Aris Playoff matches 2008

[REY]

Play offs, day 1

Vs.

Date & Hour: 23/04/2008 Wednesday, 19:00 ?

Stadium & City:Kleanthis Vikelidis, Thessaloniki

Chosen Stars: Sergio Koke Vs. Giannis Goumas

Vs.

Official sites:

Aris FC

Panathinaikos

Regular season clashes: Aris vs. PAO 0:2 (0:1, 0:1)

Recent form:

Aris:DDWDLW

PAO: LDWLWW

Current play off standings:

Aris: 3rd (2 points)

PAO: 2rd (7 points)

Home/Away Record:

Aris: 8W 5D 2L (29 pts)

PAO: 8W 3D 4L (27 pts)

TV Coverage: NET, ERT-World ?

In each moment you can be reborn. Each second can announce a new beginning. This is something that you decide. Your choice.

~ Clearwater

[Genome]

Wow, nice way to start a topic ! :tup:

I'm thinking Aris will either win this 1-0 or draw 1-1.

Good luck anyways! :)

[REY]

:tup: Yes, luck will be definitely needed if we wanna pull something positive out of this.

Back on some match points:

-Kostas Nebegleras and Marco Aurelio are back in action for this match after suffering their 2 game punisments due to 7 yellows each and will be in disposal of Bajević.

-Ronaldo and Amoroso miss this match due to slight injuries and need some rehabilitation.

These 20 players Duško counts on for the PAO match:

[REY]

After Duško been afraid of Nacho's potential injury, our main doctor Pantazis said it wasn't anything that serious and Nacho will be in disposal of Duško. :)

PS. Can one of the super mods change the topic title and put just "Playoff matches 2008" or something...as I wasnt' thinking about the fact that play off maches are more or less on Wednesday-Sunday basis, since we don't have much traffic in this forum, it would look nicer if I kept all the play off matches together in one topic here, not to open one after one each 3 days...

If you agree, thanks in advance! :)

[Crazy]

PS. Can one of the super mods change the topic title and put just "Playoff matches 2008" or something...as I wasnt' thinking about the fact that play off maches are more or less on Wednesday-Sunday basis, since we don't have much traffic in this forum, it would look nicer if I kept all the play off matches together in one topic here, not to open one after one each 3 days...

If you agree, thanks in advance! :)

Done. ;)

I like Aris and i really like Dusko so i will be really happy if you guys get the win.No matter what this is going to be a good game.

[REY]

Good now. :tup:

OK, since we will play again all Athenian big 3 (2 times AEK and PAO each + the cup final against Olympiakos) I just need to analyse what should we do in order to improve our game in those derby matches:

-Aris got only 2 points in 6 matches this season against top 3 scoring miserable 2 goals, without a win but also never conceding more than once. Reasons:

1. Koke is a good, very good player, but as long as we don't have some tall, powerful targetman (as we actually haven't had for 2 years now, if I exclude young Papazoglou) he will not be enough for bigger European and Greek derbies like all top 3, Braga, Bolton etc etc..Panionios have been good against big 3 this seson, but I think Panionios attacking power is very nice, that's where their good results come from generally.

2. Stupid concedes: Aris need to stop conceding goals in periods of 40-45 and 80-90' in specific...an own goal against PAO, a triple deflection against AEK, penalty against Olympiakos...just some concentration and all is fine. Of course I know football is to be played to score/concede, but when you repeat conceding similar goals in similar periods, then I can get sick

*Now our chances to get some win/s or in general better results are greater because:

1. First and most important reason is: no pressure. AEK and PAO are still disappointed due to the last happenings in their teams plus Olympiakos "on-hartia" championship. Also both of them are the teams that need to fight off hard for the first position in the play offs that leads to Champions league, unlike Aris who already got an UEFA spot, have no pressure nor tension nor anything to loose, psychology is very up due to the good course in season (Cup, UEFA included) overall, fans are there with us...

2. Koke is in top form, we have dangerous wingers plus Papazoglou is fit, although it is true that we still lack some natural striker, but now definitely we look better and much dangerous than the beginning or middle of the season.

PS. these are some of the most important parameters...sure there are some more, but I would need some extra hours to elaborate ;)

[Euro2004]

Rey you're a great addition to the site mate :tup:

As for the game, i think alot depends on how seriously the teams take this play-off. PAO will want a CL spot so will be highly motivated, but Aris' chances of making the CL are slim so they may have one eye on the cup final and not want to exert themselves too much.

