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I Like what J1078 said in his last post. Relax for a moment fickle fans. Woulda, shouda, couda don't matter now, too many times I see negative posts on the "Ethniki". HERE WE ARE. We have a match at home vs Gibraltar, and it would just be a treat to see some goals. Had we been asked before a single game was played if we would be ok with Greece having the 2nd spot behind Belgium....I think that most of us would be alright with this. Belgium is Belgium. Yes we did nearly beat them away, and we unfortunately lost a good battle at home. All Greece can do is play the game tuesday. Forget the formation, the lineup, this squad will win. as for everything else, the Greek team, nor us the Greek fans cannot control that. Tuesday wake up, make a good strong Elliniko Kafedaki, iron your fanella, polish the komboloi, have a couple of shots of Metaxa "3" star and enjoy the match. As for the playoffs, once the dust settles....should other results push us into the playoffs. Greece can save their best for last. Clutch, as per usual....We never take the easy way, the hard way is the one we have always known.

Holebas stated that he is retiring from NT and noone can say anything to him. He decided, made it public. Skibbe can do nothing else if Holebas aint interested in throwing his ego away and play for a coach that wanted him as a LB. Happened with Georgatos too under Otto and yet noone blamed otto about it then because we won the Euros I suppose. I honestly am of the opinion that apart from Lazaros Christodoulopoulos and possibly Dimitrios Pelkas instead of Bakasetas and Diamantakos every other single call up was justified. Noone disagrees that our Goallie, Defenders , Striker , Fortounis should be in the line up. What peopla dont like are some of hte wingers Skibbe uses (Mantalos-Bakasetas to be fair) and the midfield. When it comes to wingers. Skibbe uses defensively minded players in there. Stafylidis and Mantalos usually. a LB who is very good offensively and a attacking mid who proved why he plays when he pressured high and assisted mitroglou (and hit the woodwork). Yesterday the only one who cant be blamed for the low scoring is Skibbe. Mitroglou lost a few chances. Mantalos hit the wood and his assist to Fortounis was a bit behind than it should and thus cleared. We had 5-6 clear chances to score in myhumble opinion and people are still disappointed. We won them way harder at Athens despite the score. This team apart from the Estonia match , after the 6th is playing very solidly. We are in the play offs coz we deserve it). When it comes to the central midfielders I ll say something that noone wants to hear. We have noone. Samaris is not offensively orientated, yet a class above everyone else in that part so he looks like the best box to box we have. Truth is He is not even a box to box. He is just too good and of an experienced age to know what he has to do and do it. Zeca is defensively decent at worst. Tziolis. Eveyrone hates Tziolis. I see the reason. Tziolis really deserves to be called but not to be a starter. Let's ask ourselves why. Our Greece sux so much that Skibbe needs a tall line up for the set pieces. There it is. Yesterday we had 2 corners where we had a clear header. One went in. Do I praise Tziolis for scoring? No. Did he get the job done in front of 2 Cypriots? Yes. So overall. Skibbe is playing our best defenders, our best goalies , our best centerforward and our best attacking mid. Donis when not injured usually starts and the only problems I see are a)when Zeca/Samaris are injured so usually Tziolis will play b)Mantalos being on the wings. Scrap Mantalos for Lazaros and you got a far more decent attacking mid trio. But what happens with his defensive duties? Skibbe made a solid defence that conceded as many goals as Belgium. Yet we are still complaining.

I completely disagree with everyone. In the next 2 years if Greece qualifies for the WC they ll make a team much stronger. Stafylidis is becomming a more solid Holebas. Sokratis- Manolas are the best defenders we ve ever produced with back ups of a solid Papadopoulos and a prospect Retsos. Mitroglou enters the age where strikers and CBs reach their peak. He has learned from his experience. He is a statik player and his pace was never anything to care about. Donis a second striker who has everything we ve never seen on a player in the NT. The pace and the dribble to challenge man to man defenders and be able to shoot. Still too young but obviously above promising. He looks like a complete player with only his decision making needing upgrade. Midfield Samaris I suppose will find a new team to be match fit more than he currently is, being in and out of Benfica's bench despite the team clearly not doing well. I suppose he ll start getting more game time since teams who go through bad periods need a change. Benfica defense seems to be the issue so I suppose Samaris will get some chances to prove himself. Our other midfielders are all below average but Zeca has proven that he is solid defensively and probably brings up his game with the NT. Bilbao coach praised him after PAO matches. He has to know more. He called him elite. Offensively he is nothing. Defensively he is another wall in front of our CB wall. This team brought their best game in 3 out of 4 matches with the big boys of the Group. This team if they qualify they will prove us all wrong. Either they go further than Groupstage or not is not the point. If we look every opponent we face as well as we did vs Bosnia and Belgium (mind you half the teams that make it will be equal and maybe worse than Bosnia), we ll look like we deserved that spot out of the 32. As for the whole Dark era. You all f*ckers now understand why Santos was using Karagounis/Katsouranis till they reached elderly age. We had a 6 and 8 who controlled whole games. That's literally what's missing right now. A 8 like Kara who can be a transition god. To dethrone Samaris from his starting spot and create a link from offence to defense. 3-5-2 is on paper our strongest formation. Im only talking about names. Individuals. If it works for this NT or not is totally not the question but 3-5-2 is on paper a formation we could have an extra back pass and a bit more focus over Mitroglou and how to service him.

