EURO 2008: Greece - Turkey

[DUDE]

Forza Georgia! :tup:

Well, I watched the match Malta vs. Austria on our national TV.

Actually, Malta has not played well at all.... unfortunately "my" Austrians (once again) has a very bad day.

Anyway, actually I do not care about the Austrian national team too much.

Only one thing is important: Defeating the Turks in order to being able to participate in the European Championship 2008!

:gr: :gr: :gr:

Thanks for your support friend. Its a shame you dont care about the Austrian national team though. :( It would be great if you did well at your home tournament!

[DUDE]

kiriakos at the moment is our best defender by far!

Agreed, he's one of my fav players. A giganta! On his day he's one of the best in Europe. He does have his lapses but for Greece he's been exceptional!

in terms of young players or alternatives to dellas/anatolakis/goumas, who are all good defenders if fit, you could name torosidis. but he is better as a right back or def mid. apart from that you could call avraam papadapoulos from aris a future ethniki player and maybe moras...sometimes at least. alexopoulos (aek) is good but injured.

Being an AEK fan you've obviously seen the team alot more than I have but one player that I LOVE and is excellent whenever I've seen him is Papastathopoulos. Could he feature in the NT do you think?

i think we will probably see the korea squad more or less against the turks. maybe with salpi and without amanatidis. papadopoulos seems a bit out of favour with otto.

I think Salpi will be a great addition when he returns, I just hope he plays against Turkey. Its also worth noting that Haristeas is starting to find his feet at Feyenord. He's been scoring goals and playing well and in the last game against Ajax he scored and hit the post twice. I'd go with Salpi and Haristeas up front for the Turkey game to start with.

the only real question is wether patsatsoglou makes it for the game which i think is very doubtful.

If Patsa plays I think he'll make the difference, thats how important I find him to be, so i hope you're wrong and he's back.

In terms of trying new players/solutions I'd like to see many players be given a chance in a friendly. In the next friendly I'd try something like this:

1st half:

-----------------------------------------Nikopolidis------------------------------------------

Seitaridis------------------Kyriakos--------------Papastathopoulos---------------Fyssas

Patsa----------------------Katsouranis---------------Basinas-------------Tziortziopoulos

-----------------------------Haristeas---------------------Lybe-----------------------------

Patsa on the right along with Seitaridi would make our right side world class imo! Solid with the ability to be explosive. Papastathopoulos is a little terrier, he fights for everything! I love that about him. As for Tziotzio, he's a wonderful crosser but he isnt great defensively so he could provide alot in terms of providing for Haristea. Also, because he is naturally fairly defensive-minded as is Patsa we won't lose the solid element.

2nd half:

-----------------------------------------Nikopolidis------------------------------------------

Torosidis------------------Katsouranis------------Tavlaridis--------------Tziortziopoulos

Ninis-----------------------Zikos--------------------Tziolis---------------Giannakopoulos

----------------------------------------Karagounis------------------------------------------

-----------------------------------------Haristeas--------------------------------------------

Pretty self explanatory here.

Obviously none of this can happen against Turkey but its something I'd try if I was manager in the future.

[Guest geok]

Ellhnares, eimoun kai egw sto ghpedo proxtes. Pai3ame kala kai nomizw oti an aplws kanoume kapoies apo tis eukairies goal me thn Tourkia den 8a exoume problhma.

Oso afora thn entekada, mhn perimenete ekpli3eis. An o Dellas einai etoimos 8a pai3ei partener tou kyriakou sto kentro thn amynas. Sta plagia sigoura Giourkas kai sto kentro sigoura mpasinas, katsouranis, karagounis. Epi8esh sigoura 8a balei xaristea. Termatofylakas o Nikopolidis. Mani mani 9 8eseis sigoures, oi alles dyo meinane.

Oi alles 8eseis stous palious 8a pane alla den 3erw poious...

Exw na kanw kapoies episymanseis:

(1) O fyssas den paizei kala; me thn Korea htan kakos. Alla eimai sxedon sigouros oti o Otto 8a ton empisteu8ei.

(2) Me tis emfaniseis pou kanei o amanatidis, arxizw na nomizw oti den exei 8esh gia thn e8nikh, oute apo ton pago.

(3) O Stelios edwse allh pnoh meta thn eisodo tou. Den 3erw poso 8a ante3ei omws, isws na einai kalytera na ton balei o Otto sto deutero hmixrono analoga me thn e3eli3h tou agwna. An den arxisei basikos me thn tourkia, sigoura 8a mpei allagh.

(4) Systhma: to 4-3-3 8a exei risko alla einai pio epi8etiko kai isws auto na pai3ei o Otto, to 4-4-2 einai kalytero gia tournoua h gia ektos edras. An ypo8esoume oti 8a pai3oume 4-3-3 tote blepw Samara kai Salpiggidi gia kalous partener tou xaristea kai mporoun malista kai oi dyo na pai3oun plagia, enw o Gekas einai pio klassiko for, ara ton blepw ton fanh ston pago.

