Hellas futebol

[Faliro]

Well what do you mean by open mindness, exactly? When it comes to football, basically? Well that's simply because we're from a small country with a league that's not part of the big 3 or even big 5. So we're a tier or two below in the hierarchy. We have no other choice but to get bombarded with news of other clubs on social media.

In general terms - I have found portuguese a little more open to the world outside portugal than Spanish are to the world outside Spain. I don't mean to offend Spanish here. I have Spanish (Catalan) ancestry. just something i have noticed.

We are also doomed to leave the country. Only in the 90s did immigrants into our country outnumber the locals leaving the country to elsewhere. Nearly everyone heree has a relative or a distant relative that either lives or lived abroad at some point. Een highly educated Portuguese people often leave the country. My brother, for example, left for Belgium nearly a decade ago already. At this point I think only the Polish or Romanians outnumber us in terms of immigration in Europe. Polish people are everywhere. You're from the UK, so you probably have met Poles, Romanians, Bulgarians and I guess Portuguese people there. A guy I talk to from the Uk who works at a hospital doing paperwork/administrative stuff, told me the hospital has a lot of Portuguese nurses.

There are many many Portuguese here. Portuguese, Polish, Brazilians - London is New York.. I grew up with Spanish, Cypriots, Lebanese, Indians, Jews, Portuguese etc as a kid.

That's very cool of you to say to me, considering you're married. I can't stand when married men or men in long term relationships act condescendingly with me because I am single. Relationships in general are overrated, imo. And by this, I'm not saying there aren't many great ones out there or that yours is bad by any means, know. But they're not the secret to permanent happiness, especially when you consider that most of them fail and that most people have a few bfs/gfs in their lives until they find "the one", if they do, and even "the one" might result in a divorce. Honestly, the main reason most people get into them is because of sex, especially when they're young. That or financial stability when they're older. All of this also boils down to people simply loving company due to human beings being social creatures. It's like it's in our biological senses to do that in order to procreate and continue the species.

We're getting married and having kids later and later. It's simply no longer sustainable to have 4 kids like it was in the 1950s. Most people of middle class only have 1 or 2 kids. It's the poorer and the richer people who have the most kids on average.

Movies and the media overrate the whole love and fmaily thing and only show us the good parts.

Fact is, this is no longer the 1950s-1990s. The bubble has burst and even if your country is growing for a few years you just know it's a matter of time until shit hits the fan again. And countries like Portugal and Greece will suffer strongly again when the next crisis comes.

I would add one extra reason people get married besides sex and financial security. To combat being alone. Those who can live alone are in a strong position. Most cannot.

Exactly. Industry? What is Portuguese industry even anymore? And let's not even talk about our agriculture. We're ages behind large parts of Europe in terms of farming technology. We export lemons and oranges because obviously we have the climate and soil for that.
As for actual industry? We make... shoes, car parts, cork(number 1 exporter in the world), olive oil and wine. Our largest brand is either Sumol+Compal who make juice and soft drinks or Renova, a company that makes napkins and toilet paper. It's good stuff but kinda funny that one of our biggest companies makes that kind of stuff lol. Meanwhile we can't wipe our own shit 

One of Greece's biggest companies is our biggest gambling company - OPAP.  I think it is the biggest in Europe actually..

Yes, it is! UM BONGO UM BONGO, O BOM SABOR DA SELVAAAA!

Every British kid grew up with this tune:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wYj5o4kQsXs

Tbh it's harder to sell it to you guys. You didn't colonise or oppress natives from the Americas, Asia or Africa like we did nor do you have a significant black population like we do 

Yea, it is actually impossible to guilt a Greek into anything! Especially things they should actually feel guilty for. In the old days when a Greek would kill someone in front of others (others who probably helped trap the victim) - a lot of the time the murderer would yell after killing the man/woman - 'I take full responsibility for this sin.. go home - its over' - everyone would just leave relieved they were not involved thanks to the murderer's token words..

Damn, that's brutal, hearing that from someone you might have voted for.

Even more ridiculous, the event he said it at was a diplomatic business mission where he was sent to  Turkey to promote Greek businesses.. All he could talk about is why the Turkish should not do business with greeks.. He denied what he said right up until the recording was released. Then he and the media just forgot about it. Very Greek. No consequences..

Yeah, I must ask you,do you know what education is like in Greece? Are the philosophical texts of Plato, Aristoteles, Socrates, etc. valued?

Not sure. I know in the old days when I was a kid they had to translate Thucydides from Ancient Greek to modern etc and things like that in a rather intense manner - they would always complain how hard it was etc.. Now I have no idea.

