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EURO 2008: Turkey - Greece


plato-ny

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I have a feeling Norway will lose in Bosnia. They are also without Carew and Iverson, which complicates everything for them even more.

I will be happy with a tie this Wednesday, but we MUST NOT lose!! This has to be in the players heads from now; failure cannot be an option!!

Even though this will undoubtedly be a 5-3-2, I still think 4-5-1 is the way to go (as I stated above), or a 4-2-3-1, something like that.

The key to this match is DEFENSE, DEFENSE, DEFENSE. We have to keep them up against the ropes, and strike on the counter attack, like we did against Norway.

If we do lose, however, it will show that Rehhagel and the team are not learning from their mistakes; it will show that we are not ready for Euro 2008; and it will show, very convincigly, moreover, that serious changes in management are needed.

If we do lose, I have a feeling this thread and youtube is going to explode :argue: :argue: :xxx:

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[The problem won't be the keeper, they can only take advantage of that if we let them. The problem is pace. Basinas, Dellas, & Karagounis are very slow, and they are the spine of the team!!! We need pace in the middle. Get Spyropoulo in a left back and Toro in the middle and we'll demolish them. Otherwise Tuncay, Arda, etc, will simply out pace us.

thats basically my point. we lost patsa and katsouranis. we need another midfielder who can make things happen. this has got to be torosidis. there is no other option. otto will probably go for antzas which is a decent solution but cripples us in terms of pae and drive as you say.

to me torosidis is a great player. it is very sad to see him wasted as a left defender when he simply doesnt know the position and can t live up to his potential. we need crosses flying in the box and toro on the left wont be able to bring them in.

to give spyropoulos his first cap in this game is also somewhat risky. thats a mistake otto made. we had the games to give spyropoulos a chance. we wasted them. so realistically toro will play on the left and probably wont get raped but will be nowhere as good as he could be and thus wont help the team as much as he could.

[I managed to see the whole Greece vs Bosnia game on Youtube (it's been posted in 11 different parts) and I've got to say that that is the worst performance I've seen under Otto. It was constant long balls! Get the team playing as a unit gamoto!!! My heart is saying we'll get revenge but my head is telling me we're in for another raping.

what has to be said in favor of otto though is that even though we play like garbage at times. we get the results. once may be luck, a whole campaign is more than just luck. still the group may not be as strong but the important part is qualifying. except for our midfield problem which will resolve once otto uses spyropoulos on the left (if he ever does), we only need finetuning in defence to field a good squad at the euro. i am somewhat more optimistic than i was before.

still there is alot of work to be done. and wednesday is a good time to start.

Bravo re file, you tell them!!! :tup:

I agree with pretty much EVERYTHING you said except:

we get the results. once may be luck, a whole campaign is more than just luck.

File we are in a weak group and our style of play would wither if this was the tournament. Do you think we're playing better football now then when we failed to qualify for the W/C because I don't. With the exception of Norway at home we haven't played well in any games!! The distance between our midfield and defence, or our midfield and strike force is too large and this diminished passing options. So too frequently we look for the long ball to Gekas and even if he wins the ball he has no one around him to give it to.

I agree that bringing in Spyropoulos now is dangerous, but what other options do we have? We have to take the risk. If I was manager I would be aiming to establish this as my first team by the time we get to Euro 2008:

---------------------------------------Chalkias----------------------------------------------

------------Papastathopoulos----Kyriakos------Goumas/Antzas/Dellas-----------------

Seitaridis----------------------------------------------------------------------Spyropoulos

--------------------Torosidis---------Patsa----------Katsouranis--------------------------

------------------------Samaras/Lybe-------------Gekas----------------------------------

Of course these players would have to earn their place but if they all perform to the best of their ability in an organised system I honestly think this team would be capable of reclaiming our crown. I'm not saying they would, but they could imo. There is just the right balance of experience, youth, pace, power, creativity and defensive structural knowledge. If Basinas, Karagounis, Nikopolidis & Dellas are looking old now what will they be like in a just under a year from now and at the end of a long tiring season? We need to start to introduce these players now and if we start showing trust in Spyropoulo in a big game like this it will give him a huge confidence boost! If he manages to get through a Turkey Greece game then the atmosphere at the Euro's will hardly faze him. You have to trust your players and Spyropoulos has earned that. We've got players out, he is the only natural left back we have, Torosidis HAS to play centre-midfield so play Spyropoulo at left back gamoto!!!

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File we are in a weak group and our style of play would wither if this was the tournament. Do you think we're playing better football now then when we failed to qualify for the W/C because I don't. With the exception of Norway at home we haven't played well in any games!! The distance between our midfield and defence, or our midfield and strike force is too large and this diminished passing options. So too frequently we look for the long ball to Gekas and even if he wins the ball he has no one around him to give it to.

