Argy

Dean, I agree. Despite where he is playing, I guarantee you he would not look out of place with the NT, especially in its current state. No I am not saying he should be called up, but it's not like our midfielders are setting the world on fire either.

I agree with your take on Sokratis. He is a great leader and one of the best players that Greece has ever produced, but he can't be saying things like that. He played his heart out and most of his teammates weren't able to keep up. It was his frustration talking.

This is why when the team is in a fragile state, as it has been for a while, and even more so now with a new coach and injuries to key players, it is paramount to field our best players, attack our opponents and achieve a positive result. IMO weak decisions by our new manager.

Yes it was Estonia. My point was not that we got unlucky injuries, but, rather, seeing that we only had a limited number of A-team players at our disposal due to those injuries, it was a mistake to leave out most of the few available, and approach this game as if it were some friendly.

Guys, I put a considerable amount of blame for this loss on Ange A. He took this game vs Estonia for granted and approached it like a friendly. It wasn't enough that the team was absolutely ravaged by injuries going into yesterday's match, but he decided to sit players like Vlachodimos, Fortounis, Torosidis, Koutris and Pelkas, suddenly send our only in-form striker in Koulouris down to play with the U21s, and, barring Sokratis and maybe Zeca, start our B/C team. No, luck did not go our way whatsoever, but the decisions made by Ange leading up to this match, and the consequences of this pitiful loss, may realistically set Greece back years.

Would you agree that the team has more talent than Estonia though?

Team is now back at a pre-EURO 2004 state. It took us 14 years to regress full circle. For next spring's ECQ, Lazaros must be there, and as long as Fetfa gets minutes at Oly, he has a place in the squad. We've been calling up out of form, out of favour, even out of club players for years, but we can't call up a player that even for 10 minutes can add a different dimension to the game? Bakasetas tries, but he is always bad. They ask way too much from this player with limited ability. I don't want to see him with the NT anymore, but I can live with him on the bench. Mantalos is another one that consistently offers lazy, frail, nervous performances with the ethniki. Like Bakasetas, would like to see him no more, but will settle with him on the bench. Mitroglou still has a place on the roster, but, man, is he hard to watch. Very dull and sluggish. Samaris deserves a spot in the starting XI. He is good tehnically and brings with him a sharpness and confidence in ability that only a guy playing and training with one of the better clubs in Europe can bring. Guy's, I don't care what anyone says, this makes a difference. Superleague clubs are far from the standards of big European clubs in terms of training facilities/programs and club culture. Portugal is not the greatest league in the world, but it's better than Greece and has lots of raw talent, technical skill and competitiveness throughout the championship, and Benfica are a perennial Champions League club. Even if Samaris isn't a consistent starter, he still trains for and lives those matches. Donis and Retsos need to stay healthy or they will go down the road to obscurity like K. Papadopoulos, who may have had more potential than everyone. A lot more to say, but all we have is time until March.

What was this team we started today? Sokratis + a mix of our B and C team. I will bet that no other nation has injuries to key players like Greece has atm. That + no call up of Lazaros and Fetfa, sending Koulouris to the U21s? This match had so much importance and we treated it like a friendly. Now, we will suffer the consequences of being in POT 4 for ECQ draw. Today's loss can potentially set the team back years.

I see what you're saying, but blown up how? Are we brining up our U21s? There are players that must go and others that must be called up, but this lies in tactics and playing the right guys in the right positions.

Why does he have to say we are not a great team? We know that, but there is no reason to be vocal about it. Out of today's XI only Sokratis is a pencilled in starter. This was out C team and we got the worst luck in the world to lose. This does not make us good, or this failure any easier to digest, but there were greater forces at work against Greece in 2018.

There's no more national team. This generation is a wash.

Thank you. They are beyond disgusting.

Worst luck, horrible players, dreadful tactics. This is an embarrassment. This generation of the Greek NT is over. I feel so sorry for Sokratis.

I think one of you is talking about NL and the other about Euro 2020 Qualifying draw in December.

No Siovas??

With that logic Kone and Karnezis should be on the roster as well.

Like we mentioned in the other thread, a solid win can put us in good position to get into the NL playoffs through the back door, but that's just so far off and hopefully we will just make it through EURO Qualifiers. Important to build on momentum and buy into the new coach's system going into the new campaign. Roster update: Atromitos' Risvanis called up to replace injured Manolas for Sunday's match.

Well he can't really call up anyone else for the Estonia match, so he has to play with what's on the table. The closest he can do is play 3 atb if Manolas is OK and play Koutris and Toro higher up the pitch. Don't see it happening.

I concede that there is importance to finishing second, but you really didn't explain the context of your statement. Second place teams will be ranked and in line to replace a group winner for the playoffs, if said winner were to already qualify via the separate EURO qualification campaign. Which means, if Greece were to finish second place and they are the highest ranked second place team based on record, they'd be first in line to step in and have a shot at qualification if one of the 4 group winners had already qualified. As it stands, Greece is the second ranked 2nd place team behind Bulgaria by goal differential, but every group looks like it will come down to the brink and things will likely look a lot different after this weekend.

You are right, but leaving out Lazaros and Fetfa was a sin. He was left with no other attacking player than impotent Bakaseta to sub on in the last few minutes. Bakasetas is always guaranteed to suck. I don't want to stress on Fetfa, and people on these boards have made solid arguments against him being frail and having no finish, but I don't care, with 10 minutes left he could change the pace of the game 100x better than Bakasetas.

There's no link between midfield and attack. Mitroglou is dull and one dimensional, but he gets no service, so he can't be blamed. Not sure if we would do much better with a sharper striker. Attacking midfield is simply very low quality.

Shame that they couldn't even earn a meaningful game on Sunday. Disgrace.

Finland won the group because of a better head-to-head. Estonia game will be meaningless on Sunday.

Greece of the 2000s looked like Argentina compared to this boring style of the current NT. Torosidis does it all but can't connect a proper cross.

I'm afraid to find out.