Greek Football Season 2023/24

[rpo.castro]

André Horta playing very well at Olympiacos. Happy to see him show his quality. He had to leave due to problems with the clown coach

Carmo too. For once after the Sa-Semedo-Podence era, the agent networking of Marinakis with Portuguese agents benefited Olympiacos - its previous iterations had brought rubbish players like Gil Dias, Joao Carvalho, Oleg Reabciuk, Bruno Gaspar, Pepe, Tiago Silva, Rony Lopes, Bruno Viana.

Carmo was brought by Porto by 20M€ very young, against the will of the coach who told so.

He had a lot of pressure and was used to play in a 3 CB system in Braga. He failed in first matches and people were over him and he was out of the team. He was called 2 months later and wasn't good and never played again that season.
In 2nd season, this, he was called when injuries were heavy, he wasn't playing for a year and, surprise he was bad. His coach just sent him under the bus and was clear that he would never play with Sergio Conceição.

The quality was there (there was an offer from Liverpool, Porto was just higher). Good players, like Musrati (now in Besiktas).
He brought Bruno Viana from you. In first season, on loan, he looked great but he was just rubbish. Even in Brazil he was shit.
Ronny Lopes is now at Braga. Can't tell. He only plays 10 min every once in a while despite not looking worse then the ones playing instead of him, but he looks "heavy" (fat).

[TommyChat]

- Volos owner Beos was only fined 15k for shouting "He's faking it, the monkey" to Kifisia player Tettey. Yeah, not surprised sadly.

This was the fine from the new state committee created under the new law, for which there are voices that it's against UEFA/FIFA regulations for self governance. (the same that handed PAOK the 1-match ban).

His trial in the football court by actual judges is tomorrow

[seso]

This is the first season that they CAN be relegated. But in Greek football you never know, they may be relegated and latter reinstated for next season.

In Super League 2 South Group, Pana B and Oly B will be for sure in the Play-outs. The bottom 4 clubs will be relegated, so there is a good chance that one (or both) of these clubs will go down.

6-11 play in play outs and bottom 3 will be relegated. 12th placed is relegated directly. The original five relegations take into account Almopos Aridea and Ierapetra so 4 teams total will get relegated.

Yes, I saw it, Tommy. What do you think are the chances for Pana B and/or Oly B to be relegated?

[Firnen]

- Volos owner Beos was only fined 15k for shouting "He's faking it, the monkey" to Kifisia player Tettey. Yeah, not surprised sadly.

This was the fine from the new state committee created under the new law, for which there are voices that it's against UEFA/FIFA regulations for self governance. (the same that handed PAOK the 1-match ban).

His trial in the football court by actual judges is tomorrow

You are correct, I was confused.

Today in his apology, Beos claimed that:

- "monkey" is not racist because AEK's owner had called a referee monkey
- Kifisia edited the video via AI
- brought immigrants working at the city hall as witnesses that he isn't racist
- demanded that Tettey apologizes to him

Circus, even for Greek sports courts standards.

[NederPAOKtzis]

To know Greece is the birthplace of the western civilisation as we have it these days and produced the likes of Plato and Aristotelis (Aristotle) to name a few ..........

[emortal]

Going back to my suggestion for a Guy Ritchie movie based on Greek football.

It looks one is imitating the other by now:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M1WzR0eke_8

[emortal]

André Horta playing very well at Olympiacos. Happy to see him show his quality. He had to leave due to problems with the clown coach

Do you know how big the buyout option is?

6 M€.

An article published today mentions that the buyout option is set at €4,5 mln.

This is more reasonable than six, which I'd rule out any Greek team would shell out for this kind of player.

AEK bought the rights to Orbelin Pineda (CM) from Celta Vigo last summer for €6,5 mln.
But he was last season's MVP !

https://www.sdna.gr/podosfairo/1174772_ ... in-mpragka

[rpo.castro]

Do you know how big the buyout option is?

6 M€.

An article published today mentions that the buyout option is set at €4,5 mln.

This is more reasonable than six, which I'd rule out any Greek team would shell out for this kind of player.

AEK bought the rights to Orbelin Pineda (CM) from Celta Vigo last summer for €6,5 mln.
But he was last season's MVP !

https://www.sdna.gr/podosfairo/1174772_ ... in-mpragka

The value was not officially revealed but several portuguese newspaper gave the same number 200k€ for the loan and buyout option of 6M€ which for the player I think its more than reasonable. Too much for a greek club? Maybe, but I thought Musrati would go for a better league and a higher value and was sold on sales...

https://www.abola.pt/futebol/noticias/m ... 2315077261
https://www.record.pt/internacional/det ... do-negocio

[seso]

PAS Lamia 1964 (Lamia FC) is having its best league season ever, finishing at least 6th.

