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2 hours ago, Dean97 said:

Merry Christmas everyone...

Erikson plays on the wing when he is a CAM. Many others can play on the wing around the world. I don’t know why some of our players can’t be useful there. Pelkas has played on the wing at times for PAOK and looked ok. Mantalos same. It’s just when it comes to the national team it’s like they don’t know what to do. 

Bakasetas same thing. (...)

Thats what I meant, thank you! And let me add that Mantalos, Pelkas and the other "useful" players do not play in their normal position while playing for the Ethniki because theyre not good enough. They wouldnt play on the wing if they could squeeze out Fortounis. Their abilities are in fact limited. They can shine in the Super League against Lamia but cannot make a difference against an Estonia national team. Such players shouldnt be called up at all, but as Laputan remarked we had not too much successful players. Some of our midfielders are necessarily filler material nowadays for we havent eight decent (by NT standards) Greek midfielders.

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Yes that’s true...

What I also meant was that Pelkas and Mantalos should atleast do the job on the wing and they don’t. I think they are better than what they are showing. I truly believe that but they are not proving it. Whether they are really not good enough or they have regressed as players. That is the problem. We need to start playing a system where we would get the most out of our players. 

We had Samaris and Taxi as our midfielders and are now are not playing and not good enough for their teams.

We now play Kourbelis and Zeca where one is the captain for a suprisingly impressive team and other is killing it and also captain for his team abroad. But yet they are CDMs that don’t offer much in attack and are useful for running and shielding the defence. We need a runner with the ball that creates and is a jack of all trades. Like a Pogba, Modric, Iniesta, Vidal and so on. 

We haven’t really got a true number 8 apart from Androutsos. In order for us to achieve anything we have to attack. I know some don’t think we should do that but if you play the right players in the right positions and with the correct approach we can score goals. Maybe play 3-5-2 formation or a 4-4-2 diamond. I’m over having 1 striker we need 2 in the box at all times from now on. Koulouris and Donis should be the players going forward. Mitroglou is too slow and is inconsistent. 

If we want to play with actual wingers and we do have them, then those players need to make the correct runs and deliver accurate crosses. 

If you also think about it too, other younger players aren’t setting the GSL on fire aswell. Chatzigiovannis, Bouzoukis, Galanopoulos and even Pelkas are not even showing standout performances against teams like Aris, PAOK, Olympiakos and so on. They only seem outstanding against the “smaller teams” We don’t even have good attacking options from abroad apart from Donis. I believe Donis, Retsos, Sokratis, Siovas, K.Papadopoulos, Manolas, Vlachodimos and maybe 1 or 2 from the GSL are truly our best players currently. I would probably put Fortounis and Koutris in that list too.

Edited by Dean97
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6 hours ago, Dean97 said:

Merry Christmas everyone...

Erikson plays on the wing when he is a CAM. Many others can play on the wing around the world. I don’t know why some of our players can’t be useful there. Pelkas has played on the wing at times for PAOK and looked ok. Mantalos same. It’s just when it comes to the national team it’s like they don’t know what to do. 

Bakasetas same thing. We should just play our best players in positions we know they can thrive in. To me your not good enough if you can’t play another position. Maybe that’s a bit harsh but in reality I think our players are not good enough in general than the rest of the world in my opinion. I thought Pelkas could play both wing and CAM it’s clear that he can only play CAM. Fetfatzidis can play both as I said before.

 

Some can play in the center and on the wings, and some don't. Mantalos can't. Not in AEK, and not for the Ethniki.

Pelkas however is not the issue in our national team at all. Him on the left or right side is not ideal, but it is not the main issue Greece has.

It's the lack of good DMs or CMs in general. And Pelkas could be a good option right next to someone like Zeca (or someone better, if we had one). 

Fetfatzidis has never done anything for us. EVER! He should try and play more consistent from now on. He is one of the guys who can have a great match (like against Milan) and then disappear for the next 10 games. There is a reason he only got to be a starter in Saudi Arabia, and nowhere else.

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10 hours ago, LaputanMachine said:

 

Some can play in the center and on the wings, and some don't. Mantalos can't. Not in AEK, and not for the Ethniki.

