Marked for Eleftherios Papanikolaou
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match13 Nov 2027
Nowhere to hide for Kifisia
0‑6 against Olympiacos, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Squad15 Nov 2027
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
The dugout15 Nov 2027
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad15 Nov 2027
Words exchanged at Kifisia
Pavlos Pantelidis and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Match13 Nov 2027
Nobody could stop scoring
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Kifisia and Olympiacos in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Squad15 Nov 2027
A row about effort at Kifisia
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tiago Manso was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout15 Nov 2027
Aleks Petkov gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Boardroom15 Nov 2027
Nobody left the Kifisia dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
The dugout15 Nov 2027
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Dimitrios Kourbelis after 0‑6, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
The terraces8 Nov 2027
The mood at Kifisia has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Squad8 Nov 2027
A falling-out at Kifisia
Jorge Pombo and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout8 Nov 2027
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad8 Nov 2027
Tiago Manso falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The dugout8 Nov 2027
The manager makes an example of Jinřich Musil
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Player ratings8 Nov 2027
7.70, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Kifisia had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
Squad8 Nov 2027
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Eleftherios Papanikolaou is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
Match6 Nov 2027
It needed Pavlos Pantelidis to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Panathinaikos, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
Market8 Nov 2027
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
In brief
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The dugout
The view from the dugout
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The dugout
Pedro Sanca dropped after a run of poor form
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Squad
Rafa De Vicente keeps his options open
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match9 Oct 2027
It had gone 23 games. The players did not celebrate like men who had won a match; they celebrated like men who had been let out of something.
The terraces11 Oct 2027
The mood at Kifisia has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Match9 Oct 2027
Dimitris Theodoridis wins it after the whistle should have gone
90 minutes played. Dimitris Theodoridis found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and AEL Larisa went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
The dugout11 Oct 2027
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
The dugout11 Oct 2027
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad11 Oct 2027
Tiago Manso falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Squad11 Oct 2027
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Kifisia know it.
The terraces11 Oct 2027
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 15-year-old it feels ownership of. Eleftherios Papanikolaou has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Match9 Oct 2027
It finished 1‑0, and it was Dimitris Theodoridis’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Kifisia.