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Friendly: Netherlands Vs. Greece(1 September 2016, Philips Stadion, Eindhoven)


Omonoia9

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Not to mention that on paper in our last previous matches , we ve won Hungary, a team in the R16 of Euro, Australia and Holland ,  both teams of the WC 2014,Montenegro , a pot 2-3 team. All we need ot 3 wins over Gibraltar, Estonia and Cyprus to believe. Also, since our main contestants for the top 2 spots are Belgium and Bosnia, the fact taht they play each other while we play the easy opponents first, means that if we  make a 3/3 in our first matches we have at least one , if not both of them behind in the points level. So good and serious behaviour could actually see us through just for that reason.

 

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Boys great win great passing and some good finishing but to be honest our defence is very weak and if it continues there is no way we are going to qualify for the World Cup.. It is just a friendly and we beat a team who's confidence is maybe worse then ours. If you listen to the commentary by the Dutch before the game even they said "This Greece team should not pose any problems as there defence is weak and they have given up goals to the weakest of teams and they're not what they once were" on another note does anyone else feel better with Kapino in net rather than Karnezies? I have no confidence in Karnezis. Let's just not look at Belgium and Bosnia because there is a good chance Cypress will give us a run for our money and they won't be an easy opponent at all.

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6 hours ago, Nikod said:

Great win!! Sounds like they carved up our defense quite a few times tho. How was the midfield? That's been our big weakness for years and part of the reason for ourself defensive frailty.

Well said. Just watching some highlights. Lost count how may times i saw the defense battling on their own. The midfielders simply can't get back in time.

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I watched the match in full and to be honest Rockafeller Skank is right, most of the Dutch shots were essentially from outside of the box and the defense was the best it has been in over a year.

Maniatis was good but Samaris owned that midfield at times. He's a class above.

Unlike in Australia, the team didn't fade away and kept a very decent tempo to the match. Even before the goal to the Dutch, we looked comfortable and played attractive football.

The Dutch goal came from a stupid giveaway from Sokratis. Real dumb and boneheaded pass that he and Manolas need to remove from their game. It's these concentration lapses that have made the team look bad the last year.

Netherlands are in essentially the same place we are in. They have a new coach and are transitioning from a talented generation but don't think that they weren't trying or that they were playing their B team. Aside from Depay who's hot and cold, Huntelaar and I'm guessing Cillesen (GK) that's their best squad.

The real surprise is how well Mitroglou played. The guy has been working hard at benfica. He's got a very quick turn of speed and he was hassling the Dutch defenders and although he lost the ball a few too many times like Gianniotas did too, he looked exceptional.

 

Also Rockafeller Skank, congratulation on finally having sex!

 

 

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The dutch were under a lot of pressure from the organization, media and fans. They were trying. They did not want to lose at home. They were simply beaten, pure and simple. This may not have been their A team, but it was their B+, make no mistake. 

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Even ending up second in the qualification campaign is a step up. Even making it to the play off is gonna be a step up. This is the target. I ll be happy if the team makes it to the play offs and doesn't get stomped there but still does not make it to the WC. It's a lot easier to qualify for a 24 team Euro than it is to qualify for a 13 UEFA Spots competition. 

 Defeating Gibraltar Estonia and Cyprus is the top priority here. We will have games in our history when approaching Bosnia and Belgium.
Belgium coach was terrible but we don't have sign of the new one either. I saw Jordan Lukaku getting selected against spain. They lost 2-0. They are not one level above, as someone posted, you are wrong. They are far more levels above us, especially offensivewise, but they are known for being chokers. We still hope they bring their big game in the qualifiers and especially stomp bosnia's useless defence, to make our 2nd spot realistic target more easily achieved.

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Mantalos played well along with Mitroglou and Papadopoulos. I think this team has good players all round. Maniatis played alright and so did Tzavellas.

One of the problems I had watching this game was when Sokratis gave the ball away why weren't Manolas and Karnezis more sharper in clearing the ball. It was a sloppy goal.

When I saw Papadopoulos come on and saw the way he played I know he could've done better than Manolas in the 1st goal. 

It is still a hard decision of who should be our 1st choice keeper as Kapino did well.

In what 1789 said who else is there down the line you think is a more technical player to show for the ball and smarter player to draw a foul. I can't think of one. I still believe Samaris should be our main starter in midfield.

All in all I was very pleased in what I saw in this game but I still think something is missing.

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Well I didn't see the game but I did go through all the highlights provided here.

Good win. The Dutch are the Dutch. Never a weak team even though they rested some regulars. They and their home crowd didn't want to lose and the Greeks came away with the victory.

Regarding Mitroglou. I am really hoping this guy is starting to show the same heart that Gekas provided as a striker. Gekas was not a big man but he was fearless. Mitro has some size and if he adopts that same level of guts that Gekas had then he can be a real force up front. The Dutch defender wanted nothing to do with him on that header goal. Great set up by the way.

At least we now know the days of losing to the Faroe Islands are behind us. Everything that could go wrong went wrong. Let's see how this team does with a clean slate and I predict a solid victory in game one. Something like 3-0 and then the team takes it easy. I don't see them as trying to run up the score even if it is the right thing to do for tiebreaker purposes.

 

 

 

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nice from the highlights we seem focused.

 

always tend to play better with a chip on our shoulders.

 

pleasantly surprised. thank god Mitroglou is in form.

hopefully fortounis didn't get knocked too bad.


we pretty much played our best lineup so I'm finally satisfied.

