2023/2024 Conference League Group G: Frankfurt - PAOK - HJK - Aberdeen

[Dragonite]

[Dragonite]

Frankfurt




Road to Conference League:
Conference League Playoff: Levski Sofia:bigcheck:


PAOK




Road to Conference League:
Conference League QR2: Beitar Jerusalem
Conference League QR3: Hajduk Split
Conference League Playoff: Hearts


HJK




Road to Conference League:
CL QR1: Larne
CL QR2: Molde
EL QR3: Qarabag
Conference League Playoff: Farul Constanta


Aberdeen




Road to Conference League:
EL Playoff: Häcken



Prediction:
1. Frankfurt
2. PAOK
3. HJK
4. Aberdeen

[Jua Ferreira]

Prediction

Frankfurt
Paok
Aberdeen
Hjk

[Firnen]

Prediction

1. Eintracht Frankfurt
2. PAOK
3. Helsinki
4. Aberdeen

[bugylibicska]

1.PAOK
2.Eintracht Frankfurt
3.Aberdeen
4.HJK Helsinki

[Lubomir25]

1. Frankfurt
2. Aberdeen
3. PAOK
4. Helsinki

[betrayor]

1. Frankfurt
2. Aberdeen
3. PAOK
4. Helsinki

Is Αberdeen that much better than hearts?
I dont know much about scotish teams othen than Rangers and Celtic.

[Lubomir25]

1. Frankfurt
2. Aberdeen
3. PAOK
4. Helsinki

Is Αberdeen that much better than hearts?
I dont know much about scotish teams othen than Rangers and Celtic.

They are slightly better imo and I wasn't impressed by PAOK at Tyncastle. Hearts let themselves down massively.

Aberdeen are capable of winning home and away against Helsinki and if they play to their best I believe they can beat PAOK in the home game leaving it in the balance. I've decided to be optimistic in my predictions

[Firnen]

1. Frankfurt
2. Aberdeen
3. PAOK
4. Helsinki

Is Αberdeen that much better than hearts?
I dont know much about scotish teams othen than Rangers and Celtic.

They are not.
But Lubomir also believed Hearts would beat PAOK
I don't blame him, he just supports his country's clubs and tries to be optimistic about them.

[Lubomir25]

1. Frankfurt
2. Aberdeen
3. PAOK
4. Helsinki

Is Αberdeen that much better than hearts?
I dont know much about scotish teams othen than Rangers and Celtic.

They are not.
But Lubomir also believed Hearts would beat PAOK
I don't blame him, he just supports his country's clubs and tries to be optimistic about them.

I felt Hearts lost it when they didn't win the home tie. I think PAOK were better than Hearts but their inexperienced and poor manager appointment made the gap seem bigger than it was

[emortal]

I had the following dialogue with the Scottish fellas after the first leg of the Hearts-PAOK tie.

Hearts are still in their tie but I fear they needed a win. Hopefully they can turn it around and Scotland can celebrate 4 teams in the groups

I catched a bit of the second half: Hearts scored a great goal, offside, then PAOK scored. It's the kind of luck needed in these kind of games, for Hearts it wasn't meant to be.

Luck? Seriously?

Anyone who watched more than 10' of the game would note the difference in quality between the two teams.
There's no comparison.

Not to mention that PAOK was playing without the main LB (Baba), without the main CF (Samata - injured) and only two midfielders (Ozdoev wasn't granted a visa by the UK ) !

Return leg was a 4-0 that could've been 6-0.

And PAOK will be stronger in autumn, out of the players missing in Tyncastle only Baba/Ozdoev played in Toumba.

Midfield will be massively upgraded (Meite/Marcos Antonio instead of Tsingaras/Schwab).
And frontline as well (Samatta/Despodov incoming).

PAOK played 17 y.o. Tzimas FFS, who was utilized a grand total of 20' last year by Lucescu ...

[Club-Mate]

I had the following dialogue with the Scottish fellas after the first leg of the Hearts-PAOK tie.

I catched a bit of the second half: Hearts scored a great goal, offside, then PAOK scored. It's the kind of luck needed in these kind of games, for Hearts it wasn't meant to be.

Luck? Seriously?

Anyone who watched more than 10' of the game would note the difference in quality between the two teams.
There's no comparison.

Not to mention that PAOK was playing without the main LB (Baba), without the main CF (Samata - injured) and only two midfielders (Ozdoev wasn't granted a visa by the UK ) !

Return leg was a 4-0 that could've been 6-0.

And PAOK will be stronger in autumn, out of the players missing in Tyncastle only Baba/Ozdoev played in Toumba.