Ara h problepsi mou gia starting lineup einai h e3hs:

- Antonis -

Fyssas Dellas Kyriakos Seitaridis

Mpasinas Katsouranis Karagounis

Salpiggidis Xaristeas Samaras

An den exoume skorarei, 8a mpei kai o Stelios mesa sth 8esh tou Samara h Salpiggidis.

Yparxei bebaia kai to allo systhma pou mporei na pai3ei: 4-3-1-2 me Samara kai Xaristea sthn Epi8esh kai Lympe pisw sth mesh alla nomizw oti 8a balei salpi giati einai poly grhgoros kai kanei kai tis eukairies goal (se anti8esh me ton Xaristea).

Basika auto pou 8a h8ela na dw sto ghpedo einai to e3hs:

-Antonis-

Vyntra Torosidis Kyriakos Seitaridis

Mpasinas Katsouranis Karagounis

Papadopoulos Samaras Salpiggidis

Den 8elw panta na blepw sentres gia to kefali tou xaristea kai 8a htan kalytera o Sam na pai3ei sto kentro ths epi8eshs gia na apasxolei tous kentrikous amyntikous. Kai o Pap kai o Salpi einai poly kaloi apo ta plagia. Pantws den nomizw oti 8a dw authn thn syn8esh me thn Tourkia, xaxaxaxa :LOL:

Oso gia to teliko skor, elpizw se nikh me ena goal diafora....

:gr: :tup:

[Guest geok]

Ellhnares, eimoun kai egw sto ghpedo proxtes. Pai3ame kala kai nomizw oti an aplws kanoume kapoies apo tis eukairies goal me thn Tourkia den 8a exoume problhma.

Oso afora thn entekada, mhn perimenete ekpli3eis. An o Dellas einai etoimos 8a pai3ei partener tou kyriakou sto kentro thn amynas. Sta plagia sigoura Giourkas kai sto kentro sigoura mpasinas, katsouranis, karagounis. Epi8esh sigoura 8a balei xaristea. Termatofylakas o Nikopolidis. Mani mani 9 8eseis sigoures, oi alles dyo meinane.

Oi alles 8eseis stous palious 8a pane alla den 3erw poious...

Exw na kanw kapoies episymanseis:

(1) O fyssas den paizei kala; me thn Korea htan kakos. Alla eimai sxedon sigouros oti o Otto 8a ton empisteu8ei.

(2) Me tis emfaniseis pou kanei o amanatidis, arxizw na nomizw oti den exei 8esh gia thn e8nikh, oute apo ton pago.

(3) O Stelios edwse allh pnoh meta thn eisodo tou. Den 3erw poso 8a ante3ei omws, isws na einai kalytera na ton balei o Otto sto deutero hmixrono analoga me thn e3eli3h tou agwna. An den arxisei basikos me thn tourkia, sigoura 8a mpei allagh.

(4) Systhma: to 4-3-3 8a exei risko alla einai pio epi8etiko kai isws auto na pai3ei o Otto, to 4-4-2 einai kalytero gia tournoua h gia ektos edras. An ypo8esoume oti 8a pai3oume 4-3-3 tote blepw Samara kai Salpiggidi gia kalous partener tou xaristea kai mporoun malista kai oi dyo na pai3oun plagia, enw o Gekas einai pio klassiko for, ara ton blepw ton fanh ston pago.

Ara h problepsi mou gia starting lineup einai h e3hs:

- Antonis -

Fyssas Dellas Kyriakos Seitaridis

Mpasinas Katsouranis Karagounis

Salpiggidis Xaristeas Samaras

An den exoume skorarei, 8a mpei kai o Stelios mesa sth 8esh tou Samara h Salpiggidis.

Yparxei bebaia kai to allo systhma pou mporei na pai3ei: 4-3-1-2 me Samara kai Xaristea sthn Epi8esh kai Lympe pisw sth mesh alla nomizw oti 8a balei salpi giati einai poly grhgoros kai kanei kai tis eukairies goal (se anti8esh me ton Xaristea).

Basika auto pou 8a h8ela na dw sto ghpedo einai to e3hs:

-Antonis-

Vyntra Torosidis Kyriakos Seitaridis

Mpasinas Katsouranis Karagounis

Papadopoulos Samaras Salpiggidis

Den 8elw panta na blepw sentres gia to kefali tou xaristea kai 8a htan kalytera o Sam na pai3ei sto kentro ths epi8eshs gia na apasxolei tous kentrikous amyntikous. Kai o Pap kai o Salpi einai poly kaloi apo ta plagia. Pantws den nomizw oti 8a dw authn thn syn8esh me thn Tourkia, xaxaxaxa :LOL:

Oso gia to teliko skor, elpizw se nikh me ena goal diafora....

:gr: :tup:

[Olympiakosthyra7]

No doubt the following if able too play:

Kyriakos Nikopolidis Salpi Giannakopoulos Patsa Samaras Karagounis Katsouranis Dellas(i think for the best) Seitaridis Fyssas

No reason to even play: Basinas Vyndra

Maybe:Amanatidis Charisteas Torosidis Tavlaridis if otto can get his act straight!

