic goes with all the rumours that he's trying to force a move since we didn't offer him a bigger contract following his career best season. The issue seems to have been resolved for now so let's hope he gets back to his best and maybe even manages to score and helps us turn this around.

Rogic? A talented attacking mid, who has one brilliant game every 5 and the other 4 just floats around doing the bare minimum. He would fit right in😄

You also give me xwrio vibes, with calls to sack the manager 20 mins into the first game of the new season😉

Levski & their fans are giving me real xwrio vibes. Celebrating every missed place pass like it's a goal. It's on us to take the sting out of the crowd but atm is contributing to the frustration that is making us not play our game and constantly hitting aimless long balls.

Disaster, time to turn it around but we have been very poor so far. Need a big lift to turn this around.

link https://www.vipbox.lc/levski-sofia-vs-paok-1-live

Some highlights are up, not the best angles of any of the action but it's something.

@ChrisT hey and welcome! No final tournament for Greece, that is for the nations who top their group in League A. We have won promotion to League B and guaranteed a spot in the Euro 2024 playoffs.