Well me and others ask you because you don't seem to have a problem educating us on Greece and I personally always like reading your perspective on things. Greece is usually viewed as a romantic place to go on vacation. It does indeed have lovely islands and scenery, from the photos I've seen of the country. But like every country it has a dark side.

Yes, the country itself is very very beautiful. It is actually alive - like a living person. Many Benfiquistas on here have PMed me where to go and on FB on things later they said they absolutely loved it there and will go back. It is a magical place. Very spiritual. Genuinely spiritual - not indian guru telling middle class white women in their 40s to breath in while meditating etc.. Greece is genuinely soulful. Beautiful land.

[Festivus]

That's just the usual big vs. small country mentality. Larger countries are more self-absorbed due to living in bigger bubbles. Go to Spain, France, Germany,Italy or the UK and nearly everything on their tv is in their country's language. Perhaps even most of the songs on the radio or a large chunk of them. Not to mention, being larger economies, they have more money to make more tv shows and movies with higher production values.

If we Portuguese didn't care much about the rest of the world nor did we consume a lot of foreign media and brands we'd be living very humble existences.

Most can't live alone, obviously. But you see, I'm not afraid of dying alone per se, unless I die of a terminal disease or something. But if I drop dead of a sudden heart attack one day, it makes no difference if I have a family or not since I'll barely suffer in the last few minutes of my life and die quickly.

Did the Greek language really change that much throughout history to the point of Ancient Greek no longer being understandable by modern Greek speakers anymore?

What's modern Greek literature like? And cinema? How do you feel about the 1964 movie adaption of Zorba?


As for education, Portugal was very backwards in the early 20th century. I think only like 20% of our population in the 1920s could read. We were the ass of Europe in that respect. What were literacy rates in Greece like around WW1?

[Faliro]

Did the Greek language really change that much throughout history to the point of Ancient Greek no longer being understandable by modern Greek speakers anymore?

Ancient Greek to modern is easier than Latin to Italian for example. Greek kids would complain simply because they probably didn't see the point. And also - have to get in the hard sell of how hard you work etc.. so that you have a lot practice for when you are older have to complain how hard your job is..

What's modern Greek literature like? And cinema? How do you feel about the 1964 movie adaption of Zorba?

I read Zorba when I was in my teens - a read a big chunk of it on a long plane journey actually. It is easily one of the greatest books I have read in my life. Masterful. Painfully brilliant. Brutal. And a page turner - addictive. Heavy heavy message. I watched the film and thought meh.. The book is a work of genius - the film is like the Toys R Us kids version.. I am not sure I will be able to ever read it again. The existentialism in that book is severe.. Everyone I know who has read it (non Greeks) thinks it is a work of genius. A good greek film is Woman in Black but I am not sure I have seen the whole thing!   

As for education, Portugal was very backwards in the early 20th century. I think only like 20% of our population in the 1920s could read. We were the ass of Europe in that respect. What were literacy rates in Greece like around WW1?

Probably low.. I mean here is a Greek kid shopping in central Greece during the Greek Civil War.. Not exactly a scholarly society outside of Athens.. 3 successive devastating wars in 25 years wrecked the nation (Greco Turkish War, WW2 and the Greek Civil War).

[Festivus]

If you meet Portuguese people born in the 50s and 60s many of them didn't go far in school because they had to drop out quite early in their lives to start working in order to support their families. I've met people in their 50s who don't even remember when they began their professional lives. As in, working since they're 9 or 10 years old. Child labour was a very common thing here. Was it like that in Greece during the Junta years as well?

[Faliro]

If you meet Portuguese people born in the 50s and 60s many of them didn't go far in school because they had to drop out quite early in their lives to start working in order to support their families. I've met people in their 50s who don't even remember when they began their professional lives. As in, working since they're 9 or 10 years old. Child labour was a very common thing here. Was it like that in Greece during the Junta years as well?

No, Junta period was a boom economy where the country became exceptionally afluent. Education, infrastructure etc was  all provided for well.

[Faliro]

So....

It seems the EPO (president is a lifelong PAOK supporter) has decided PAOk will win the championship this year..

OSFP won on Monday... but so did PAOK.. so they are still 6 points ahead.

However, they beat Lamia 0-1 on Monday thanks to ref ignoring the most blatant handball in the box by PAOK in the history of football. The ref saw it.. and decided .. 'meh.. the defender's back was turned - so I will invent a new rule that when your back is turned - it is never a handball' and did not give the penalty for Lamia. Even the PAOK coach admitted it should have been a pen. The ref in question has now been demoted to the football league and not allowed to ref again in the SL.

