PAOK IN AMERICA

What looked like an endless stalemate turned out to be a fantastic night for PAOK. After a few weeks of rotating starting lineups, Lucescu sent out a very strong 11 players tonight, minus Samatta. Here is what that looked like: ST: Mbwana Samatta LW: Taison CAM: Giannis Konstantelias RW: Andrija Zivkovic CDM: Meite CDM: Magomed Ozdoyev LB: Baba Rahman CB: Konstantinos Koulierakis CB: Tomasz Kędziora RB: Jonny Otto GK: Dominik Kotarski PAOK had almost all of the chances in the first half, barring a few Lamia counterattacks that were always unlikely to succeed, but the moment of the first half came in the 24’ minute. Baba Rahman, who had an excellent match, played a one-two with Konstantelias, which freed Rahman to put a ball in the six yard box. Rahman squared in Samatta better than anyone has ever been squared in their lives. Samatta, who was about two meters from the wide open net, directly in the center of the goal, hit the ball sideways, which eventually tumbled back in the arms of ...

PAOK sent out a brand new lineup today against Panserraikos today that looked like: ST: Mbwana Samatta LW: Giannis Konstantelias CAM: Thomas Murg RW: Kiril Despodov CDM: Stefan Schwab CDM: Magomed Ozdoyev LB: Jonny Otto CB: Ivan Nasberg CB: Tomasz Kędziora RB: Vieirinha GK: Živko Živković Dealing with a ton of fatigue and multiple injuries, PAOK have been forced to look deep into the bench for options. Ivan Nasberg had only made five total appearances in the league this year, but was forced into action today in place of both Koulierakis and Michailidis. Vieirinha, who hadn’t seen any minutes since January 7th, was forced to start and give 73 minutes today. Zivko Zivkovic, who hadn’t played a single league match all season up until this past Sunday, was again made to start, as Kotarski continues to deal with a fever.  Luckily for Lucescu, he was coming up against a rather weak Panserraikos side. With the Round of 16 Conference League match against Dinamo Zagreb inching closer, it’s ...