Panathinaikos A. O. vs Racing club de Lens

[drakos13]

PAO was definitly the better team and deserved a 1-0.

no regrets, we would have gone through if it were not for Vyntra being retarded and Galinovic's mistake/Lens blatant foul.

I commend the effort, i thought everybody played pretty well, good to see Leontiou pushing up more I thought he played well of what I saw.

Lens was not an honorable opponent, I wish them an exit in the next round.

Ethnikitsi:

Seriously What do you care- you are a GAVROS through and through.

Performance was not bad. Ivanschitz had some nice moves but no luck. Bovio maybe not so great. OSFP is NOT miles ahead. We at least showed potential. No chances? What getting cleared off the line, hitting the post, that one play that Salpiggidis was an inch away from tapping it in? Sure... and Shakhtar is no Lens man.

the Geys - PAO match will be interesting. Im sure OSFP will win though after theyve pelted Ninis, Ivanschitz, Salpiggidis with enough stones and flares becasue they cut up OSFP's shitty defensive midfield theyll have laid down the means for a out of nowhere Rivaldo free kick to win the game.

Judging by the pickup Ive seen on PAO, and the crap Rivaldocentric football OSFP has had - I dont see OSFP being able to outclass them or anything rather than being outclassed again like they were in OAKA. Djogey might be out with injury, if Morris or Gkoumas has a good game on Castillo and Bovio eliminating Roufaldo there wont be much of Geyros left to pass the ball.

[Steve07]

The straight red was B.S it's not like the guy was on a break away and it was outside of the box so why the straight red? :angry: Besides that like I have said the previous game vs Lens "YOU MISS THE CHANCE'S AND ITS OVER!!!!!!!" Lens will get rocked hard in the next round by Levurcusan(sp) but we should have won both the games against Lens they are not a good team.

[pao123]

I dont remember the last time I've been so frustrated with a game! WHAT A s%$#! PERFORMANCE! Ivan is a m#$%!, he cant cross for s%$#!! Bovio was just hoofing the ball up there! Its a joke! To those getting involved in the conversation earlier, yes Lens are nothing more than average, yes Shakhter are better and yes Oly are miles ahead of PAO! At least they can string 2 passes together or their 'geroi' can put in the odd performance. PAO had to score 2 and there wasnt even really any chances!!! WHAT A JOKE!!! I've ###### had enough of these s%$#! performances in Europe!

If PAO want a team Galinovic, Vintra, Nilson, Antonsson, and Bovio all have to go! Get some money and buy some decent players m#$%! Vardinoyianni!

umm..did u watch the game?

[DUDE]

I dont remember the last time I've been so frustrated with a game! WHAT A s%$#! PERFORMANCE! Ivan is a m#$%!, he cant cross for s%$#!! Bovio was just hoofing the ball up there! Its a joke! To those getting involved in the conversation earlier, yes Lens are nothing more than average, yes Shakhter are better and yes Oly are miles ahead of PAO! At least they can string 2 passes together or their 'geroi' can put in the odd performance. PAO had to score 2 and there wasnt even really any chances!!! WHAT A JOKE!!! I've ###### had enough of these s%$#! performances in Europe!

If PAO want a team Galinovic, Vintra, Nilson, Antonsson, and Bovio all have to go! Get some money and buy some decent players m#$%! Vardinoyianni!

umm..did u watch the game?

Yes, and if you call that a performance then Greek football really is in a sorry state!!! There was a great 15 min spell in the first half and that was it! Every time we had the ball it was just played long!

[MadBoy13]

I dont remember the last time I've been so frustrated with a game! WHAT A s%$#! PERFORMANCE! Ivan is a m#$%!, he cant cross for s%$#!! Bovio was just hoofing the ball up there! Its a joke! To those getting involved in the conversation earlier, yes Lens are nothing more than average, yes Shakhter are better and yes Oly are miles ahead of PAO! At least they can string 2 passes together or their 'geroi' can put in the odd performance. PAO had to score 2 and there wasnt even really any chances!!! WHAT A JOKE!!! I've ###### had enough of these s%$#! performances in Europe!

If PAO want a team Galinovic, Vintra, Nilson, Antonsson, and Bovio all have to go! Get some money and buy some decent players m#$%! Vardinoyianni!

umm..did u watch the game?

me prolaves... auto tha rotousa ki ego...