Here is the handball - by Vieirinha. The PAOK handball was so strong - it diverted the ball miles in the opposite direction:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O3uUO8QNZe8

[Josef Vierine]

So....

It seems the EPO (president is a lifelong PAOK supporter) has decided PAOk will win the championship this year..

OSFP won on Monday... but so did PAOK.. so they are still 6 points ahead.

However, they beat Lamia 0-1 on Monday thanks to ref ignoring the most blatant handball in the box by PAOK in the history of football. The ref saw it.. and decided .. 'meh.. the defender's back was turned - so I will invent a new rule that when your back is turned - it is never a handball' and did not give the penalty for Lamia. Even the PAOK coach admitted it should have been a pen. The ref in question has now been demoted to the football league and not allowed to ref again in the SL.

Here is the handball - by Vieirinha. The PAOK handball was so strong - it diverted the ball miles in the opposite direction:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O3uUO8QNZe8

That video had a good title 

Tell me one thing: why Toure is not playing ate Olympiacos? Is he injured?
For me it is weird because he have so few minutes... and I do not see any better player in Olympiacos than Toure...

[Faliro]

So....

It seems the EPO (president is a lifelong PAOK supporter) has decided PAOk will win the championship this year..

OSFP won on Monday... but so did PAOK.. so they are still 6 points ahead.

However, they beat Lamia 0-1 on Monday thanks to ref ignoring the most blatant handball in the box by PAOK in the history of football. The ref saw it.. and decided .. 'meh.. the defender's back was turned - so I will invent a new rule that when your back is turned - it is never a handball' and did not give the penalty for Lamia. Even the PAOK coach admitted it should have been a pen. The ref in question has now been demoted to the football league and not allowed to ref again in the SL.

Here is the handball - by Vieirinha. The PAOK handball was so strong - it diverted the ball miles in the opposite direction:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O3uUO8QNZe8

That video had a good title 

Tell me one thing: why Toure is not playing ate Olympiacos? Is he injured?
For me it is weird because he have so few minutes... and I do not see any better player in Olympiacos than Toure...

It's a good question. All I can say is it is down to Martins not thinking he is good enough.

Martins has rotated the team every week. From day 1 - there was only one player who was guaranteed to be the 11. Podence. All other players rotated. The last 3 weeks Cisse has become a starter at CB and it seems martins likes Vukovic as his partner. Sa is now 100% our starting goalkeeper so he has around 4 starters. Add to that he likes very much Buxalakis in the middle - we have 5 starters. He also likes - most of the time.. Guerrero as striker when Hassan is injured. Everyone else is rotated including Fortounis, Koutris etc.

[Josef Vierine]

So....

It seems the EPO (president is a lifelong PAOK supporter) has decided PAOk will win the championship this year..

OSFP won on Monday... but so did PAOK.. so they are still 6 points ahead.

However, they beat Lamia 0-1 on Monday thanks to ref ignoring the most blatant handball in the box by PAOK in the history of football. The ref saw it.. and decided .. 'meh.. the defender's back was turned - so I will invent a new rule that when your back is turned - it is never a handball' and did not give the penalty for Lamia. Even the PAOK coach admitted it should have been a pen. The ref in question has now been demoted to the football league and not allowed to ref again in the SL.

Here is the handball - by Vieirinha. The PAOK handball was so strong - it diverted the ball miles in the opposite direction:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O3uUO8QNZe8

That video had a good title 

Tell me one thing: why Toure is not playing ate Olympiacos? Is he injured?
For me it is weird because he have so few minutes... and I do not see any better player in Olympiacos than Toure...

It's a good question. All I can say is it is down to Martins not thinking he is good enough.

Martins has rotated the team every week. From day 1 - there was only one player who was guaranteed to be the 11. Podence. All other players rotated. The last 3 weeks Cisse has become a starter at CB and it seems martins likes Vukovic as his partner. Sa is now 100% our starting goalkeeper so he has around 4 starters. Add to that he likes very much Buxalakis in the middle - we have 5 starters. He also likes - most of the time.. Guerrero as striker when Hassan is injured. Everyone else is rotated including Fortounis, Koutris etc.

Down to Martins?! Well...I used to see Olympiacos as a team with some good players (the last one, in my opinion, was in 2013/14: Manolas, Holebas, Samaris, Mitroglou, Campbell...), but now when I see third-line players like Podence, Sá, Roderick or Hassan, I feel upset. The same with the coach. You had some good Portuguese coaches and now you had an average one (who else does not put Toure in the 11?!). I know that this crisis is common in Greek football, but that rotating system of Martins does not please me at all. I was happy when Toure was announced and at the time I was thinking that he only needs a month to prepare to assume the first-team place. In my opinion, he is not a player to sat down on the bench or nothing similar.
As for the Greek players, there is anyone good? Don't know that much. You should make an effort and bring back Mitroglou. He is completely lost in Massília.

