PAO SL GAMES DISCUSSION

[Reaper]

Another hardcore defeat at home, this time to AEL. What is the saddest part? Donis's sudden abandonment of Perea who was badly needed in this game.

[Kojak]

Whats even sadder is the geniuses who locked Bech into a 3 year contract.....must be the 5th injury hes had with 20 min of football.

[Reaper]

So close to beating PAOK in the Toumba, just Kourbelis's stupid foul in the last minute of extra time giving away the pen.

[Amorgos]

I thought they were gona do it and then Kourbelis comes along with a shoulder charge

[Reaper]

I thought they were gona do it and then Kourbelis comes along with a shoulder charge

Could not believe it. So immature.

[DaPipa]

Anyone see this game? I heard PAO was kinda screwed by the ref in this match.

[Kojak]

Anyone see this game? I heard PAO was kinda screwed by the ref in this match.

Leaves a bitter taste but too many variables to blame just the ref for the draw.

• Yes the ref allowed extra time to extend beyond the 5 minutes, and then Kourbelis conceded a penalty in that 1 minute.
• Yes there was a foul on Perea before the penalty occured that could have stopped PAOK ever getting the box to get a penalty.

However;

• Many games have extra time going beyond the allowed extra time minutes, pay attention to every match, they say 3 min, they play 3 min 45 sec, etc etc
• The penalty was a penalty.
• We had ample opportunity to close the game out.

[Don Giovanni]

The referee is free to interpret how extra time should be played. If the 4th official puts 5 minutes extra on the clock, the referee can interpret it as 5:59 left to play. Some may interpret it as 5 minutes on the dot. The referee has freedom here. Given the circumstance with the penalty right at the end, it's understandable the clock ran up 11 minutes. There was a famous incident at the 1978 World Cup where the referee blew the whistle right on the dot as a corner kick was midair. Zico scored on the play, but the goal didn't count.

The referee was Clive Thomas. At that time, he was arguably considered the world's best referee (mainly because he was renown in Britain for being tough with players). This was a bad mistake and it's all that he's remembered for now.

The blame is squarely on the captain. How does Kourbelis make a challenge like that in the box? I like Kourbelis, he's a physically imposing midfielder and plays with real energy and desire, but he still has much to learn. By comparison, I saw Sokratis at Arsenal facing a similar threat in the box against Wolves, but he didn't go in strong, he went in soft. Sometime you don't need to win the ball or foul the player, you just need to put enough pressure on them so they can't score, to put them off balance a little. Leno made an easy save at the end because Sokratis did just enough to put Jota off. Sokratis has the experience to grasp this and the concentration to pull it off. Kourbelis is still young and often clumsy. He has to smarten up inside the penalty area. He did this against Finland too. He has to stop focusing on winning the ball or the challenge, and instead focus on limiting the opponent and danger. Inside the area, he's too gung ho. He needs more awareness, concentration when he goes for the ball and be smart about attacking the ball or the player.

I hope Van't Schip pulls him by his ear and that Donis doesn't make him forget this mistake. He did this against Finland. He does this again this season, he should be dropped by club and country until he straightens this aspect of his game.

[DaPipa]

The referee was Clive Thomas. At that time, he was arguably considered the world's best referee (mainly because he was renown in Britain for being tough with players). This was a bad mistake and it's all that he's remembered for now.

Jeez, glad I don't have millions of people from around the world watching me at work and all...poor bastard. Its a thankless profession really, but what a f-up right there.

[Reaper]

Pure fight from PAO.

PAO 3
AEK 2

Perea a beast.

[Kojak]

Perea a beast.

He sure is.

As excited as I am to see him become a starting regular, i think for his first season we should continue to utilise him as a sub just after half time when the opposition defense is gassed. He currently has no off switch in order to manage is energy, which will need to come with time if he is to complete 70-90min games.

[JVC]

Lets see if this win will boost some kind of turnaround, for the rest of the season.

[Don Giovanni]

PAO were a little lucky the game didn't run away from them early on. Nevertheless, it's a big win. PAO this season have shown they can hang in there with the league's best teams. And here I was all but ready to write their obituary.

[Val]

Derbies are more opportunistic since the opposition takes the game to us. There's space to exploit unlike the games against the deadbeats that play 11 behind the ball and our players aren't good enough to operate in those tight spaces. I hope we could play derbies every week.

A big reason why the officiating has been against us is because the bigger sides (mostly paok) don't want pao in the top 6. Apart from the weight of the shirt, evidently we're good value and pose problems. Also we can't be bought (at least i think). It's better for paok to have xanthi and larissa in the top 6. Paok have loaned players to both. Mind you we got screwed by the officials in our games against both sides.

[Pao4ever]

Emmanouilidis has scored 2 goals in his last 2 games in limited minutes including one against the gavroi but he wasn’t good enough to get minutes on this team because they decided to sign Bech and Mollo. Then they wonder why they don’t have money. It’s these type of decisions that frustrate me the most about the management.