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The Gods Are Watching


Carambau
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THE GODS ARE WATCHING

 

Not much talk. Joe Baxter goes to Greece!

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"I loved the days when Predrag Djordjevic was playing for Olympiakos. Especially when playing European ties, it was mostly him who was able to turn games around. And of course the cauldron Karaiskakis StadiumThe unbelievable fans and their red fires in the stands... great days. Now its the time to lead them back to those good times."

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THE GODS ARE WATCHING

 

THE SQUAD

Goalkeepers

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We have a very talented young goalkeeper in Kostas Tzolakis. (Yes, his Morale is Good!). But our number one for the season will be Jose Sa.

 

Defenders

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Sokratis Papadopoulos and Semedo will lead from the back. 

 

Midfielders

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Despite his age, Valbuena still has a lot to give on the wings. Fortounis is our playmaker.

 

Attackers

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New signing "Lord" Bendtner will be second choice  behind 33 year old Youssef El Arabi.

 

All in all, we got some really OLD people in the squad. And they mostly have key positions. So I guess, this year will be the last for most of them and we will move into a transition phase after this season to bring younger people here.

 

PRE-SEASON

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Not a very good pre-season, but we have hope.

 

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12 hours ago, Sonic Youth said:

Banishments to Constantinople (Valbuena) and an exotic new signing (Bendtner), and not very friendly! The Gods are watching and waiting.

They indeed are... time for the season to begin :)

4 hours ago, karanhsingh said:

Mady Camara is absolutely top class from my experience. Was literally the best midfielder in Ligue 1 for me. 

Yeah, and i am glad we got him! He is still 23 only, hope we can hold on to him :) 

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THE GODS ARE WATCHING

 

SEPTEMBER 2020

 

RESULTS

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A nice away win on day one of the Super League but then the results kept stalling in 3 draws in a row. One of those draws was the away draw at Slavia in Prague though, which helped us a lot on our way to making it to the group stage of the UEFA Champions LeagueYoussef El Arabi established himself as our striker number one. Bendtner will have to be patient.

 

SUPER LEAGUE

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A pretty mediocre start to the campaign but at least we have not lost a game yet.

 

UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE

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This is our group. The best we can hope for is 3rd place.

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THE GODS ARE WATCHING

 

OCTOBER 2020

 

RESULTS

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Our mediocre league form continued into the beginning of october, but then we managed a well-deserved draw at home against big guns Sevilla and from then on it got better. Two wins in the Super League followed. We still lost our home game against Manchester United but that was expected and closer than the result shows. 

 

SUPER LEAGUE

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It is very early in the season anyway.

 

UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE

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3rd place. Sevilla do not look that strong at all as they also drew against Lokomotiv.

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THE GODS ARE WATCHING

 

NOVEMBER 2020

 

RESULTS

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Very bad start. But then we somehow picked us up and closed it with two 4-0 wins. The win against Lokomotiv was especially important as they are our direct rivals for 3rd place in the group.

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Those two tweets sum up our month perfectly.

 

SUPER LEAGUE

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The table doesnt look better after 10 match days.

 

UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE

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2nd place but I don´t think we will stay there.

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THE GODS ARE WATCHING

 

DECEMBER 2020

 

RESULTS

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Bad times in europe, when we got hammered 2 times. But in the league we are gaining ground - 3 wins and none conceded.

 

SUPER LEAGUE

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We jump onto 3rd place.

 

UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE

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The group was tough, but hey we at least wanted to end up in 3rd position. But it wasn´t to be.

Edited by Carambau
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13 minutes ago, DefinitelyTaylor said:

Much more like it domestically. Shame about crashing out of Europe entirely but hopefully you can return next season in a stronger position.

Certainly hope so, but some key players like Valbuena are going to leave after the season and we plan to rebuild with greek players, which are hard to find in that quality... but let´s wait and see :) 

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THE GODS ARE WATCHING

 

JANUARY 2021

 

RESULTS

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A great start into the new year. We gather points and move up in the table. And we are into the next round of the greek cup too.

 

SUPER LEAGUE

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Establishing at the top.

 

WINTER WINDOW TRANSFERS

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Semedo of course is a big loss, but he was getting unsettled and we had to let him go in the end. Ba has to step up now. Randelovic leaving hurts a bit too, but he did not seem to develop that much. Hasan was complaining about not playing much and so we loaned him out. Stamoulis is a youth player without perspective at our club.

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We had to  bring in cover for our central defense and thats why backup player Kostas Tr...oh forget it lets call him Kostas came in. Natsos is another backup for our central midfield.