I fancy a repeat, Aris 0-1 PAO

[REY]

As for the game, i think alot depends on how seriously the teams take this play-off. PAO will want a CL spot so will be highly motivated, but Aris' chances of making the CL are slim so they may have one eye on the cup final and not want to exert themselves too much.

Yes, we can say this. I also have one theory as many other football followers, and I even told in one of the match threads (probably Oly-Ira, but also I can include the Larisa- PAOK match, Ergotelis..) that a must-win situation/fighting for something is much more superior than fighting for nothing (there are some minor exceptions as with anything else)...even simple logic says so, that's why both Larisa and Olympiakos won their last matches besides only the fact that their squads are superior in quality.

So as above-explained, I also think that could be an adventage to PAO, but also as I mantioned in the improving factors for Aris in bigger matches, pressureless situations can be even our own adventage... we will see, I just have a good feling. ;)

[REY]

This is how some portals expect to see us parading:

--------------------------Kelemen-----------------------------

-----------------------------------------------------------------

Neto--------Avraam--------------------Jahić---------Aurelio

-----------------------------------------------------------------

-----------Nebegleras---------------Nacho Garcia-----------

--------------------------Ivić-----------------------------------

------Calvo---------------------------------Siston/Felipe-----

-----------------------------------------------------------------

--------------------------Koke---------------------------------

If you ask me whether I agree on this, well, I don't exclude Javito's chances to start since the guy has been very good recently, although it may stay like this above. I think if Siston, who just returned from his light injury, start this can easily transform to more careful 4-3-1-2 for Bajević, but also Felipe can do some defensive duties as well acting on that left flank more typically on 4-3-3/4-5-1.

Our president says that our objective is still that 2nd place (conquering the play offs), so we don't give up this match that easily (not at all) and duško said that our chances for that are minimal, but still possible especially if we win this PAO match, and then next potentially the Panionios match..who knows some path can open up for us, but important is to keep believing..

Come on boys, we can do it. Make me proud once again.

[REY]

Duško is known for his flexible formation that can transform into 2 shapes at least during a single match.. When Siston in (since he is defensively OK-ish, offensively smart, also with great central midfield awareness, Aris switch to this on pitch (this is what I wanted to show in my previous post):

--------------------------Kelemen-----------------------------

-----------------------------------------------------------------

Neto--------Avraam--------------------Jahić---------Aurelio

-----------------------------------------------------------------

-----Nebegleras-------Nacho Garcia----------Siston--------

--------------------------Ivić-----------------------------------

-----------------------------------------------------------------

----------Javito/Calvo/Felipe---------------------------------

-------------------------------------Koke------------------------

*Note: any of those Javito/Felipe/Calvo (especially first 2) is capable of playing as a shadow striker or kind of right forward behind and same time more aside from Koke. This is even more logical, considering the fact that Duško likes playing this in his bigger/more difficult matches (at least majority of them he has played like that already).

So we can still consider this as 4-3-1-2, 2 attackers who can press something, not just Koke-Papazoglou. Bajević will not hurry too much from the beginning, which does not mean that he doesn't recognize the word pressure in his vocabulary.

Any dissatisfactory result we may see Koke and Papazoglou partnership early in the second half (even starting from 55-60')...

Or he tries something wittier and riskier. Now it's time for doing so more than ever. Let's see.. ;)

[Genome]

I'm thinking Aris will either win this 1-0 or draw 1-1.

Hehe ... :D

[REY]

Aris-PAO 1-1 (Koke, D. Papadopoulos pen.)

Nothing new really from some stuff I have already said somewhere above: 1. stupid concedes, 2. 4-3-3, 3. and Papazoglou may come on in 60' or something if things don't go well. So nothing new with Aris in this match. If I notice this, then opposition can get something too and do the business to take away some positive result from us and this was not just 1st or 2nd positive result drop, it's 4th at least home match and only in the second tour of the season and all of them concedes in that cursed 80'+ period. And you ask me how I feel?!

Well I feel disappointed once again. It's not that Aris played something spectacular (not especially in the first half), but to see how our left winger back Aurelio defends so bad again and again whenever we concede, it just drives me nuts. Also when will this little Felipe learn how to score one on one, after that great 1-2 with Koke? :o

OK, even the last Champions league dream and hope for the most optimistic kids is 99% over..nor do I think that we deserve it more than AEK who are capable of thrashing their opposition, but it's not just that, it's also a matter of prestige and these things. And we wanted to win, regardless. It was clear as a moon light that Duško cared, that's why he kicked that bottle so hard at one of the very final stages of the match. OK, I will not die nor cry now, we move on and go for a win at Nea Smirny.

