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End of an ERA


thrylos

Replacement  

15 members have voted

  1. 1. Replacement

    • Santos
      6
    • Fyssas
      1
    • Bajevic
      2
    • Someone Greek
      1
    • Someone foreign
      1
    • Someone familiar to the team
      0
    • Someone new
      1
    • A strong personality
      0
    • Lemonis (I had to include him)
      1


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Alright,

1st of all, we all have Sir Otto to thank for:

+the most important success the national team has every had

+supporting his players

+bringing unity to the team

+encouraging players to go and play in Europe

However, with the conclusion of this World Cup, it is time for a new chapter for the national team. A chapter that does not include Otto. A chapter that possibly doesn't include Fyssas, Karagounis, Katsouranis, Haristeas, Seitaridis, Kyrgiakos (maybe??), Chalkias, Gekas. The only players that can still be around would be Katsouranis, Kyrgiakos and Gekas.

Time for Mitroglou, Ninis and others to take a spot.

Please don't turn this into a bashing forum against Otto, Haristeas, Avraam and others. Simply talk about the vision you see with the national team and who you would like to steer the ship.

Personally, I think the strength still lies in defense, but we need more fresh young legs that can join the attack.

Edit:

The new guy will have to can the "old" guys, the guys who had success with Otto otherwise the dressing room will be divided.

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I voted for Santos because the other options were either unacceptable (to me) or too vague.

Someone new, yes. Strong personality, yeah. But he's got to know the Greek players and league.

I think some of the players should also announce their retirement from the national team.

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Bravo...Kai Efharisto Otto...3 out of 4 tournaments and a championship!Who ever will bash this guy now is dilusional...Ethniki was a joke before he stepped in and gave it instant credibility,but.... Ti na peis o Gemanos einai trelos ...pio poli kserkefalos that might tarnish his legacy. Bashing him on the other topics is easy...hindsight is 20/20.

The next manager has BIG shoes to fill. After the North Korea friendly I was hoping the EPO would have made Nioplias the next coach ala Monsieur Blanc of France.

I voted for Santos he knows the league,the players,and the media.

Who ever they choose must infuse youth,talent,speed into this team.

Once again BRAVO OTTO!!

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i like W I N N I N G soccer - and otto produced the most productive greek national team ever..........

our teams in the past tried playing "attractive football" (whatever that really means) and we know the results......dont have a problem with defensive soccer, but i do have a problem with not being able to flip the switch and get offensively forward when we need to....

otto player selection is problematic as is his loyalty to unproductive players.....no coach is perfect, and otto is no exception.....04 strategy was brilliant, but he was too slow to recognize the caliber of players in 06 and beyond di not replicate that style,....he was out coached (sweden) and no answers in several situations....and his team does not come out with a killer insticnt when the opponent requires it (SK)

but all in all he managed to coral the greek mentality into a unit (for teh mos part) and that is perhaps his biggest accomplishment - in socccer playing as a unit can overcome many individual deficiencies....

so all in all otto's reign has been successful and i am afraid if he goes we may take a step back into the dark ages....

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Santos for sure. Or a South American like The Argentine who's coaching Chile, Marcelo Bielsa.

Whomever the manager will be HAS to be based in Greece. Not like Otto.

latin managers are for better for latin teams. We do not have that kind of talent.

Yesterday, Otto's last match, I realized he was right, all along.

Look at us. We do not seriously have the talent or capacity for attacking football, not at the tournament level anyways, in qualifying we play a different style.

We have NO midfielders in Greece to build an offense around.....I can't hardly name a single Greek winger, let alone one thats actually good enough to not be garbage in the World Cup. We've got Ninis......Hes 20 and showed he wasnt ready. Thats not enough for a whole team. Karagkounis has been our AM, LM, and RM for many years.

Other than Giannakopoulos, Tsiartas, we've never really had anything but defensive midfielders really available to us. So what can we really build attacking wise with 1-2 players and no depth in midfield??? Honestly, we just never had the attacking capacity, and Otto played for RESULTS and got them.

Lazaros, Koutsi barely played for their clubs and are extremely young in development.....I'd like to see them played more , but I can see why Otto didn't take them, or try to fill a roster up with these attacking players, theyre simply not good enough to make anything. Your safer playing to your strengths. Greece has strong defenders, defensive midfielders, and a few strikers.......Without a much, much better midfield level you can really forget about attacking football..... Greece is not Brazil or Argentina. There is no shame in playing defensive, the point of the game is to win, and thats simply impossible when youre losing 2-0, 3-0 at half time by giving these superstars all the space in the world.

Its time to see another coach have a try....I think Nioplias is the best option.

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Thank you Otto for getting us from where we came to where we are now in the rankings.

Thanks for making our "team" a team!

