Dean97

I do agree with him in a way. I don’t think we should ignore Manolas. He so the only one I wouldn’t ignore. The rest I would ignore. He is at his peak. But what is Siovas trying to say in the end? That Manolas is better than him and he should be alongside Svarnas instead of him?

I’m happy we won but I don’t think we should be 100% satisfied. We looked great in some moments and then garbage the next. Kourbelis was our worst player. Most of his passes were to the opposition. Zeca provided no presence just running. Bakakis should be playing in the 2nd division and Bakasetas isn’t technical enough for a role that needs skill and technique. Somehow Van’t Schip has a created a team with average to garbage players. Only Limnios and Giannoulis to me looked good. PAOK must be doing something right as they are the only ones that can make things happen. Fortounis did something good for like 20 seconds of the game and then did nothing. I might be acting a bit harsh but I want to see the best for this team. There were many times where I got frustrated. Like in the past. I think that’s just the reality with this team. We are never going to see a 9/10 performance. Only a 7 or 8. Against teams like Brazil, Argentina, Belgium etc we are not going to get our way. Especially if we don’t finish our chances. Which is the biggest problem for this team and always has been. I think we should really think about putting Mantalos CM. He works hard, is fast and technically very good. Can play quick passes too. I think we need to utilise him better. We’ve played him on the wing and striker so far. We haven’t played him CAM or CM where he should be. We also need better than Bakakis.

Must win.

Does anyone know why Tsimikas didn’t play?

Van’t Schip has to find a solution to our scoring problems. I think it’s the service. Limnios and Giannoulis can provide skill and speed. They can also provide service from the wing. It isn’t enough though. Pavlidis tried to get into space and brought others into play. We need something more from the CMs. Zeca and Kourbelis don’t provide good enough service. They are bad technically. Maybe Zeca should be a RB and Kourbelis a CB. They both don’t offer anything in attack. Also if we are chasing a goal we should’ve taken off one of Zeca or Kourbelis and bring on Fountas with Pavlidis upfront. No point having Fountas by himself.

I’m surprised Stelios Kitsiou didn’t get called up. I’m also surprised Lazaros Rota is being called up instead. I too want to have this Greek team to be 100% Greek. Not the best line up really. I would’ve played Lampropoulos and Siovas just to be safe. Svarnas to me doesn’t seem like a good enough option. I wish Mavropanos was called up but he’s injured. I would give Tzolis some playing time. Who knows he could score a couple goals himself. Stafylidis shouldn’t be playing let alone CB. Siovas or Michailidis should be there. I don’t understand why we never play Mantalos in his natural position, which is CAM. Bakasetas has been playing well but I think Fortounis and Mantalos are technically more superior. Not the best line up in my opinion but I’ll give it a chance.

He’s using the next 4 months to try and build a solid team like you said. If we keep on winning then Manolas and the rest won’t come back. We have like 10 or so matches coming up for the rest of the year. We’re going to use these matches to see who is capable of playing for the team. With Van’t Schip rebuilding the team he must also get results otherwise he will lose his job. So I expect to see more of the same like the last 4 matches we’ve played, which is aggressive in defence and with a strong intent to attack.

Koulouris being called up is puzzling. He hasn’t played. But I’m thinking that we don’t have other strikers to back up Pavlidis. Fountas is the other option. I think Greece have made us fans a bit insecure with how the the team will perform because of what’s happened in the past. We should be beating these teams though and we should top the table.

Well said. No one deserves a spot you have to earn it. Fetfatzidis as talented as he is shouldn’t be demanding or expecting to play if he isn’t following the rules. I’m saying this as a fan of his.