[DUDE]

I dont remember the last time I've been so frustrated with a game! WHAT A s%$#! PERFORMANCE! Ivan is a m#$%!, he cant cross for s%$#!! Bovio was just hoofing the ball up there! Its a joke! To those getting involved in the conversation earlier, yes Lens are nothing more than average, yes Shakhter are better and yes Oly are miles ahead of PAO! At least they can string 2 passes together or their 'geroi' can put in the odd performance. PAO had to score 2 and there wasnt even really any chances!!! WHAT A JOKE!!! I've ###### had enough of these s%$#! performances in Europe!

If PAO want a team Galinovic, Vintra, Nilson, Antonsson, and Bovio all have to go! Get some money and buy some decent players m#$%! Vardinoyianni!

umm..did u watch the game?

me prolaves... auto tha rotousa ki ego...

Re paidia, diladi eisaste euharistimenoi ma auto pou edeixe apopse o PAO? Den milao gia pathos, allo piotita.

[Steve07]

We showed a very good performance man once you calm down form the lose(it takes some time and sfinakia lol) then you will see that we had many chances but no finish we played good but if you don't finish the chances especially in Europe your dead.

[AEKPROTATHLIMA]

PAO played some good soccer today. Not great. It's of tho they gave there best. Next year again and again and again. That will be the same story for all GREEK teams. PAO now needs to focus in the SL because one bad result and there goes 2nd place!!! Again BRAVO to PAO for todays game..

[cyberfish]

Ethnikisti chill out man :D

We weren't going to win the UEFA cup this season and this is not a bad way to go out. Lens is a good team. They were always half a step ahead of us and had the experience to keep cool. They knew what to do, and their first concern was to plug our wings. They managed to to this and threw us off. We did not have the solutions to attack from the middle, and they kept a player deep the whole time knowing that we will try to counter-attack with long balls whenever possible. Don't forget they left out their best forward to load the midfield.

From the players you mentioned only maybe Antonsson and possibly Bovio (unless the latest reports about his low price tag are true) will depart. It would make no sense to unload this team at this point. A couple of good players, Munoz on the bench, a little luck, and we will be looking for deep penetration in Europe next year. Order that new couch :P

Ebede looked nervous back there a couple of times but he had good positioning and controled his area.

Nilsson had an excellent game defensively as did Vintra in the first half, but Leontiou added another dimension with his good ball skills and passing. Goumas was amazing today. He run like a teenager and was very decisive in all his tackles. I think he missed only one header all game long. Morris was excellent once again, and by Euro standards his ejection was fair (as the last defender). Unlucky break. He did everything right, but Lens players were half a step faster to the ball all game long.

Ivanschitz was very good and very passionate until he got very tired after the 60th minute. Tziolis was not present in the first half but he had an excellent second half and had that gutsy header to the crossbar. Bovio did a good job plugging holes in midfield, but most of his forward passes were errant, and most of his backward passes should had gone forward. Someone please stop him from executing set pieces (I hope Munoz is reading this :)) Ninis was good but looked overhelmed at times. With the ball at his feet he was excellent, but he looked overly concerned (maybe even a little anxious) with being in the right place when we defended.

Salpigids fought hard but he did not get any service or any space. He was constantly moving away from the box to get the ball and he is the least dangerous that way. He could had scored a couple of times with a little luck. Papadopoulos had the dificult SS role and I don't remember the last time he excelled at it. Mantzios faired a little better. He created space with his ball handling skills outside the box, but looked confused when in at least three occasions he had a crack at shooting from close range.

Bottom line, we played hard but Lens was the better team over two games.

Picture of the game must be the shot of our bench when Tziolis hit the crossbar and then Salpigidis failed to push the ball in from one meter out. Everyone jumps forward, and then they all go back and sit down. Just then Munoz walks to the edge of his area as if he is about to scream something. He stops, takes a deep breath, adjusts his crotch, and then walks back and sits down.

I thought it was the perfect metaphor for how this game went today.

[trifilli]

This game could have ended from 2-0 to 0-1.

Overall Lens was in control. PAO had some very good chances, that did not go in.

We relied too much on crosses.

Unfortunately nothing went our way and even when we got a small break, our forwards looked isolated and disconnected.

Frustrating that our forwards do not SHOOT when in good position.

Many chances were lost, because of bad passes inside the box...

Encouraging and valiant play from many players.

Ninis, Ivan above expectations again.

Nillson has been better than before.

The contrast between the teams was the way Lens was able to control the ball with speed and accurate passing, something that PAO did not have.

I would have been OK with a win, like I said before.

Two silly mistakes in France cost PAO.

This was overall a better effort than the last time PAO played vs a French team, under the SCUM. :tdown:

Like we have been saying.

Until next year.