Thank you for the results...

and THANK YOU for Euro 2004!

May you find success wherever you go next!

As for the poll, I really can't decide between those options... Apparently an agreement exists between Santos and EPO ... let's see what he can do for us.

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It was sad, but Greece were doomed before a ball was kicked. Despite losing twice to the Swiss, Greece are a better team, better players, and technique. Sadly Greece for the past 5 years has been poorly managed.

We needed a result against Argentina, not a footnote in record books saying that Greece missed out on the world cup, because of goal differential and Rehhagel played for a tie and ended up with a loss.

The problem occured because unlike 2004, that magical and confident tactitian was gone--he became jaded and cynical, knocking his players and acting like he was a genius in charge of a team of also-rans, and journeymen. Wouldn't it be embaressing as a player if your coach says things like, "I don't have players like Messi, and Kaka, that's why we can't play entertaining soccer." Alketas Panagoulias and Vassilis Daniil used to say the same things when they were coaching the national team (Daniil when he coached PAO in the '80s was more like Rehhagel was in 2004 though).

We can go and on about strategy, but there was no way that Greece were going to get a positive result against Argentina by playing only one man up front. What's the deal with playing a 6-3-1 and then a 7-3-1--look at New Zealand they played a braver game and bore some fruit? Is this a way to have former European champions play...acting like a team like San Marino trying to block a team like Italy from scoring?

Had we gone in with belief and a traditional 4-4-2 against Argentina we might have gotten a positive result, we might have lost, but we would have had the Argentines sweat, my dad always used to say, it just can take a punch in the face and that can knock down and make the bravest guy in the world cry. We had that chance, had we gone in with that free flowing soccer we played against Nigeria, we might have seen the whole Argentine team collapse. Instead we played as if we were playing with ten men and defending a lead. I would be the first to support such insanity if it worked; we gave up ten goals in qualifying--that means we're weak defensively and if we gave up a last minute goal to Moldova, why not Argentina?

Had we had Salpi, Ninis, and Gekas in the squad yesterday we could have pulled off a surprise. Gekas was very unlucky and superhuman saves by the Korean and Nigerian goalkeepers stopped him from opening his account--he was not a cursed and stage struck player like Pauleta who missed open nets. And Salpi's energy would have driven the Argentine's crazy--it was too late for Otto to realize that you have to take the pressure off of the defenders by having midfield and forward possesion and keep the Argentine's honest, because with only one forward they knew they could flood our 18 yard box with players since only Samaras could punish them.

I regret a few things, and one of them is that players like Giorkas, Karagounis, even Katsouranis, and Charisteas deserved a better farewell. They worked hard and battled hard but Otto was negative.

He did great things in 2004, his confidence was palpable--he gave me strength when I'd see him on the bench even when we were being beaten by Russia and Spain in 2004, but now he leaves with his legacy as that of a negative coach--the sad thing is that the 2004 team didn't play negative soccer--they scored a goal in every game they played and our tough Spaniards didnt manage that in 2008.

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just like the prosecution lost the OJ Simpson case when they selected the jury, so did otto make his decision when he selected the players he did.....it was obvious that the best midfielder in available for the NT was stotidis (early on) and he was not selected. not to mention a few others. so u cant expect his selections to miraculously become offensive minded....dont forget when gianakopoulos/zagoraki were around, they pushed up a bit more and created an attacking climate....the d was better, alllowing more box to box play....we had much more "firepower" in 04 - i define it as the ability to score when needed, not playing attacking football all the time....

but, these players dont possess that ability and, this was the best way to maximize the chances of winning.....now, he chose those players...so he lives with their ability....

all u need to see is the under21 game between england and greece which we won 2-1...that is an attacking team....but when u attack you leave open space...you cant win if u dont score....but also u lose whn u give up too many goals.....where is the balance? otto missed the boat on this point, both with his slections, loyalties to unproductive players, sunstitutions and lack of developing the younger guys early on in the campaigns...

but, his biggest accomplishment was coraling the greek mentality...if the new coach cant do that, then you can forget about qualifying for anything in the future.

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Look, who couldn't be thankful for Otto's contributions and leadership to success in Euro 2004...

However, after that he made bad choices ontop of bad choices. Criticism doesn't mean that we erase past performance. He should have been replaced by 2005...

Yes, his choices were limited to what talent was available, but a coach has to manage the available material well. He didn't so. Wrong players, out of position, stubborn to a fault, and very slow to react. And, that's the reason he should have gone several years ago.

This world cup epitomizes Otto's performance in the last few years ... First game a total mistake that cost GR the advancement.

Anyway, time to look forward. Even though I've very critical of Otto (and couldn't stand his almost-senile attitude post 2004), it must be said that he showed/proved that a small country with limited talent can go to the top occasionally. It's a big positive for the next coach & generation of players to know this!