These are some of the first comments and impressions, I may probably add some more later on.

[REY]

Well, I don't deny the fact that Duško is a great coach nor how I more or less am happy to have him around, but not extremely happy. If you ask me about the level of my satisfaction (1 to 10) I would say no more than 7.

I'll now back more onto the stuff. Bajević questioned after the match how on Earth we had to feel some stress/pressure always whenever having a lead, so we make a mistake and concede and drop that lead...well I agree, but sometimes I think he needs to put his ego down for a second and ask himself who causes those errors, whether some of his choices are perfect and who he puts as subs in some cases. Well that's what I think is also one of the reasons why we drop some matches and make a step backwards after 2 forwards (don't worry it's not 1 forwards and 2 backwards yet :D ). It's the same with Liverpool: if Fabio Aurelio hadn't injured himself, then Riise wouldn't have come on to score an own goal in the last second of the match against Chelsea in the CL semis. Then I probably would have liked more if our Aurelio had gotten injured in that situation in the second half, so to be replaced by Karabelas,,,then we would have probably secured a victory...but well, the "what would have been, if had been..." situations were never my favourites, so I'll skip it now.

Karambelas was good against OFI, so probably he should have gotten a go in this match. Then, Javito who has been great recently, didn't get even a single minute and creative Gentil got only 2 minutes, very average Calvo last night got whole the match, Prittas too :huh: ...I think Bajević's selections were poor. So there is an answer:"no bitching about the error situations, bitch about the source of those errors..." Must he always be late with his subs and always early when it comes to Papazoglou??!

If you look up some of my stats I gave or am giving, then you see:

1) 4 home matches in the second tour at least this team dropped their lead and finished as non-victors.

2) 7 matches against big 3, only 3 points (3 draws) never scoring more than once and always conceding 1. I think even in the 2004/05 season when we dropped to B'Ethniki, we had a better record (3 draws in 6 matches).

What's wrong?! Psychology, stress...well I'm only a fan of this team and fans are not those who should worry about the psychological factors when we have coaches and remaining staff.

Individual psychology: I don't give a rat's arse who of our players deal/relate with, where and when they go out, who they screw etc etc..nor can I break my head about the team psychology: what they talk in the locker rooms, how they get pumped up, get a spur-on, how Spanish/Latino players understand some issues, who and how corectly someone translates for them, why Bajević whenever has a lead, goes to play defensive (although yesterday he kind of wasn't too defensive as usually after a lead, but still making defensive subs)...

Don't get me wrong this is a good season, but definitely 1/3 of all the matches were disappointing to me and yes last year in the summer I started expecting even more. OK, 4th place in Greece, but the question is for how long I can be satisfied with 4th spot, since I know that this team is good and close to Athenian big 3. I don't know how PAO are better team than us?! Yes, only because they have more money and Aris just started regaining their winning mentality totally lost in last decade or even longer (2). Still Aris have no much money, but believe me some of our players are well worthy (you can't find many Koke/s for bargain or super talented Calvo, or Avraam or Neto and few more. Nah, for each of their calibre you need to pay some millions in Europe to get them to you. Manucho, Simao, N'Doye...who are they? I always thought I followed football all over the globe and know much about, but I had never heard of those players before coming to PAO...other players that I heard of even before the PAO times are nothing special at all plus their game plan is just this :o .

Yes, I expected more from Bajević regarding the point amounts gathered against big 3. Also include the fact that he is an ex-AEK and Oly coach so the motivation shouldn't be questioned. And also one who has been rumored/linked to PAO recent weeks, plus he has an OK-ish, very quick and "wingy" roster for some serious achievements (although it's true that he lacks a true striker still). Got even fewer. Strange games all those have been (in each a stupid concede we experienced and in each we had one major chance to put in even earlier and secure some lead even away at AEK, Oly and PAO...all. Also yesterday that Felipe's 1-on-1 after a 1-2 with Koke was an ideal chance).

[REY]

First, I'm glad that someone from other teams especially big 3 has some interest in Aris, 'cause I'm not sure I have witnessed too much in my forum life to see many of those fans. :)

Naturally some valid points up there, but if we wanna reach a completely commont point, we must also look the things from the same or similar perspective in order to reach the same frenquency/wavelenght between us in this discussion.