Their previous best finish has been 7th in 2018-19 season (they had also reached the Cup SFs)!

[Firnen]

MD 25


Asteras Tripolis - Κifisia 3-3
Volos - OFI 3-1
Atromitos - Lamia 3-1
Panaitolikos - Olympiacos 1-2
AEK - PAS Giannina 4-2
Panserraikos - PAOK 0-2
Panathinaikos - Aris 2-0

Standings:

AEK..................15-7-1.....58
PAOK................18-3-4......57
Panathinaikos.....17-4-4......55
Olympiacos........17-3-5.....53 (-1 point)
Aris.................12-5-8......41
Lamia...............9-7-9......34
-----------------------------------------
Asteras Tripolis....9-4-12....31
Atromitos..........6-9-10.....27
OFI..................5-9-11.....24
Panserraikos.......5-9-11....24
Volos................4-8-13....20
Panaitolikos........4-7-14....19
Kifisia...............3-9-13....18
PAS Giannina.......3-8-14....17


- AEK had unexpected trouble against PAS at home, with the bottom team of the league going to half time leading 1-2 after taking advantage of both their chances in the end of the 1st half. AEK pressed a lot and turned the match around from set pieces, remaining on top of the standings. AEK's 4th goal was scored with the hand but the VAR had technical difficulties according to the ref's report.
- PAOK had less trouble against Panserraikos, took the lead at the added time of the 1st half with a goal from Kostantelias and sealed the win in the final minutes with an own goal. Panserraikos ended the match with 2 red cards and didn't pose much of a threat in general.
- Olympiacos had a carbon copy match with the one against Asteras: 1-0 down to a minnow in the 1st half with a heavily rotated lineup, changes from Mendilibar at half-time, pressure without many chances in the 2nd half but finding 2 goals to win the match: this time an own goal from a deflected cross and another goal by El Kaabi (which could have also counted as an own goal) after stealing the ball from the last defender of the home team. Panaitolikos almost stole a point in 94' with a direct free kick but the GK of Olympiacos saved it. Mendilibar has played with fire (rotation) twice and emerges unscathed so far, keeping his 100% win record.
- Panathinaikos bounced back from the 2 draws and beat a poor Aris at home. If the Greens were more careful finishers, the 1-0 of the 1st half could have easily been 3-0 or 4-0. Aris showed up only momentarily with a chance at 47', until a converted penalty doubled the lead for Panathinaikos. Aris tried to react afterwards with a couple of good-ish chances but nothing changed and Panathinaikos took the win.
- Lamia enter the play-offs for the 1st time after Asteras commits suicide against Kifisia. The Tripoli team was dominant in the 1st half but conceded 2 goals in the only shots Kifisia had. Nevertheless they turned it around twice to lead 3-2, but Kifisia (and Lamia) had the last laugh. Since the Greek SuperLeague has 6-team Play-Offs, no minnow has made it to 6th more than once: PAS, OFI, Asteras, Volos and now Lamia. Lamia in the play-offs is also another behind the scenes win for AEK.
- Volos got a win against OFI and climbed to 11th, the differences between the bottom 4 are really small and Panserraikos and OFI are also not very comfortable, both teams being in a downwards spiral in the 2nd half of the season. As usually, the play-out teams who are in grave danger will go on winning streaks during the play outs against the unmotivated teams, and the owners and their connections play as much of a role as the players.

[Firnen]

Olympiacos' appeal was rejected, thus Panathinaikos gets awarded the derby 3-0 and Olympiacos gets deducted 1 point and 2 matches without fans (the 2nd is against AEK). Olympiacos will appeal to CAS, but this will take months so the current Standings should be considered permanent for clarity.

CAS gave back to Olympiacos the 1 deducted point, while retaining the decision to award the match to Panathinaikos.

New standings:

AEK..................15-7-1.....58
PAOK................18-3-4......57
Panathinaikos.....17-4-4......55
Olympiacos........17-3-5.....54
Aris.................12-5-8......41
Lamia...............9-7-9......34
-----------------------------------------
Asteras Tripolis....9-4-12....31
Atromitos..........6-9-10.....27
OFI..................5-9-11.....24
Panserraikos.......5-9-11....24
Volos................4-8-13....20
Panaitolikos........4-7-14....19
Kifisia...............3-9-13....18
PAS Giannina.......3-8-14....17

[emortal]

CAS gave back to Olympiacos the 1 deducted point, while retaining the decision to award the match to Panathinaikos.

