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During the international break in March, they lined up Switzerland. There is time for another game during that break and they are trying to line up another team, Egypt being mentioned as a possibility...I thought the game against the Swiss was away and the other friendly would be at home in Saloniki...

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Our last friendly game was that of versus Belarus in November 2016.

We did not have any friendly games in 2017. This is Skibbes fault. I understand that the EPO doesnt have any money, but we should have played at least four friendly matches last year. I dont think there was another team that had a chance to qualify to the World Cup and did not play a single friendly in 2017. Skibbe should have tried new players and formations (like that employed versus Belgium, 4-4-1-1, or that used versus Croatia, 5-2-3) in these games. If we would have had an Otto or Santos type coach last year, we would have played several friendly games. Players like Vellios or Bakasetas wouldnt have started then in crucial games, Lykogiannis and Kourbelis would have gathered more experience, Maniatis the Right Back would have possibly been exposed before that match in Zagreb etc. etc. Rehhagel would have banged the tables if EPO wouldnt have organized any matches in a whole year. Same goes for Santos. Skibbe is perhaps not hard enough.

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We have several problems nowadays. Where are players like Avraam, Salpingidis, Karagounis, Gekas? The whole team or at least the majority consists of male models and poster boys. Where are the tenacious and dogged Greek fighters like those around Karagounis? Salpingidis, Patsatzoglou, Katsouranis, Spyropoulos tried always hard (regardless of their abilities) when they played together with Karagounis and under the direction of Otto and Santos. Samaris, Tachtsidis, Stafylidis, Donis, Fetfatzidis, Mantalos etc. are promising and good-looking and talented but where are the players who can lead us back to successes at the World Cup and the Euro? Torosidis, Manolas, Sokratis and Zeca cannot solve everything and we should have more attacking options than only Fortounis and Mitroglou. The other attacking midfielders, wingers and forwards are just there on the pitch, they are wholly average at international level, they dont score they cant do anything!

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4 hours ago, La Mendel said:

Our last friendly game was that of versus Belarus in November 2016.

We did not have any friendly games in 2017. This is Skibbes fault. I understand that the EPO doesnt have any money, but we should have played at least four friendly matches last year. I dont think there was another team that had a chance to qualify to the World Cup and did not play a single friendly in 2017. Skibbe should have tried new players and formations (like that employed versus Belgium, 4-4-1-1, or that used versus Croatia, 5-2-3) in these games. If we would have had an Otto or Santos type coach last year, we would have played several friendly games. Players like Vellios or Bakasetas wouldnt have started then in crucial games, Lykogiannis and Kourbelis would have gathered more experience, Maniatis the Right Back would have possibly been exposed before that match in Zagreb etc. etc. Rehhagel would have banged the tables if EPO wouldnt have organized any matches in a whole year. Same goes for Santos. Skibbe is perhaps not hard enough.

Good points, I can't believe that Greece did not play a single friendly in a year just ridiculous. Would have helped Skibbe see that Maniatis at RB was not suitable, especially vs a team with the attacking prowess of Croatia.

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6 hours ago, La Mendel said:

We have several problems nowadays. Where are players like Avraam, Salpingidis, Karagounis, Gekas? The whole team or at least the majority consists of male models and poster boys. Where are the tenacious and dogged Greek fighters like those around Karagounis? Salpingidis, Patsatzoglou, Katsouranis, Spyropoulos tried always hard (regardless of their abilities) when they played together with Karagounis and under the direction of Otto and Santos. Samaris, Tachtsidis, Stafylidis, Donis, Fetfatzidis, Mantalos etc. are promising and good-looking and talented but where are the players who can lead us back to successes at the World Cup and the Euro? Torosidis, Manolas, Sokratis and Zeca cannot solve everything and we should have more attacking options than only Fortounis and Mitroglou. The other attacking midfielders, wingers and forwards are just there on the pitch, they are wholly average at international level, they dont score they cant do anything!

our best looking players imo are Bakasetas, Kone, Samaris, Tachtsidis, Karnezis, Tziolis LOL.

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Yes, Kone looks like something out of Dumas. (That moustache.) I didnt mention him just because he is not a squad member now. Same goes for the Samsunspor duo G Samaras & M "The Tattooed Guy Who Couldnt Save a Dangerous Shot to Save His Life" Sifakis.

Bakasetas, Tziolis, Fortounis and Karnezis should have been added to my list. To be fair, Mantalos doesnt look that well.

If I remember correctly, eight or ten years ago Greek footballers almost without exception were as ugly as the devil's grandmother. Now everybody looks like a male model, and not only in the NT (take Galanopoulos alone!).