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Had we gone in with belief and a traditional 4-4-2 against Argentina we might have gotten a positive result, we might have lost, but we would have had the Argentines sweat,

We could play 90 minutes with this squad and only get one chance just as good as Samaras' chance.

4-4-2, we would have been HUMILIATED, and defeated in the first half of the game. These guys tore South Korea apart...and us being even more weak in the back we would have copped 5 at least.

It was extremely difficult with 8-9 men back to hold ARgentina from making good chances and scoring.... Were talking sweeper stopper centerbacks piled in the back with the wingers close and midfield supporting..... Imagine if we had less of those resources and support dedicated back there.......Messi would have done as he pleased, as would Maxi, Milito, Kun Aguero and all the other World Class players they have to offer.... Absolutley no way in hell 2 centerbacks can this team play against Argentina and not lose in the first 20 mins.

You can't win without scoring, but you also can't win if youre 2-0/3-0 down against Argentina at half, and have no base of attacking midfielders or players...

Our very BEST chance at beating Argentina was exactly what Rehagel had last night. You have to be IN the game, in order to have a prospect of winning it, before you can attack. Just keepin Greece in the game requires a TON of manpower given the quality of Greek players vs those of Argentina. Not just quality, but also SPEED....when sloppy Greek players who can hardly complete passes to each other lose possesion and don't have caution, Argentina would have ripped us apart on the breaks.

We came close. Samaras scores that great chance we would have touched the miracle. Even with more men up front, we wouldn't make more than 1-2 chances that good all game, and we'd leave ourselves totally exposed in the back.

Argentina were playing a stacked team full of superstars, Greece doesn't have the midfield capacity as a nation or on this 23 man selection to play decent against Argentina.

We made Argentina work for that game. You saw the celebrations they had.....They had to deal with intense defense, and finally got a lucky break with the corner-foul-hand...

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i ve supported ottto overall....he took us from the outhouse to the penthouse and pulled greek international soccer out of the dark ages......this is a fact. we are considered one of the tougher teams in europe.....but we are still not respected...forget about the negative soccer comments and all that...itlay has done that for years and the swiss are notorius for playing defense first....so its the "W" that counts.....

but otto had serious shortcomings. his biggest accomplishment was gathring the greek mentality into a unit....dont know if th enext guy can or will be able to do that....

but his insistence on playing D at the expense of not attacking is what did him in....why? did theplayers have the freedom to pushup but choose not to? did he tell them not to? i mean he cant micro manage every pass, every shot and every move down the field right? we;; never know the answer....we are all outsiders looking in....ultimately otto was in the best posistion to decide...and fro the outside looking in we see a team high in the rankings and decent results compared to the mess he inherited....

soccer at this level can turn on one pass, one shot takes you from the goat to the hero...the US scored in 91 minute to advance...does it mean tey are THAT much better than algeria or australi or ghana? no....aside form the argentines and brazils, there is alot of parity now between many teams....and will, belief and confidnece go along way in producing consistent results.....

i prefer a team that qualifies for all torunaments, and goes deep ina few rather than winning a euro and then laying eggs for the next 10 years......they say even a broken clock is right twice a day....so goes the footballing karma.....

the next coach will make mistakes, and will have to adjust accordingly but if he:

1. evaluates his choices based on incorrect assumptions about the greek players ability and

2. cannot get the team to play as aunit and leave the egos at teh door, then we better bring our flashlights becuase we may be heading into the black hole again....

otto deserves alot of credit and he will be missed - u can count on that....

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Not Santos.. Please..

The guy is a failure... dont over look his semi-success at PAOK and AEK..

He is s**** and was even sacked by Benfica at one stage

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An era comes to a close... :(

Prior to Otto Rehhagel, Greece were NOT a team. What the German did was to blend his players into a unit, as someone already said. He leaves behind an era that will not be matched for a long time and will not be forgotten for even longer than that.

Enjoy your retirement King Otto! :tup:

All the best from those of us who are grateful :)

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Clinton after the USA 92 min win yesterday:

"Eventually all contests become a head game, elections, wars, sports.....these guys have the head and the heart to win". As some of us here have been saying for years now, until the Greek mentality changes, per Clinton's comments, nothing can change, no matter who the coach at the head of the NT will be. And lets not even get into the subject of potential wars, as I'm fairly certain that too would go the way of our NT.

Eimaste san laos epipoleoi, tempelides, kai faflatades. Xreiazomaste rizikes alages sta panta!

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The era 2004-2010 is Greece's "golden period" with Otto at the helm. We all know what Greece was like before 2004. If Greece does not succeed for a long time, then we will appreciate Otto more.

Greece is playing a friendly against Serbia in Belgrade on August 11. Will a new coach be named until then?

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