You generalize the thing about Aris and what we need in order to be even more competitive, although I said that I didn't disagree, but we will have enough time to see what happens with Aris in next weeks/months especially during the summer.

I only commented on the matches played or is being played or will be played against big 3 in this season plus play offs and I just concluded that a vast majority of those matches have been similar and it is normal that in those circumstances I get disappointed with some concedes and Duško's choices. I don't elaborate here on other matches but those against big 3. Majority of those "other" were very good and we got a decent amount of points especially when I talk about our away matches excluding Veria and Levadia when we fell hard and I don't have too much stuff to complain about (but still a little bit I do :P ).

And on some of your lines, I just want to stress a couple of things:

1. Nebegleras is our captain and heart, and he runs his arse off on the pitch, so he has been lined up still. I agree Prittas is average and has no style.

2. Koke, Papazoglou and Amoroso, I'm afraid, are not enough for something big next season, let alone some decent Euro matches against decent oppositions. Amoroso is too unfit and has a crappy character in general, Papazoglou is still young but of course a lot of room for improvements and Koke alone is not enough as we have seen this season in some key moments.

[AEKPROTATHLIMA]

I watch that game and i might say that Aris deserve to win this game. I am not sure about the PK that PAO won but hey it really dosen't matter any more. We all know how the refs are. Good game from Aris. I have a feeling that Aris will get 2nd place in the play-offs. My guess will be AEK in 1st. Aris in 2nd PAO in 3rd and Panionios in 4th.

[REY]

I don't think that Aris will finish 2nd. I think Bajević will slow a gear down in order to prepare Aris as better as possible for the May's Cup final. :)

Hey, aek66, I also forgot to comment on Ivić. I don't think Vlado is inconsistent this season. He is very good to me, reminds me of a version of Rivaldo (worse version of course), but they have almost the same game-styles. If you ask me, to me Ivić has chances to be even a starter in the next season's (upgraded even more I guess) Aris

[DUDE]

rey - i wouldn't get too disappointed in this 1 match. the match was probably a reflection of the whole 2007-2008 season...lots of hope based on preformance, not dreams...only to see aris not able to jump that final hurdle in it's way to make a really memorable season.

i'm a firm believer in once you acquire a competant manager (i think we all agree that dusko is competant), to hold on to him and his staff as long as possible. with a summer to contemplate his current roster and needs/improvements, i think aris will be stronger for the 2008-2009 season. the continuity of holding a good manager isn't appreciated in the greek league...with dusko given a full summer to train and make transfers for aris, i like your chances.

the side needs to settle it's goalkeeping dilemma, hope that papazoglou remains healthy, need amaruso to start the season physically and match fit...along with holding on to valuable pieces of the club. will centerback ronaldo leave aris? will a. papadopoulos? losing both would be devastating.

the goal for aris next year should be 2nd and a shot at CL football. it will be impossible for aris to play uefa cup football AND play every weekend in the greek league - fighting to finsih in 2nd place, if aris doesn't strengthen the side this summer.

example - i think aris (if everyone is healthy and stays with aris) are ok for uefa cup and greek league football at the striker/wide forward position. koke, amaroso and papazoglou are a strong enough unit to play in 2 major competitions. filipe, gentile, calvo and javito are all able to play as wide forwards or wide midfielders (lose a bit defensively). those 4 are all small players, but, speed is a killer.

the problem is depth in the central midfield and defensive line. to play in 2 difficult competitions - aris has a good foundation in nacho garcia, but to me, ivic is inconsistent and i never liked nebeglera or prittas (i remember this player at xanthi). aris can't play nacho garcia every match...you understand.

is jahic better in the central mid or is dusko looking to make him a centerback? what about siston? is he better wide or central? karabelas isn't that bad of a wide defender, i think his offensive talents are a bit underated. it's too bad he did nothing for kovacevic to fall down and win olympiakos a penalty in a ridiculously officialed match.

dusko has alot of work to do, but i think aris have a very good base to improve on an already talented squad.

This is a perfect post!

I'd also add that they need a right back. Watching the right side of defence getting raped against Bayern was painful!

[REY]

OK, the post is solid really I said myself too, but there are some points where I kind of disagree as I said:

1. I agree about central midfield and central defense,

2. but I stress that today's strikers with Amoroso are not enough for anything big 100% proven excluding our wide attackers as you can't expect from those wider guys to regularly score goals with their current finishing abilities...I don't know how we can expect that all these guys were/are/will be cool, when with the same bunch we indeed have had the attacking problems throughout this season, let's say in 3/4 of the matches I wasn't satisfied with our attacking operations, so definitely one more striker must come, if you ask me.

