The stopper twins in the post-Koulierakis era

From the day that Konstantinos Koulierakis played for the last time with the black and white, it was probably a given that PAOK will have difficulty finding the footballer who will step into his… shoes. Omar Koli may have acquired the prospect of being the replacement for the Greek stopper, however it is clear, as was also seen in yesterday’s derby with Olympiakos, that the balance that gave the champions last year the Kenziora-Koulierakis duo in the center of the Dikefalos defense has now disturbed and that it will take time to find again.

How does Razvan Lucescu look for her? Looking for benchmarks in the stoppers. And for now only Thomas Kenziora is the one who offers him such. It is no coincidence that the coach of Dikefalos has used the Pole in 13 of the 16 games his team has played in the… post-Koulierakis era and that he has… married him with the three other available stoppers he has in the his roster. Kenziora has competed as a duo with the two left-footed Michaelidis and Koli and also with Dejan Lovren.

The twin stoppers that Lucescu has tested

The truth is that until the early break for the National teams, the use of Giannis Michailidis together with the Pole seemed to be a one-way street as Koli and even more so the Croat were acquired at the end of the transfers. In fact, there is also the important condition of Lovren’s inability to compete in his team’s European games.

The Kenziora-Michailidis duo has been used in 7 of the games that followed PAOK’s first match against Shamrock Rovers in the Europa League playoffs, which was the swan song, at least for the moment, in Koulierakis’ career with the black and whites.

In these 7 games, PAOK conceded only 3 goals despite the fact that they experienced two defeats by Aris and Steaua Bucharest. They were preceded by victories with Panaitolikos (Dikephalos’ last in Toumba for a long time) with Shamrock Rovers in Ireland and Atromitos in Peristeri and followed by an easy victory in Aegaleo for the Greek cup. In between, there was also a white draw with Panathinaikos.

The next pairing that Lucescu tried was that of Kenziora with Omar Kohli, which started with the victory in Volos. This was followed by the defeat by Galata, the draw with Pilsen in Toumba and the defeat in Manchester for the “European” duo in PAOK’s stoppers.

When Lovren also entered the rotation equation in the away win in Livadia, Lucescu was able to give Kenziora a breather. The duo Lovren Koli has been used in 3 games with PAOK recording two home defeats in the league against OFI and Olympiakos after the victory with Levadeiako.

Finally, the formation with two right-footed stoppers Kenziora and Lovren, was used twice away from Toumba in the draw with AEK (where at some point Kohli came into the game and Kenziora became a full-back) and the victory in Lamia.

In detail, PAOK’s stoppers in the games after the departure of Koulierakis were as follows:

1. PAOK- Panaitolikos 2-1 : Kenziora- Michaelidis

2. Shamrock Rovers – PAOK 0-2: Kenziora- Michaelidis

3. Atromitos-PAOK 1-2: Kenziora-Michailidis

4. PAOK- Panathinaikos 0-0: Kenziora- Michaelidis

5. Volos-PAOK 1-4: Kenziora-Koli

6. Galatasaray-PAOK 3-1: Kenziora-Koli

7. PAOK- Aris 0-1: Kenziora-Michailidis

8. PAOK- Steaua 0-1: Kenziora- Michaelidis

9. Levadeakos- PAOK 0-2: Lovren- Koli

10. AEK- PAOK 1-1: Kenziora- Lovren

11. PAOK- Victoria Plzen 2-2: Kenziora- Koli

12. PAOK- OFI 1-2 : Lovren- Koli

13. Egaleo – PAOK 0-3: Kenziora- Michaelidis

14. Lamia- PAOK 1-2: Kenziora- Lovren

15. Manchester United-PAOK 2-1: Kenziora-Koli

16. PAOK – Olympiakos 2-3: Lovren- Koli