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maggica

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Everything posted by maggica

  1. How did Koulouris get called up over Manias and Giakoumakis (Levadiakos )? Koulouris only has 2 goals in the league this season and they were both from the penalty spot! Meanwhile, Manias has 8 goals and Giakoumakis has 7. Furthermore, they were both good last season too, especially Manias. Last season, Manias had 10 goals in a half a season.
  2. There could be many reasons as to why Fetfa hasn't been called up for years. Maybe he's a negative locker room presence. Maybe he's lazy. Maybe he's not on point with the team's tactics. Maybe he doesn't have rapport with the team etc.. Remember, the ethniki is supposed to be like a family. It doesn't matter if you're as good as Hazard or Muller, one rotten apple can ruin it for everyone else. There are countless examples of this in sports, where a world-class player is toxic and the team does poorly as a result (i.e. Cousins on Sacramento Kings, Balotelli etc..) However, I must clarify that I'm not accusing Fetfa of being a toxic person. I'm just saying that it's one of many possibilities lol
  3. The motive behind fifas decision to ban manolas could be to give Croatia an advantage. However, there could another reason(s). For instance, maybe fifa wants to disuade players from intentionally getting yellows for time-wasting and, consequently, getting suspended against minnows like Gibraltar. Unfortunately, manolas was used as an example. There are many other possible reasons.
  4. They also have Poulsen, who is dangerous and may cause us problems. Defensively they have Kvist, a defensive midfielder who's had a solid career, and kjaer, who plays for sevilla. Their goalie is schmeicel of Leicester. He was instrumental in their title run in the 2015-16 season. They definitely have other good players that I don't know of. Denmark are in excellent form, having beaten montenegro, Poland and Armenia recently, the latter 2 in convincing fashion. If we draw them, I would say our chances are 50/50.
  5. I calculated the October rankings for the playoff teams: Seeded: Switzerland/Portugal Italy Croatia Denmark Unseeded: Sweden Northern Ireland Ireland Greece We have a good team, but I don't like our chances of going to the world cup. Hopefully we draw Denmark or Croatia. Note: even if Sweden beats the Netherlands, they will be unseeded.
  6. Italy aren't ranked very high, hopefully they will be unseeded. I agree that fifa wants Italy at the world cup..they attract TV ratings, fans, merchandise sales, they have big name players etc... fifa will get more money and viewership. whoever draws them may have to deal with the referee as well.
  7. Assuming Donis and Samaris are out, my starting 11 vs Cyprus would be (4-2-3-1): Karnezis toro Sokratis manolas Tzavellas Zeca Kpaps Lazaros Mantalos Stafylidis Mitroglou -Kpaps over Tachtsidis because he scores more goals and is far better defensively. Also, he is tougher and more of a leader. -Mantalos over Fortounis because Mantalos is more tenacious, can chip in defensively, and is in excellent form. He can finally play his natural position. Also, Fortounis is kinda soft, he hasnt played much for Olympiacos recently and his set pieces have been piss poor this campaign. Fortounis is an excellent option off the bench with his technical ability. -Lazaros to start because he gives us that "x-factor" offensively. He's in amazing form and has chemistry with most of the players in the starting lineup from when he was a regular member of the NT. However, Im concerned that he is not up to speed with the team tactics/structure...hopefully he can learn quickly.
  8. I wouldn't be surprised one bit if certain players are called up, played, or excluded due to corrupt reasons. Certain players in the past, such as Amanatidis, have hinted about that in interviews. Perhaps player agents bribe to get their player called up, or the EPO wants certain players called up etc... Skibbe's hands may be tied. Chalkias starting in Euro 2012...Vyntra starting in world cup 2010 instead of kyrgiakos...tziolis starting important matches even though he is mediocre, at best...the list goes on and on and on. Nicolo Macchiavelli said to always assume incompetence before conspiracy. Most of the baffling squad decisions were/are probably due to negligence. However, something is wrong here. Greece is also a corrupt country, so corruption has irrefutably extended to the soccer domain. On a brighter note, if Greece beats Cyprus and Gibraltar, I like our chances of being one of the top 8 second place teams. Lol
  9. Greece are winless in 5 games (4 draws 1 loss), scoring 2 goals and conceding 3. Problem: Clearly, scoring goals is the problem. Bakasetas, Vellios and Diamantakos have a combined 19 appearances, 0 goals for the NT. Also, our CMs/CDMs are all terrible at scoring goals...every single one of them. Solution: We need to insert goalscorers into the squad. Observations/Opinion: Lazaros should be a regular in the team. Pelkas, Mystakidis, Masouras, Manias, Giakoumakis (AEK) and Nazlidis are all players that get playing time, score goals, get assists and are generally involved in the build-up leading to goals..they all had better seasons in 2016-17 than Bakasetas, Vellios and Diamantakos...some of them should have been called up over the past year.
  10. this is what I would field against estonia: Donis sTAFYLIDIS Fortounis Mantalos samaris zeca Tzavellas Manolas K paps Maniatis Karnezis This lineup does not include players coming off of injury (i.e. Tachtsidis) and players who have had no playing time this season, with a couple exceptions.
  11. I'm not convinced that Vellios and Diamantakos are even good enough to play for the Canadian national team, nevermind the Greek one
  12. I expect Greece to stay put or drop in next month's ranking. This is because our very good world cup 2014 performance will be devalued next month. Other teams that performed well at the world cup 2014 and euro 2016 will also have the results at those tournaments worth less. For instance, I think that france, who performed well at both tournaments and lost to Sweden a few days ago, will drop in the rankings.
