teke817

So I guess PAO made a poor choice sacking Anastasiou...have they won at home since he got canned?? Grass is always greener, especially if you have a Greek manager..

I can see why we want to sign him ... Dioudis has looked better than I remember too

@Blackhawk - yeah I realize the Football League is in even more dire straights, which supports my theory that the SL should be like the Belgian/Austrian top flight, with max 10 teams, which gives you enough time to do a playoff at the end of the regular season. It also makes the top flight and the lower divisions stronger because the teams are not so diluted. Have you all seen the proposal of the so called "middle 11" teams regarding elections, compensation and selection of referees, etc.? I think it's a good starting point for the discussion, but the ideas still need work. http://www.sport24.gr/football/ellada/SuperLeague/aytes-einai-oi-protaseis-twn-11.3984860.html

What's interesting to me is the fact Olympiakos clearly has the most to lose by a Grexit. They are the only ones raking in E20+ million annually on the Champions League market pool. For 9/14 teams in the SL this is the equivalent of telling a vegetarian he can't eat meat for three years. Oh no, not that! For the AEK-PAOK-PAO-Panionios/Asteras sure it's a loss of anywhere from E2-E6 million depending on how optimistic you are, which is certainly no small amount of money. However, with a completely reformed football federation, that would hopefully include a more egalitarian revenue sharing model from television, European competitions, etc., as well as more competent referees, a better organizational structure and election reforms for KED and EPO. Taking the long view, a 3 year ban may actually be a benefit to the entire league 5 years from now. So why not bite the bullet? There is one thing that CANNOT be disputed; the EPO & SL are two very poorly run organizations - without even mentioning corruption/bribery/nepotism, consider this: -The last two or three years, there has been at least one team that has NOT finished the top flight competition because they were financially insolvent. How can you even get licensed to be in the top flight if you are broke before Christmas?? -We know for a fact that tax payment reporting was forged by some owners and somehow it slipped through the EPO/SL cracks. -The league has gone from 12 to 14 to 16 to 14 teams over the last several years. For a time, the SL wanted to go to 18 teams! Can you even name 18 towns in Greece that have the population to support a team? On what budget?? Where else does this happen, that we can't decide out how big our top flight should be? -The SL NEVER got a sponsor for the 2015/16 season. Think about the sheer incompetence that must entail. This is the most valuable league in the entire country. And no one wanted to put their names on the jerseys. -There have been multiple games each of the last couple of seasons suspended (or never started) because of fan violence. All games involved Olympiakos. C'mon, that's just weird. -Somehow, no international referees (those who officiate UCL-UEL-FIFA games) ever get assigned to the most important games of the year. At a minimum, that's incompetence. -Attendance has been declining for years. Although this can be a symptom of economic struggles, some teams only charge like 5 Euros for games. Most Greeks spend 5 Euros for a frappe they drink for 3 hours. So I KNOW they could spend 2 hours watching football if they were so inclined. This all adds up to one horribly managed, horribly designed, horribly thought out system. And if it requires government intervention to overhaul it completely, than I am all for it. Screw WC 2018, we all saw the Iceland game, we were not going far in that competition anyway. /endrant

I agree with Moras, even if we have a football "Grexit" if that is what it takes to clean up Greek soccer, I think it's worth it ... Qualifying for one tournament is insignificant compared to the long term health of an entire league, as well as a National football federation.

To be fair, when an entire squad absolutely stinks up the joint and collectively plays like hot pooh, even lukewarm praise (Kone) and relatively high praise (Lazaros) is actually a huge achievement, particularly when you get no help from teammates. (See below - player ratings from the Faroe Islands game 11/2014 - a lifetime ago, I admit...) Besides, when your midfielders are all 6's (Samaris/Tachtsidis/Tziolis) except for Fortounis, then I don't think you have the luxury of dismissing any players that can actually dribble and shoot, regardless of how inadequate they may seem at times. http://www.sport24.gr/football/ellada/ethniki_elladas/h-kritikh-twn-paiktwn-ths-ethnikhs.3142882.html

@Reaper - I couldn't disagree more ... First, Lazaros in the Euro qualifiers was the only dude that showed anything, played end to end and generally tried to create. Also, we were forcing those guys out wide when Kone and Lazaros both need space to be any good. I also have to admit, I was down on Petsos as a selection, but he's not a bad player. I would LOVE to listen to Skibbe talk to the SL managers tomorrow morning. Wonder how that will go ...

