Hellas Football

The Relegation Battle Has Heated Up As 7 Clubs Are Looking To Remain In The 2019/2020 Greek Super League The fight for survival from several clubs who are looking to participate in next season’s edition of the Greek Super League is proving to be a spectacle, since 8th placed Xanthi and 15th placed OFI Crete are only separated by 10 points with 8 rounds remaining. Rock-bottom on the ladder is Apollon Smyrni, who have earned just only 9 points by only winning twice and drawn 3 times look to be done and dusted as it looks highly unlikely they will play another consecutive season in Greece’s top flight. Only 3 teams this season will be automatically relegated with the additional relegation play-off for the team that finishes 4th bottom of the competition, who will face off with the runners-up of the Football League. Currently as it stands, it’s PAS Giannina with just 20 points who are in the relegation play-off position, and Apollon Larissa with 33 points in the runners-up place in t...

Exactly two thirds of the Greek Super League season have elapsed and the race for fifth spot is now genuinely heating up. Newly promoted Aris currently occupy fifth on the ladder after a great run of form which has seen the Thessaloniki outfit win 3 games in a row, also keeping three clean sheets in the process. Out of the contenders for fifth spot, they are undoubtedly the in-form team - their demolition of Asteras Tripolis only reinforced this. Panathinaikos is currently in sixth place on 28 points (4 behind Aris who are on 32). The Greens have not been the same team since the new year and seem to be a shadow of themselves heading into the run home as a lack of depth and horrible luck with injuries to key players have not helped matters. The Trifylli has only won once since the turn of the year, but they can take comfort in the fact they have won more points on the pitch than Aris (if not for the -6 points deduction they would sit on 34 points). Panaitolikos and Xanthi occ...

PAOK 3-1 Olympiakos - Tactical Match Analysis Lineups PAOK PAOK lined up in a 4-2-3-1 formation with nothing out of the ordinary compared to how they have been playing this season. Olympiakos Olympiakos lined up in a 4-2-3-1 formation of their own but here lies the first big mistake that Martins makes. Martins uses Natcho and Guillerme instead of using Camara who offers more defensively, a display of arrogance perhaps? The only thing we know for sure is that PAOK exploited Natcho’s defensive struggles a lot in the 1 st half. 1 st Half After the first 2-3 minutes it becomes apparent that Camara’s absence will hurt Olympiakos a lot. El-Kaddouri finds space on the left, dribbles away from Torosidis and unleashes a pass to Mauricio who has acres of space to finish. Natcho and Guillerme are nowhere to be seen but thanks to Mauricio’s poor control of the ball nothing comes of it. But already with 2 minutes gone, PAOK know exactly what to exploit. Olym...

FOOTBALL LEAGUE HALF-WAY POINT The Football League is always a competition  to keep an eye on and  in  this season, there is  plenty of interest. Th e current 2018/19   Football League  season is magnified, as the restructure of the Greek League system is under way and it will affect numerous clubs currently competing in the Football League. Firstly, the Football League from 2019/20 onwards will be re-branded and known as “Super League 2”. Reduced  from 18 teams  in 2017/18  to 16 teams  for  this season, it will further be reduced for  the   2019/20  season , to at this stage 12 teams. Given that many things in Greek Football  and in Greece generally  are  always  subject to change , it is difficult to pin any one issue down  and be certain of the outcomes . But  my understanding on how Promotion/Relegation wil l operate in this  current  2018/19  season’s Football Leagu...

This window opened and closed and bar the usually flurry of free transfers left right and centre it was a quiet one at hand from the Big 4.  In this blog we take a look at the major players and rate the wok that was done. PAOK   Gains - Karol Swiderski 4M, Sverrir Ingason 2M, Josip Misic, Sergio Oliviera (loans) Departures - Alexandar Prijovic, 10M, Amr Warda, Stelios Kitsiou (loans) Will the loss of key goal scoring machine Prijovic hurt them? So far it hasn't shown but with Olympiakos closing the gap that fire power will invariably be missing.  Still a strong and balanced squad with the new editions in the midfield and defence coming in, plus the likes of Akpom and Karelis now given more time they should be a strong force this second half of the season.  No European football but still in the Greek Cup so this could be the season PAOK finally win the league with most fans rightly or wrongly so already calling them the Champions elect. Conclusion - No p...