Well were they to blame against the Faroes and Lichtenstein? We can all blame this and that but at the end of the day players like Tachtsidis, Samaris, Sokratis, Manolas, Mitroglou, Kone, Lazaros and others couldn’t even put away the Faroes. You can blame bad coaching or poor attacking but against teams like them you shouldn’t really have a hard time. Or even concede. Now with Van’t Schip we are playing better football. Which tells me that the coaching were the problem for all this happening. He has come and sort of laid down the law so to speak. He made tough decisions and started a rebuild. He and his team don’t accept arrogance and egos in the team. Also saying that we had Siovas as the CDM should mean that we shouldn’t concede with an extra CB. Also we had 2 actual CDMs in Kourbelis and Samaris next to him. How are we supposed to attack properly with these guys in midfield? What’s the excuse for Sokratis and Manolas not to concede? The had an extra CB in front of them and 2 DMs. Fortounis played striker that game aswell which made it even harder for us to start attacking. Those were poor decisions made by Anastasiadis. Tactics were all over the place. To conclude, there’s no excuse that we lacked talent in the team. We just didn’t have players who wanted to bleed for the shirt instead we had Mykonos fc and players blaming others for their mistakes. The team weren’t a team and seemed like there were a lot of egos. There’s also a debate as to whether Sokratis and Manolas got complacent and didn’t even try 100%. As they knew that they were irreplaceable. Same can be said about Mitroglou to a certain extent.

We got to keep in mind that we lost badly to Italy 3-0 at home with players like Sokratis, Manolas and Samaris. The 2nd time around we gave them a real headache with a new team. We honestly could’ve drew that game. That 1st half they couldn’t do anything. Usually against teams like Armenia and Finland we would lose or draw with Sokratis and Manolas. Even worse we lost and drew against the Faroes and Lichtenstein with them in the side. We lost to Faroes twice. We now play good football and everyone has a part to play. From the goalkeeper all the way down to the striker. Also we are actually winning against sides that we should be beating. I find it hard to understand with world class players like Manolas and Sokratis why they can’t transition from defence as good as Hatzidiakos for example. Defensively they are solid but they can’t start attacks from the back as good. I can’t comment what has happened behind the scenes all I know is that they are not wanted in the team anymore and that their talent isn’t the reason. It’s much deeper than that and the only answer would be something to do with their attitudes. The result is what matters at the end of the day and of the team is winning then what else can we ask for. We will probably never agree with some selections I would’ve wanted a few other players myself but these call ups were fine from the availability we have.

I think most of us don’t want to see Stafylidis starting at all. He hasn’t played for a while and he isn’t the greatest defender. He does bring leadership and other good things but defensively I do think he isn’t solid enough. Just curious, who else would you have brought in to replace Manolas and Sokratis? Mavropanos is slightly injured and Retsos hasn’t played for 6 months or so. Both I would’ve taken if playing and healthy. Also K.Papadopoulos has left the earth it seems. I know you want the best for the team but we have to look at the bigger picture. This team needs rebuilding and Van’t Schip is trying to find the best options possible for every position.

Thanks for sharing guys. It was a nice free kick.

Good post Bananas. Can any PAOK fan please explain how good Michailidis is? Like his strengths and weaknesses... Haven’t seen him play, I’ve only heard good things.

J1078 is right. Give him a chance. I like the call ups he made. Most have been playing apart from 2 players which are Stafylidis because he wants him captain and Koulouris because we haven’t got many strikers. I would’ve liked to have seen Fetfatzidis because he can create something out of nothing but it’s fine. The goal is to go to Qatar. Van’t Schip is trying to rebuild something that is broken. He seems to care for the national team and wants the best for Greece. Let him do his thing because we haven’t gotten anywhere for the last 5 years

I don’t know why Greece release the call ups late. Maybe it’s a strategy so the opposing team don’t have a good amount time to figure out who to look out for. Who knows... I would like the call ups to be made public soon. I do believe that Van’t Schip has his list ready.

We can’t take any team lightly. We have to do our job regardless of who we face. It’s embarrassing how low we are in the rankings. It’s no excuse losing and drawing against the likes of Faroes and Lichtenstein... I want to see the same kind of effort and passion as we saw in the last four games we played. We must top the group. We can’t accept anything less.

Hopefully not.