 

Edited by Carambau
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THE GODS ARE WATCHING

 

FEBRUARY 2021

 

RESULTS

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A perfect month if it wasnt for the defeat in the greek cup after penalties... We were the better team after 120 minutes but then AEK won the lottery. 

 

SUPER LEAGUE

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We close the first league stage on top. Now 10 games will follow in the so-called "Champions group" of the first 6 teams.

 

NEWS

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Nice to see our Youth is so good. Probably some players will make it into next seasons squad.

 

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THE GODS ARE WATCHING

 

MARCH & APRIL 2021

 

RESULTS

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We somehow turned into an italian team in the last weeks. Apart from the deserved loss against PAOK we did not concede but only scored 5 goals in 6 matches, so 13 points is not bad.

 

SUPER LEAGUE

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Only one win needed and we will be Greek Champions. Looks managable.

 

NEWS

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Meh. The youngsters don´t look that good.

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Seems like you went through a transformation as seen as you crashed out of Europe. You suddenly hit top form. :thup:

I've never managed in Greece. Have to give it a go one day. 

You squad looks rammed full of CA but with no PA. Your intake looks pretty pants too. Think you need to splash the cash and get rid of some of the oldies. 

Good luck. Title looks to be in the bag already. :thup:

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10 hours ago, Jimbokav1971 said:

Seems like you went through a transformation as seen as you crashed out of Europe. You suddenly hit top form. :thup:

I've never managed in Greece. Have to give it a go one day. 

You squad looks rammed full of CA but with no PA. Your intake looks pretty pants too. Think you need to splash the cash and get rid of some of the oldies. 

Good luck. Title looks to be in the bag already. :thup:

Thank you :)  The title seems ours to lose, yes. But we still need one win..

Yeah - maybe the lads just didnt like playing in europe, all the travelling around and flying? ;) 

And the intake was ***** indeed. Luckily we have some prospects already in our U19 and some were out on loan this season so next season should look better in that regard. The oldies will get booted thats for sure :) 

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THE GODS ARE WATCHING

 

MAY 2021

 

RESULTS

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We are Champions. After we clinched the title against rivals PAOK I gave the bench players a chance and they disappointed. Or maybe they were just still drunk from the many ouzos at the celebrations. Only El Arabi was able to shine at least a bit but then again he does not drink alcohol I guess...

 

SUPER LEAGUE

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So its a 4 point gap in the end which could have been a far bigger margin.

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On the other end of the table its relegation for Apollon. Volos were able to fight off Levadeiakos in the relegation playoff to stay in the Super League.

 

STATS

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A successful campaign, but a lot of players are now too old to play a role next season. A. Papadopoulos, Ogmundur Kristinsson, Kristjan Belic, Jose Holebas and even Mathieu Valbuena will have to leave (36 is just too old). Lord Bendtner scored exactly ONE goal. Of course he will be booted as well. Bruma´s loan period ends which is sad but I wasn´t able to bring him in for another season. Next seasons´ key players will most likely be Jose Sá, Sokratis Papadopoulos, Oleg Reabciuk (who had a fantastic season, completely unexpected, a great player with a bright future), Camara, Fortounis and El Arabi (although he is already 34, I trust him to have at least one more good season, although we probably will have to bring in a good backup striker to give him more resting time). But maybe some future offers will come in for these players which is not unlikely considering their performances this season. We will see what happens and which new players will be brought in.

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1 hour ago, DefinitelyTaylor said:

Congratulations! Quite the task to replace some of the older players in the squad. 

Well thank you :)

Oh yes, its gonna be hard to get quality players of a certain calibre to move to the greek league...

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THE GODS ARE WATCHING

 

TRANSFERS

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Yes, we let Mathieu Valbuena, arguably our best player last season, go. I just cannot imagine a 37 year old player being still able to contribute as much as he did last season. He is no Ibra, is he? Apart from that there have been more surprising departures -if only on loan- like keeper Jose Sa, who wanted to leave and Mady Camara for who we at least got some nice money. And it was also sad to see Vrousai go, but he insisted on the move and who are we to stand in his way of a world career starting in BurnleyBendtner was a massive flop, glad he was only on a one year contract. The other departures were mostly deadwood.

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Here come the new boys! First, we had to bring in a successor of Jose Sa in goal and we decided to go greek: Vasilis Barkas is the number two in the greek national team, so he should give us some stability in goal. Next is Dimitris Pelkas who is a greek national team regular and can add more competition on the wings. Branimir Hrgota can also play there but also as a striker. Rodrigo Pinho was signed to give El Arabi more competition. Charisis and Goutas were signed to have more domestic players in our team, they will mostly be backups. Loizos Loizou is a 17 year old cypriot winger talent who will join our U19s for the time being.

