Hopeful messages from PAOK who… broke the pomegranate against Genk

PAOK broke the… pomegranate in the pre-season friendlies. The “two-headed man of the North” prevailed 3-2 her Genk (after the 1-1 draw with Steaua Bucharest and the 2-1 loss against Go Ahead Eagles).

Of course, what lasts is not so much the result, but the promising evidence which showed Rasvan Lucescu’s team – who shared the playing time – found two goals from defensive/central midfielders (6′ Cigaras and 13′ Schwab), one of them after pressure and the other from stationary phase. The third came – again at the start of the half (the second this time) – from another excellent display counter attack and a flawless finish to the top for PAOK (creatively and executively), Andrija Zivkovic. Good show from them too Cricket and Constantiaincluding.

Certainly, the Thessalonians also keep the negatively which they showed mainly in the first part, where they dealt with issues in defensive transitions, while they also made mistakes due to lack of concentration. Basic o Ekongwho in the 45′ minutes he played, showed again that needs pace (lots of mistakes).

On Sunday (16/7, 17:00) PAOK’s last friendly in the main stage of its preparation, against Westerlo in Belgium.

The match:

PAOK controlled the ball from the start. However, he also conceded the first phase in the game. Specifically, in the 4th minute, after his mistake Ekong under pressure, the Belgians stole and ran on the counter-attack, with Kotarsky to clean by putting “stops” in the tete-a-tete with Pencil.

Despite this, Lucescu’s side not only persevered offensively but also had an edge productive and efficient 9 minutes-10 minutes with two goals!

In the 6′ The Konstantelias pressed and stole inside the Genk area, with the counters favoring Thomas, who laid on the Cricket. The 22-year-old midfielder didn’t think too much about it and executed a cool spot-kick for 1-0. Seven minutes later (13′) the Thessalonians made a quick attacking transition, with Hrosowski clearing after his turn Zivkovic. The Serbian ace was also the one who cleverly executed the corner at the far post, with Swab to be thrown by projecting the ball into the net.

PAOK had the momentum and could well have reached a… unreal 3-0 in the 14th minute, but Leysen showed his reflexes with his close-range execution Thomas (again from Zivkovic’s shoot).

In general, the game had gained a rhythm, with the ball going up and down and Genk picking up speed. Hence and to 18′ the Belgians had a good moment after counter-attacking, while at 32′ they did not capitalize on the foul in a very good position, which Ekong fell into by losing control of the ball.

Lucescu started the second half with five changes, replacing Michaelidis, Nasberg, Tsoushi, Narei and Gordeziani in the places of Ekong, Koulierakis, Vieirinia, Tyson and Thomas.

The “black and whites” – who also played kicks – found a third goal, striking again at the beginning of the half. In the 55′therefore, they launched an excellent counterattack, with Constantia to proceed to a nice atomic energy and pass perpendicularly to Zivkovicwho performed perfectly.

At the same time, they looked much better defensively than in the first half. However, a spur of the moment gave the Belgians an opportunity to reduce. Specifically, at 62′ The Kotarsky he made an unnecessary pretence, lost the ball and Shore in the development of the phase scored from close range.

At that point, Lucescu made new changes, with Živko Živković, Giaxis, Vrakas, Murg and Panagiotis Tzima replacing Kotarski, Schwab, Rafa Soares, Antija Živković and Constantelia, while a little later Stefanos Tzimas came on.

The several changes as well as the fatigue contributed to the pace dropping considerably. However, slowly towards the end, Genk started to pick up speed again (or PAOK allowed them to). In the 80′ The Sor warned, to come to 83′ The Castle to catch the shot from the edge of the area, with the ball against Yaxi ending up in the nets. Wuter Vranken’s team had the following opportunities until the end, but could not reach the equalizing goal.

Watch the live broadcast here.

The composition of PAOK (Rasvan Lucescu): Kotarski (62′ Z. Zivkovic) – Vieirinia (46′ Tsoushis), Ekong (46′ Michaelidis), Koulierakis (46′ Nasburg) R. Soares (62′ P. Tzimas) – Tsingaras (62′ Vrakas), Schwab (62 ‘ Yaxis) – A. Zivkovic (62′ Ricardo), Constantelias (62′ Murg), Tyson (46′ Narey) – Thomas (46′ Gordeziani, 75’ St. Jimas).