OK guys, so this is the current standings for the playoffs 1. Portugal 18 pts +18 2. Italy 14 pts +3 3. Sweden 13 pts +10 4. Denmark 13 pts +7 5. Northern Ireland 13 pts +5 6. Greece 13 pts +4 7. Wales 11 pts +2 8. Croatia 11 pts +2 ------------------------------------- 9. Scotland 11 pts -1

I agree we should have battled it out with Belgium for first but bottom line we went toe to toe with Belgium and could have one the first game and should have gotten a draw in the second.. Belgium are a much better team then us. So you expect us to take first from Belgium but are afraid to play Denmark,Sweden ,Swis? Belgium are much better then those teams. There is nothing wrong with furnishing second in a group that has a much stronger opponent then our team.. at least we managed to finish second. The only down fall was the draw to Estonia.. I think Greece will bring there A game when they're the underdogs as we showed with Belgium.. let's just pray for one more result so we can get into the playoffs and who ever we draw we draw..

Hopefully Scotland don’t win away to Slovenia tomorrow & then Greece can focus on Gibraltar & the play-off. There are a few more results that can help but it would good if Slovenia don’t lose to not have to wait.

This match is a good opportunity to get rid of any rustiness or lack of confidence in front of goal. Scoring goals can become a habit & if players like Mantalos, Donis etc can put away a couple goals, although against Gibraltar it can help mentally.

I guess you're right Nick, Bosnia could overtake us with a win

If we tie and Bosnia win they will take 2nd place back

Game over 2-2, thank God for that!

Greece is going to the playoffs with a win against Gibraltar... Thank you Slovenia

After how we handled Belgium, teams like Italy and Portugal should be careful what they wish for. Greece plays up to their rivals.

Goal Slovenia!!!

Hahahaha ok I better go find my balls lol

^^^ Hey Torontoblue, go find your balls Greeks do not speak in this defeatist manor. Have some confidence and some pride. The NT has proven it can upset and defy odds. Maybe you have forgotten..

^Yes I will agree with you that we should have locked up second place and actually we had plenty of opportunities to do so. But realistically speaking Greece has never really qualified for a tournament with ease they usually always have to go to a playoff as they've never done it the easy way. Greece is and never was one of those teams that will hammer through qualifiers with ease bottom line they've just never been good enough when compared to the elites.. But I disagree that the teams waiting for the playoffs would be licking there chops to go a against Greece. Greece always plays the better teams hard and the weaker teams worse and that's because Greece cant play when they are forced to keep possession and force the game, Greece is good when they sit back take what's being thrown at them and then catch you on a counter. If your hoping Greece will ever become an elite team that's just not going to happen. Lets be happy if Greece can become a second tier team under the elites which is very respectable and still gives them decent chances to progress in tournaments.. After the last campaign which was an absolute s%$#! show at least they have come back and taken second in a much tougher group then we had for the euro qualifiers that we finished last.. Its a step in the right direction from last campaign..

What? This game will help us prepare for the playoffs? You got to be kidding me. Gibraltar a minnow a nobody lol We had a whole qualifying to get ready and never grasped it by the balls. We should have finished in 2nd like a boss and beat the likes of Estonia lol i have no hopes for the playoffs if we get a miracle and get there. Teams like Italy, Portugal/Swiss, Sweden ,Denmark will all be praying to play us. we won't qualify. I have a better chance of winning the lottery

I never expected us to take first from Belgium, but we should have controlled the group with Belgium. Look at Italy/Spain they locked up 1st and 2nd, Portugal and Swiss the same Germany and Northern Ireland the same. We went into the last weekend in 3rd place hoping for so many scenarios to help us. Still waiting on like 4 outcomes for dragging our asses over the line. In a group with Gibraltar, Estonia, Cyprus and Bosnia we should have finished in 2nd like a boss with max pts from those teams, and plus 15 goals and not praying for a miracle to save us. We were Euro champs 13 yrs ago but nothing has changed. We are the first Euro champs to not qualify for a World Cup after winning the title, we couldn't even get into last years Euros which was suppose to be a given. And now we wait on teams like Scotland to help us lmfao ? If we do make it to the playoffs those 4 seeded teams will be licking their lips in hope of playing us. They will wipe the floor with this national team. A Lot of you will probably say im anti-Greek and etc etc. But really I have lived thru the dark ages of Greek football. When we qualified for our first Tournament I was in heaven. But when we won 2004 I thought this is the making of something beautiful. Things were on the way up. The federation would build on this. But instead it has slowly gone backwards. We are sinking faster and faster and soon no way back again. We will only have the memory of 04 to think about.

stafylidis is not a winger like skibbe insists to play him. that's why he looks terrible at times, as mantalos does. both are not wingers and they have been asked not to overlook their defensive duties. if karelis is healthy for the playoffs i wouldn't mind watching him and donis as wingers, fortounis behind mitroglou, samaris and zeca in the midfield along with the usual backline.