[Faliro]

So....

It seems the EPO (president is a lifelong PAOK supporter) has decided PAOk will win the championship this year..

OSFP won on Monday... but so did PAOK.. so they are still 6 points ahead.

However, they beat Lamia 0-1 on Monday thanks to ref ignoring the most blatant handball in the box by PAOK in the history of football. The ref saw it.. and decided .. 'meh.. the defender's back was turned - so I will invent a new rule that when your back is turned - it is never a handball' and did not give the penalty for Lamia. Even the PAOK coach admitted it should have been a pen. The ref in question has now been demoted to the football league and not allowed to ref again in the SL.

Here is the handball - by Vieirinha. The PAOK handball was so strong - it diverted the ball miles in the opposite direction:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O3uUO8QNZe8

That video had a good title 

Tell me one thing: why Toure is not playing ate Olympiacos? Is he injured?
For me it is weird because he have so few minutes... and I do not see any better player in Olympiacos than Toure...

It's a good question. All I can say is it is down to Martins not thinking he is good enough.

Martins has rotated the team every week. From day 1 - there was only one player who was guaranteed to be the 11. Podence. All other players rotated. The last 3 weeks Cisse has become a starter at CB and it seems martins likes Vukovic as his partner. Sa is now 100% our starting goalkeeper so he has around 4 starters. Add to that he likes very much Buxalakis in the middle - we have 5 starters. He also likes - most of the time.. Guerrero as striker when Hassan is injured. Everyone else is rotated including Fortounis, Koutris etc.

Down to Martins?! Well...I used to see Olympiacos as a team with some good players (the last one, in my opinion, was in 2013/14: Manolas, Holebas, Samaris, Mitroglou, Campbell...), but now when I see third-line players like Podence, Sá, Roderick or Hassan, I feel upset. The same with the coach. You had some good Portuguese coaches and now you had an average one (who else does not put Toure in the 11?!). I know that this crisis is common in Greek football, but that rotating system of Martins does not please me at all. I was happy when Toure was announced and at the time I was thinking that he only needs a month to prepare to assume the first-team place. In my opinion, he is not a player to sat down on the bench or nothing similar.
As for the Greek players, there is anyone good? Don't know that much. You should make an effort and bring back Mitroglou. He is completely lost in Massília.

Yes, there is a chance we can get Mitroglou back - although his wages will be very high. Many players will leave this winter - rumours are Hassan, Vroussai, Fetfa, Nikolaou, Androutsos, Pardo and Toure could all leave. Toure may stay... Personally I would have played him as CM next to Naxto - Bouxalakis is garbage. Martins does over rotate 100%.

We are a couple of levels down on how we used to be - you are right. Took us years to get someone like Cisse to replace Manolas.. I even miss players with the talent Vladamir Weiss had.. I think the best Greek players are Fortounis (although a shadow of what used to be) and Koutris (half Greek, half Brazilian LB who was involved in the infamous stretcher incident years ago). We have signed a tasty winger called Masouras from Panionios:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giorgos_Masouras

He will be ours from 1st Jan. Rumours are we will give Panionios some of the younger Greeks we are off-loading in return as we only paid Panionios 400k for Masouras - who is easily worth 10 times that..

A good spirited game will be Olympiacos vs Milan next week. We need to win by two goals and we are through.

[Josef Vierine]

So....

It seems the EPO (president is a lifelong PAOK supporter) has decided PAOk will win the championship this year..

OSFP won on Monday... but so did PAOK.. so they are still 6 points ahead.

However, they beat Lamia 0-1 on Monday thanks to ref ignoring the most blatant handball in the box by PAOK in the history of football. The ref saw it.. and decided .. 'meh.. the defender's back was turned - so I will invent a new rule that when your back is turned - it is never a handball' and did not give the penalty for Lamia. Even the PAOK coach admitted it should have been a pen. The ref in question has now been demoted to the football league and not allowed to ref again in the SL.

Here is the handball - by Vieirinha. The PAOK handball was so strong - it diverted the ball miles in the opposite direction:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O3uUO8QNZe8

That video had a good title 

Tell me one thing: why Toure is not playing ate Olympiacos? Is he injured?
For me it is weird because he have so few minutes... and I do not see any better player in Olympiacos than Toure...

