PAOK End Of Season Player Ratings

PAOK season review; Rating every main player on the roster

Reminder; These ratings are opinion based and subjective. They are based on the author’s observations and opinions of the squad.

Paschalakis : 9/10 Always constant, often decisive. Was probably the most important player in PAOK invincibility this season. Just a bad point due to his very big mistake against Benfica but definitely the upper class. Simply brilliant.

Leo Matos : 7/10 The years go by, and he's still here, strong and still an essential piece in the Dikefale's defence. Precious on the right side, did a great job although that he seemed to lack of accuracy in the second part of the season and might get some physical problem next year.

Fernando Varela : 8.5/10 Essential too as centre-back, his season would be almost perfect without some poor performances in Europa League. The "Control Tower" also scored very important goals. One of the best players this year.

Jorge Crespo : 8/10 Some said last year he couldn't handle to be a regular member of the team. We were all wrong. Obviously improved by Varela by his side, his regularity and his strong mentality have been very important for PAOK.

Vieirinha : 9,5/10 I was personally highly sceptical to think he could handle a whole season as left-back. And I was an idiot. O Capitano was simply the season's MVP. Wonderfully played its part in Lucescu's tactics, as much important in and off the pitch with some goals coming from another world, Vieirinha, despite his horrible injury at the end of the season, simply became a legend of the club.

Mauricio : 7/10 Precious, discreet and still very important in a less offensive position than last year. Also scored some goals and gave some assists. Some lack of presence in the attacking area, but always regular. Unfortunately badly injured in march and can't be sure he can recover at his age.

Very well replaced by Sergio Oliveira (7.5/10) who compensated for his lack of physical strength and his weak stamina by his fine technical abilities and very pleasant goals. We all hope PAOK can keep him to see how he goes during a complete season.

Yevgen Shakhov : 7.5/10 Simply what we call in French the perfect "player of duty". Not expected to be at this level this season, he brilliantly responded on the pitch with a very hard work rate and a very good state of mind. Certainly a good surprise of the season.

Léo Jaba : 7/10 The revelation, coming from Sports Director Mario Branco's connections. Very fast, elegant with a very great dribbling and crossing ability, Leo Jaba was really useful all the season and also has interesting stats. Still lacks accuracy and tends to overdoing sometimes. But he's just 20 and has plenty to learn.

Dimitris Pelkas : 5/10 Didn't confirm his past great season. Clearly the season's disappointment. Totally out of form from September to March, he didn't take any responsibility for his playmaker role. The end of the season saved him, but definitely a poor season for a player of his status.

Diego Biseswar : 8/10 After a disappointing season, he brilliantly reacted ! Used as playmaker to compensate Pelkas failures or on the left wing, he was one of the players that brought the Double to PAOK. Finishing with 10 goals and 10 assists and a very good activity at his position, he is definitely an essential component of the team.

Dimitrios Limnios : 5/10 Lack of accuracy, running around for nothing, he had difficult times this season. Some lights never confirmed. Clearly insufficient this year. Still young and talented, we all hope he can finally step up and show his potential next season.

Chuba Akpom : 6.5/10 Physically gifted, he still has a lot to show moving forward. Still scored precious goals and is a very useful player coming on to exhaust defenders. Would like to see him work on his finishing as he could become a very interesting player.

Aleksandar Prijovic : 8/10 Was the most important player before his departure. But, obviously, he wasn't so essential as we saw that PAOK played much better after he left and that Lucescu finally could use his "collective scheme".

Apart from that, 18 goals in 27 games.

Omar El-Kaddouri : 5/10 Some great and very bad sequences. Swings from awful (vs Benfica) to great (vs Olympiakos). Sometimes nice to look at him playing but hasn't been very helpful this year.

This year was historical and fantastic. PAOK won the 3rd title of his history and showed a very pleasant style of play. This season will be now definitely part of the club's history. 2 titles won and an impressive  collective strength we probably haven't seen since the first Zagorakis era in the mid 90's. But "why not 10 ?" would you ask. Well, simply because we got what we call in French the "false note" and this disastrous Europa League campaign. Of course Lucescu said it wasn't the priority but still, it was so frustrating for a team of this level.

But never mind. It's already forgiven. And the "Invincibles" really made dream all PAOKtzides (and surely a lot more) this year and they can legitimately pretend to aim even higher next season

By Alain for Hellas Football

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