Panathinaikos - Ergotelis

[drakos13]

Our weakness is not defensive line.

If our weakness was our defensive line, this would imply, that we actually HAD a defense. Right? :blink:

3 goals to Ergotelis in OAKA. And we thought Peseiro's squad was bad. We were actually WAY better.

Nassief Morris was not the answer. But his absence is quite felt, especially since he was not replaced. If we can recall him from Huelva, we must do it immidiately. He can definitley step up and fill in. His ocasional mistake, was nowhere near as horrible than the guaranteed 2-3 fatal mistakes a game that the idiot brothers make.

If I had to rate the best defensive teams in Superleague, PAO would not make the top 6. Im serious and I think many would agree too. How bizarre is this were were not even one of the TOP THREE teams defensivley in the league???

[cyberfish]

2-3 ? :o

I feel dejected.

I didn't see the game and I am not about to. What a horrible joke. We managed to lose to a decimated Ergotelis team at home. We score two goals per game and we can't win?

I don't care who played and how they played. This is unacceptable, especially since it's not an isolated incident. We should be spanking Ergotelis with our second team at home.

What a way to waste a promising fan base build-up. Why would anyone go to the stadium? We wanted a more exciting team. We didn't expect that we built a team that's exciting for the opposition. :angry:

[cyberfish]

<deleted>

agggrrr. Forget it. I don't want to write anything.

[Genome]

By the way Koutsianikoulis is one player to look out for! Maybe he'll be the #10 the NT needs.

Interesting thought!

Btw here are the goals of today's game:

[cyberfish]

By the way Koutsianikoulis is one player to look out for! Maybe he'll be the #10 the NT needs.

Well, on balance, we did make Pliatsikas look world class too.

[REDmagic]

:LOL: :LOL: ERGO-TELEIO :LOL: :LOL:

On Sunday we will show you guys how to beat Ergotelhs :P

PERASTIKA SAS :LOL: :LOL:

[cyberfish]

Ok, you know I could not NOT watch a PAO game. So I am watching it now and I can't believe the lack of discipline of the whole team.

Again we have missed incredible chances to have scored another two or three goals. There are crazy things going on. Very undisciplined play all around! At one point Melissis takes off and sprints down the left with Spyropoulos also forward! What do you know, he loses the ball and there is no one behind. At another point Vintra is in the middle of the field and is making these award dribbles outside Ergotelis' box, and of course he loses the ball.

First goal we conceded was really silly. The entire team was waiting to score in Ergotelis' box and there was no one to stop the counter. We were winning 1-0 at the time. There is no reason to have 7 players in the box with no structure behind to stop the counter. Coaching issue here.

The 1-2 is another boneheaded play from both our CBs. First Melissis takes the ball and starts running like a goat in midfield. Naturally he is dispossessed and a couple of quick passes later and it's 1-2. Why is this also Goumas' fault? Well, he played so deep he kept everyone onsides. Our entire defense was way out of shape on this one. Individual stupid play and coaching issue as well.

Now Tziolis in for Gabriel is Ten Cate boneheaded play. Sure, Gabriel was not really good, but why not Karagounis at this point? What has Tziolis done up to now to make Ten Cate believe he is a good option for turning the game around? (and you know I am no Tziolis hater).

I'll write more as I watch this...

Ok, back to rant some more. Third Ergotelis goal. A blind clearance and there is no one in midfield to get to the ball first. Spyropoulos' side, but neither he, nor a midfielder is anywhere in place to make a play. The the assistant misses the offside and 2-3. Unlucky? Unfair? No bad team play. Coaching problem here too.

There is no reason so many loose balls go the opponent's way in midfield leaving our defenders exposed (who don't need much help to screw up anyway). The team does not fill the space well. Players overload one area and the rest of the field is someone else's job.

Now I am at the part where Roukavina enters and Salpigidis exits. Bad coaching job right there. There is no reason to replace the one player on your team who has proven again and again that he can score from nowhere.

Ivanschitz' should have been playing. His free-kick delivery is an extra asset, his crosses are lethal, and he can penetrate down the left.

Sousa has lost my faith. He does not look capable to do much to me. He is too soft for headers and not skilled enough with the ball down. Mantzios should have been in.

All the changes in the lineup don't help at all. Peseiro's rotation had a logic. This is just random. Why wasn't the team ready from preseason? Why are we still experimenting with the lineup? Pick 14-15 players and go with it.

I think it's a coaching problem. The team has not been drilled on defense at all.