3. Ivić is enough to me to be a starter as dekari even for the next year. I have no problems with him. Moreover, I like his style.

4. We don't need at all a right back (maybe just a back up at best) since our current Neto is one very good, speedy modern winger back whose defensive stuffs are not bad at all as I maybe thought they were so earlier this season. Against Bayern it was young Vangeli who was tragic....but we definitely could need a solid left back, since the current Samba boy Aurelio is overrated.

[DUDE]

OK, the post is solid really I said myself too, but there are some points where I kind of disagree as I said:

1. I agree about central midfield and central defense,

2. but I stress that today's strikers with Amoroso are not enough for anything big 100% proven excluding our wide attackers as you can't expect from those wider guys to regularly score goals with their current finishing abilities...I don't know how we can expect that all these guys were/are/will be cool, when with the same bunch we indeed have had the attacking problems throughout this season, let's say in 3/4 of the matches I wasn't satisfied with our attacking operations, so definitely one more striker must come, if you ask me.

I also agree with this. But a right back is also def needed. Look at the Bayern goals again. I would also like to see Aris sign Konstantinou and Okkas. Okkas for his versality would be valuable, and Konstantinou as a target is something Aris are definately missing.

[REY]

Bajević in the post-PAO-match press indirectly commented that for us champions league is gone and he will try to use all remaining matches to get this team as readier as possible for our primary goal which is conquering the cup this season.

So along the lines: we could expect some experiments in next matches. :rolleyes:

Damn, these play offs are totally unnecessary/useless especially in case of Aris where we can't move forwards nor backwards in the standings and the same time we have our euro place secured for the next season. And that lack of competition kills every sense and joy of my further following the play offs... what I can do but follow my Aris, regardless, without some huge pressure and disappointment at least. ;)

[REY]

@ your first post (since the latter I noticed right after I posted this and will probably comment on it later):

You are right. But the first real playoff battle is the next match for AEK away at PAO, although not the crucial nor final! But I still think that AEK will get their 1st spot in the play offs at the final instance. I don't know, well I watched many PAO matches and saw absolutely nothing admirable nor worth conquering the CL spot. AEK are more inpiring and better I can say and right now have a 3 point lead, which is nothing spectacular, but I guess even now enough to get AEK into a good commanding position and protecting it even 'till the end. Also AEK-Aris clashes will tell enough things! ;)

I must also back onto the Aris issues and say that our players got 2 days off and many of them returned to their homelands (Calvo, Koke, Javito, Kelemen all went to Spain at their families) and will be back on Monday I think. Ronaldo since being red carded and will miss the next Panionios match, got an authorisation by Bajević and will return on Wednesday.

Also yesterday our players and staff have some little party in the Aris-Cafe where Skordas gave them some presents and wished good holidays to all, also stressing how much that unforgetable Cup-final fixture in May means to our association.

[REY]

at the same time, i saw ivic a few times in the past..and he never really did anything for me. he has technique...he's above average for the greek league, but he used to take matches off.

Ivić in Partizan= good player, Ivić in Moenchengladbach and AEK= pretty much sucked, Ivić in aris surprisingly very good: very good ball distribution overall with some sorts of passes and solid choices/selections, and in-box sneaking to score some goals too.

as far as nebeglera - i also understand your opinion on this. the fact of the matter is that - hardworking, pressing, greek defensive central midfielders that are a bit short on technical skill are a dime a dozen in greece. even fringe players such as a kafes (aek - different role from paok days) to skopelitis (atromitos) to younger potential stars such as rikka (xanthi) to papadopoulos (iraklis), can step in at aris for nebeglera and i doubt aris would miss a beat.

Absolutely true. But I was trying to talk to you being in the skin of Bajević and even past coaches such as Oliva, Hernandez, Hoyos, Anastopoulos...under all of them he was a starter.

We will see what can change in the summer/for the next season about him. ;)

And the following comment should be also OK:

the intangible is nebegleras' leadership. if he's a leader...then you must ask yourself why aris has so many late collapses. i'm not trying to pick on nebeglera..but i also remember him disappointing at the 2004 olympics.

Still, He is a captain, I wouldn't say necessarily a leader. But we also spotted that he fell tired in some late stages of a match which should be a "supporting" factor to those collapses as you mantioned, but not the only one. The biggest guilt goes to our left side and its left winger back Aurelio if you watched many matches with those collapses as majority of those concedes goes as a direct or indirect responsability of Aurelio (no need to mantion those matches in specific, if you are interested I can even list them to you later).