I agree that bringing in Spyropoulos now is dangerous, but what other options do we have? We have to take the risk. If I was manager I would be aiming to establish this as my first team by the time we get to Euro 2008:

---------------------------------------Chalkias----------------------------------------------

------------Papastathopoulos----Kyriakos------Goumas/Antzas/Dellas-----------------

Seitaridis----------------------------------------------------------------------Spyropoulos

--------------------Torosidis---------Patsa----------Katsouranis--------------------------

------------------------Samaras/Lybe-------------Gekas----------------------------------

Of course these players would have to earn their place but if they all perform to the best of their ability in an organised system I honestly think this team would be capable of reclaiming our crown. I'm not saying they would, but they could imo. There is just the right balance of experience, youth, pace, power, creativity and defensive structural knowledge. If Basinas, Karagounis, Nikopolidis & Dellas are looking old now what will they be like in a just under a year from now and at the end of a long tiring season? We need to start to introduce these players now and if we start showing trust in Spyropoulo in a big game like this it will give him a huge confidence boost! If he manages to get through a Turkey Greece game then the atmosphere at the Euro's will hardly faze him. You have to trust your players and Spyropoulos has earned that. We've got players out, he is the only natural left back we have, Torosidis HAS to play centre-midfield so play Spyropoulo at left back gamoto!!!

First, let me say that the long ball strategy is mathematically proven to be effective; especially when playing a 4-3-3. I don't see why this is a concern.

Second, why are you talking about "a year from now" on the Greece Turkey thread; what does this have to do with the game this Wednesday??

And by whose account have we not played well during this campaign? Yours? The results speak for themselves.

What justification do you have to put so much faith in Spyropoulos, Papastathopoulos, etc.? Not to say they are not good players (even though the latter is still a baby). And I'm not saying that Torosidis and Patsa in the mifield wouldn't be a good idea. What I am saying is that results in fact speak louder than theory and ideas on paper. It is possible you are dwelling on the negative aspects of our play and eclipsing the positive. Again, you may be right, but you need more support for making drastic changes than mere conjecture and "ifs". Let's see what works one game at a time. If we get demolished by Turkey, I'm all for it. Otherwise, why make these changes for Euro 2008, especially so drastically in the midfield.

In my opinion, simply being fast paced is not the only quality of a player

; experience counts for something too.
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You might bring Spyropoulos in the last 10 minutes but certainly not to start; that would be foolish. And I wouldn't say we didn't play well in any of these qualifiers except for Norway at home, thats just not true. We played a bunch of games where we were good for one half but lousy during the other. Bosnia was like that. We played well against Hungary... a fast game w/ sharp passes. The last 2 games we played were not good. They should have a good day when they play Jerkey since they're not under as much pressure. You know, it will be nice to see them win this and get it over with so Otto can use the next 2 games as experiments to bring in some of the up and coming players.

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I just hope that we can finally shut that man up for good the arrogance of that man is shocking like the game is for gone conclusion, guaranting victory, i honestly dont give a flying you no what? about a revenge match i want that man to eat his words on his home soil.

Plain and simple were in 1st place for a reason so that proves to me that we do have the capacity to step into a hostile enviroment and seal the deal, it might not be the prettiest football played by our side but this is not a beauty contest its all about getting the job done one way or another.

IL will give you my honest opinion chances of victory in turkey slim to none a loss most probable.

Prove me wrong greece make me regret saying we will go down

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The Turkish coach is implying that the refs are helping Greece . This is nothing more than a coach who is frustrated by his team since the Greece match where his players became big-headed and thought they were THE team and now have had a string of negative results except for the Hungary match where they needed a red card to win that match. Oh, how about Norway's first goal against Greece which should have been waived off because of a foul if the refs are helping us so much. This is the same coach whom everyone in Turkey called a genius after the Greece's match.

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I think these tricks are known as "mind games". The best thing our NT can do is not bother to read them. There must be no emotion here just our normal playing style of absorbing pressure and hitting on the counter. Turkey will have to play open football, as a draw does not suit them, and will be playing right into our hands.

@Turkcell: welcome back! Nice to hear from the other side. As for Dude, he HAS changed quite a bit lately, he's not the agressive Ethnikisti you remember.

@Dude: Stay changed!

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just two questions,

1; if two countries draw in points on the table are the goal differentials taken from all games or just from the two countries involved fixtures???

2 @ turkcell; will TRT show the game??? i get a turkish chanel and checked their site but there was no english translation. I saw a few pictures/reports of the game but was unsure if they will show it or not

thanks

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First tiebreaker is head-to-head results. Second is complete goal differential and third is complete goals scored. Even if Greece beats Turkey, Greece would lose in a tiebreaker with Turkey and in a 3-way with Norway because of the second and third tiebreakers.

