Panathinaikos have almost completed the signing of Demetris Salpiggides from PAOK. The young forward will cost us 2 million euro plus a couple of players (Torghele and Tsiggas).

The problem now is who will be playing and who isn't? Romero, Papadopoulos (captain) and Victor are all expected to form PAO's frontline in a 4-3-3, so where does the new guy fit? Even if they switch to 4-4-2 it's still gonna be a problem.

I guess i'll let the coach worry about that. It's just that fans are worried that we're only buying Salpiggides to sell more season tickets (the transfer is top news in all sports newspapers and websites here in Greece) when the real problem in the team is the fullback situation (most people think we need a rightback i say we need both a RB and a LB).

Not that Salpiggides is a bad player but last year he scored 17 goals in an average team and some of those were penalties. So his numbers are not that impressive i'd say.

But let's wait and see...


EDIT: so the final deal was 1.8 mil euro to PAOK + 3 players (Torghele, Tsiggas and Charalambides). I'm sorry to see Charalambides leave PAO (even if it's only a loan) but at least this way he'll get to play and maybe in 1-2 years return to us with more experience.

Isnt Papadopoulos quite young to be your captain?

Well, Panathinaikos is a relatively new team. We got rid of most of our older players (Basinas, Karagounis, Nikopolidis, Kwnstantinou etc) after the president wanted to give the team a fresh start 2-3 years ago. The only player from the old guard still with us is Goumas and he was the captain last year but this season he won't be a starter. Then the captain was Gonzalez but he'll be out for the next 6 months. So, Papadopoulos, who has been with us since the remodelling and is now 25 was voted as captain.

I think he's the best choice, if you take a look at our roster.

AEK land Mallorca striker Delibasic

AEK Athens have signed Real Mallorca striker Andrija Delibasic for the coming season.

Delibasic will join AEK with Mallorca negotiating a buy-back option for the end of the season.

He played the whole game today but AEK only managed a goalless draw against PAOK at home.

Olympiakos managed to come from behind against Xanthi with two long distance strikes by Rivaldo (a free kick and a winner after 85 mins).

PAO is playing Egaleo tomorrow. Hopefully we can get a clean win and start the league on top.

There doesn't seem to be too much interest in this thread, Moravcik.

Anyhoo, the first weekend of Greek Super League football is over and Panathinaikos and Olympiacos got their first 3 points. AEK, on the other hand, only managed a goalless draw at home against PAOK.

Panathinaikos destroyed Egaleo 1-4 with a magnificent hat-trick by our new signing, Demitris Salpiggidis. The guy only had a couple of training sessions with the rest of the team but it didn't affect him at all! He also hit the post once and had a couple more good chances. Papadopoulos grabbed the other goal. The opponents did score a consolation goal but they managed to miss a penalty a few minutes earlier. To be fair to them, they didn't play badly but PAO was just superior in every way and got the wanted result. Our new signings (minus Victor Sanchez who didn't play) seemed to have fun and apart from a careless mistake by Andonson that almost led to an own-goal they had a relatively stress-free debut in the Greek league.

Olympiacos had a very hard time against Xanthi and only managed a narrow 2-1 win, with Rivaldo scoring the winner 4 minutes before the final whistle. He also scored the first goal with one of his trademark free kicks. The man is a star, there's no denying it. Even though his team was clearly better than the opposition they just couldn't finish their chances. It really looked like they weren't going to make it, but Rivaldo thought otherwise. Of course, his teammate Anatolakis clearly fouled an opponent (they both jumped for the ball and he elbowed him in the chest) right before the ball ended in Rivaldo's feet, but that doesn't take anything away from the great Brazilian's achievement.

The only teams that managed to win this weekend were PAO (the only team to win away), Olympiacos and Kerkyra. The other 5 games ended in draws.

PAO has a manageable schedule in the next 4 games and i'm hoping they manage to take full advantage of that before having to play against Olympiacos and AEK.


Salpiggidis celebrating his hat-trick in his debut with PAO


Rivaldo scoring the winner against Xanthi

Bochum sign Greek star

Bundesliga outfit Bochum have signed Greek international Theofanis Gekas on loan from Panathinaikos.

The 26-year-old striker, who was a member of Greece's successful Euro 2004 squad, has agreed a one-year loan deal at the Ruhr Valley club.

Bochum will have the option of a three-year extension if Gekas impresses in his first season in Germany.

"Theofanis Gekas is exactly the sort of player we've been looking for," said Bochum general manager Stefan Kuntz.

"He is quick, but is also able to put himself about.

"In addition, he is a very flexible player - he plays centre forward for his club, but is usually on the right wing or just behind the strikers for his country.

"He's always been good for a goal wherever he plays."

Bochum are currently 16th in the Bundesliga table after losing both of their games this season.

Gekas basically has very few skills. He is an OK striker but not a great one (even for the Greek league). And he's not that flexible. He has played on the right wing but unsuccessfully. He plays at his best when he is the CF.

I wouldn't mind having him as a sub at PAO, but he didn't want that so good luck to him in the bundesliga. He's chosen (or was chosen by) a very crap team so he'd better impress a few people real soon so he can move to a better team next year.