  13. ^^ It isnt guaranteed that bosnia will crush Gibraltar, especially because they have a lot of players, around 5 including Dzeko, that are suspended for that match. Why did Skibbe call up 6-7 CDMs??!! He probably should have called up Siovas, Giakoumakis, and Mystakidis The injuries to Karelis, Kolovos,and Karnezis, and the suspension of KPaps, really hurts our already slim chances of getting a result in Belgium. hopefully the boys step it up and make us proud on Greek independence day. I am not asking for a result, just a good performance.
  14. This is who I would call up vs Belgium. This is taking into consideration form, injuries, and kpaps being suspended. The players labelled with a * (Maniatis, Vellios, Bakasetas) should only be called up if they're getting playing time and are in decent form leading up to the game. I am also being mindful of Skibbe's "closed club mentality", and we need to stick to that plan now (within reason)...it's too late to go against it. Selecting nearly the same group of players can provide team cohesion, unity, chemistry, and familiarity...those are big reasons why we won EURO 2004. 1. Karnezis 2. Kapino 3. Glykos 4. Mitroglou 5. Vellios * 6. Giakoumakis (platanias) 7. Sokratis 8. Manolas 9. Oikonomou 10. Tzavellas 11. Stafylidis 12. Torosidis 13. Risvanis 14. Maniatis * 15. Samaris 16. Tachtsidis 17. Siopis 18. Fortounis 19. Mantalos 20. Kolovos 21. Gianniotas 22. Bakasetas * 23. Mystakidis -Kolovos, Giakoumakis, Siopis, and Risvanis are all having excellent seasons, and deserve to be called up.
  15. ^pash, thing is, we play a formation with only 1 striker. ^argy, mitroglou is better...thats why he plays for benfica, and karelis plays for genk. But, once again, mitro doesnt fit in with the NT. Also, I would argue that karelis has a higher ceiling, since he is younger and seems hungrier.
  16. You don't have to be tall to be a great goalie. You can make up for it by having excellent reflexes, positioning, anticipation, ball distribution, and explosiveness. You are at a disadvantage when it comes to crosses into the box, but you can still read the situation, be brave, and deal with it. Costa Rican goalie Keylor Navas is less than 6 feet, and he's one of the best in the world. We saw that first hand when he single-handedly beat us in the World Cup. Also, Dino Zoff, perhaps the best goalie in history, was less than 6 feet tall. As for Lamprou, I suspect he's probably the 4th-5th best Greek goalie. As someone already stated, Karnezis and Kapino are clearly the top 2. Glykos gets the nod over Lamprou, because he has several years experience with the NT. Dioudis and Barkas also seem promising. I'm probably missing a couple other decent goalies.
  17. Unless mitroglou is on fire, I'd rather start karelis instead of him. Mitroglou has been poor for the NT since 2014! I'll concede that mitroglou is of a higher quality than karelis, but he doesn't fit with the system, selections, and tactics of the team. He's also inconsistent for club and country. Also, karelis scores CLUTCH goals for genk...mitroglou is nowhere to be found in the important games. Against Belgium, I'd rather play karelis as striker, he could be lethal on the counter.
  18. karnezis played fantastic over the weekend away against atalanta. udinese won 3-1
  19. Gekas, salpi, and mitroglou also struggled for the NT initially. Gyftoglou is still struggling for us. I'm all for zeca playing for the NT, he's better than most of the cdm's that are available. Only samaris and tachtsidis are better, and they're both inconsistent
  20. ninis had a goal and an assist today. since we normally use mantalos as a right winger anyways, i think that ninis could be a good option off the bench for cam. anyways, i dont like our chances of beating bosnia, to be honest, because: -torosidis is injured and we dont have a competent replacement. i dont know how long he is injured for. other options are bakakis, kitsiou, galitsios, kpaps (lol) -maniatis and tziolis dont have clubs, and, therefore, aren't match sharp. Petsos usually doesn't even make the bench for werder bremen (one of the worst teams in germany) you can train all you want, but you need playing time to be match ready. samaris just got back from injury and has barely played. kone is also injured. kpaps isnt getting game time, and i dont really like him that much as a cdm anyway. the only in-form cdm we have is tach! -we dont have any good, pure wingers. perhaps we can call up one of fetfa, platellas, or kaltsas (whoever is in form) -holebas retired -dzeko is in the form of his life, pjanic will probably outclass our midfield If you take into consideration all these factors, it is not looking good for Greece. We still have excellent CBs, karelis is on fire (scored again today), we've won 5 games in a row, and we will have home support. Still, I'd be content with a draw. We can still get 2nd place in the group with a draw. With less injuries and players in better form, we can get a result in bosnia.
  21. I saw the extended highlights of the charleroi vs genk match. Both karelis and ninis played very well, especially karelis. Not only did they both score a goal, but they were also creating chances and linking up well with their teammates. You can argue that, based on form, if you had to choose one striker to start against Bosnia, it would be karelis. Since our formation only utilizes one striker, I think that diamantakos should be dropped for ninis. Tziolis and especially petsos shouldn't be called up either. Bakasetas should be given a proper chance to show his worth.
  22. I saw the extended highlights of the charleroi vs genk match. Both karelis and ninis played very well, especially karelis. Not only did they both score a goal, but they were also creating chances and linking up well with their teammates. You can argue that, based on form, if you had to choose one striker to start against Bosnia, it would be karelis. Since our formation only utilizes one striker, I think that diamantakos should be dropped for ninis. Tziolis and especially petsos shouldn't be called up either. Bakasetas should be given a proper chance to show his worth. Oops, I meant to post this in the NT thread.
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