Bohemian Misery

Bohemian Misery

By Alain Anastasakis

 

Everything started with a very good pre-season for PAOK. Lucescu, back home, showed the style of play we love, and the team was full of confidence following an very entertaining win in Rotterdam against Feyenoord. It would be unfair to say it was just a friendly. 

During the summer, PAOK showed very good quality and the team seemed to be starting on a great basis for the upcoming season. It's always a cliché, but we know that things can never be that simple and a twisted mind could have maybe seen the infancy of what happened when we heard Lucescu say: "With all due respect, we came to win and qualify". This could sound like a confident man but it was nothing but a presumptuous statement after the disaster the Dikefalo experienced against the Irish team who has only experienced European football for the third time in 10 years. 

This sentence even probably boosted the Irish, who played the game of their lives. 

 

The context :

It won't be masochism to write about the appalling game PAOK offered us on Tuesday night. No. It won't be a style exercise either. As it won't be a dezincing company with malicious intent either. None of that. This blog is only intended as a warning signal in the face of a situation that the club has unfortunately only known well already.

This defeat, which is nothing less than a proper humiliation, deserved a cold analysis and a second view of the game. And at the end of this terrible "sequence", it will be absolutely necessary to draw some strong conclusions. Those of choices first. From a total failure of Lucescu's game plan, both tactically and in the chosen men.

The players and the play :

Kagawa missed a first pass forward, giving the Irish plenty of time to counterattack. Then on a seemingly innocuous ball, Michailidis was holed up in front of Coote after an opening in the back of Vieirinha before going to crucify Paschalakis who remained totally still on his line. 1-0. 

PAOK was shaken, but would be okay, we thought, as the first 20 minutes were largely to its advantage. Alas! We were watching the worst first half since the match against Panathinaikos last season and quite logically, following a lack of reaction before half-time, the Dikefalo went back to the locker room behind on the scoreboard. 

The "small club" played better. Fighting for every ball to the end, running all over the pitch and harassing PAOK all the first half, overthrowing Lucescu's tiki-taka which was totally useless against that kind of teams who doesn't care about the style of play when they have a chance to kick out the Big One.

The second half was better. It would be unfair to not to say it. The offensive intentions came back and some good collective plays were seen. At least in appearance. It looked like we were going to be able to save the day, and, we thought, come back home, at least, with a draw. and then... Boom! Like a crushing blow, a short corner by the Irish turned the evening into a nightmare. Paschalakis, unable to contain himself to bend it like René Huiguita, took two side steps to try to pull out a reflex save, but conceded a gag-reel goal from a long shot by the same Coote. 

The die was cast. The curtain has fallen. The late reduction of the score by the newcomer Nelson Oliveira, who was probably the best player of the pre-season, will keep hope of qualification alive but will certainly not save a night in which there's definitely nothing to save. 

Of course, we could talk about the non-awarded penalty on Biseswar in the final minutes. But by no way it could be an excuse for this deplorable performance. 

Blacks and whites therefore left Dublin with their tail between their legs. A match unworthy of the club where we felt that nothing could work. A huge tactical change will be needed for the second leg. And maybe a "back to basics", the old Lucescu's style to exploit any opponent's vulnerability to crush him wouldn't be an insult to football. On the contrary. It will be probably the only way to get the result that PAOK need.

Ratings :

-Paschalakis : 1/10. No more comment is required. 

-Vieirinha : 2/10. Always late on his left side, often misplaced, suffered a lot anytime his opponent was accelerating. A left-back is highly needed.

 

-Michailidis : 3/10. Lost the duel on the first goal. An awful mistake but wasn't helped either by the fullbacks. Better in second half with 5 won duels.

 

-Varela : 3/10. Guilty as well for being late on the shooter when the Irish opened the scoring. Like Michailidis, wasn't helped by his teammates and was better in second half with several important aerial challenges won.

 

-Rodrigo : 2/10. Awful first half. Looked like he wasn't even trying to stop the Bohemian's midfielder to score. Useless both defensively and offensively.

 

-Schwab :4/10. An interesting activity in the midfield but a lot of missed passes and too much inaccuracies. Still deserved some credit for his crucial assist to Oliveira.

 

-Esiti : 2/10. Should have stay in Goztepe instead of coming back. Did not even try to pressure the Bohemian offensive line. Still, he offered couple of nice Rugby like penalties in the Aviva Stadium. The Irish crowd probably enjoyed it. 

Subbed by Kurtic (3/10) who brought showed absolutely nothing but his backpassing ability. 

 

-Andrija Zivokic : 4/10. The only one with Oliveira and Schwab who tried to do something on the pitch. Showed a very good mentality but was unusually clumsy. Looked down physically. 

Subbed by Murg (Not rated) who tried but wasn't more successful.

 

-Kagawa : 1.5/10. Guilty on the first goal after a missed long pass which launched the Bohemians counter-attack. Wasted everything he attempted. "In football there's two things that never disappear : records and talent" Platini said once. Absolutely true. But the Japanese international obviously left his one at Dortmund. 

Subbed by Biseswar (1.5/10) who just reminded us why we didn't need him anymore

 

-El-Kaddouri : 2/10. Missed an enormous opportunity that could be seen in Klaus' Anthology. Absolutely disastrous overall. 

Subbed by Tzolis (3/10) who seemed to already have his mind somewhere else...

-Oliveira : 6/10. Always tried to harass the defense and pressure. Was in all good situations and finally scored a well-deserved goal that kept the team alive. Could have been the Savior, but was subbed-off for Swiderski, (not rated) who missed also a good opportunity. To his credit, he was sick before the game so we wonder why he even came on. 

-The aftermath

Lucescu, the most successful manager PAOK had in decades knows more than any of us that this game will stay like a spot. And we can be sure that his words following the humiliation are nothing but double talk as "we deserved victory because we got more shots on target and more situations" isn't acceptable. 

The General can't believe that. And more than ever, it's now upon him to turn the tide. All the pressure will be on his shoulders. And rightfully so. He obtained what he always wanted : the control on the whole team management. He got the players he wanted and the club followed his plan and he now has to take all the responsibilities that come with it. Like the one to bring Kurtic instead of Adrien Silva, the renewal of El-Kaddouri or the decision to not get a new goalkeeper. 

As we speak now, PAOK is once again up against the wall. And once again will have to face its own destiny. The destiny of an entire season which will be played in the second leg on August 12. 

Undoubtedly even more in view of the enormous expectations raised by the return of the Romanian coach. And in case of failure against the ranked amateur Bohemian FC, it will be very hard to save something from his ambitious project. 

The club will always survive. And we all will be here to support PAOK till the end. But could Lucescu still be a part of the equation ? 

We will look forward to get the answer on next Thursday.

PAME PAOKARA !!!!!  

Hellas Football 

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