Midfield will be massively upgraded (Meite/Marcos Antonio instead of Tsingaras/Schwab).
And frontline as well (Samatta/Despodov incoming).

PAOK played 17 y.o. Tzimas FFS, who was utilized a grand total of 20' last year by Lucescu ...

I doubt if all the new replacements will lead to the desired effect. Greek and Turkish clubs just focus on individual quality (and often enough on players in their last period of career which causes the eventual problem that they do not give their last pensum anymore but are very amuzed about the paycheck granted to them).
It looks like special teamwork along with appropriate playstyle is not so important than rather to satisfy their supporters or medias. But even without new signings PAOK should go through in this groop without bigger problems.

[emortal]

I doubt if all the new replacements will lead to the desired effect. Greek and Turkish clubs just focus on individual quality (and often enough on players in their last period of career which causes the eventual problem that they do not give their last pensum anymore but are very amuzed about the paycheck granted to them).
It looks like special teamwork along with appropriate playstyle is not so important than rather to satisfy their supporters or medias. But even without new signings PAOK should go through in this groop without bigger problems.

I agree with the general remark, but PAOK is not any Greek club.

While this is spot on for Panathinaikos (what didn't we see written when they signed Bernard/Sporar last year ...) and Olympiakos (at least last year's version with Marcelo), I wouldn't apply this to PAOK or AEK.

The latter clubs have "given the keys" to their respective coaches (Lucescu's fifth season, Almeida's second) who have imbued their playstyle on the teams.

As far as PAOK is concerned, Lucescu does not care about age.
Only about current quality and fit with the team.

PAOK lined up against Hearts with 4 players under the age of 24, 3 of which homegrown !
Koulierakis (CB,19), Konstantelias (OM/LW,20), Kotarski (GK,23) and Tsingaras (DM,23)

And subbed in Vrakas (RW,22) and Tzimas (CF, 17 !!!)

That said only a madman would go with an entire team composed of homegrown players and unproven talents for an entire season in 3 competitions (45+ games).

Finally, I disagree that we got players in "their last period of career".

Yes, they're not spring-chickens anymore, but they're all 30 and under:
Troost-Ekong (CB,29) replaces Ingason (CB,29)
Ozdoev (CM,30), Meïté (CM,29) and Marcos Antonio (CM,23) replace Kurtic (CM,34), Douglas (CM,26) and Dantas (CM,22)
Samatta (CF,30) replaces Oliveira (CF,31)
Despodov (RW/LW, 26) replaces Biseswar (OM/LW,35) and Narey (RW/LW, 29)
Baba (LB, 29)

[Club-Mate]

I doubt if all the new replacements will lead to the desired effect. Greek and Turkish clubs just focus on individual quality (and often enough on players in their last period of career which causes the eventual problem that they do not give their last pensum anymore but are very amuzed about the paycheck granted to them).
It looks like special teamwork along with appropriate playstyle is not so important than rather to satisfy their supporters or medias. But even without new signings PAOK should go through in this groop without bigger problems.

I agree with the general remark, but PAOK is not any Greek club.

While this is spot on for Panathinaikos (what didn't we see written when they signed Bernard/Sporar last year ...) and Olympiakos (at least last year's version with Marcelo), I wouldn't apply this to PAOK or AEK.

The latter clubs have "given the keys" to their respective coaches (Lucescu's fifth season, Almeida's second) who have imbued their playstyle on the teams.

As far as PAOK is concerned, Lucescu does not care about age.
Only about current quality and fit with the team.

PAOK lined up against Hearts with 4 players under the age of 24, 3 of which homegrown !
Koulierakis (CB,19), Konstantelias (OM/LW,20), Kotarski (GK,23) and Tsingaras (DM,23)

And subbed in Vrakas (RW,22) and Tzimas (CF, 17 !!!)

That said only a madman would go with an entire team composed of homegrown players and unproven talents for an entire season in 3 competitions (45+ games).

Finally, I disagree that we got players in "their last period of career".

Yes, they're not spring-chickens anymore, but they're all 30 and under:
Troost-Ekong (CB,29) replaces Ingason (CB,29)
Ozdoev (CM,30), Meïté (CM,29) and Marcos Antonio (CM,23) replace Kurtic (CM,34), Douglas (CM,26) and Dantas (CM,22)
Samatta (CF,30) replaces Oliveira (CF,31)
Despodov (RW/LW, 26) replaces Biseswar (OM/LW,35) and Narey (RW/LW, 29)
Baba (LB, 29)

yes sorry I have generalized it too much and I put all clubs in one pot. However thanks for these infos, ones never stop learning!

[dons18]

Aberdeen can't even win a league game in Scotland this season so don't see them finishing 2nd. 3rd would be realistic if playing well.