PAOK Lincoln Red Imps Preview

PAOK Lincoln Red Imps Preview


By Alain Anastasakis 


Thursday night will be a historic match. History in several ways since it will be the first participation of a Greek club in the newly created Conference League, but also a first participation in a European Cup group phase for a club from Gibraltar. 


The context :

The game promises to be totally unbalanced on paper, but PAOK should definitely not underestimate its opponent. 


The mishap against Bohemian or the first leg against Rijeka should prompt PAOK to do much better. A worrying inefficiency which, we hope, was only temporary.


The play and the players:

Following a disastrous performance against PAS Giannina on Sunday, PAOK must come back from the British enclave not only with a result, but also with style. Perhaps this match will finally be the one that allows Lucescu to change his mind. 


The Romanian technician will probably stick to his usual 4-2-3-1 so we may have some surprises in the starting lineup. 


Neither goalkeeper has satisfied the coach so far, so Balomenos could get his first appearance. In the midfield, both Kurtic and Tsiggaras can claim a spot. Mitrita, the new recruit, could start right away like Sidcley on the left or Michailidis in central defense. Akpom could also be lined up instead of Swiderski who looked totally inefficient since the beginning of the season. 


This match is the perfect opportunity to bring fresh blood in to the team while getting the team back on track after a difficult start to the season. An opportunity, also, for The General to return to the basics of his style of play to offer something other than the useless Tiki-Taka he set up last Sunday.

 

The opponent:

Lincoln Red Imps, founded in 1976, holds the national titles record with 25 championships won. The club from the Rock managed to qualify for its first European Cup in its history by eliminating Riga. Of course, I will not claim to be a specialist in Gibraltarian football, but looking at the matches played during their European campaign, It’s certain that we will be up against a team which will have nothing to lose and will be ready to fight to the end as the Irishmen of Bohemian did.


Conclusion:

If Lincoln's motivation will be overboosted by the perspective to play their first game in an European group stage, this is a must win for PAOK. 


A good start, with a large victory, will make things easier. And give a great opportunity to the Dikefalo to launch its European campaign in a very affordable group. 


It's once again on Lucescu's hands. And he knows more than anyone that any other result will be rightfully considered as a disaster. 


Hellas Football 


Follow @alainb_

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Top 10 Chants in Greek Football

Image
Top 10 Chants in Greek Football By Nick Tsambouniaris, Greek ultras are known around the world for their passionate support. Atmospheres at games are electric to say the least as fans act as the 12 th man for their team. Here are my top 10 chants in Greek football with a hyperlink to the YouTube video of them being belted out in full glory. 10. AEK – RE BIN LADEN This cheeky party starter aimed at Olympiakos from AEK’s Original 21 makes it as number 10. As you can see in the below link, every single fan is jumping and singing along with purpose, making for a great atmosphere. 10. AEK – RE BIN LADEN 9. PAOK – IRTHAME SKASTOI APO TIN KLINIKI Gate 4 of PAOK are notoriously known for creating an intimidating atmosphere wherever they go. This particular chant gets extra points for its climax ending when the fans rise from the ground as one jumping all over the place. The chant itself is also funny and sums up the passion of Greek football fans in general as it says they
Read more

The Panathinaikos - Croatian Connection

Image
The Panathinaikos - Croatian Connection By: Antonios Theodosis Athenian based club Panathinaikos is a part of the “big four” of Greece, and like their rivals, Panathinaikos have seen their fair share of foreign talent come in through the ranks. In my last article, I covered the connection Panathinaikos had with players from Argentina and the success many of the Argentine’s brought to the club. For the Panathinaikos faithful, the connection does not stop with Argentinian players. The Greens have also seen their fair share of notable Croatian players come in through the ranks and help bring success to the club. Some of these notable players are: Velemir Zajec, Mario Galinovic, Goran Vlaovic, Mladen Petric, Gordan Schildenfeld, and Danijel Pranjic - with the latter granting me the opportunity to answer some questions I had regarding the Panathinaikos - Croatian connection. However, the connection does not stop with the players. Gate Thirteen, Panathinaikos’ ultras fan group hav
Read more

A Knee away from the 1998 World Cup

Image
A Knee away from the 1998 World Cup By Greg Gavalas Coming of what would have been for the Ethniki in World Cup Qualifications, Mexico 70 was close with a very good team, and as mentioned in that part, until 1994, Greece had seldom even got close to World Cup Qualification however the next opportunity to reach the grandest stage would happen in just the next campaign which was for the 1998 World Cup to be held in France. Coming off the 1994 World Cup itself, Greece would form a new face under coach Kostas Polychroniou, the vast majority of the team was also new with younger and very skilful players who would also go through their first full qualifying campaign for Euro 96 previously. After a bright start to that campaign, the Ethniki would fall short of qualification to Russia and Scotland, however the team played nice football and were a totally different squad to that of Alketas Panagoulias in 93/94, even scoring 23 goals for the 96 campaign vs 10 for the 94 campaign. Kostas Polychro
Read more