NO luck NO joy...

Bravo, but not enough. :(

PAO OLE :gr:

PEACE

[NikosVazelas]

Football is a game of luck and skill. we were unlucky to have conceeded a third goal in france. Needing 2 goals against a Lens team who is in top form is definately hard.

Had we needed maybe just one goal thing might have been different. But that is football. if u remember a few years back, Bayern Munich was leading Man U in the final 0-1 the whole game. manchester had almost no chances until the last 10 minutes. two corners two goals. thats how it is. Sure Man U was a better team that year, but Bayern almost won the title.

As for people like Ethnikistis, i have nothing to say. I wont even imagine what OSFO will look like without Djole and Ribo in the lineup.

Saying PAO did not compete is wrong. the boys tried hard. had one of the chances gone in early, they would have delegated the pace more and had many more chances.

Ivan is turning out to be the best transfer for pao in a long time.

I said it would be very hard and it was. Lets not forget the age of this team.

Todays starting lineup was Ebede (25) Vyntra (25) Morris (24) Nilsson (28) goumas (30)

Ivanshitz (23) Ninis (16) Bovio (24) Tziolis (22) Pap (25) and Salpi (25)

the subs were Leontiou (22) Mantzios (23) and romero (28)

thats an average age of 23.5.

Nothing but youth. Nothing but future. maybe one good transfer away at LB from being a real threat to the older aging OSFP. with experience comes consistency. with consistency comes better results against the smaller teams. better results against the smaller teams means a better position in the table. etc. etc.

i have nothing bad to say about PAO.

i really respect this teams character. for a youthful team, they showed ''grapefruits''.

later skaters

[GreekLunatic]

Its just the story for all Greek teams its some small part of one game the progression to the next round is gone. If vydra did not gave away that penalty in france i reckon tonite pao would have gone through. Ah well i hope next years european campagain of greek club is more successful then this years.

[Green]

People who are satisfied with Pao performance need to go back to school and learn the basics of soccer.

Today Pao was a team that lacked any bite in front of its home crowd. Fair enough we have some young players in the squad, but we also have foreign players that should stand up for the occassion.

These guys could not deliver the perofrmance that was expected from them, in games such as this today. Lens is no mega power in world of soccer,to say that we were outclassed today. Our foreign players looked average on the park and didn't give us the edge.

There has been less experienced pao squads in the past years, that have shown greater passion and determination than this team today.

Players such as nilson,bovio,romero and the austrian cannot offer to Pao the quality we want. You may say we beat Aek 4-1 last week, but Aek is not the team of the past. This is probably worst Aek team I've seen for years.

The spanniard said in the press conference after the game, that the team was tired from last week game against Aek. Excuse me, isn't pao a professional team, Lens was in the same situation.

Even after the end of the game, the Lens squad came out of the dressing rooms and did a light stretching session. Do you see any Greek teams do this. That is the difference between Greek teams and the rest of europe.

We might have talent in youth, but we don't have the right coaches to spur them on.

Apart from Ninis who will turn out to be one the best players Pao has produced since the days of saravakos and company. Players like Mantzios,Tziolis, Salapasidis and others looked to casual on the pitch.

As a player you must have hunger and passion to succeed, this is what is lacking in greek soccer. This is evident also with the national team.

There are too many excuses being made, Pao's metagrafes have been woeful and I rather have young greek boys replacing these foreigners. I am sure there are players out there in the same class of ninis, maybe even better that can offer something to greek soccer.

If you gonna buy foreign players, at least buy players with proven record, not average ones.

[NikosVazelas]

we do have young players. most of our startin eleven was young greek talent. lens on the other hand had 8 different players in their startin 11 from this past sundays game.

and to call a team from france an average team is really upsetting. if u put osfp, pao or aek in the french championship u will see them at mid table at best.

im not sayin we played our best game. or that we were picture perfect.

im sayin we played a decent game for a team down 3-1 and with mainly young players in the lineup.

We dont have the draw power or the money to bring these so called foreign stars.

Ivanshitz is a great player. thats it.

stop tryin to wish we had a English Prem league team. we are in the greek league. thats it. we should see european football as a way to enjoy our team a little more then our league.

be content and dont wish for the unreachable.

later skaters

[drakos13]

the subs were Leontiou (22) Mantzios (23) and romero (28)

thats an average age of 23.5.

Nothing but youth. Nothing but future.

romero has no future here :LOL:

but yes it is definitly comforting to see our biggest strength is definitly the youth- mantzios, leontiou, tziolis, ninis, tsigkas, and dont forget the crop that will be coming back next year maybe (Gantsev, Pliagkas, Kritikos)

btw whatever happened to Victor and Darlas??? injured?

