The last time that PAOK FC lifted the Greek League was back in 1985. Over the last decade, PAOK started to invest more and more money into the team, and as a result, the team started to be more competitive. But as always, something was missing. PAOK won the fifth Cup in their history in 2017, after 14 years. Next year they managed to make this back to back with another win in the Greek Cup as well as finishing second in the Greek Super League. Everyone in the team was sure that next year was going to be their year to claim the League title after a 33-year wait. To the surprise of the fans, the team would go on to win the 2018/19 Greek League whilst remaining invincible, with 26 wins, 4 draws and 0 defeats.
In this tactical analysis piece, we will break down how PAOK managed to remain top of the league throughout the season, specifically showing in this analysis how the team played with and without the ball. Furthermore, manager Razvan Lucescu created innovative tactics during the season, which ultimately helped them overcome the trials and tribulations they faced throughout the season.
Principles with the ball
Razvan Lucescu, PAOK’s manager, chose the 4-2-3-1 formation on the majority of occasions during the 2018/19 season. Alexandros Paschalakis was in goal for most of the season, while Leo Matos and Andre Vieirihnia, the former player of Wolfsburg in the Bundesliga, were the right and left full-backs. Fernando Varela and Jose Crespo were the two centre-backs. The two defensive midfielders this season were rotated between Mauricio, Jose Alberto Canas, Yevgen Shakhov, Pontus Wernbloom and Josip Mišić.
They were joined in the winter transfer period by Sergio Oliveria from Porto, who had joined on loan. Diego Biseswar, Dimitris Pelkas, Amr Warda, Leo Jaba, Dimitris Limnios and Omar El Kaddouri were rotating in the three positions of the attacking midfield area. Aleksandar Prijović was the centre forward until Al-Ittihad paid his release clause and bought him in the winter transfer period. This gave way for former Arsenal player Chuba Akpom, who took his chances and became a fan favourite.
Starting the scout report of PAOK FC from the back, Paschalakis likes to play the ball to one of the two centre-backs. PAOK FC are a team that prefers a possession game, and wants to dominate on the pitch. For that reason, the two centre-backs should have the technical ability to face difficult situations and overcome them.
When PAOK FC are playing against opponents that are pressing in a medium block, it is easy for the goalkeeper to play a pass to the centre-backs, and then they transfer the ball to the flanks, where the full-backs have a crucial role in the positional play of the team.
