MVP 2014-15 – «Platon Foropoulos» award
It was a weird season. After a low-key start, expectations started to mount but at the end there was nothing but collapse. Along with it, a huge disappointment for the failure of achieving any of the set objectives. Before PAOK leave 2014-15 behind them, let us vote for the team’s most valuable player who will earn the “Platon Foropoulos” award.
Voting for the MVP shouldn’t take place only after success. Teams are and should be together through rough patches as well and speculation shouldn’t lead to disdain. PAOK have many talented, international, high-quality players at their ranks.
“Platon Foropoulos” award is up for grabs and we have short-listed 11 players. Starting with Facundo Pereyra, who managed to seal the season as PAOK’s top scorer in the Super League with 12 goals in 36 games despite being a newcomer. In total, the Argentinian player featured in 42 encounters (3.133 minutes played), netted 13 times and provided 5 assists.
The only player to score more than Pereyra, all competitions included, is Stefanos Athanasiadis. PAOK’s skipper had a spectacular start to the season and was voted November MVP. Despite failing to score in the last stretch of the league, he totaled 18 goals in 44 matches for PAOK during the season. He also served 4 assists and was shown the yellow card 17 times!
Let’s move to the other end of the pitch, to Charles Itandje whose job was preventing the rival strikers from scoring against PAOK. The Cameroonian became the starting goalkeeper in the midst of the season and never looked back. He stood out and earned three MVP awards (January, February, April). No wonder he made the short list for MVP of the season.
Itandje won most Player of the Month awards, along with Răzvan Raț. The Romanian full-back stole the show in the first three months of the season (August, September, October), impressing with his defensive consistence and attacking input. Afterwards he got sidetracked by minor injuries that took a toll on his performances. He featured in 39 encounters, netted three goals and served 7 assists.
Giannis Skondras was the top assist-provider of the team, serving eight to his teammates, while also scoring two goals. In the most productive season of his career so far, he earned a place among the candidates for MVP of the season. He was also made the Top 11 of the season in the poll conducted by Nova TV.
Róbert Mak was involved in 13 goals of the “Double-Headed Eagle”. He scored eight of them and set up the remaining five. He belongs to the players who started the season in spectacular fashion and had a weak finish. But he was the only clear-cut winger in PAOK’s roster and contributed a lot in the attacking game of the team.
The same goes for Dimitris Salpingidis. Stats will show that the Greek forward had a one-digit number of goals for the first time since 2002-03 (he scored three times), but he provided six assists and helped in areas not always visible from the stands or to TV viewers. A team player above all, Salpi featured in the right wing covering the void in the flanks and was also used as full-back in some encounters. The importance of his presence on the pitch was made evident during the time he spent on the sidelines due to an injury that had been nagging him since the start of the season.
May MVP Alexandros Tziolis also belongs to the select group of players whose importance was made all too clear during their absence. He sustained a groin injury in December and was sidelined for almost three months, orphaning the midfield.
Ergys Kace also is a candidate for the MVP of the season award, as he had a huge task in midfield, trying to cover for Tziolis as well during the latter’s absence. The Albanian midfielder added new elements to his game, tried to help more in the attacking plays of PAOK and conjured four goals in 39 appearances.
Dimitris Papadopoulos netted 8 goals in 32 matches. He joined the team as the transfer window was closing and also faced a string of injuries, but he managed to finish third in the scorers’ list behind Klaus and Pereyra.
Last but not least in our list of candidates, Miguel Vítor, a solid presence in PAOK’s rearguard. No matter which partner he would have (Katsikas, Skondras, Tzavellas or Costa), he remained a stalwart at centre back. He had 99 interventions, 56 steals and scored twice.