[pao123]

greenn..i disagree with u..i think ivanschitz is exactly the kind of player we need...as for nilson, romero and antonsson...OUST

[Green]

Was winning euro unreachable. To say europe is something extra from the greek league and shouldn't be taken seriously.

If this is the attitude youv'e got, mate take up a different sport. I can't beleive some of you guys think like that. If our national team can win european cup, than why can a greek club win uefa cup.

If thats the mentality we have, then there is no hope for greek soccer. katsouranis scored the goal that put benefica into the next row today, was that a fluke.

If players had your same attitude, no one would venture overseas and they would just stay home.

Was euro won by xeni.......

[HortoMagiko13]

everyone one is talking about the future of pao..and how we have this great talent, but can we really keep our hopes high, remember who our owner is :tdown:......what makes you guys think that we are gonna keep all these players..Remember we had players like giourkas, basinas, karagounis,fysas and that was supposed to be our future and what happened there :whistle:....im just saying you have a kid like ninis with so much talent and hype, and you got a player like ivansich, what makes you think that they(A)want to stay in a crap league with no signs of improvement or (B) not get sold from the devil himself so he can make a couple of bucks. I really like this team and coach and we do have potential, but lets just hope they stick together and we can build around it........

as far as that other team in greece, if anyone really believes they are miles ahead of pao :LOL: :LOL: :LOL: :LOL: :LOL: :LOL: :LOL: :LOL: :LOL: :LOL: :LOL: they need to start following soccer more closely......

[NikosVazelas]

vic is ready to come back.. darlas is 3 weeks away

[DUDE]

Was winning euro unreachable. To say europe is something extra from the greek league and shouldn't be taken seriously.

If this is the attitude youv'e got, mate take up a different sport. I can't beleive some of you guys think like that. If our national team can win european cup, than why can a greek club win uefa cup.

If thats the mentality we have, then there is no hope for greek soccer. katsouranis scored the goal that put benefica into the next row today, was that a fluke.

If players had your same attitude, no one would venture overseas and they would just stay home.

Was euro won by xeni.......

Green EISE MANGAS!! BRAVO RE PAIHTI MOU!! You tell them!!

@ Cyberfish, I really like you dude, you seem like a really nice, down to earth guy and you're great to have conversations with, however, I disagree with you this time. :(

It's 3am in the UK (some 5 hours after the game) and I can't sleep because I still feel so angry and gutted about the game! I know I probably take this game way too seriously :rolleyes: but seriously re file how can I be pleased with the performance when their goalkeeper wasnt really tested? Like you said, Salpi kept coming deep and why? Because he was getting no service. You also say that PAO didnt have the solutions down the middle, that's exactly the problem! In another post I said that Oly were miles ahead of AEK and PAO and these are the reasons why! Forget Europe for a moment (all the big 3 went out at practically the same time), the fact is there are fewer solutions in this PAO team. Whether its Ribo or Castillo Oly have players to penetrate through the middle, with Konstantinou they have a dangerous aerial threat too. Whereas PAO doesnt have these solutions so when a shitty superleague side is defending deep and narrow PAO struggle to break them down. This is basically what we saw today. There were no ideas!

Ninis fantastic for me! He is such a talent! Salpi had no service so was unlucky but I loced his work rate (like always!). The defence was FANTASTIC Goumas and Morris were just brilliant! I loved the way PAO played a high line in the first half but stayed close to the 2 defensive midfielders, it meant that the team was winning the ball early and high up the pitch! So its down to the midfielders to create and they didnt! I'm so gutted! I just wish the fans and board were more ambitious!

1 last thing for all those that say PAO were never going to win this competition... bear in mind that tonight teams like Maccabi Haifa and Rangers qualified! Bear in mind that last year Middlesborough got to the final. Bear in mind that 2 Romanian teams got to the quarter finals (one of whom went on to the semis!), are Dinamo and Rapid Bucharest stronger than PAO? Aim low and you'll acheive nothing!

[rodoj]

Ehtnikistis, I'm with you man. For a must win game, the team failed miserably.

The commentators were all praising the team's play when in reality we did nothing! Bovio is a vothi and as for Pap, I repeat what I've said before, he is pure crap except when he plays against lower class players.

Salp did nothing and as for Leonidou (sp) he does one right move for each 5 mistakes.