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You are right, Maniatis was a catastrophe versus Croatia. He was arguably OK versus Belgium as a right back. But who uses Maniatis as a wingback when he has Retsos (who is now better than even Kyriakos imo) or who starts with Tziolis as a DM (when he wants to park the bus) instead of Maniatis? Maniatis was mercilessly exposed, his manmarking was disastrous, he didnt even know that Perisic is his man (allegedly other players from the bench shouted at him during the game) when he should have been even somewhat useful if he would have been played as a second DM alongside Zeca who played on the wing.

Even now I cant believe how stupid Skibbe was before that game, given that Retsos can play even as a LEFT back (he played for Leverkusen as a LB some weeks before) and Skibbe chose Maniatis as a RB, Kyriakos as a CB and Tzavellas/Stafylidis on the left side. None of them should have been preferred over Retsos who can do better work than any of those in those positions.

Zeca wasted as a winger, when he was our only capable defensive midfielder.

Maniatis exposed to laughter as a right back (which wasnt his original position), when he could have been even useful in that formation as a DM. Surely he is a better choice than Tziolis? Granted, he plays for an unglamorous Turkish club. But Turkey is at least a competitive league while Tziolis plays for one of the worst teams in a holiday league.

Siovas could have been played as one of the three central defenders too. But he wasnt even called up while Oikonomou and Kolovetsios and the likes were in the squad.

Samaris starting despite not having many game time in Portugal. At least Karnezis was OK, he made a fault before that penalty but had two or three fine saves and was completely helpless before the second, third and fourth Croatian goals.

Ah well, I guess we could make a much longer list of Skibbe's faults before and during the playoff matches. Despite the many injuries and out-of-form players, he bungled that away game.

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20 hours ago, La Mendel said:

We have several problems nowadays. Where are players like Avraam, Salpingidis, Karagounis, Gekas? The whole team or at least the majority consists of male models and poster boys. Where are the tenacious and dogged Greek fighters like those around Karagounis? Salpingidis, Patsatzoglou, Katsouranis, Spyropoulos tried always hard (regardless of their abilities) when they played together with Karagounis and under the direction of Otto and Santos. Samaris, Tachtsidis, Stafylidis, Donis, Fetfatzidis, Mantalos etc. are promising and good-looking and talented but where are the players who can lead us back to successes at the World Cup and the Euro? Torosidis, Manolas, Sokratis and Zeca cannot solve everything and we should have more attacking options than only Fortounis and Mitroglou. The other attacking midfielders, wingers and forwards are just there on the pitch, they are wholly average at international level, they dont score they cant do anything!

La you champion, Avraam is at Brisbane Roar and scoring goals re maik. He just got back from suspension, he spat at another player then fell over like he'd been hit.  He is in form and an excellent CB still.

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Zeca as a RB would have been better than RM I think.

Zeca should be played his natural position though CDM.

Retsos looked good as a full back. He's not super pacey or creative but he has decent passing from the wings and he's not really big and bulky (yet) as a CB generally should be.

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1 hour ago, ausgreek said:

La you champion, Avraam is at Brisbane Roar and scoring goals re maik. He just got back from suspension, he spat at another player then fell over like he'd been hit.  He is in form and an excellent CB still.

He scored another now (Brisbane-Perth is 1-1 in the 39th minute, Avraam scored in the 4th minute).

Edited by La Mendel
nonsense
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I think the same. But I am glad every occasion he scores (and he has scored more goals in the last year than Samaras).

Avraams NT career has been definitely over for a couple of years. (To be fair, he was ok when he was nevertheless called up and played as in the match versus Serbia in 2014 when he was one of our best performers.) At least he has a club, plays regularly and scores more often than, say, Samaras. That injury in 2012 against Poland has effectively destroyed his NT and whole career. He has lost much of his earlier pace, and he had relied first of all on his being quick. He could have save himself with excellent positioning, but his positioning was never as outstanding as that of Moras, for example (no wonder he played in Italy until the age of 35). Thus he was squeezed out of Oly starting XI (despite being team captain in 2012), then he went to Trabzonspor but couldnt secure a place in the team. As a consequence of this he lost his place in the NT squad. I must admit he didnt choose the easier way (retiring) and he has played regularly for a couple of odd teams (Jubilo Iwata, Shanghai Shenhua, Brisbane Roar) and I feel sorry for him for he could have been a squad member until the World Cup 2014 but for that horror injury. In his position we have however real depth. There are plenty of great centre backs so he wont be called up again I guess, but Id like to see similar combative-spirited guys in the Ethniki (compare his tenacity with that of the likes of Samaris/Kone/Lazaros/Fetfatzidis).

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  • 3 weeks later...
On 1/26/2018 at 10:37 PM, Ellada2004 said:

I hope we get a win vs Egypt can't believe they are in the World Cup

yeah. that's why a euro win is almost as big of a deal as a world cup game. because we all  know that a good amount of teams in world cup aren't deserving but because of the continent rations certain teams get through

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