Cup-GS-R1: PAOK - Levadeiakos (20-Sep-17, 18:15 EEST)

[Blackhawk]

   VS  

MATCHUP:           PAOK Thessaloniki  - Levadeiakos
COMPETITION:   Greek Cup – Group Stage – Round 1
DATE:                   20-September-2017
TIME:                   18:15 GR  (15:15 GMT, 10:15 CDT, 02:15 AEST next day)
CITY/STADIUM:  Thessaloniki – Kaftanzoglio Stadium (27,770)
REFEREES:           Alexandros Tsamouris (Piraeus) - Iordanis Dimitriadis (Kastoria), Spyros Vasilopoulos (Evros)
TELEVISION:       COSMOTE Sport (Greece), Antenna Satellite/Pacific (USA, Canada/Australia), Laola1.TV (Worldwide)
 

PAOK – Leavadeiakos Greek Cup History:

2012-2013:  2:0 (Athanasiadis, Salpiggidis) - Attendance: ?  (QF – Leg 1)
1988-1989:  2:2 (?) - Attendance: ?  (Round 3 – Leg 2)
1977-1978:  6:1 (?) - Attendance: ?  (Round 1)
GAMES:  3          WINS:  2          TIES:  1          LOSSES:  0

[Blackhawk]

Game will be played at Kaftanzoglio Stadium without fans.

[Dutch Eagle]

Did they say for what reason? 

[Blackhawk]

To protect the pitch at Toumba.

[teke817]

Not so much to protect but to re-sod portions of the pitch. They hired a new company to handle landscaping. 

[pash]

Well it just wouldn't do for us to mirror Giannina's pitch from last season, right?

 

I really don't know how much he'll fiddle with the lineup, but I'm thinking something like the below. Would like to see Deligiannidis play, but I don't think we should have too many fringe players against a team that's undefeated in the SL.

 

                               --Rey--

--Konstantinidis--Varela--Crespo--Leovac--

                   --Kace--Shakhov--

           --Vieirinha--Biseswar--Pelkas--

                              --Mak--

[italosPAOK4]

parte th nikh me tous anaplhrwmatikous fetos 8eloume prwta8lhma kai kupello !

[Blackhawk]

I would not do heavy rotation in this game. We need to win it, and then we can experiment in the other two games against the 'B' division teams.

[Yiankos]

I absolutely agree with Ziaka. The team is barely playing football with the starters, I cannot imagine what happens if he brings Shakhov and the rest all together for this match.

Slight rotation and use of the new signings yes, full rotation hell no.

[pash]

It's sounding like about half the team will be changed, but who knows. There are also some injuries out there, with several people (Leovac, Canas, Campos, Leveque) training individually.

I've read Pashalakis, Deligiannidis, Konstantinidis, Zambrano, and Mauricio as starters (a combination of reports on inpaok and paok24), but I really doubt that both of those fullbacks will start. I fear Crespo will start on one of the flanks, which means we can expect some really cringeworthy play.

If Campos is injured, then Vieirinha is all the more likely. Though I wonder if Limnios will sneak in? I guess it depends on if/where Lucescu wants to play Mak.

[BostonThanatos]

Mak so far has been a disappointment.  I hope he get's his s%$#! together ASAP.  Campos is back to being garbage again....although he wasn't much more than that to begin with.  He's got hustle, I'll give him that, but he's got the football IQ of a head of lettuce. 

[pash]

When everyone plays like that, it is difficult to pin the blame on a single player. Mak will get better. Campos will come and go, as before.

[Blackhawk]

Pontos beat Aiginiakos 1:0 in the other game in our group. We play Pontos next. 

[Blackhawk]

Squad for tomorrow's game:

Ρέι, Σιαμπάνης, Δεληγιαννίδης, Μάτος, Μαλεζάς, Ζαμπράνο, Κρέσπο, Μαουρίτσιο, Κάνιας, Τσίμιροτ, Σάκχοφ, Πέλκας, Μπίσεσβαρ, Λημνιός, Βιεϊρίνια, Ελ Καντουρί, Πρίγιοβιτς, Κουλούρης

Left out: Paschalakis, Varela, Konstantinidis, Leveque, Leovac, Campos, Mak

[pash]

I'm pretty surprised by Varela being out - does this imply that Crespo won't be played as a fullback (since we just have three CBs)? Seems it would be risky to have no backups available.

[Blackhawk]

I think he's going to start Zambrano. 

My lineup:

--------------------------- Siabanis ---------------------------
Matos - Zambrano - Crespo - Deligiannidis
----------- Canas------------ Shakhov -----------------
Limnios ----------- Biseswar ----------- Vierinha
-------------------------- Prijovic ---------------------------

Malezas, El Kaddouri, Koulouris to be subbed in.

I belive though that Lucescu will not start Deligiannidis. he'll play Crespo as LB. I also see him starting Koulouris instead of Prijovic

[pash]

Here's the lineup:

 

[Blackhawk]

Let's see what happens with this lineup. Interesting to see Biseswar starting considering that some Athenian based newspaper ran a story today that Biseswar and Lucescu can't stand each other and had a shouting incident. Needless to say PAE PAOK came out claiming that the story is fake news.

[pash]

Laola's streams are so, so much better than paoktv's.

[Blackhawk]

Really? I don't see much difference. What I like about laola is that there are no commentators and you can hear what coaches and players are yelling out.

[pash]

PAOKTV lags for me regardless of where I watch it (tablet, smartphone, PC), or if I'm streaming via wifi, wired, or cellular connections. This image also seems much crisper to me.

 

First attempt by our guys right after 6 minutes, a header by Koulouris (not on target).

[pash]

Another pair of attempts, Pelkas just wide

[Blackhawk]

I never got any buffering with PAOK TV. Nor laola. And they both have similar picture quality when I stream them on my big screen TV. 

We are playing fairly well. Should have scored at least one by now though.

[pash]

Great hustle by Limnios, Koulouris, and Pelkas so far.

Another near-goal as I write this.

[BostonThanatos]

Deligiannidis with a nice little run, but shot it wide...