Reading online that Antzas and Seitaridis are taking the respective spots of Katsouranis and Patsatsoglou. Turkish media claims that Greece gave, as a gift, a bus to Moldova to make the players try hard against Turkey. Nice excuse and blame yourselves for ur lackluster play.

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Turkish media claims that Greece gave, as a gift, a bus to Moldova to make the players try hard against Turkey. Nice excuse and blame yourselves for ur lackluster play.

They can claim whatever they want as far as i am concerned,as Irlandos said earlier these are just mind games and an attempt to motivate players and fans but it is up to our boys to silence them and get the 1 spot in our group.Let Norway and Turkey duke it out for the second spot..
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First, let me say that the long ball strategy is mathematically proven to be effective; especially when playing a 4-3-3. I don't see why this is a concern.

Direct passing (As we saw in Euro 2004) which is basically a long pass directed to a big target man so we can feed off his lay offs, flick on, and hold up play; is very different from blind long balls. You say that long balls are mathematically effective, how did you arrive to that conclusion file mou? Tell me 1 goal we've scored with a long ball in this campaign? Bear in mind Basinas' pass to Gekas for the goal against Bosnia was not a long ball but a directed chip forward. It's different.

Second, why are you talking about "a year from now" on the Greece Turkey thread; what does this have to do with the game this Wednesday??

Every game we play now is a preperation for Euro 2008, this coming game is a qualifier remember? We're in a good position now and we have the ability to take a slight risk in playing Spyropoulos in his first game against Turkey. If he copes well, and I'm sure he would, it would be a great learning curve for him and we'd know he could take the pressure in Austria/Switzerland. This would free up Torosidis and enable us to be more effective throughout the team.

And by whose account have we not played well during this campaign?  Yours?  The results speak for themselves. 

Results don't necessarily equate to good performances but since you do want to speak about results, when was the last time we beat a decent team? Everyone in our group is s%$#! except for Turkey who are no better than decent. We lost 4-0 to England, 1-0 vs France, 1-4 vs Turkey, 1-0 vs S.Korea. These are teams we could face in a major tournament. Moldova, Hungary, & Bosnia are not! I seem to remember a Bulgaria side finishing top of their group and qualifying for Euro 2004 where they lost every game. I remember a Serbia side that only conceded 1 goal in the whole of qualifying for the 2006 W/C and they lost every game conceding 10 goals in the group stage! Or how about the last time we went to the W/C? Results in qualifying can be deceiving, it's the quality of football you have to look at. We've conceded a lot of goals recently, but the goals we have scored have come from our opponents defensive errors, set pieces, etc. We need to improve the quality of our game and the only way that will happen is if the old guard like Basinas, Nikopolidis, & Dellas move on.

In my opinion, simply being fast paced is not the only quality of a player experience counts for something too

Yes, but you need to find and maintain an equilibrium between the 2. Tell me one world class team that doesn't have pace throughout the endekada?

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TERIM KEEN TO AVOID GREEK TRAVESTY:

http://www.uefa.com/competitions/euro/news...sid=603556.html

"I think Greece will not risk a lot and try and get a point as they are still not guaranteed qualification" <_<

they seem too confident about their points and i dont like that one bit. We have Malta and Hungary so its different after this game. The thing i don't get is that terim thinks he can beat us easily. Who does he think we are san marino?? God luck to our team tommorow and hopefully we can qualify with a victory by lybe 78 min 1-0 Greece
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After reading the most recent report I am extremely worried about our chances tommorow.

We are playing a 4-3-3, and are going up against a fast paced team with strong offensive weapons and midfielders. Turkey usually plays a 3-5-2, our midfield is to slow and out manned to cope with the attacks.

This is what reports are telling me we will play,

------------------------------------Nikopolidis(BAD CHOICE)------------------------------

-----------------------------------Dellas------------------------------------------------------

---------------------Kyriakos------------------------Antzas---------------------------------

------Seitardisi-----------------------------------------------------------------Torosidis----

--------------------------Basinas-----------Karagounis----------Amanatidis--------------

---------------------------------Gekkas------------------Charisteas-----------------------

This is brutal, we are gonna get owned with 3 ppl in the midfield and sit back, even if we do play well with this formation all turkey needs to do is shot from 40 yards on nikopolidis and the ball will go in.

I would have liked to see this...

----------------------------------------Chalkias---------------------------------------------

Seitaridis----------------------Kyriakos--------------Dellas--------------Spyropoulos----

------------------------------------------Basinas-------------------------------------------

-----------------------Torosidis-------------------------------Karagounis------------------

-----------------------------------------Amanatidis------------------------------------------

---------------------Gekkas-----------------------------------Liberopoulos-----------------

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I've heard reports that our team will exactly like against Bosnia except Seitaritis will step in for Patsa and Antzas will step in for Katsouranis. Otto is an idiot!!!

Btw, is there anyone that knows what channels the game will be shown on in Greece and/or Cyprus? Thanks.

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