It's a good question. All I can say is it is down to Martins not thinking he is good enough.

Martins has rotated the team every week. From day 1 - there was only one player who was guaranteed to be the 11. Podence. All other players rotated. The last 3 weeks Cisse has become a starter at CB and it seems martins likes Vukovic as his partner. Sa is now 100% our starting goalkeeper so he has around 4 starters. Add to that he likes very much Buxalakis in the middle - we have 5 starters. He also likes - most of the time.. Guerrero as striker when Hassan is injured. Everyone else is rotated including Fortounis, Koutris etc.

Down to Martins?! Well...I used to see Olympiacos as a team with some good players (the last one, in my opinion, was in 2013/14: Manolas, Holebas, Samaris, Mitroglou, Campbell...), but now when I see third-line players like Podence, Sá, Roderick or Hassan, I feel upset. The same with the coach. You had some good Portuguese coaches and now you had an average one (who else does not put Toure in the 11?!). I know that this crisis is common in Greek football, but that rotating system of Martins does not please me at all. I was happy when Toure was announced and at the time I was thinking that he only needs a month to prepare to assume the first-team place. In my opinion, he is not a player to sat down on the bench or nothing similar.
As for the Greek players, there is anyone good? Don't know that much. You should make an effort and bring back Mitroglou. He is completely lost in Massília.

Yes, there is a chance we can get Mitroglou back - although his wages will be very high. Many players will leave this winter - rumours are Hassan, Vroussai, Fetfa, Nikolaou, Androutsos, Pardo and Toure could all leave. Toure may stay... Personally I would have played him as CM next to Naxto - Bouxalakis is garbage. Martins does over rotate 100%.

We are a couple of levels down on how we used to be - you are right. Took us years to get someone like Cisse to replace Manolas.. I even miss players with the talent Vladamir Weiss had.. I think the best Greek players are Fortounis (although a shadow of what used to be) and Koutris (half Greek, half Brazilian LB who was involved in the infamous stretcher incident years ago). We have signed a tasty winger called Masouras from Panionios:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giorgos_Masouras

He will be ours from 1st Jan. Rumours are we will give Panionios some of the younger Greeks we are off-loading in return as we only paid Panionios 400k for Masouras - who is easily worth 10 times that..

A good spirited game will be Olympiacos vs Milan next week. We need to win by two goals and we are through.

You should sack Martins instead of let Toure leave  . It seems that you have made a good deal with Masouras. You should thrown away that Portuguese garbage and bring back Mitroglou and others (Samaris' contract in Benfica is expiring...)
Your European campaign is, by now, disappointing. It is true that you had a tough group according to Europa League standards, yet I was expecting more (especially in the home game against Betis). Although, I hope that you will win Milan by 2 and pass. With Toure on the 11 and scoring both goals!   

[Faliro]

So....

It seems the EPO (president is a lifelong PAOK supporter) has decided PAOk will win the championship this year..

OSFP won on Monday... but so did PAOK.. so they are still 6 points ahead.

However, they beat Lamia 0-1 on Monday thanks to ref ignoring the most blatant handball in the box by PAOK in the history of football. The ref saw it.. and decided .. 'meh.. the defender's back was turned - so I will invent a new rule that when your back is turned - it is never a handball' and did not give the penalty for Lamia. Even the PAOK coach admitted it should have been a pen. The ref in question has now been demoted to the football league and not allowed to ref again in the SL.

Here is the handball - by Vieirinha. The PAOK handball was so strong - it diverted the ball miles in the opposite direction:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O3uUO8QNZe8

That video had a good title 

Tell me one thing: why Toure is not playing ate Olympiacos? Is he injured?
For me it is weird because he have so few minutes... and I do not see any better player in Olympiacos than Toure...

It's a good question. All I can say is it is down to Martins not thinking he is good enough.

Martins has rotated the team every week. From day 1 - there was only one player who was guaranteed to be the 11. Podence. All other players rotated. The last 3 weeks Cisse has become a starter at CB and it seems martins likes Vukovic as his partner. Sa is now 100% our starting goalkeeper so he has around 4 starters. Add to that he likes very much Buxalakis in the middle - we have 5 starters. He also likes - most of the time.. Guerrero as striker when Hassan is injured. Everyone else is rotated including Fortounis, Koutris etc.

