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Gibraltar V Greece: 6 September 2016 World Cup Qualifier Estádio Algarve ( Portugal )


Greekaroos

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I watched the match in full and we weren't nearly as bad as the negative among us believe. I didn't watch the match live with any sort of anxiety or expectation as I had seen the highlights earlier and read a few reports and when I finally watched the match I saw a lot of positives and clearly the negatives that we all have commented on.

We created numerous chances in that second half and aside from some poor execution and decisions from Vellios, Bakasetas and Gianniotas we could have scored 2 or 3 definite goals. There wasn't the urgency to score more goals which I find odd, so hopefully it won't cost os with goal difference.

It wasn't as depressing as say the match against Northern Ireland in the last campaign.

One thing which needs to be fixed is the errors by the midfield and especially our so-called world class defenders in Sokratis and Manolas. These 2 guys have the ability and physical attributes to be the best defenders in the world but I am afraid they are both as thick as dumbbells. The number of stupid plays they do in any given match is ridiculous. If they had half the intelligence of a Moras then we would rarely concede.

Vellios doesn't deserve any more call ups until he starts scoring and performing regularly for Forrest. In my opinion he has the potential to be a decent target man. I rate him if given decent service and obviously some patience (which we probably don't have). He is just down on confidence and he didn't do himself any favours last night but he is streets better than Papazoglou and Kangaroo Giannou.

Karelis is the player who should have come on and not Vellios so that's on Skibbe.

We've all said it countless times, but Skibbe needs to drop both Tziolis and Maniatis and only pick ONE of them if they are playing regularly. The truth is that he should be looking at Kourbelis or Siopis to take over from these 2 while if Ninis and Tachtsidis are performing then both of these guys should be in the squad.

Some of us need to accept that we are not the team that would play anti-football with a dour defensive mentality. Those days are over and we either move in a new direction or we end up being a mediocre Pot 3 team.

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4 hours ago, Akritis_1944 said:

If anyone fears the Bosnians go and watch the match or the highlights. They scored from 2 corners. A non-existant penalty on Dzeko where his own teammate played on because it wasn't a penalty and the other 2 goals from a combination of poor keeping and amateur defending.

Now I know it's not 2004 and we are seriously dire at times at defending but Bosnia aren't getting gifts like that from us nor Cyprus.

I fear the attack and possession of Belgium but there's time to improve provided Skibbe picks the best players.

Karelis would have been perfect as a sub a against Gibraltar. Let's see if Vellios, Tziolis and Maniatis continue in this team.

Yes, because we're not allowed to score from corners? Set pieces are also valid goals, and if we can take good corners, that will score you goals.

 

Anyone who says that was a "non-existent penalty" has no idea about football.

 

Don't most goals come from poor defending and "poor keeping"? Not every goal is a 40 yard screamer. If you can exploit the defense then you will. Bosnia also hit the woodwork 3 times, should have had another penalty and the keeper kept them out a few times. We've just come off a campaign where we came bottom of the group, lost to the Faroes twice, lost to Bosnia only 3 years ago quite convincingly and suddenly we're spitting on them? A 4-1 against Gibraltar is not an amazing performance.

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12 minutes ago, kosaca said:

Yes, because we're not allowed to score from corners? Set pieces are also valid goals, and if we can take good corners, that will score you goals.

 

Anyone who says that was a "non-existent penalty" has no idea about football.

 

Don't most goals come from poor defending and "poor keeping"? Not every goal is a 40 yard screamer. If you can exploit the defense then you will. Bosnia also hit the woodwork 3 times, should have had another penalty and the keeper kept them out a few times. We've just come off a campaign where we came bottom of the group, lost to the Faroes twice, lost to Bosnia only 3 years ago quite convincingly and suddenly we're spitting on them? A 4-1 against Gibraltar is not an amazing performance.

 

It is if you consider that the last time you faced a pot 5-6 team (idk how the pots go) you lost to it twice.

A 4-1 against Gibraltar is not an amazing performance, but adding two friendly wins over Australia (who is an average team just like Greece and Bosnia) and Netherlands (a top team on a bad era) then this is amazing performance overall. Skibbe could have also played carefully the Iceland game to win it, instead of just testing-testing-testing and losing after a 2-0 lead. This would totally build confidence. The EPO could have also cared with the Giannou issue, as the draw with a Turkey on its good days would also build confidence, despite the fact that we were getting stomped in the field.

All these teams(no gibraltar obviously) are far better than Finland,Ireland, Faroe and even Romania,there I said it. Of course this is not the NT we were used to , being in the top 20 nations and winning every match 1-0 (that's gotten better now to be honest), but it's beginning to be more self concious. I will be quite happy if we get 4 points in our 2 upcomming matches. Cyprus team is not bad, and if they play with 5 in the back like Gibraltar did, we ll get anxious if we dont score and we ll see similar results like yesterday's (sloppy plays-bad passes from the last men).

Edited by Rockafeller Skank
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Also, Id like to mention that I don't think the aim is to qualify. For every realistic fan, the aim should be improvement from the last campaign. Best outcome I can expect if the team doesnt δέσει , is a play off spot where we lose. Our team on their day can even top the group with luck. Belgium is not solid and Jordan Lukaku is gonna be Gianniotas/Mantalos dinner.