Yesterday was a very bad day for PAO. They lost their first match in front of a home crowd (about 45,000 people), against Iwnikos (0-2). A very poor performance from the PAO players and the fans are quite upset.

It's a new team though and they need time to learn each other's game and adjust to the new league. More than half the starting players are new signings.

That first result (1-4) against Egaleo was very misleading and got PAO fans' hopes way up, especially since our star signing (Salpiggidis) scored a hat-trick.

Olympiacos is playing tonight and if they win they'll be top of the league.

Iwnikos? omg 2-0!!!

And Olympiacos won their match last night, with a hat-trick by young Uruguayan Castillo (this guy is super talented and with a bit of discipline he could make a name in Europe), and are now top of the league.

AEK only managed a draw again, so at least we're doing better than them at the moment.

PAOK reject Reds offer


PAOK Salonika have confirmed that they rejected a late bid from Liverpool for Lazaros Christodoulopoulos.

The Greek starlet trained with The Reds during pre-season and boss Rafa Benitez was sufficiently impressed to try and snap him up on a permanent deal.

However, the two clubs had contrasting valuations for the player, with PAOK slapping a €1 million (£700,000) price tag on his head.

Liverpool were not prepared to pay that much up front, but PAOK turned down their interesting deadline day offer.

"PAOK have announced that they are rejecting the new and final offer from Liverpool regarding the transfer of Lazaros Christodoulopoulos," read a statement on the Greek club's official website.

"They stand by the claims known since August 23, which is €1 million.

"Liverpool's final offer, made yesterday, was €300,000 plus an extra €100,000 for every ten games he played for Liverpool."

Christodoulopoulos, however, has reportedly refused to return to PAOK and will make an appeal to Uefa.

He is believed to be demanding a release from his PAOK contract so that he is free to move to Anfield.

Olympiacos beat PAOK quite easily with goals by Constantinou and Castillo.
PAO needed a penalty kick after 82 minutes to beat Xanthi. Salpiggidis won the penalty and Papadopoulos converted it.
AEK only managed a 1-1 draw (Paoutaso scored for them). It's their 3rd draw in as many games.

Sounds like its been quite a competitve start.

I'd say it's more of a bad start for PAO and especially AEK and a decent one for Olympiacos.

Blues check on Greek star

Chelsea are reported to be tracking Olympiakos ace Nery Alberto Castillo.

The Premiership champions are set to watch Castillo in action next week in the UEFA Champions League.

A Chelsea scout is set to take in Olympiakos' clash with Valencia on Tuesday with reports emanating from Greece suggesting Castillo is the focus of Chelsea's interest in the game.

The Blues are thought to have sent a representative to watch Olympiakos earlier this season and the Uruguayan caught their eye.

Castillo has enjoyed a fine start to the season for Olympiakos, netting four goals in three games and Chelsea are keen to keep tabs on the youngster.

He is highly-regarded at Olympiakos and is tipped for a big future in the game.

Chelsea are expected to monitor Castillo this year and they could make a move for him if he continues to impress.

There was a Chelsea scout in the Olympiacos - PAOK game too. Castillo scored in both, so i assume the scout left happy.

I'm quite impressed with Castillo, mainly in that he has really changed this year. Up to last year he was always accused of being immature and stupid. Every time he was challenged he reacted badly, he had fights with his teammates ets. This year he has been a model player and he has vastly improved on the pitch too.

I don't think Olympiacos will let him go easily.

So, since the last time i posted here PAO have sacked their coach (Backe) and were on the search for a replacement. Hector Couper, Dusan Bajevic and Radomir Antic were the three main candidates, but in the end Spanish coach Victor Munoz (former coach of Zaragoza and Villareal) was the chosen one.

PAO are playing really badly right now. IMO, the first 3 coaches (Couper, Bajevic and Antic) were better choices, but i guess i should wait and see what this guy can do.

Anyone from Spain have an opinion on Munoz?

Tomorrow is the day of the big derby: Panathinaikos vs Olympiakos.

We need to beat them if we want to have any chance of becoming champions this year. A draw wouldn't be disastrous, but it would do wonders for this newly-assembled team if they managed to beat our bitter rivals in front of 55,000 supporters.

Unfortunately, a very important player will be missing from our team: Andreas Ivanschitz, the Austrian. Without him in the team we'll have to play more conservatively, but i hope we can pull it off.

Victor Sanchez was immense tonight and helped us beat our bitter rivals, even if it was just 1-0 with an own goal! We're gaining ground now!

Greece has a professional league

Vardar is a professional club , but Panathinaikos , AEK , Olympiakos and others .... . I dont thik so

I didn't even know Vardar was a team from Skopje, i had to look it up.

Vardar was a big club but now is not . by the way Darko Pancev comes from Vardar and i think you know him very well , becouse of the match Red Star : Panatinaikos ( 1990 or 1991 ) he scored 2 goals . When he was going to the match, on macedonian - greek border on the greek side the greek autorities didn't want to let him trough becouse he was macedonian . but at the match he showed the greeks HOW TO PLAY REAL FOOTBALL and at the final of champion league he scored a goal and made Red Star europian champion ( the biggest football succed in yougoslavia was made by Darko Pancev )