Hellas Football

PAOK-Krasnodar Preview By Alain Anastasakis Today, we won't talk about tactics, nor about the players, not even about the opponent or the coach's choice. The tonight's game, in my PAOKtzis' heart can't be watched with reason nor rationally.  The Dikefalo will face again Krasnodar for the second round after they eliminated Besiktas and Benfica.  We feel this time is different.  That something is ongoing. That the Champions League's anthem would finally sound in our ears for the first time. Tonight will be probably the greatest chance for PAOK to write a new page in history. And bring the club into another dimension.  We will play behind closed doors. Again, the Toumpa will be silent. We could think it might be a huge pain, even an advantage for the opponent as we all know that the concrete never scared anybody. We could also believe that whatever happens, the celebration wouldnt be a great one without Toumpa's magical atmosphere.  But we would be wrong! With ...

Enough Done, But Finishing Must Improve. By Christian Leggas Almost, but not quite like the first leg of this tie, Olympiacos did what they had to do in the second leg against Omonia. Below are my ratings based on how the Olympiacos players performed on the night.   José Sá:  Omonia threatened his goal a bit throughout the game. But, he did not have to make a lot of saves. What he had to do, he did it well.  6.5/10. Rafinha:  Went about his business quietly and did a decent job of containing the Omonia's wingers.  6/10. Ruben Semedo:  Had a nervous start with some ordinary touches and passing. But, undoubtedly saved his team from conceding a goal just after half an hour, as he got a toe in right before Omonia winger Éric Bauthéac was about to pull the trigger from close range. Following that, his other defensive acts were impressive.  7/10. Ousseynou Ba:  Was perhaps fortunate not to give away a penalty early in the first half after a fierce tackl...

Omonia vs Olympiakos, UCL Playoffs 2nd Leg   By Stephen Kountourou, With one match to go until European sides in the qualifiers reach the promised land of the Champions League Group stage, the result of last week's first leg tie between Olympiakos and Omonia, which ended 2-0 to the Greek Champions, is a healthy gap to take to the 2nd leg in Cyprus.  While Thrylos should feel confident in not having the tie overturned, as they make their way to the Cypriot capital of Nicosia, Omonia at home cannot be underestimated and they could still spring a surprise upset albeit, having to score three goals to go through over their Greek counterparts.  So despite going over the vast majority of head to head records , key players and what not, I will be briefly taking a look at the UCL Playoff second leg between Omonia and Olympiakos.    Previously in Piraeus… Although most people know the result of last week's 1st leg in Piraeus I will do a short overview. Thrylos started the...

AEK’s must win game By Greg Gavalas The 2020/21 season is off and running and when it comes to European competition, we find ourselves in uncharted territory as Greek Football fans. Greece has dropped to 18th place in the Euro standings now after years of underperformance from most clubs but for one or two each season, generally just one, well everyone else has caught up and passed us now, including Cyprus who sit as high as 14th. With the situation as it is every Euro club game involving a Greek team is been watched with much interest as the horrible run of under performance is getting to much and next up is AEK Athens! AEK travel to Switzerland to take on St Gallen in the UEFA Europa League and as the game is based on one leg, AEK need nothing less than victory if they are to move to a playoff for the Group stages with what we expect to be Wolfsburg of Germany, a task in itself. St Gallen, like AEK have only played one league game and they won that 1-0, not a great deal is known of t...

Just Enough Done, But There is Room for Improvement By Christian Leggas Olympiacos did what they had to do against Omonia, securing a two-nil first-leg advantage to take into the return leg in Cyprus in six days. Here is how each Olympiacos player performed in this game.  Jose Sa:  He would have had time to order a coffee and read a newspaper. The Olympiacos goalkeeper was largely untroubled for the entire game.  5.5/10 . Rafinha:  Got given the licence to be almost a wing-back for a lot of this game. But in doing that, it allowed opposition left-back Jan Lecjaks to be their best route to a goal going the other way. You could not fault his efforts in trying to get forward and trying to be dangerous, but he was not able to find the killer ball enough.  6/10 .  Ruben Semedo:  Was not called upon to thwart many dangers. Not much to do consistently except for some stock-standard passing and clearing headers. But, was tested a lot more by the visitors in th...

Olympiakos vs Omonia, UCL Playoff Build Up By Stephen Kountourou For the 3rd time in four seasons Olympiakos found themselves in the Champions League playoffs.  Despite not having to go through the labourious task of starting the 2020/21 campaign in the earlier qualifying stages, the ultimate goal, despite not changing in reaching the group stage, is arguably even more important than it has ever been. With Covid19 preventing fans into stadiums, and ticket sales being a big source of revenue that Thrylos rely on, the boost of winning 30 million Euros for reaching the most prestigious competition in club football is vital for the Piraeus side.  The side that stands in their way however, is AC Omonia. To the neutral on looker, this seems a rather straight forward task for the Greek Champions, and while I firmly believe that Olympiakos are a superior side, the team from Nicosia certainly have upset potential on their side. This match will also have a massive impact on both countri...

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. F...