Article in English from Melbourne Club PAOK

makedonomaxosg4 · 02/03/2010 13:17

the same article can be found @ http://www.paok.com.au

PAOK - WORTHY CHAMPIONS

After watching PAOK destroy Xanthi on Saturday (in their most impressive performance this year, considering the stake's, the anti -PAOK fanaticism of Xanthi's owner, and the ease of the win in a difficult edra) I woke up this morning hoping for a Panathinaikos (the fact they needed assistance to beat a struggling Panionios shows they are not the best team in the league) and Olympiakos ,(having seen Atromitos play against PAOK this year in Toumba, I could not imagine how Olympiakos could get anything more than a draw in this game without "human error") but fully expecting them to win one way or another. Unfortunately for Greek football I was proved correct.

This round of matches confirmed the following; to me and all sane football fans disassociated from team bias:

1. PAOK is the best performed team in the league this season, and deserving champions. Up until now I believed Panathinaikos was a superior team, but after witnessing the performances and method of the two teams victories on the weekend, (one achieved with the assistance of the officials, and the other achieved because the official was taken out of the game by the 12th minute), I am now convinced.

2. If referees were consistent in their decisions to both teams in every super league match, PAOK would be sitting on top of the league with a significant gap from our contenders, the championship would be ours despite our financial disadvantages and lack of "star" players.

3. Panthinaikos and Olympiakos will be carried into their derby in three weeks time without any loss of points, that match will decide the "Champion" for the 2009/2010 season.

The message PAOK fans received on the weekend is loud and clear, you will not win the championship. Fortunately PAOK finished the game off early against Xanthi, denying the referee the opportunity to influence the outcome of the result, despite his valiant efforts.

Let's examine some incidents from each of the matches involving the title contenders.

1. Xanthi v PAOK - Ivic is brought down in front of the referee, a clear penalty (no one disputes this, including the referee), the referee allows play to continue citing an advantage to PAOK, the ball ends up with Sorlen , who under pressure from a defenders challenge shoots the ball on to the bar from 12 yards on an angle. The decision not to award a penalty was an advantage to whom? Two Xanthi players escaped red cards for infringements that were clearly send off's, one of them was for an identical challenge to the one Melberg committed against Ergoteli last week which was also ignored, allowing Olympiakos to salvage a point in a game in which they were destroyed by the opposition in the second half, and should have come away with nothing.

2. Panionios - Panathinaikos - In the 20th minute, Ninis goes down in an innocuous incident in the Panionios penalty box, the referee without hesitation awards a penalty. Replays from every…