Pelkas however is not the issue in our national team at all. Him on the left or right side is not ideal, but it is not the main issue Greece has.

It's the lack of good DMs or CMs in general. And Pelkas could be a good option right next to someone like Zeca (or someone better, if we had one). 

Fetfatzidis has never done anything for us. EVER! He should try and play more consistent from now on. He is one of the guys who can have a great match (like against Milan) and then disappear for the next 10 games. There is a reason he only got to be a starter in Saudi Arabia, and nowhere else.

That’s true especially about Pelkas. He is not the issue. We have plenty of defensive midfielders. Creative midfielders we don’t have enough of. I think Taxi was more of a deep lying playmaker. Pelkas can be box to box. He is also more creative in the middle. We also have lacked a midfield general since Karagounis or Zagorakis. We need someone with passion and energy that can be reliable defensively and score goal here and there. We won’t do much with defensive midfielders such as Zeca and Kourbelis. Yes they help in ball winning and running everywhere but won’t do much for us in terms of vision. We need that CM that is willing to do everything and capable of doing everything. That’s why all teams should have balance in a team. Pelkas and Zeca would be an ideal partnership. Balance. You can’t have to many midfield maestros and you can’t have to many midfield engines. I would like to see Pelkas and Kourbelis behind Fortounis. It would be better in a 4-3-3 with. Kourbelis holding and doing the dirty work with Pelkas and Fortounis higher up and creating for our forwards. 

A modern day midfielder needs to be like a pit bull, fast and they should know how to read the game. A mix of an engine and a maestro is ideal. Pelkas isn’t afraid to get into challenges and can carry the ball and has a bit of a mongrel about him. We haven’t got a deep lying playmaker CM, were better off playing a DM who can win the ball and a good tackler (Kourbelis) next to a creator and box to box (Pelkas).

Fetfatzidis is the type that can create something out of nowhere. He would suit CAM but would still be effective outwide. He has the intelligence on the ball and has great ball control. Every time he has worn the Greece jersey in the past he hasn’t dissapointed. Consistency is key but there is no doubt he should be part of our national teams plans.

Edited by Dean97
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People still talking about Lazaros at his 32.

 

You guys forget too easily.

Christodoulopoulos has been s%$#! for us.

Even Fetfatzidis has been performing better than him with the NT.

He was mediocre last season. He is s%$#! now.

He only has 2 years left. Get the f*ck over him it's not your ex to be so obsessed with him.

We have decent keepers.

Decent CBs currently and promising youngs on their positions.

DecentLBs(Stafy,Koutris probably the duo we continue with)

We have a good defensive 6 in Kourbelis(if only he wasn't injured all the time)

Promising 8 in Galanopoulos

Our best player is Fortounis and is probably a very good 10 wastinghis time with olympiakos.
Strikers in Mitroglou,Koulouris.

Donis can stand as SS/ winger.

Whole Pao team promising as f*ck.
Why you tryna to predict the future tho? 

After the 2-0 loss to finland I realised that it's too unhealthy to follow the NT obssesively. We re on our down and that takes time.

I am not expecting us to qualify from this group. Finishing 3rd is realistic. 

Team needs a turnover in mentality that's our bigger issue we could stomp the Bosnians on a good day and definately can get a couple of points from uninterested Italy.

 

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hopefully Masouras is good at Oly. 

I don't care about age, I care about form and quality. IMO Lazaros is one of our most in form wingers.

Would gladly take Holebas right now too if didn't leave. He's one of the best LB in the premier league.

The NT is for the best players at the current moment. It's not a youth academy.

Edited by georgelaz
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I rate Donis, Fetfatzidis and Lamprou more than Lazaros. Lamprou is proving to be a good player abroad. Donis is younger and faster than Lazaros. Fetfatzidis has far more technique and more skillful. The only thing Lazaros has over all our wingers is that he can score amazing goals. But that’s only once every 6 months. Ofcourse he would do well in the GSL. Was never this good abroad. I find him too predictable and a bit selfish at the wrong times. Also he hasn’t done much in the national team. I was a fan of his but I rate others more now.

Edited by Dean97
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It’s quite bizarre the polar opposite feelings Lazaros brings out in people!

He was AEK’s MVP in winning their first Championship last season yet people are whiling to write him off completely now.