Apparently the sports judges were not convinced by Olympiakos arguments that:
- the fire cracker landed far from the player
- the Panathinaikos player was pretending to have suffered an injury
- even if he were injured, he was a right back and wouldn't be subbed in anyway

[Firnen]

MD 26


Aris - AEK 3-3
Lamia - PAOK 0-2
OFI - Panathinaikos 2-2
Olympiacos - Volos 3-0
Panserraikos - Asteras Tripolis 2-1
PAS Giannina - Atromitos 1-1
Κifisia -Panaitolikos 2-2


Final Regular Season Standings:

PAOK................19-3-4......60
AEK..................15-8-1......59
Olympiacos........18-3-5......57
Panathinaikos.....17-5-4......56
Aris.................12-6-8......42
Lamia...............9-7-10.....34
-----------------------------------------
Asteras Tripolis....9-4-13....31
Atromitos..........6-10-10....28
Panserraikos.......6-9-11....27
OFI................5-10-11.....25
Panaitolikos........4-8-14....20
Volos................4-8-14....20
Kifisia..............3-10-13....19
PAS Giannina.......3-9-14....18


- Shock for AEK who drops from the top in the last match! They were facing Aris with the best circumstances possible: Aris heavily rotated focusing on the Cup SF on Wednesday, with no goals remaining in the league. AEK bombarded Aris with chances but needed a penalty to score (which Aris heavily protests). AEK remained dominant but failed to score again and Aris out of nowhere struck twice, in the end of the 1st half and the start of the 2nd. A "lucky" injury of Ansarifard had forced Mantzios to bring in starter CF Loren Moron which improved Aris' attack. AEK pushed the home team back to their box, battered them with chances, turned the match around, failed to score a 4th, and in the last minutes they gave space to Aris. And they paid it with for a penalty given by Vida in the 95th minute, which gave Aris the point. Terrible refereeing by Tasos Sidiropoulos (the guy who pushed Ajax against Bodo by the way) at every sense - Aris and AEK had agreed on a Greek referee, so they got their wish I guess. AEK drops from the top and suddenly they have much more pressure entering the play-offs.
- On top goes PAOK, who dominated Lamia, created a lot of chances against the parked bus of Vokolos and broke through with Taison at the 70th minute, with an added time goal being the cherry on top and PAOK entering the play offs as league leaders and their morale sky high ahead of the European matches.
- Olympiacos is another team whose morale is sky high. Conitnuing the craziest switch in results, psychology and momentum perhaps in the club's history, the red-and-whites ran over Volos to get their 7th consecutive win in all competitions and 6/6 for coach Mendilibar. The match begame very easy for Olympiacos when a Volos player tried a karate move on Masouras and got expelled in the 5th minute, and from there Olympiacos created chances whenever they wanted, scored 3 goals and missed 3-4 more. With the point return from CAS and their win streak, Olympiacos is 3 points from the top (down from 9 only 5 MDs ago) and are entering the clash with Maccabi and the play-offs at full speed.
- Panathinaikos drops to 4th, something that had been a long time coming. OFI has been one of the minnow to frequently trouble the Greens and did it again at home today. Dellas' team opened the score after entering the match stronger, with Panathinaikos equalizing in their 1st chance of the match. From there they missed a lot of chances to take the lead, including a post, and saw OFI score again from a penalty Cerin stupidly gave. A quick equalizer by Sporar gave them hopes but the same player wasted the match winning chance and Panathinaikos is now more than 3 points from the top and down to 4th.
- The minnow clash ended in a draw, PAS only managed a point against Atromitos, and the bottom 4 will fight tooth and nail in the play-outs, with OFI not feeling 100% safe yet. Asteras and Atromitos might choose who to help, while Panserraikos is comfortable enough too.

Now let's see the mini-Standings taking into account matches between the top 6 who will face each other in the play-offs:

AEK..............6-4-0...22
PAOK............4-3-3...15
Panathinaikos..4-3-3...15
Olympiacos.....4-1-5...13
Aris..............2-3-5...9
Lamia............2-2-6...8

AEK at 1st glance seems to have a big advantage: they haven't yet lost a derby. But their 2nd round derbies are 3 draws, 1 scandalous win and the win against Lamia. The other 3 contedeners are close, also taking into account that Panathinaikos has an awarded win and Olympiacos an awarded loss (in the same match). Aris and Lamia caused damage during the season but it remains to be seen how motivated they will be now that they have nothing to play for.

[seso]

Number of times each club was on first position after each of the 26 MDs:
PAOK 10
AEK 3
Olympiacos 6
Panathinaikos 7

[nogomet]

How does the schedule for the play-off work? Is it a draw or is it played according to a pre-determined fixture list based on regular season rankings?