About the Olympic games, I haven't watched the tour, but I also heard from some people that he hadn't been that bad.

nacho garcia is a given and ivic is talented. if i was an aris fan, i would expect bajevic to strengthen the central midfield area.

Ivić is an AM in 4-3-3, so I would still separate him with other 2 men/positions in midfield that we have problems sometimes especially when Nacho is unfit. So, I really would like to see one tall long-legged African who is a DM/CM Basila-alike from Larisa last season (now with Cottbus) for example.

as far as the forwards, yes, it would be fantastic for aris to pick up one more legitimate striker. at this moment, i feel the 3 (koke, papazoglou & amoroso) are good enough, especially since dusko embracing a 4-3-3.

a match midweek in uefa (home) - may find amoroso as the lone center forward in an aris offensive 4-3-3.

a match in the greek league the next sunday - may find papazoglou and koke as 2 central forwards in an aris 4-4-2.

everyone fresh and with great depth (#1 in the greek league) at wide forward in a 4-3-3 and at wide midfield in a 4-4-2.

So what if Papazoglou gets injured like he was...and now just returned from his injury and Amoroso is 80% on his way out plus is too unfit plus Bajević for some reason never put him as a true striker as he played more or less actually in Parma and Dortmund.

About formations: Bajević also mixes 4-4-2 and 4-3-3, but sometimes really something doesn't function since again we don't have a true striker as Koke can't always do everything on his own without a partner, no matter 4 "speedy Gonzalezes" we have in the roster, but sometimes they can't help too, believe me.

Do you watch Barcelona? Do you know that they suck pretty much this season and now including the league and champions league they have had 3 consecutive home 0:0s. Do you know why? Because they lack finishing and they have no true striker: Under Rijkard Eto'o doesn't know what his place on pitch really is and Henry is not a pure striker in Barca's formation but kind of LW/LF. Back-ups? No. Krkić? He again looks more as a natural side-forward than some targetman...so, you have my point. ;)

anyways, you made a comment that a supporter of a big 3 club (me supporting aek) is a nice surprise for you. i do support aek, but i love football and understand that a strong aris and paok, will only help the greek league get much better. at this moment, there is only 1 big club in the lekanopedio of attiki.

Good for you! On the "other forum" I haven't met a non-Aris supporter in a year to know at least something-anything about Aris, which is sad. Or maybe some of them know something, but they don't wanna talk for this or that reason.

the hatred between aris x paok is good for 17 year old punks in thessaloniki and unemployed hot heads sipping frappe all day, but it destroys a common front that both clubs can help others to fight olympiakos and it's corruption.

next month - unless one is red or a 'stuck in the past' paok fan, all of greece will support aris with FORCE.

I dream of that Cup, I can't explain how eager I'm. This generation deserves something like the Cup at least.

[REY]

Injury list:

*very light injuries: probably no problems for them to attend the following match (and they still have individual trainings while many Spaniards are with their families away):

1. Diogo Siston

2. Marco Aurelio

3. ???

4. Marcio Amoroso ?? (only God knows what's exactly happens with him or where he is recent days)

*No serious injuries as well as I know

Ban list:

1. Ronaldo Guiaro (due to a red card suffered in the last match)

[REY]

Yeah true, but still Barca's problem is: no real striker, but 1.000 of winger attackers as there is where have some real depth, as you said. Ezquerro is old and very very rarely used and Gudjonsen is not a real striker, at least is not used there(Rijkard has used him also as an attacking midfielder) plus he doesn't play too often recently.

As for the non-EU spots, all are filled! And I think not even one will open up for the next season (maybe M.Aurelio, but nobody can know now exactly)

1. Neto-stays (if somebody doesn't offer some money to be let-go)

2. Marco Aurelio- error-prone, so if I'm to be asked, I would consider his departure quite seriously

3. Nacho Garcia- our best and most valuable (central) midfielder. Aris will keep him by any cost

4. Diogo Siston- stays very likely

5. Ivić-stays, Duško will keep him

[REY]

OK, now Panionios on Wednesday. More or less friendly, but I still expect some OK-ish performance and a win, preferable! Djibbour misses the match.

And also important to mantion that Avraam Papadopoulos will miss next AEK and PAO matches due to the receieved 7 yellows, but will be presented and available at Panionios for the following match.