Well we have our 1st game coming up, which is September the 3rd. Mavropanos seems the most impressive. He also has been playing. Siovas seems like the other candidate for CB. Both these guys seem like they will start. I’m not a big fan of Poungouras who has been mentioned in the past. I’d rather see Mavropanos play. Van’t Schip might go with Stafylidis at CB but he hasn’t played lately so who know what will happen. He has named him captain. Which is interesting because Van’t Schip has mentioned he will only select player who are playing and who are in form. So does that mean Stafylidis is not playing? Just seems weird to name a guy captain who doesn’t play regularly for his club.

I believe Tsimikas will be our number 1 LB going forward. He just signed for Liverpool and he had a great season for Olympiakos. On top of that Van’t Schip has said good things about him. Unless he isn’t thinking of changing the winning lineup. He would have to find replacements though for Hatzidiakos and Galanopoulos as they are both recovering still. My replacements would be Mavropanos and Vasiliadis.

I agree with most of the things you say. I don’t think Manolas and Sokratis will be back anytime soon. So they are out. I’ve read in the past that Van’t Schip wants a left footed CB. That’s why we’ve seen Siovas and Stafylidis play there. Stafylidis doesn’t cut it as a CB so he shouldn’t play there. Siovas will most likely get the spot. He was also thinking of playing Kyriakopoulos in the friendlies as a LCB. I think he would be better than Stafylidis there. Time will tell. For RB, I would try different options like Marinakis, Masouras and Lyratzis (who plays for Volos and seems like he’s got something.) We can all agree Bakakis doesn’t cut it for us at RB. Maybe Retsos should play there also. At LB were are fine and well assured with Giannoulis and Tsimikas. For the midfield, I think we have to just accept who we’ve got. Kourbelis is a decent number 6 who can shield the defence better than most of the midfielders we have and has lots of energy and some speed to him. I think he is the workhorse of our midfield. In recent Superleague games he scored and provided a couple of assists. He isn’t the best in attack but seems like he is getting better. We need someone (a box to box CM) next to him that can move the ball forward well and attack. Maybe we should put Mantalos deeper in CM to help with this. Someone more dynamic. I would like to see how Vasiliadis does. I also like Siopis, I don’t think we should give up on him. Im also not sure how Chatzigiovannis will be for Greece. He looks good in the league but I’m not sure if he is truly cut out for the big stage. Time will tell with him. The only thing that can convince people about him is if he lifts those numbers up in assists and goals. I rate Lazaros Lamprou more. Limnios is good, proven it with PAOK and Greece. He’s still young but has been consistently playing with PAOK for the past 2 seasons. He is still developing and is propably one of our best wingers. Which then leads me to Fetfatzidis. You can’t count this guy out. He’s had a great season for Aris and was voted fans MVP of the season. Has been consistent in his performances this season and is definitely a great impact sub to have. That’s if Van’t Schip doesn’t put him in the starting lineup. Upfront, Fountas had the best season of his life. Scoring 20 goals and 8 assists or something. Definitely needs to be given a shot. Pavlidis has some competition now. I still believe Donis is important for Greece. Bakasetas has transformed himself this season and seems like a different player. Let’s hope he keeps getting better and better. We also have Fortounis and Pelkas (if he ever decides to pull up his sleeves and get to work.) Also at keeper Vlachodimos and Barkas are the ones that standout, but Dioudis, Paschalakis and Mandas can force their way in if they continue their good form.

Haven’t read or seen any news about it.. Hopefully they decide with something soon and hopefully it’s something other than the OAKA.

He’s the only Greek CAM in form. Fortounis is finding his feet again, while Pelkas hasn’t featured for PAOK for the last 3 weeks. Mantalos needs to play central if you want to get the most out of him.

Is Fetfatzidis staying? The best thing Aris can do at the moment is keep him for next season. He has played very well this season and has helped Aris be where they are. Also Bagalianis seems to be one to watch.

Hopefully it’s not too serious. Was gaining great momentum and can be a serious player for Greece...