Kyriakos latest injury really hurts out depth ... that dude is the unluckiest guy ever and he is still just 23/24!

Let's at least keep in mind this is the Iceland team that kept Netherlands out of the Euros. Still, you can never lose a 2-0 lead. Never. That was the worst second half I've seen since ... well since every half Ranieri managed. I know Skibbe was tinkering with lineups, but why the f--k do you leave guys like Kone and Lazaros on the bench and put a small LB in at CM? I don't care about their club playing time, they are good players who are natural midfielders.

So ... overall impressions? How can we be so horrible at set piece defending? That's clearly a tactical/practice issue. Moras is a solid player and he has a great story, but time to retire from the NT. Siovas sucks. Klapino is a tragedy ... Let's hope Karnezis has 4 more years left in him so we can find a young player to groom for the position ...

Siovas in the top 5 of Greek defenders?? Are you crazy? There is a reason he only has 10 caps despite being 28 ... Yeah, I don't get the lineup, Stafylidis next to Tziolis as a defensive mid seems really odd, especially considering his size.

I typically watch PAOK home games on Laola1 ... It's $4.99/mo and all their home games are televised (no road games). I downloaded the app to my ipad, and stream it to my tv on Apple TV. You can also stream it on the web. They also have a license for the Football League so I've seen a lot of Larissa this year. Road games are a pain in my @ss, and usually I have to find some pirated feed.

For a team like Deportivo that was reportedly almost bankrupt 18 months ago, that is a LOT of cash to reject. They must really believe they can get a huge price for Lucas, but I am not convinced that a 27 year old will get you 30 million or more in the summer market when there are tons of good (and younger) players available.

@BostonThanatos Every year there is a rumor like this ... Kace to OSFP, Koulouris to OSFP, etc etc. It's all hot garbage put out there to make waves by the "red" press. Anyone else been reading about the Lucas to Atletico/Barca/BPL rumors? It appears Deportivo already rejected a January bid by Bilbao (? I can't remember the club) of over 24 million Euros. That would have been about 6 million to PAOK. If he goes to Barca or any other "giant" club, I have to imagine it would be the "biggest" transfer for any former PAOK player. I thought Andelinho to Wolfsburg was good ... this is just ridiculous.

@DutchEagle - the stadium ban is less important to me than the points ... Everything I've read indicates the choice is either -3 or -6 and no one has ever received a -6, thus we will appeal. I think the lawyers want to argue the incident was the same level as PAO and they only got a -3 point deduction.

Pelkas just got called up to the senior men's squad for the Iceland friendly. Even though his play has been erratic at times, it's nice to see that Skibbe saw something he liked when he scouted PAOK. @NeaBafra - agree with you on Giannou, but at the same time, Vellios can fill that exact same role with us so it's not a huge loss.

Still a good start ... Let's not forget how long it took for us to get a W after Mr. Tinkerman took over ... This is a psychological boost, and I like the foundation being laid. That said, we need better ball movement in midfield, better off ball movement by the midfield, and less lackadaisical play after a goal. Fortounis is a good player and may finally be a solid 10 for the future. I would like to see Tachtsidis get some time over Samaris against Iceland. I don't see anything in Petsos' game that indicates he can be a player we can rely on against top European competition. Would like to see Kone-Lazaros as 8's with the ability to drift wide, keep the ball, and take some defenders off the dribble.

I agree we can't forget about guys like Kone and Lazaros who CAN play ...

The replay looked pretty clear that Mitro and Karelis were both on side on the 2nd goal. Yeah, Mitro has not been his former, surgical self for a while in a NT uni ... not sure why. Maybe Jonas is helping Mitro look better in Benfica than he deserves. Glad to see Oikonomou get the nod. Manolas looked gassed and had a few too many mistakes for a guy that may arguably be in the top-5 CBs in Serie A.

Yeah that was a defensive breakdown ... either striker could have scored; the ball from Fortounis was good. It would have been easy to put too much on it ..

Great goal Karelis - way to bend it

Wow! Absolutely brilliant FK goal by Tzavellas ...

Best link so far is on YouTube and its HD https://youtu.be/jiehl8tfLJ4

The best stream I have found is an HD youtube stream https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jiehl8tfLJ4