THE SQUAD

Goalkeepers

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Barkas will take the no 1 spot of course. Tzolakis is still very talented and made some good progress last season. Karargyris moves up from our U19s.

 

Defenders

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Sokratis Papadopoulos and Uber-Talent Markovic should be our central defenders with Ba and Cissé almost on the same level. Markovic will join RB Leipzig after this season, it was the only way to keep hold of him at least on more year. Lala and Reabciuk are our wing backs. 

 

Midfielders

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Pepe was out on loan last season and now he is back. He should start alongside M´Vila. Pelkas - Fortounis - Hrgota should be our midfield attacking line.

 

Attackers

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 Youssef El Arabi had a season that defied his age last year. Pinho should be good competition.

 

TACTICS

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We go for an attacking approach again.

 

Edited by Carambau
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THE GODS ARE WATCHING

 

JULY & AUGUST 2021

 

RESULTS

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We struggled a bit on our way to qualification for the Champions League against Valur but in the end we made it through. And trashed Larisa to start the new domestic season after that.

 

SUPER LEAGUE

No screenshot this time. But we are topping the table again :) 

 

UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE

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Again, the first 2 places should go to other teams. We will battle for 3rd.

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THE GODS ARE WATCHING

 

SEPTEMBER 2021

 

RESULTS

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We surely know how to score. Especially Branimir Hrgota. The first CL match against Inter went as expected but the second one was something like a miracle: We completely dominated Tottenham! We could have won by an even bigger margin. It seems they underestimated us and our attacking play. The league games went well, too.

 

SUPER LEAGUE

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The perfect record after 5 games.

 

UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE

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No one expected that after 2 matchdays. Including me.

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THE GODS ARE WATCHING

 

OCTOBER 2021

 

RESULTS

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AEK showed us why they are up there with us. They were more clinical than us and there was our first league defeat. But after that we came back in style and won every game. We even trashed the Rangers at home. 

 

SUPER LEAGUE

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AEK are chasing us.

 

UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE

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Our amazing voyage in europe continues.

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THE GODS ARE WATCHING

 

NOVEMBER 2021

 

RESULTS

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Rangers got their revenge in what was a very tight affair. A draw would have been more realistic but they scored 5 minutes from the end and we were not able to counter that. The big surprise came when we beat Inter so easily at home. I guess they underestimated us. Then we went on to win 3 games straight in the league.

 

SUPER LEAGUE

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AEK are a force to be reckoned with it seems. They have not lost a game yet.

 

UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE

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All we need to qualify is a draw in our last game. Against Tottenham. Away.

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1 hour ago, abulezz said:

Tough start to that first season but you ended up with a title. 

Doing much better in the CL this time around - just a draw will see you through now!

Indeed- but a draw is going to be very hard to achieve in Tottenham! :) 

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THE GODS ARE WATCHING

 

DECEMBER 2021

 

RESULTS

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The draw against Panetolikos really hurt. We just couldn´t score ffs and needed a penalty to at least snatch a point. I guess sh.t happens sometimes. Then we only drew at Aris but they are a good team so I wasn´t that disappointed. Then we went to London. And one of the most tragic matches in greek football history happened. We surprisingly went ahead in the 7th minute with a penalty by El Arabi after a foul on Hrgota. Tottenham were piling on the pressure and Harry Kane equalized in the 38th minute. Then... nothing happened... until the 92nd minute when Duvan Zapata scored after a corner. We literally died in that moment. He added another one in the 94th minute but no one noticed to be honest. So they overtook us in the CL table and went through, leaving us in the Europa League. I had some work to do consoling the lads after their formidable effort. And they paid me back by trashing Atromitos and Giannina afterwards. Damn.

 

SUPER LEAGUE

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AEK overtook us.

 

UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE

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It wasn´t to be. Football bloody hell.

 

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Next stop in the Europa League: CSKA Moscow.

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THE GODS ARE WATCHING

 

JANUARY 2022

 

RESULTS

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We make up for our bitter Champions League exit. We win every league game in January. And we defeat AEK in the Kypellos Ellados to reach the quarter finals.

 

SUPER LEAGUE

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A nice point lead.

 

WINTER WINDOW TRANSFER

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We sign brazilian right wing back Leonardo Gomes from Gremio on a free transfer as his contract run out there. Good competition for Kenny Lala.