He has been poor with the Ethniki but he is a perfect example of how the ethniki operates and how some players get chance after chance, after chance, whilst guys like Lazaros & Fetfa get little cameo appearances in one of the most disfunctional football teams I have ever seen and are then expected to do well with statues around them.

Time to get our best played out there. Until new blood proves itself on the wing, you can not discount Lazaros. The fact Bakasetas was/is given multiple opportunities on the wing and did nothing is a complete farce 

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We can’t be blaming other players for one players bad performance. I agree that the way the national team has been set up is poor. An ageing Torosidis can only do so much. Also Fortounis doesn’t run as much as he should. Playing 2 defensive midfielders will get you nowhere. That’s Jose Mourinho football. Look at him now, he has gotten the sack. Balance is important. I always find this team sabotaging itself. Also international football is not easy. They don’t play week in and week out and the games are spaced  out in the year. Injuries can happen and there’s not much time for experimenting. 1 bad game and and the managers get criticised. I actually don’t know how Anastasiadis will do. Reason I say that is because as a coach he has to rely on his tactical ability and knowledge rather than going to the transfer market. He has to deal with what he has and has to come up with something of his own when the team is not producing results. He has to be on his toes all year. I believe this team needs 2 things, a good coach and a new EPO. Then we can see the real potential of the team. Right now we just better hope our players perform and be a team. Not 1 player will save this team it’s a team sport.

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13 hours ago, Alphonse said:

It’s quite bizarre the polar opposite feelings Lazaros brings out in people!

He was AEK’s MVP in winning their first Championship last season yet people are whiling to write him off completely now.

He has been poor with the Ethniki but he is a perfect example of how the ethniki operates and how some players get chance after chance, after chance, whilst guys like Lazaros & Fetfa get little cameo appearances in one of the most disfunctional football teams I have ever seen and are then expected to do well with statues around them.

Time to get our best played out there. Until new blood proves itself on the wing, you can not discount Lazaros. The fact Bakasetas was/is given multiple opportunities on the wing and did nothing is a complete farce 

Your comment is probably the only one that's demanding an answer.

Lazaros was s%$#!. The end.

Let's take a look at his  career with the NT.

I ll start with the goals: 1

vs Fkin Lithuania.

Fetfa was s%$#!. The end. He was all about pace and dribble and fancy. He couldn't make a move at open space. Lamprou can. Limnios can. He can't

You lot (me included) were the ones bashing Santos for not kicking "useless slow" Katsouranis and players like Vydra,Lymperopoulos,Tziolis from the team and suddently someone being at his 32-32 with a finished career that never really peaked any more than the average Big Greek team player, is someone we should hang on to?
Where the f is Christodoulopoulos now? At Oly. Olympiakos literally paied him for 2 matches at Europe where he was MVP and I haven't heard him since. And we all know Martins is gonna finish the season without him, since they are already moving for a new winger.

Fetfatzidis has been s%$#! for Olympiakos and his finishing has not been any better from when he was a youth prospect.

Lamprou, Limnios , Masouras should be given a chance. Waiting for them to take it at 30 is no good.

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I agree with you in regards to Lambrou & Masouras. I don’t think you can bag out Fetfa for so many things and ignore Limnios’s weaknesses, I think he needs to work on much of his game too but he is young so hopefully all comes with time.

Also you are ignoring some of the good things Lazaros has done, look at WC 2014, Serie A, his form for AEK & OSFP has been good but age is important for the NT right now so I don’t really mind if we do give younger and fast wingers an actual chance to help and establish 

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1 hour ago, Alphonse said:

I agree with you in regards to Lambrou & Masouras. I don’t think you can bag out Fetfa for so many things and ignore Limnios’s weaknesses, I think he needs to work on much of his game too but he is young so hopefully all comes with time.