Another problem I see, (I am now watching the 78th minute) is that we don't look like we play with heart at all. There are players who are players, and there are players who are fighters. There is no nerve :angry: :angry:

What's worst about this loss, is that Ergotelis was horrible. Three counter-attacks three goals. Ten Cate lost me today. Not with the lineup or the substitutes that were pretty bad, but with the way the team does not seem to have any discipline or intelligence. Sure we have some bad players on defense, but it's Ten Cate's job to organize the team in a way that we don't let the weak links become a liability. I have no hopes that we'll beat Panionios or Werder, but if we don't beat Olympiakos in three games I'll be firmly on the sack-the-coach bandwagon.

I am done writing.

[pao123]

awful awful awful result..i dont know what to say..the team needs to get their asses in gear and start playing...

still can believe we didnt sign another CB in the summer...

[Irlandos]

First Werder Bremen scores at will and then this! :o

I think you need radical surgery in your defensive line!

[DUDE]

First Werder Bremen scores at will and then this! :o

I think you need radical surgery in your defensive line!

Guys, this team needs alot more than "defensive surgery". This PAO team isn't good at attacking or defending. Yes the defense is the biggest problem but by no means the only problem. Did anyone see the Arsenal vs Tottenham game? Now, Arsenal are a team that can't defend but can attack. They had something like 60% of the possession and led 4-2 at home with 88mins gone. By full time (95mins), Tottenham had levelled at 4-4. Of course I don't expect PAO to attack like Arsenal as the Londonders have a bigger budget, etc. But then again Ergotelis and Iraklis are no Tottenham either. The point being, that PAO isn't that good going forward (even when judging them by the weak standards of the SL). If that was Sollied's Olympiakos for instance and they'd conceded 3 at home to Ergotelis it's almost a sure thing that they would have scored 4 (abit like when they were losing 2-0 to Aris and won 2-3). Now don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that that Olympiakos team was any good, in fact it was a bourdello. But if this PAO team isn't even as clinical as that one going forward then imagine how bad this team is?!

This is the weakest Greek division that I can remember and PAO is already 5 points behind Oly and 6th in the league. :blink: I remember a few years ago PAO was a force in Europe, now what has this team become? Compare PAO to a decent team from a top league... Everton for example. Everton finished 5th in the PL last season and went out of the 1st round of the UEFA Cup to Standard Liege, so they are hardly a big European team at the moment. There's no reason PAO shouldn't be as good (player for player or collectively) as a team like Everton. Yet consider their squad compared to PAO's... how many PAO players would get into Everton's first XI? I honestly can't think of 1. I mean forget the defensive comparisons because that would just be laughable, but look at players like Pienaar, Arteta, Cahill, Yakubu, Felliani, etc. Only in our dreams would PAO have players like this... AND THIS IS A TEAM THAT JUST WENT OUT IN THE 1ST ROUND OF THE UEFA CUP!!!!! Perhaps Everton were just unlucky to go out in the 1st round, let's use another average/decent Prem team as an example:

Portsmouth made the UEFA Cup by winning the FA Cup. In their first game in the UEFA Cup group stages they visited Braga and lost 3-0!!! Now look at their players... (again forget the defensive comparisons because we all agree that PAO's defense is a joke, the point of this post is to show that PAO is also poor in attacking positions). They have Defoe, Crouch, Diarra, Krankjar, etc. Where are PAO's equivalent players???

So, although I agree with Drakos' point that HTC is a better coach on the training ground than during a game, I also sympathise with the dutchman. The PAO fans are not only demanding domestic success, but they hoped for a memorable CL campaign too. If teams like Everton and Portsmouth are getting embarassed in the UEFA Cup what makes you think PAO can make an impression in the CL or to maintain a level of consistency that will bring them the SL? Whether we like it or not, PAO is 5 or 6 big players away from being a decent European team that would win the SL and make strides in the CL. The quicker PAO fans realise that the better because it will mean they will start to demand bigger players in various positions (not just in defence) from Pateras & co. and they'll give HTC the support he needs to build a capable squad.

[drakos13]

If Hank ten cate is the only one who pays for this season - than guys its over - nothing will have changed. The most important problems in PAO were the people above, and we cant have people spending 25 million euros and seeing a team lack quality and transfers be downright mediocre - and on an important season too. Cant do that. If Antoniou keeps his job, all we are going to have left is hope, and stuck in the same cycle.

Again, youd think a team with muliple shareholders now would demand answers and change on why their 25 million was thrown pretty much in the trash on transfers. I know if I was one, I would be calling in PAE screaming their heads off, PAO is an investment and has become a poor investment, and when Pateras, Andoniou still laying around, talking, not shutting up and thinking they are big stuff...

