PAOK - Slovan Liberec ( EL - Group Stage - Matchday 6 / 08 Dec 2016, 18:00 EET )

[Blackhawk]

  VS  

MATCHUP:           P.A.O.K. Thessaloniki - FC Slovan Liberec
COMPETITION:   Europa League – Group Stage - Round 6
DATE:                   08-December-2016
TIME:                   18:00 GR  (16:00 GMT, 10:00 CST, 03:00 AEDT next day)
CITY/STADIUM:   Thessalonikki – Toumba Stadium (28,703)
REFEREES:         Andre Marriner - Simon Beck, Harry Lennard - Kevin Friend, Robert Madley  (England)
TELEVISION:       OTE Sport TV (Greece), Fox Soccer 2GO (USA)

Standings:

ACF Fiorentina - 10
Qarabag FK – 7
PAOK Thessaloniki – 7
FC Slovan Liberec - 4
 

Our European history against teams from Czech Republic:

2016-2017:  Slovan Liberec - PAOK FC  1:2 (Athanasiadis 2) - Attendance: 8,880 (Europa League – Group Stage – Round 2 )
2001-2002:  PAOK FC – Marila Pribram  6:1 (Giasemis 2, Okkas 2, Konstantinidis, Luciano) - Attendance: 7,376 (UEFA Cup – Round 1 – Leg 1)
2001-2002:  Marila Pribram – PAOK FC  2:2 - Attendance: 2,225 (UEFA Cup – Round 1 – Leg 2)
2002-2003:  PAOK FC – SK Slavia Prague 1:0 (Georgiadis) - Attendance: 16,113 (UEFA Cup – Round 3 – Leg 1)
2002-2003:  SK Slavia Prague – PAOK FC 4:0 - Attendance: 8,563 (UEFA Cup – Round 3 – Leg 2)

GAMES:    5
WINS:        3
TIES:         2
LOSSES:   1

[pash]

I think we've got this. A solid win, with our A team. Only question for me is, who starts as CF?

[BostonThanatos]

Here's the lineup I'd like to see:

----------------Pereyra---------------

Rodrigues-----Pelkas-----Campos

---Cimirot----------------Canas-----

-Leovac--Malezas--Varella--Matos-

 

[pash]

Good lineup. Probably our strongest available to us at this point, too.

 

Stunning how poor Biseswar looked yesterday.

[italosPAOK4]

pairnoume th nikh ki elpizoume ki h fiorentina na kanei thn douleia ths ! PAOK ESY ESY 8A PROKRI8EIS ! 

[Blackhawk]

4 hours ago, BostonThanatos said:

Here's the lineup I'd like to see:

----------------Pereyra---------------

Rodrigues-----Pelkas-----Campos

---Cimirot----------------Canas-----

-Leovac--Malezas--Varella--Matos-

 

Good lineup, but without a goalie it will be tough to keep a clean sheet. 

I would play Crespo instead of Malezas. Biseswar looked bad yesterday, but Pelkas has been poor lately as well. I would play them both for 45 minutes each depending on the score. Also I think Klaus will start in every game from now on (unfortunately).

The only way for us to advance is to have more points in the standings than Qarabag, which means we need to win or tie Lieberec, and Qarabag to tie or lose against Fiorentina respectively.

[Blackhawk]

Andre Marriner from England is the ref for the game. He is the one that called he PAOK - Rapid Vienna disaster few years back.

[Dutch Eagle]

Kickoff time sucks.

We must get rid of those Asian teams in European competitions. European ties must be played and watched in the evening!

[Bananas]

I'd play Mystakidis as the number #10.  Even when he's having a bad game, he'll still generally manage to get into a few goal scoring situations.  What he lacks in composure and "finesse" he makes up for with vigour and enthusiasm.

I'm almost at the point that I'd drop Biseswar completely if he doesn't get fit.  Seriously his lack of fitness is ridiculous.

Pelkas needs a mentor.  He's lost on the field a lot of the time.  At least Mystakidis runs.

[pash]

That's a good idea. I always thought he looked better centrally than as a winger, too.

Stunning that Biseswar still can't play a full game. Just stunning.