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THE GODS ARE WATCHING

 

FEBRUARY 2022

 

RESULTS

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A great month. We do not lose a game and turn the tides in the 2nd leg against CSKA. We were losing 0-1 in the 2nd leg but then I brought on a tired Branimir Hrgota and he decided the game for us: 1 goal and 2 assists - a perfect day at the office for him. We also make it to the semi finals of the Kypello Ellados where we will meet Volos over 2 legs. 

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Not the toughest team still in the competition.

 

SUPER LEAGUE

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We go into the Championship Phase as leaders.

 

NEWS

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Our youth triumphs again. 

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THE GODS ARE WATCHING

 

MARCH 2022

 

RESULTS

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Our good form continues into march. We only concede once and that was on european soil. Kobenhavn didnt pose a big thread and we wrapped it up comfortably in the 2nd leg. We get a narrow win against Volos in the 1st leg of the Kypello Ellados semi final to keep the tension up. In the league we record 3 wins but AEK are still on our heels.

 

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This sounds like the end of the road of our european journey but we will see.

 

SUPER LEAGUE

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A six point gap but still not in safe waters.

 

NEWS

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Another meh intake.

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THE GODS ARE WATCHING

 

APRIL 2022

 

RESULTS

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No chance against Atalanta. We deservedly crashed out of europe as we had no answer to their counter tactics. But the quarter finals were more than we expected so we are happy. We wrapped up the league title with games to spare although we lost against Panathinaikos at home and only drew against PAOK. There are still 2 league games to play and the Cup final against Aris so we still have a chance of doing the domestic double.

 

 

SUPER LEAGUE

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Champions again!

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THE GODS ARE WATCHING

 

MAY 2022

 

RESULTS

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The last 3 games of the season: One loss that didn´t matter, one nice last league win and the victory in the Kypello Ellados.

 

 

SUPER LEAGUE

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In the end it was a 13 point gap.

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Larisa are relegated.

 

SEASON STATS

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Most of the new players impressed, especially Pelkas, Hrgota and Pepe. Winter signing Gomes also made some great contributions. I am not sure about our keeper though as Barkas made quite some errors. Jose Sá will return from his loan at Napoli after this season and he will probably become our number one again. If he still wants to, that is. Or maybe we will sign an even better keeper. El Arabi´s contract runs out and we will let him go despite him showing he still has it. But he is 35 and won´t get better. We will have to find a new striker. Markovic and Reabciuk will also leave but we will receive some goooood money for them. Sokratis is 33 now, so we will have to make a decision there too. 

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THE GODS ARE WATCHING

 

TRANSFERS

 

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Wow. A lot of first teamers have left us. Uber-talented Svetozar Markovic went to RB Leipzig, Oleg Reabciuk left for Arsenal, Ba was snapped up by Strasbourg. Jose Sá went back to Italy. The departure that hurt the most was that of Yann M´Vila. 

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We needed an experienced and capable man in goal and got Juan Musso from Udinese. Another great signing should be Diego Laxalt who should be the natural successor of Oleg Reabciuk. Visar Musliu is an experienced central defender from North Macedonia. For our central midfield we signed Ivan Sunjic and greek international Pantelis Hatzidiakos. Sasa Kalajdzic should be a great improvent for out attack. The rest are talents who need to grow.

 

THE SQUAD

Goalkeepers

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Juan Musso replaces Barkas as our no 1 of course. Tzolakis is still very talented. 

 

Defenders

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Sokratis Papadopoulos remains captain for at least one year. Musliu is a great acquisition for our central defense, as is Diego Laxalt for our left side.

 

Midfielders

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M´Vila´s departure is a big loss but we have Pepe, Sunjic and Hatzidiakos there now. No big changes otherwise.

 

Attackers

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 Youssef El Arabi is gone. Now Kalajdzic, Pinho and academy product Sourlis have to step forward.

 

TACTICS

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We go for an attacking approach again.

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THE GODS ARE WATCHING

 

JULY & AUGUST 2022

 

RESULTS

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Lovely start into the new season. We won every game and did not concede in the league and made it to the Champions League group stage.

 

SUPER LEAGUE

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Early days.

 

UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE

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A tough group again.

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THE GODS ARE WATCHING

 

SEPTEMBER 2022

 

RESULTS

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Another great month without conceding in the league and -almost- in europe as well. But Real Madrid are not such a bad club... 4 points from our 2 home games in the Champions League are very good and in the game against Real Madrid, our new goalkeeper Juan Musso even saved TWO penalties, making him the man of the match.

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SUPER LEAGUE

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7 games, 7 wins. 

 

UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE

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We are doing better than expected.

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