I can't give stats on burglaries but I can say Australia hasn't seen a massacre since gun control came in, as I said it's a cultural thing, the idea of an ordinary citizen being in a shopping centre or walking down the street with a gun on them doesn't really compute, nor does needing one for protection, yeh of course something bad can happen anywhere/anytime, but we don't see the need for them and the chances of a sandy hook/vegas are slim to none. In the US you are guaranteed one regularly, and general gun violence is ridiculous over there. hell I've never seen a gun in person lol.

Slovenia v Scotland no doubt shapes as our best chance A few things to make us a feel a little easier -slovenia have not lost at home all qualifiers -They are still a slim chance to make the play-offs themselves, so they will be playing to win. However unlikely it is (they need to Slovakia to drop points against Malta) always a bonus having a team playing for something in-front of their fans.

^^^^ Ah, OK, it's about Hillary now. I never would have guessed..... Oh, and the fake news parade shows up on cue to muddle the issue further. The claim about increased burglaries is fake, drawn from a pro-gun nut's unsubstantiated claims*. But even if it were true, having no massacres since the gun ban, and the reduction of people dying from firearms is a significant progress. " The conclusions drawn in this piece were both premature and inaccurate, however. In a peer-reviewed paper published by American Law and Economics Review in 2012, researchers Andrew Leigh of Australian National University and Christine Neill of Wilfrid Laurier University found that in the decade following the NFA, firearm homicides (both suicides and intentional killings) in Australia had dropped significantly." And, "Similarly, Dr. David Hemenway and Mary Vriniotis of the Harvard Injury Control Research Center found in 2011 that the NFA had been “incredibly successful in terms of lives saved”.... the more guns I have the more free I am? * All sorts of crime has peaks and valleys. I can find any short period where I can find data to argue just about anything. Burglaries went up in Australia for a couple years after the gun ban but no direct correlation can be established. If seen over a long time, say from the gun ban till today, burglaries are significantly down. Again, mass shootings: zero. It doesn't mean there won't be any ever, but what we see in the US is crazy and ever more crazy that very little to address the scourge has been done.

With only the match at home to Gibraltar remaining for Greece in Group H if we look at Greece’s 2018 World Cup campaign, the Estonia match at home (0-0) was by far the biggest disappointment. The one & only loss for Greece against Belgium at home was probably it’s best performance. Belgium away along with Bosnia & Herzegovina away are usually impossible places for even the best to win & Greece got draws in both & possibly very close to winning both.

I don't care that Tziolis scored the winner, he is still absolute garbage. That literally could have been anyone scoring that goal with a header like that, it just happened to be him, right place right time. He honestly botched more than a few passes sending long balls f-ing no one or passing it too short (unless I missed something and Casper is on our team making runs down the sideline). Tzavellas is a ma!a!ka literally played the guy onside on their goal, so damn usuless. We got very lucky, because if their defender doesn't give that ball away to mandalos (mandalos made that intercept, but mitroglou made that goal happen) we may not of won it, we botched chances galore. But we only got some of those chances cause they were losing and had to open up. There is no f-ing way that there isnt one Greek cdm on this entire planet that can be better than Tziolis. Fetfa went to Dubai for money, this a-hole Tziolis went there cause no one wants him. He should be handing out red noses and balloons and that's about it. If the EPO is actually behind these call ups and player selections, than they can f right off too, scum bag pos'.

N Tziolaris and his Pirates should get in a huddle whilst having a song playing out of Laz's collection, and really psyc themselves for a Big showing in the World Cup in Ruskia - Che na pame Che na poume!!! Lets get the souvla going Ellada!!

A win is a win, but we may regret missed chances, e.g. Torosides header 2nd half, Mantalos 1 on 1 in 1st half and hitting the post in 2nd half. Mitroglou shooting from a tight angle when Fortounis made a good run in the box. Our goal difference is +4, and our only chance now, is to beat Gibraltar and hope for one of the following results: 1. Slovenia to draw or beat Scotland 2. Ireland to draw or beat Wales 3. Serbia lose or draw with Georgia 4. Ukraine and Croatia draw Other possibilities are unlikely e.g. Northern Ireland would need to lose by 2 or more goals vs Azerbaijan at home and Denmark would need to lose by 4 goals to Romania. Sweden +10 goal difference, can only go out if Holland beats them by 5 or 6 goals. Samaris and Manolas both got yellow cards and will miss the match with Gibraltar.

We put 4 past them away from home..should be fine really.

We're probably still only scrape a 1-0 win against them!

Well done Greece! Locked up second place and a possible playoff berth. We will wait till Tuesday to see if Greece has enough points to get in.

Efthymis Koulouris is leading all goal scorers in the under 21 Tourney with 6 goals. Fat Phill is happy