[kozi]

For the Aussies: match will be shown @ 11:30am on Bein 3

[Bananas]

Looks like Milan Baros won't be playing.

http://inpaok.com/330110/χωρίς-μπάρος-με-παοκ/

 

[Blackhawk]

Besides Baros, their best defensman Martin Latka (used to play for Panionios in the past) is also not coming to Thessaloniki.

I wonder who will start in goal for us. Ivic said last week that Brkic will start in Europe and Glykos in Superleague. Not sure if changes his mind following Sunday's game against Panathinaikos.

PAOK will need to be patient on Thursday. Liberec is the one that needs a win badly. We might be ok with a tie. Let Liberec open up and kill them on counters. That's when we are the most successful. 

[pash]

Liberec is definitely going to go hard for a win. They need to beat us by more than two in order to progress, right? Assuming Fiorentina wins.

[Dutch Eagle]

A win suffices for SL. Every score will do. We all will have 7 points H2H. SL has +2 GD now already. Q has 0 and stays on 0. We have -2 GD already. 

Edited December 6, 2016 by Dutch Eagle

[Dutch Eagle]

The Czechs will bring 150 fans with them. They will be hosted in gate 8.

[pash]

Their goal difference is actually -3 vs our -1, which is the first tiebreaking criteria. If they beat us by one, I don't think it'll be enough to get them ahead of us (although it would be enough to get both Fiorentina and Qarabag through. Higher number scored in general is third (which they're beating us on), and higher number scored away is third.

 

Either way...we need to gun for that win.

[Dutch Eagle]

I mentioned the GD in "the little league" with the three clubs involved. Therefore the GD is without the games against Fiorentina.

[Blackhawk]

Straight from UEFA's web site:

Group J:  Qarabağ (7) v Fiorentina (10),   PAOK (7) v Slovan Liberec (4)

Fiorentina are definitely through unless they lose and PAOK win, in which case it would then come down to a three-way head-to-head. In this scenario, the outcome would depend on the goals scored in the game between the Fiorentina and Qarabağ.
Qarabağ are through with a win, or a draw if PAOK do not win (Qarabağ have a head-to-head advantage over PAOK). Also if PAOK do not win, Qarabağ can only top the group if they win 4-0 or by margin of five goals or more.
PAOK must pick up more points than Qarabağ (who have the head-to-head advantage over the Greek side), or win and hope Fiorentina lose a margin of six goals or more.
Liberec are through if they win and Qarabağ lose as Slovan would top the three-way tie-break for second place.

http://www.uefa.com/uefaeuropaleague/news/newsid=2425783.html

[Yiankos]

Αυτό που είπες Ζιάκα είναι το σημαντικότερο. Να μην βιαστούμε. Έχουμε χάσει τα περισσότερα από τα σημαντικά παιχνίδια εντός έδρας τα τελευταία χρόνια και πρέπει επιτέλους να σταματήσει αυτό. Στην αντεπίθεση είμαστε καλύτεροι, οπότε δεν πρέπει σε καμία περίπτωση να βιαστούμε και να πιεστούμε για τη νίκη. Στην τελική μπορεί να κερδίσουμε κι αυτό να μην φτάσει. Ή μπορεί να φέρουμε ισοπαλία και να είναι υπεραρκετή.

Για να δούμε τι θα κάνει η ομάδα...

[Blackhawk]

I was reading some Czech sites this morning and there was an interview with Egon Vuch, one of the Liberec forwards, who had a good game against Qarabag (3:0). Vuch said that his team actually plays better in away games, and he said he is certain he will have as good a game against PAOK and he expects to score.

I expect Ivic to start with

---------------- Glykos ---------------
Matos - Varela - Crespo - Leovac
------ Canas ---------- Cimirot ------
Campos -- Shakhov -- Rodrigues
---------------- Klaus -----------------

[pash]

Reports are that Pelkas is training with Canas and Cimirot, but I doubt he'll get the start over Shakhov. This is exactly the kind of game where Ivic will want to hold off from attacking...

[pash]

The club's twitter account is showing off Glykos but who knows if he'll get the start. No lineup yet announced.

[Blackhawk]

Starting lineup:

[pash]

Pelkas indicates an interest in attacking. Let's hope.