Also you are ignoring some of the good things Lazaros has done, look at WC 2014, Serie A, his form for AEK & OSFP has been good but age is important for the NT right now so I don’t really mind if we do give younger and fast wingers an actual chance to help and establish 

I agree with this post. We should start establishing younger and faster players from now on. Lazaros has done well in his career but nothing spectacular like Samaras, Karagounis and so on. I would’ve liked to see him at CAM but what’s the point. Donis at CAM/SS sounds intriguing. We should look at Lamprou because he is 21 and playing almost regularly in Holland and is scoring some goals. With a healthy team this is what ill do:

Vlacho

Toro Man Sok Koutris

Galanopoulos Kourbelis 

Donis Fortounis Lamprou 

Karelis 

For the national team Karelis has looked decent and can pop in a goal and runs more than Mitroglou. I would give our front 4 the freedom to interchange so we can mix it up and score a goal. 

 

 

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3 hours ago, Dean97 said:

I agree with this post. We should start establishing younger and faster players from now on. Lazaros has done well in his career but nothing spectacular like Samaras, Karagounis and so on. I would’ve liked to see him at CAM but what’s the point. Donis at CAM/SS sounds intriguing. We should look at Lamprou because he is 21 and playing almost regularly in Holland and is scoring some goals. With a healthy team this is what ill do:

Vlacho

Toro Man Sok Koutris

Galanopoulos Kourbelis 

Donis Fortounis Lamprou 

Karelis 

For the national team Karelis has looked decent and can pop in a goal and runs more than Mitroglou. I would give our front 4 the freedom to interchange so we can mix it up and score a goal. 

 

 

like this line up a lot. don't know much about lamprou but I would take fetfa,lazaros, or masouras on the side

mitroglou I still like number 1 as a target man. I like kolouris or karelis as impact subs

koutris is very sound. and i Like your idea of gala and kourbelis. an 8 and a 6 as you said. very balance squad. I think we need Mitroglou up top because we need some size up there. Reason why I like Masouras/Lazaros is as wingers they can score a lot. fetfa is just pure wild card

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6 hours ago, georgelaz said:

like this line up a lot. don't know much about lamprou but I would take fetfa,lazaros, or masouras on the side

mitroglou I still like number 1 as a target man. I like kolouris or karelis as impact subs

koutris is very sound. and i Like your idea of gala and kourbelis. an 8 and a 6 as you said. very balance squad. I think we need Mitroglou up top because we need some size up there. Reason why I like Masouras/Lazaros is as wingers they can score a lot. fetfa is just pure wild card

I think it’s more realistic to have Lamprou or Chatzigiovannis on the wing as Anastasiadis is looking to bring up youth. Fetfatzidis and Lazaros seem to be players the coach doesn’t want. But they are worthy candidates. Masouras is a decent option he can score goals and assist well. Let’s see how he does at Olympiakos.

Koutris is very good man... has has improved and has got pace. If you watched him closely in previous European games he works very hard defensively and equally as hard offensively in my opinion. He is good trust me.

Mitroglou yeah he is big but very slow and out of form. He has regressed in my opinion but is our best option. Karelis does well at ST for the national team. He is always closest to scoring every time he play. We should give Koulouris a chance.

I would prefer Pelkas as the 8 but we all know that won’t happen. Galanopoulos is more of a defensive 8 where as Pelkas is the more offensive 8. Depending on the game we should see these players interchanging.

Edited by Dean97
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Yes Sokratis is declining. Still good though you can't blame him for everything on such an Arsenal Defence. Team finishing 4th is gonna be a huge accomplishment with Aubemeyang and Lacazzette showing up once every month. Center forward Aubameyang touched the ball 10 times last day and 6 were free kicks. Torreira didn't show up yesterday and he sold the ball in at least 3 goals out of 5.

I still like Sokratis. With the NT at least, he is producing. And Retsos has already been included in the team so his starting spot won't come late.

 

As for Lamprou. People who followed the Panathinaikos Academies knew him since he was 15. He played as striker there tho. Anyways. He got a future ahead of him. Masouras , Lamprou, Siopis were all key factors for Panionios being competitive last year and the year before.

Paok imho made a mistake to not keep Lamprou and keep Warda. But they re both excellent players for Greece level if you ask me.

As for chatzigiovanis and Bouzoukis, their playing talks for themselves.

Edited by Rockafeller Skank
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Sokratis is still very good and don't think he declined at all. This was his only bad game all season and I've payed attention the whole time. Him and Holding have been a great pair, but Holding is injured right now. It's one game. s%$#! happens. 

Edited by georgelaz
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