Since the results of this season are pretty much already a forgone conclusion, I figured I'd give my take on what PAE should do for the upcoming season. We will most likely enter Europe in the Conference League Qualification rounds. Should we qualify for the group stage (mandatory achievement) we will be in Pot 1. Our aims for next season should be 1. To make a deep run in Conf League & 2. Build a young base to challenge for the league in 2026-2027.
GK - Kotarski (2028), Tsiftsis (2028). Gotta do whatever we can to keep Kotarski. He is a top quality GK and if we get rid of him, we will return to that cycle of new GKs every season.
LB - Baba (2026), Gomez (2027). I'd say get rid of both. Baba has taken a sharp decline over this season, maybe due to overuse. But I would be fine with an overhauling of this position.
RB - Otto (2025), Sastre (2026), Lyratzis (2026), Vierinha (2025). Say goodbye to Vierinha. Offer him a front office job, or assistant coach. No need to keep his numbers on the books. Do what you can to re-sign Jonny (which is unlikely). I would get rid of Sastre and keep Lyratzis. As Pash says, if we are going to have bad backups, they might as well be Greek.
CB - Kedziora (2026), Colley (2025), Michailidis (2027), Lovren (2026). This is a major overhaul needed position. Let Colley walk. You need to bring in 2 quality CBs this summer. I was looking at advanced stats, Kedziora has only a 31% aerial dual success rate which is terrible. Colley 36 %, Baba 38%. Not a coincidence we can't stop giving up set piece goals.
CM - Ozdoev (2025), Bakayoko (2025), Thymianis (2027), Camara (2027), Pena (2027), Schwab (2025), Meite. Let Bakayoko and Ozdoev walk. Camara needs to start every game. Not sure why he didn't against Bucarest. Extend Schwab for his leadership. Need to bring in a starter quality CM. Not sure why we bought Pena when he doesn't seem to be in Lucescus plans.
Attack - Konstantelias (2027), Pelkas (2027), Murg (2026), Soares (2026), Ricardo (2026), Shola (2028), Taison (2025), Zivkovic (2027), Despodov (2027), Chalov (2027), Tissoudali (2026), Thomas (2025), Samatta (2025). Get rid of Murg, Soares, Ricardo, Taison, Brandon, Samatta. Sell Konstantelias. Use that money to rebuild the team. I actually like Shola, i'd give him more time. Bring in a young upcoming CF (wow could've been Tzimas).
Looking at advanced metrics, here are a few stats that stand out. 4/5 of our most played players are all over 30 yrs old. Not a coincidence we look tired at most times. Leaders in XG (expected goals) per game are Konstantelias, Zivkovic, Brandon, and Chalov. Zivkovic & Despodov are actually both at the top of XA (expected assists) per game at over 2. That tells me they put crosses into great locations, just no finishing. Defensively, Michailidis is at a 50% successful tackle rate, which is terrible. Kedziora is 53%. And my favorite, +-. Basically shows who is on the field for most of our goals v opponent goals. Highest on the team is Konstantelias followed by Kedziora. Lowest on the team is Brandon, Colley, and Bakayoko.