Down to Martins?! Well...I used to see Olympiacos as a team with some good players (the last one, in my opinion, was in 2013/14: Manolas, Holebas, Samaris, Mitroglou, Campbell...), but now when I see third-line players like Podence, Sá, Roderick or Hassan, I feel upset. The same with the coach. You had some good Portuguese coaches and now you had an average one (who else does not put Toure in the 11?!). I know that this crisis is common in Greek football, but that rotating system of Martins does not please me at all. I was happy when Toure was announced and at the time I was thinking that he only needs a month to prepare to assume the first-team place. In my opinion, he is not a player to sat down on the bench or nothing similar.
As for the Greek players, there is anyone good? Don't know that much. You should make an effort and bring back Mitroglou. He is completely lost in Massília.

Yes, there is a chance we can get Mitroglou back - although his wages will be very high. Many players will leave this winter - rumours are Hassan, Vroussai, Fetfa, Nikolaou, Androutsos, Pardo and Toure could all leave. Toure may stay... Personally I would have played him as CM next to Naxto - Bouxalakis is garbage. Martins does over rotate 100%.

We are a couple of levels down on how we used to be - you are right. Took us years to get someone like Cisse to replace Manolas.. I even miss players with the talent Vladamir Weiss had.. I think the best Greek players are Fortounis (although a shadow of what used to be) and Koutris (half Greek, half Brazilian LB who was involved in the infamous stretcher incident years ago). We have signed a tasty winger called Masouras from Panionios:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giorgos_Masouras

He will be ours from 1st Jan. Rumours are we will give Panionios some of the younger Greeks we are off-loading in return as we only paid Panionios 400k for Masouras - who is easily worth 10 times that..

A good spirited game will be Olympiacos vs Milan next week. We need to win by two goals and we are through.

You should sack Martins instead of let Toure leave  . It seems that you have made a good deal with Masouras. You should thrown away that Portuguese garbage and bring back Mitroglou and others (Samaris' contract in Benfica is expiring...)
Your European campaign is, by now, disappointing. It is true that you had a tough group according to Europa League standards, yet I was expecting more (especially in the home game against Betis). Although, I hope that you will win Milan by 2 and pass. With Toure on the 11 and scoring both goals! 

Toure has not looked too good when he has played. However, I would play him cm instead of Bouxa without a doubt.

[Covenant]

So....

It seems the EPO (president is a lifelong PAOK supporter) has decided PAOk will win the championship this year..

OSFP won on Monday... but so did PAOK.. so they are still 6 points ahead.

However, they beat Lamia 0-1 on Monday thanks to ref ignoring the most blatant handball in the box by PAOK in the history of football. The ref saw it.. and decided .. 'meh.. the defender's back was turned - so I will invent a new rule that when your back is turned - it is never a handball' and did not give the penalty for Lamia. Even the PAOK coach admitted it should have been a pen. The ref in question has now been demoted to the football league and not allowed to ref again in the SL.

Here is the handball - by Vieirinha. The PAOK handball was so strong - it diverted the ball miles in the opposite direction:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O3uUO8QNZe8

That video had a good title 

Tell me one thing: why Toure is not playing ate Olympiacos? Is he injured?
For me it is weird because he have so few minutes... and I do not see any better player in Olympiacos than Toure...

It's a good question. All I can say is it is down to Martins not thinking he is good enough.

Martins has rotated the team every week. From day 1 - there was only one player who was guaranteed to be the 11. Podence. All other players rotated. The last 3 weeks Cisse has become a starter at CB and it seems martins likes Vukovic as his partner. Sa is now 100% our starting goalkeeper so he has around 4 starters. Add to that he likes very much Buxalakis in the middle - we have 5 starters. He also likes - most of the time.. Guerrero as striker when Hassan is injured. Everyone else is rotated including Fortounis, Koutris etc.

Down to Martins?! Well...I used to see Olympiacos as a team with some good players (the last one, in my opinion, was in 2013/14: Manolas, Holebas, Samaris, Mitroglou, Campbell...), but now when I see third-line players like Podence, Sá, Roderick or Hassan, I feel upset. The same with the coach. You had some good Portuguese coaches and now you had an average one (who else does not put Toure in the 11?!). I know that this crisis is common in Greek football, but that rotating system of Martins does not please me at all. I was happy when Toure was announced and at the time I was thinking that he only needs a month to prepare to assume the first-team place. In my opinion, he is not a player to sat down on the bench or nothing similar.
As for the Greek players, there is anyone good? Don't know that much. You should make an effort and bring back Mitroglou. He is completely lost in Massília.

Yes, there is a chance we can get Mitroglou back - although his wages will be very high. Many players will leave this winter - rumours are Hassan, Vroussai, Fetfa, Nikolaou, Androutsos, Pardo and Toure could all leave. Toure may stay... Personally I would have played him as CM next to Naxto - Bouxalakis is garbage. Martins does over rotate 100%.