Hat's off to my favorite goat, Goumas. He played well and was a king in very move he made. The pitsiriki Ninis did well and with time will be a master if PAO will hold on to him. Mantzios was too concenred about making the pass rather than take the shot himself.

In summary, a missed opportunity for the team to show some spunk and with a crowd of 50,000 they should have shown more of an attack style.

[drakos13]

a euro and uefa cup are two pretty different things for comparison.

Greece had only one focus, one game at a time, one focus in portugal. This season is drawn out between cup and league games, signings, personal life,etc etc. its not a matter of simply working hard and you will acheive it, thats BS and i think were all experienced enough with the sport to realize it. Dont just point and say Greece did it now PAO.....circumstances, challenges, focus's priorities, coaches, mentality are all pretty different in the club level.

It takes hard work, teamwork, skill, practice, consistency and last but not least - luck. Greece had ALL of those down pretty well, but sometimes it just doenst happen. PAO is still stuck in building mode eversince the disaster waste of time Hans Bakke.

PAO deserved to win, and did defintily not deserve a 3-1 in Lens (with retarded moves by Vyntra, crystal clear cheating on that 2nd goal....) But thats football, we accept it, and they did give a great effort. Sometimes it wont go the way you want it thats just the game. Dont get me PAO has played some shitty games this year I am happy to critisize them, but this was NOT one of them, and we were not contender material this year.

[trifilli]

PAO could have scored the 2 goals and every ones opinions would be quite different.

There is little doubt that we lost the battle in France in the details.

For this team, with these players, it is about as much as you can ask or expect.

This is a team that was in shambles in the very recent past, before Munoz came to save the day.

PAO had chances here, and there, to make something out of this season.

With both Gonzo, Victor out, there is no creativity in the midfield.

The team had to play this style of game, because of our capabilities, which once again are limited.

A team like this depends on the scarce good chances to go in.

Realism dictates the system, NOT wishful thinking.

Lens controlled the ball magnificently, while our talent, who could barely pass three times, was sending in long balls for Salpi, the shortest man on the field.

We were no match for the skill or speed of Lens.

Keeping the score at zero was the foundation, while scoring was the roof...

We had two huge chances and some bad passing inside the box.

There were enough opportunities to score and we did NOT.

That is the fate of small teams when they are unable to capitalize on their few chances.

Risking too early, may have ended the game in the first half.

The disappointment remains with the inability to keep the score at 1-1 away, for more than 6 minutes,

because of an IDIOTIC amateurish mistake by an otherwise decent goalie.

That is where the story lies.

PEACE

[iliasdim]

I want to remind you all what was the common feeling before the games against Lens...That we would be smashed in France and that against such a well-formed team we have no hope at all!

This is not exactly what happened but in the end, the better-more well organised team qualified for the next round...end of story!

I don't know if they are just average team (compared to who?) but pao for example doesn't have players like jemaa, keita, ton allo ton ksanthobouboura, aruna klp.klp. and moreover I was impressed from how solid they played yesterday in defense as usually teams that play attacking football aren't so good at it...

pao could be better yesterday but it was not so bad...at least I saw that they played with passion, made 2-3 good chances and when they decided to risk (after 70') they were left with 10 players..I am happy with their effort and it is true that we lost a big chance in the first game...

@ ethnikisti : 8 stous 10 panathinaikous einai euxaristimenoi me thn omada...Chill out, mi nomizeis oti exeis perissoteres apaitiseis esy apo emas pou stin telikh agapame ton pao.Den mporei na les oti o olympiakos einai "miles ahead" me polly megalyterous paixtarades kai meta na les oti eisai apogoiteumenos me to pws paiksame..ti perimenes diladi, na riksoume 5 sti lens enw eimaste toso pisw apo sas?H mhpws eseis eiste "miles ahead" kai apo ti lens????????

To zitoumeno gia mas auti ti stigmh einai na orthopodisei i omada meta apo mia kastrofikh 2 etia kai auto fainetai siga siga na ginetai mesa apo tis emfaniseis. Fetos meta apo 2 xronia i omada mou thimise kapws ton palio kalo europaiko panathinaiko.Kai to thema einai oti oloi blepoume oti erxetai k synexeia...........

[drakos13]

With both Gonzo, Victor out, there is no creativity in the midfield.

Gonzalez has not been creative in years Ninis and Ivanschitz definitly produce more in that aspect partic as of latley.

also galinovic may have made a mistake on the calculation of that ball and been slightly off, but he would have definitly gotten fingertips to it had it not been for the Lens player PULLING HIS HANDS DOWN --- directly and intentionally theres no way around that :tdown: