PAOK KRASNODAR PREVIEW

PAOK KRASNODAR PREVIEW

By Alain Anastasakis



After an historical success against Jorge Jesus' Benfica, where PAOK probably played their best game of Abel Ferreira's era, the Black & Whites crew are back for the Champions League qualifiers last round. Another historical moment that PAOK will have to manage very seriously against the Russian club of Krasnodar.

Following a very disappointing restart that ended in a poorly home draw against Atromitos (1-1), PAOK will have, again, to rise up their level of play following a game that looked more like a training session than a Super League game. 


THE TACTICS : 

Using the system that leaded to success against Benfica and Besiktas, we expect that Abel will naturally use again his 3-4-3 to face the Russians. The big weak point remains the right side, as long as the Portuguese coach didn't call up again a right back in his list. We expect Crespo or Biseswar to be the the ones covering the spot. The big unknown will be the attack. Ferreira could try to play safe by starting Swiderski or make a bet by launching the young gun Koutsias, as he did with Tzolis against Besiktas. 


The construction in the midfield will be the key, as well as the defense to prevent fast moves on the wings from Krasnodar. The Bykis are maybe not as strong as Benfica on the paper, but PAOK will have to play again his best football to bring a result from Russia. That will give the opportunity to feel safer at home, when they will finally can put their newcomers Antonio Colak and Moussa Wagué, who just arrived to the club. Unfortunately too late to be on the list for this first round.


The probable lineup :

Zivkovic

Ingason-Varela-Michailidis

Crespo (or Biseswar)- El-Kaddouri- Schwab (or Esiti)- Giannoulis

Zivkovic-Swiderski (or Koutsias)-Tzolis


THE OPPONENT :

After a very good 2019-20 season, Krasnodar managed to reached the 3rd rank of Russian Premier League. The Kuban river's club managed strong performances even if they were unable to beat any team in the RPL top 5. The biggest threats we could expect will come from the wings, where the club has very talented players such as Wanderson, Cabella and the Swedish duet Claersson-Berg, very well known in Greece as former Super League top scorer. Their strenght will be undoubtedly the 4-2-3-1 system, very well adapted to their players, that coach Murad Musaev set up for their last huge success against Khimki, which ended by a 7-2 score. 


The probable lineup : 

Safonov 

Petrov -Martynovich -Sorokin-Ramirez

Vilhena-Olsson 

Wanderson-Cabella-Claesson

Berg


Such as against Benfica, we expect nothing but a very strong battle in Russia. This time, it will be hard to say who has the advantage, as both teams seem to have a very similar level. Of course, we can be worried about PAOK's attack as Swiderski showed he wasn't really made for Abel's new system but this will be something that Dikefalo can face. During press conference, the Portuguese technician said "We are less experienced than them, but I think we are better than our opponent" followed by Omar El-Kaddouri's statement : "We dreamed about it in the past and now, it's time to do it". Thessalonicians will have to show again big motivation and avoid the lack of concentration the Dikefalo suffered from in the past. 


And with hard work, taking seriously his opponent without overconfidence, PAOK can now make the dream come true.


Hellas Football 


Follow @alainb_

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