Aiming to continue their top flight stay

Lamia are in the Greek top flight for fifth consecutive season having managed to establish themseelves, proving to be a difficult team for anyone to beat.

The Fthiotida club managed to secure their stay in the Super League with relative comfort last term, but this year they have not started as well as everyone in the team would like.

After 12 games they have collected only 10 points and have not won a match since November 7 when they celebrated an away win in Tripolis against Asteras.

Since then, they have lost to Panathinaikos (3-1), drew with Apollon Smyrnis (0-0), and were defeated by PAS Giannina (1-0). Their goal is to make a new start against PAOK and try to get a positive result ahead of a difficult month ahead.

A team in the coach’s mould

Michalis Grigoriou is in the Blue and Whites’ dugout for the second season in a row. The 48-year-old coach was the man who laid the foundations for the club’s stay in the top flight last season, with an excellent second half of the campaign, and so it was logical that he remained on the bench against to continue his work.

Atromitos, Corfu, Panionios and Larissa, are just some of the teams he has coached in the recent past, before taking over the technical leadership of Lamia in December 2020.

He is one of the most experienced coaches in the league. He prefers his teams to be solid in defense and to look for the goal on the counter-attack.

With experience at the back

In the summer, some important players were acquired to strengthen the team, such as Gencoglu, Manousos and Saranov.

Lamia’s strongest aspect of the team, however, remains the defense, as there are players who have proven their worth, such as central defender Adejo, veteran Lucas Vyntra, goalkeeper Garavelis and defensive midfielder, Bejarano.

The problems remain in attack, as Lamia has scored only 10 goals in 12 games, and they have the second worst attacking record in the league, with Grigoriou testing different shapes and faces to try and find the solution.

An important absence in the last games for Lamia, is its captain Tassos Karamanos. The experienced forward has been playing with the blue and whites since 2018 and has contributred significantly to the team in difficult times.

Lamia will be without Manousos for the contest at the Toumba, and all eyes will be on how Grigoriou will find a solution to fill the void left by the forward’s absence.