 

like i said before, if we play our best lineup to the T we're a very very good side.

Edited by georgelaz
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^^^

The whole team looks pretty good in those highlights, not just Kosta.

I am so impressed with the effort level and high level of skill the team is showing out there.  It's amazing the turnaround.  They are playing with passion again.  

I don't know if it's certain players maturing or it's Skibbe but it's vast improvement. 

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9 hours ago, 1789 said:

They aren't reliable enough to draw fouls if in trouble while on the ball (neither come close to the master Karagounis).

Exactamundo.  Karagounis had many great qualities as a player, but his best was that he didn't give away the ball cheaply.  He could hold onto it, he could shield it, he would get the foul if required.  Either way, the opposition didn't get the ball easily.  I remember hearing a statistic on Karagounis (never confirmed it) that he was the most fouled player in the CL one particular season.  This is back when PAO had a killer team before he left for Inter.

The important thing is, that if as a player you have confidence in your team mate, you will make different decisions.  Pretend for a moment you are playing and you have the ball.  Karagounis makes himself available.  What do you do ?  You pass it!  Because you know he will more often than not not lose possession.  Done.  Easy.

Now let's say you're in the same situation and it's a different player.  You think "man, sometimes he does some really silly things with the ball" and you're unsure of whether to pass it or not.  You delay 1/10th of a second thinking about this.  Oh what!  You've been tackled and lost possession, or you didn't make the pass and instead went for a more difficult pass, and lost possession that way.

Either way, if a player compensates for a team mate (as I suppose they should) it affects the flow of the game.

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This whole Epo clearing - Gkirtzikis leaving - Referees getting denied - is αναζωογονητικό for the National Team.

I will repeat that Skibbe call ups were clearly on point. Stafylidis is clearly not as experienced as Holebas , but whoever saying he is a step down, are we aware where Holebas was playing at his age? Its Munchen 1860 II.

at the age of 22, Stafylidis had already picked a starter spot in taems like GSL Paok, Championship Fuhlam , Bundeliga Augsburg and got interest from Bayer Leverkusen. I am not aware how he ll end up, but honestly this is one of the healthiest careers a Greek Footballer has had, left Greece and managed to go to teams where he will and can play/take matches on his feet, even if it was on loan.

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Αnd whom do we put on the side? Mantalos being the 10 Skibbe prefers means fortounis , who must indeed be included in our starters , must move to the sides. He is not very fast and he is too smart to just be the guy who chases balls and crosses from the left or the right.

A 3CB system would totally λυτρώσει our midfield. But I am not aware if we actually need this.

In our last 6 matches, apart from the 0-1 defeat against Australia we ve scored 2 to 4 goals in each.

And we didn't play trash teams like Gibraltar.

4 Against R16 EURO team Hungary

2 Against top pot 3 team Montenegro

2 Against R16 Euro team Iceland 

2 Against Top team Netherlands

2 Against Asian Champion Australia

Of course some of them were friendlies but the point is, In 6 games we scored 12 goals., which is as many as we scored in our whole qualification for the WC 14 in 10 games.

The team has obviously stepped up its offensive play, Gianniotas MUST be a starter, Mitroglou MUST be a starter, Mandalos, Fortounis MUST be starters , Karelis COULD be a starter. We can finally see a team that wasn't tryharding to win a Liechtenstein 1-0, which is good. 

I think in this match we saw which players Skibbe considers starters and probably rocks in the following qualification campaign. I think he still has questions about the LB , LW , GK and a 6-8 in Maniatis place.

As I previously stated I dont like Fortounis ending up in the sides, he is oo smart to be played there.

Gianniotas - Holebas should be our starter wingers in my opinion. And I believe Fetfatzidis should be reconsidered from the Greek NT. 

As for the Left Back. I never said Staf is a legit Left Back. I just pointed that being wanted from good teams means he has something and definatley some potential since he is still 22. However currently, with so many offensive centered players in the field, I think Tzavellas has the upper hand in the LB selection. The reason is that he is better as a defender (although slower), because he is playing as a CB (clearly defensive role) for 1,5 year. Maybe this is the reason we saw him start? Skibbe just wanted his defensive attributes? I didn't see the whole match and from the highlights I didn't see Tzavellas go up much. Can someone say for sure?

 

So back to the reason I made this comment:
We ve finally found chemistry in the team's offence. Fortounis in the wings is a no for me, if both Mantalos and Fortounis MUST start Id prefer to remove one of the Samaris -Maniatis - Petsos who will probably will be our 2 clearly defensive midfielders, but that can only happen against bad opponents like Gibraltar and possibly Estonia.

Mitroglou

Holebas- Fortounis - Gianniotas

Mantalos Samaris

Anyone-Sokratis-Manolas-Torosidis

Karnezis

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people talk smack about him, but torosidis is still highly relevant.

 

the fact that he can still maintain at RB at 30 is a testament to his quality when other RB's get shifted to CB  or CDM

He rarely is at fault for our goals, and is always potent on the attack for us. Sometimes he makes shaky crosses but he is also responsible for the few glimpses of attacking chance we've had

Edited by georgelaz
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On 02/09/2016 at 7:12 AM, Akritis_1944 said:

The real surprise is how well Mitroglou played. The guy has been working hard at benfica.

 

Did you notice how fit he looked? Seems like he is set for a career season, looks very serious and determined at the moment, he is going to light defences up I feel.

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