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43 minutes ago, aek66 said:

well, it gets more complicated than that..

 

tzavellas has to play because you believe xolebas is a left winger. i believe both are fantasy. predictably, xolebas had a very poor match last week. it's the same with toro, put toro in mandalos' position against holland and toro does nothing. toro has also shown in the past, when played higher up, he is totally lost.

 

play xolebas at LB and stafylidis is the next on the depth chart.

 

Then we reach a no-go.

How do you agree with all the posters saying we are playing bad, while noone in the Left Flank was a starter, and in fact, Tzavellas is the 3rd in the depth chard (not even 2nd) while our winger is the 5th striker on the depth chart. We never used the Left Flank to attack, and at the same time they only used their right one to attack. How can someone expect from literally 4 players who are "only useful" in Toro,Fortounis,Mantalos,Mitroglou and Gianniotas instead of Mantalos later, to score more than 4 goals? Would Holebas be just as bad as Bakasetas was? Would he at least be able to pass their bad defenders one on one ( due to his dribble skills and pace) and make far better crosses/far quicker play than both Bakasetas and Tzavellas combined?

You call Holebas being bad. What you dont understand is that you call him bad based on the Holebas criteria, based on what you know of him. Not to mention that he knows Mitroglou well enough to be able to service him far better than youngster Bakasetas and Tzavellas.

Holebas would be a total upgrade in the team no matter if he played in the front or in the back. I am  ok with putting him in his best role, but if Skibbe wants someone stronger/bigger like Tzavellas to be there, then i will insist on him playing as a winger.

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Holebas needs to be in this line up and starting every game, his speed can make up for a lot of his mistakes and he's got more talent then most on this team. Tziolis and Vellios should never play again for this team period. Tzavellas should be a last resort. Giannatos needs a regular look  as he showed hustle and good ball control but needs work on his crossing. Ninis needs to get a look with this squad. Even Fetfa should get another look. At the end of the day if we lose and we aren't good so be it but I want to lose by playing our absolute best line up which I still don't think we are doing. Skibbe selections made me lose confidence in him yesterday as I think a monkey could have made better and more attacking selection of players. with the line up we started yesterday we would be screwed against Belgium, Bosnia and I'm my sure we would even beat Cypres to be honest.

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17 hours ago, Giourkas said:

We should of scored 3 more and our D worries the s%$#! out of me...

we looked exposed at times and the thought of playing stronger teams scares me...

mitroglou had a great day. Beautiful goal and assist on the Fourtounis goal..

If this side can expose you, you can only imagine what will happen against belgium. Sokratis has regressed. This ain't the same guy that was playing at aek. Manolas was never that great to begin with, just recently that porto attacker goes past him untroubled. Our biggest problems though stems from the midfield. Samaris and maniatis are slow as F*** and offer nothing from an attacking perspective. Replace them with two decent mobile midfielders and both sokratis and manolas will fair much better.

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@val, What would I give to get 25 year old versions of Basinas and Karagounis in their place.. We would be in business

they would both do a better job of winning the ball. Kara would never give the ball away and win fouls. Basinas would efficiently distribute the ball to the forwards from a deep lying position...

 

Edited by Giourkas
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Well I've mentioned it so many times and noone gives a fuss until Sokratis himself sais it. 

They were playing with so bad opponents that they were making fussy and sloppy moves , like Sokratis and Samaris passes ending up in an opponent. It's really ρεζίλι but it looked like it was. Their only mind was on how to get the ball up front so we score more. Defence wasn't as close as bad. Still the goal was a personal mistake of Tzavellas in my opinion. He left the man take the shot like he wanted to take it. It was the perfect shot from that spot. The second chance they had was almost the same thing, floppy pass from Samaris I think? 

As for the offence. I feel kinda bad because, Vellios had like 4-5 good chances to score. I wasn't expecting him to score all of them but we'd be talking differently about the game if it was 1-6. Gianniotas very good and needs to settle with the team. However, this either means that One of hte Fortounis/Mandalos doesn't play, or that Mandalos gets put behind in a 8 position, in which im not sure if he can be decent.

I will insist on Holebas Left Winger at least for the Games with Cyprus and Estonia. Second option Karelis.

As for people mentioning Manolas not being as good as they mention, I don't remember him looking sloppy once at the whole game.

Edited by Rockafeller Skank
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8 hours ago, ELLAS75 said:

Vellios had to score at least 1 goal with all those chances. He had no composure in front of goal. I was stunned how awful he looked.

exactly , how he was brought in instead of karelis and diamantakos who both scored more then 1 goal for their teams this season and vellios hasnt scored a single goal so far this season including pre-season and also isnt getting good rates is really worrying. the only reason why he starts for forest at the moment is that the other strikers arent fit. moreover forest just bought bendtner so he probably will sit on the bench most of the season.

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Do you guys really see a difference with the players Skibbe  has selected over Raneri, Markarian, Tsanas selections? I just think the results have gotten a little better but I don't see a huge difference IMO. This is really concerning.

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