We are a couple of levels down on how we used to be - you are right. Took us years to get someone like Cisse to replace Manolas.. I even miss players with the talent Vladamir Weiss had.. I think the best Greek players are Fortounis (although a shadow of what used to be) and Koutris (half Greek, half Brazilian LB who was involved in the infamous stretcher incident years ago). We have signed a tasty winger called Masouras from Panionios:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giorgos_Masouras

He will be ours from 1st Jan. Rumours are we will give Panionios some of the younger Greeks we are off-loading in return as we only paid Panionios 400k for Masouras - who is easily worth 10 times that..

A good spirited game will be Olympiacos vs Milan next week. We need to win by two goals and we are through.

You should sack Martins instead of let Toure leave  . It seems that you have made a good deal with Masouras. You should thrown away that Portuguese garbage and bring back Mitroglou and others (Samaris' contract in Benfica is expiring...)
Your European campaign is, by now, disappointing. It is true that you had a tough group according to Europa League standards, yet I was expecting more (especially in the home game against Betis). Although, I hope that you will win Milan by 2 and pass. With Toure on the 11 and scoring both goals! 

Toure has not looked too good when he has played. However, I would play him cm instead of Bouxa without a doubt.

Yaya is old and probably don't even train like the others.

[Faliro]

So....

It seems the EPO (president is a lifelong PAOK supporter) has decided PAOk will win the championship this year..

OSFP won on Monday... but so did PAOK.. so they are still 6 points ahead.

However, they beat Lamia 0-1 on Monday thanks to ref ignoring the most blatant handball in the box by PAOK in the history of football. The ref saw it.. and decided .. 'meh.. the defender's back was turned - so I will invent a new rule that when your back is turned - it is never a handball' and did not give the penalty for Lamia. Even the PAOK coach admitted it should have been a pen. The ref in question has now been demoted to the football league and not allowed to ref again in the SL.

Here is the handball - by Vieirinha. The PAOK handball was so strong - it diverted the ball miles in the opposite direction:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O3uUO8QNZe8

That video had a good title 

Tell me one thing: why Toure is not playing ate Olympiacos? Is he injured?
For me it is weird because he have so few minutes... and I do not see any better player in Olympiacos than Toure...

It's a good question. All I can say is it is down to Martins not thinking he is good enough.

Martins has rotated the team every week. From day 1 - there was only one player who was guaranteed to be the 11. Podence. All other players rotated. The last 3 weeks Cisse has become a starter at CB and it seems martins likes Vukovic as his partner. Sa is now 100% our starting goalkeeper so he has around 4 starters. Add to that he likes very much Buxalakis in the middle - we have 5 starters. He also likes - most of the time.. Guerrero as striker when Hassan is injured. Everyone else is rotated including Fortounis, Koutris etc.

Down to Martins?! Well...I used to see Olympiacos as a team with some good players (the last one, in my opinion, was in 2013/14: Manolas, Holebas, Samaris, Mitroglou, Campbell...), but now when I see third-line players like Podence, Sá, Roderick or Hassan, I feel upset. The same with the coach. You had some good Portuguese coaches and now you had an average one (who else does not put Toure in the 11?!). I know that this crisis is common in Greek football, but that rotating system of Martins does not please me at all. I was happy when Toure was announced and at the time I was thinking that he only needs a month to prepare to assume the first-team place. In my opinion, he is not a player to sat down on the bench or nothing similar.
As for the Greek players, there is anyone good? Don't know that much. You should make an effort and bring back Mitroglou. He is completely lost in Massília.

Yes, there is a chance we can get Mitroglou back - although his wages will be very high. Many players will leave this winter - rumours are Hassan, Vroussai, Fetfa, Nikolaou, Androutsos, Pardo and Toure could all leave. Toure may stay... Personally I would have played him as CM next to Naxto - Bouxalakis is garbage. Martins does over rotate 100%.

We are a couple of levels down on how we used to be - you are right. Took us years to get someone like Cisse to replace Manolas.. I even miss players with the talent Vladamir Weiss had.. I think the best Greek players are Fortounis (although a shadow of what used to be) and Koutris (half Greek, half Brazilian LB who was involved in the infamous stretcher incident years ago). We have signed a tasty winger called Masouras from Panionios:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giorgos_Masouras

He will be ours from 1st Jan. Rumours are we will give Panionios some of the younger Greeks we are off-loading in return as we only paid Panionios 400k for Masouras - who is easily worth 10 times that..

A good spirited game will be Olympiacos vs Milan next week. We need to win by two goals and we are through.