The money for transfers, ISNT always going to be there guys. If the board fails to act in next months, our team could have no future.

The fact that we could be entering recession economically, makes that 25 million blown away even more infuriating. Antoniou, Velic need to be eliminated from the picture. Velic has been a massive let down and failure before new PAE, and I cant beleive we kept him thats outrageous. There are tons of great players in PAO's price range. Galatasaray signed Meira at an amazing deal....Kewell only 30.... Lincoln....Galatasaray has a smaller stadium, not even in Champions League (though they thought they would be) and face it our leagues are very much even in skill and same region of world. So please, tell me how Galatasaray is picking up Nonda's, Baros, Kewell, De Sanctis and Fernando Meira, while wer going for Souza at 2x the price, less the talent and less reputation?

Fernando Meira costs nothing and we dont even put in a bid. OK.

We went from "chasing Aimar" to going and signing Gilebrto - um.....how does that make sense? Is this not clear, that their objective was not to fill a position on the team, but to purchase a name asset??? Because it was to me, and even more so now. We had Mattos and Simao who are great. Gilberto, you cant spend 9 million on a player that we honestly didnt need that badly, while we have positions that are barrren and cant match some of the NON-OSFP/AEK teams in our league even. Thats pathetic.

Going to Latin America and thinking youll find the next great thing is a joke, unless you have top connections and resources there like Milan for example who get Pato's and Kaka's.... Velic was likely a tourist with a few phone numbers, meetings and match tickets over there. WTF does he knwo about Brazil????

[Irlandos]

This is the weakest Greek division that I can remember

Yup!

[DUDE]

If Hank ten cate is the only one who pays for this season - than guys its over - nothing will have changed. The most important problems in PAO were the people above, and we cant have people spending 25 million euros and seeing a team lack quality and transfers be downright mediocre - and on an important season too. Cant do that. If Antoniou keeps his job, all we are going to have left is hope, and stuck in the same cycle.

Again, youd think a team with muliple shareholders now would demand answers and change on why their 25 million was thrown pretty much in the trash on transfers. I know if I was one, I would be calling in PAE screaming their heads off, PAO is an investment and has become a poor investment, and when Pateras, Andoniou still laying around, talking, not shutting up and thinking they are big stuff...

The money for transfers, ISNT always going to be there guys. If the board fails to act in next months, our team could have no future.

The fact that we could be entering recession economically, makes that 25 million blown away even more infuriating. Antoniou, Velic need to be eliminated from the picture. Velic has been a massive let down and failure before new PAE, and I cant beleive we kept him thats outrageous. There are tons of great players in PAO's price range. Galatasaray signed Meira at an amazing deal....Kewell only 30.... Lincoln....Galatasaray has a smaller stadium, not even in Champions League (though they thought they would be) and face it our leagues are very much even in skill and same region of world. So please, tell me how Galatasaray is picking up Nonda's, Baros, Kewell, De Sanctis and Fernando Meira, while wer going for Souza at 2x the price, less the talent and less reputation?

Fernando Meira costs nothing and we dont even put in a bid. OK.

We went from "chasing Aimar" to going and signing Gilebrto - um.....how does that make sense? Is this not clear, that their objective was not to fill a position on the team, but to purchase a name asset??? Because it was to me, and even more so now. We had Mattos and Simao who are great. Gilberto, you cant spend 9 million on a player that we honestly didnt need that badly, while we have positions that are barrren and cant match some of the NON-OSFP/AEK teams in our league even. Thats pathetic.

Going to Latin America and thinking youll find the next great thing is a joke, unless you have top connections and resources there like Milan for example who get Pato's and Kaka's.... Velic was likely a tourist with a few phone numbers, meetings and match tickets over there. WTF does he knwo about Brazil????

Meira is an abysmal player. Gilberto is a much better signing (particularly as Meira is playing in centre-mid for Galata). Although I do agree with the general point you're making. We need to see PAO signing big players with a proven track record. Luisao (Benfica), D'Alessandro (Independiente), Tavlaridis (St Ettiene), Amr Zaki (Wigan) he's only on loan there and if PAO could prize him away it would be a terrific signing, Sosin (Ano), Seitaridis (A.Madrid), Alex (Internacional). Then we can all start getting excited.

[drakos13]

Meira is far from abysmal. He owned OSFP the other night and was a top in Germany.

[DUDE]

Meira is far from abysmal. He owned OSFP the other night and was a top in Germany.

[PAO_OR_DEATH]

we are going to get owned by osfp,

contratualtions to osfp for the protathlima, and to PAOK with a CL playoff

....jokes but seriously we are dead