You should sack Martins instead of let Toure leave  . It seems that you have made a good deal with Masouras. You should thrown away that Portuguese garbage and bring back Mitroglou and others (Samaris' contract in Benfica is expiring...)
Your European campaign is, by now, disappointing. It is true that you had a tough group according to Europa League standards, yet I was expecting more (especially in the home game against Betis). Although, I hope that you will win Milan by 2 and pass. With Toure on the 11 and scoring both goals! 

Toure has not looked too good when he has played. However, I would play him cm instead of Bouxa without a doubt.

Yaya is old and probably don't even train like the others.

He has lost a fair bit of pace. Can see it.

[Josef Vierine]

So....

It seems the EPO (president is a lifelong PAOK supporter) has decided PAOk will win the championship this year..

OSFP won on Monday... but so did PAOK.. so they are still 6 points ahead.

However, they beat Lamia 0-1 on Monday thanks to ref ignoring the most blatant handball in the box by PAOK in the history of football. The ref saw it.. and decided .. 'meh.. the defender's back was turned - so I will invent a new rule that when your back is turned - it is never a handball' and did not give the penalty for Lamia. Even the PAOK coach admitted it should have been a pen. The ref in question has now been demoted to the football league and not allowed to ref again in the SL.

Here is the handball - by Vieirinha. The PAOK handball was so strong - it diverted the ball miles in the opposite direction:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O3uUO8QNZe8

That video had a good title 

Tell me one thing: why Toure is not playing ate Olympiacos? Is he injured?
For me it is weird because he have so few minutes... and I do not see any better player in Olympiacos than Toure...

It's a good question. All I can say is it is down to Martins not thinking he is good enough.

Martins has rotated the team every week. From day 1 - there was only one player who was guaranteed to be the 11. Podence. All other players rotated. The last 3 weeks Cisse has become a starter at CB and it seems martins likes Vukovic as his partner. Sa is now 100% our starting goalkeeper so he has around 4 starters. Add to that he likes very much Buxalakis in the middle - we have 5 starters. He also likes - most of the time.. Guerrero as striker when Hassan is injured. Everyone else is rotated including Fortounis, Koutris etc.

Down to Martins?! Well...I used to see Olympiacos as a team with some good players (the last one, in my opinion, was in 2013/14: Manolas, Holebas, Samaris, Mitroglou, Campbell...), but now when I see third-line players like Podence, Sá, Roderick or Hassan, I feel upset. The same with the coach. You had some good Portuguese coaches and now you had an average one (who else does not put Toure in the 11?!). I know that this crisis is common in Greek football, but that rotating system of Martins does not please me at all. I was happy when Toure was announced and at the time I was thinking that he only needs a month to prepare to assume the first-team place. In my opinion, he is not a player to sat down on the bench or nothing similar.
As for the Greek players, there is anyone good? Don't know that much. You should make an effort and bring back Mitroglou. He is completely lost in Massília.

Yes, there is a chance we can get Mitroglou back - although his wages will be very high. Many players will leave this winter - rumours are Hassan, Vroussai, Fetfa, Nikolaou, Androutsos, Pardo and Toure could all leave. Toure may stay... Personally I would have played him as CM next to Naxto - Bouxalakis is garbage. Martins does over rotate 100%.

We are a couple of levels down on how we used to be - you are right. Took us years to get someone like Cisse to replace Manolas.. I even miss players with the talent Vladamir Weiss had.. I think the best Greek players are Fortounis (although a shadow of what used to be) and Koutris (half Greek, half Brazilian LB who was involved in the infamous stretcher incident years ago). We have signed a tasty winger called Masouras from Panionios:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giorgos_Masouras

He will be ours from 1st Jan. Rumours are we will give Panionios some of the younger Greeks we are off-loading in return as we only paid Panionios 400k for Masouras - who is easily worth 10 times that..

A good spirited game will be Olympiacos vs Milan next week. We need to win by two goals and we are through.

You should sack Martins instead of let Toure leave  . It seems that you have made a good deal with Masouras. You should thrown away that Portuguese garbage and bring back Mitroglou and others (Samaris' contract in Benfica is expiring...)
Your European campaign is, by now, disappointing. It is true that you had a tough group according to Europa League standards, yet I was expecting more (especially in the home game against Betis). Although, I hope that you will win Milan by 2 and pass. With Toure on the 11 and scoring both goals! 

Toure has not looked too good when he has played. However, I would play him cm instead of Bouxa without a doubt.

Yaya is old and probably don't even train like the others.

Old for the Greek league? Nonsense. And he is far better than the others. Even in 70 % I will always put in on the 11. He only needs to play regularly.