[AEKPROTATHLIMA]

I am hopeing for a win here because if we win this game we are pretty much advance. Now about the starting 11 let's see:

Nikopolidis

Kyriakos Dellas Fyssas Seitaridis

Basinas Katsouranis Karagounis Gianakopoulos

Amanatidis Charisteas

(Papa,Salp or Lybe) (Gekas,Samaras)

:gr: :gr: :gr: :gr: :gr: :gr: :gr: :gr: :gr: :gr: :gr: :gr: :gr: :gr: :gr:

[OFI-mtl]

Has Lagos lost his place with Otto, when he did not reveal his injuries only days before our last game??

I believe Otto will go down swinging with HIS BOYS!

OTTO: Nikopolidis,Seitaridis, Dellas (Anatolakis),Kyriakos,Fyssas,Stelios,Basinas ,Katsouranis,Karagounis,Charisteas,Samaras(Salpi)

My Endekada:

Nikopolidis (Sifakis backup)

Giourkas

Kyriakos

Fyssas

Katsouranis SWEEPER

Patsa

Basinas

Karagounis ( please play like a #10)

Lagos( If healthy if not move Paps add Samaras)

Salpigidis

Papadopoulos

Yes I know the SWEEPER has burned us in the past, BUT if we can not field a quality Centerback to play with Soto, I TRUST Katsouranis to make all the right moves back there over Goumas Anatolakis or a 60% Dellas.

I've removed both tall strikers, I'm tired of seeing Charisteas miss quality chnaces, and I'm disapointed in Samaras (I'm a big backer of his) not hustling and NOT demanding the ball from our mids, he looks like he is in cruise control.

I believe Stelios serves us better off the bench as instant offence if we are down.

I chose a small hustling lineup which has 3 leftfooters so Fyssas Lagos and Paps can offer threart down that side of the field and makes us as qwik as the turks for this big game.

HOPEFULLY THEY COME OUT TOP PLAY!

[aekrossoponti]

Being an AEK fan you've obviously seen the team alot more than I have but one player that I LOVE and is excellent whenever I've seen him is Papastathopoulos. Could he feature in the NT do you think?

If Patsa plays I think he'll make the difference, thats how important I find him to be, so i hope you're wrong and he's back.

i thought about papastathopoulos as well but in my opinion he is not ready. also i dont think its good to call up players who have yet to make ten protathlima games as a starter unles they are superb. so it would probably make more sense calling up ninis for the first team than papastathopoulos at the moment. defense is very sensible position and he is very foul-prone and still makes costly mistakes (i.e. vs lille, olympiakos). in the furure maybe but now, i would say he is not ready for the first national team. let him play with the elpidon team and develop into a player that will help.

patsa: from what i heard he may be back in full training in 2 weeks (best case), the reality with patsa implies he is going to miss the turkey game. i too think he is a key player for our ethniki and with kiriakos probably the best non-euro 04 player to come to the ethniki. ironically both kiriakos and patsa were in the thniki before the euro and missed the tournament due to injury. we haven t developed any great new player since the euro except maybe samaras.

lagos is out injured for at leat 3-4 months!

salpi is good but doesn t really make me think he can make a difference against class opposition. i am somewhat unsure about his potential at ethniki level. given that its really sad otto never gave him a full game to show his worth. personally, i would prefer his "twin" papadopoulos at the moment, if only for the reason he is more of a player, who can also create chances.

tziortziopoulos was exceptional before his long injury , this season he is decent but nothing grand. on the left, spyropoulos from panionios is the word.

i personally dont really like the 4-3-3 we tend to play. but its ottos plan so our best bet against turkey given the injuries would be:

................nikopolidis.................

giourkas...dellas/goumas/anatolakis..kiriakos...spyropoulos

......patsa (torosidis)....katsouranis.......

........................basinas...................

stelios(salpi)....................................pap

.......................charisteas(samaras)..............

the triangle patsa, basinas and katsouranis should shift postion which would mean each player could take part in the offence and leaving two def mids to cover. basinas, patsa and katsouranis all have offensive skills and can score.

of course this is never going to happen because its too risky to throw spyropoulos or torosidis into the cold water in such a vital game and thus we will see more familiar faces (karagounis, fyssas) ...

[dark_horse]

            --------------------------- Nikopolidis --------------------------------

      Fyssas ---------- Kyrigakos ------------------ Dellas ---------------- Seitaridis

Giannakopoulos --------- Karagounis ----------- Basinas  ---------- Katsouranis

----------------- Liberopoulos ------------------ Samaras ----------------------

This was my orignial lineup, having a younger defensman like Patsatzoglou would be welcoming, replacing maybe Dellas or Fyssas. The midfield will be a question mark, Basinas didn't look so good vs. S. Korea, if Lagos is healthy, he would be a good fit in there rotation. I pretty much can trust Giannakopoulos, he was in good form despite getting lesser playing time with Bolton.

[dark_horse]

Another note, as Ethnikistis pointed out, Samaras needs to move his slow a** alot more. :D The last thing we need is another "Vasilis Tsiartas". :LOL:

[DUDE]

Guys dont get carried away by Basinas' poor performance against Korea, it's one game and he is still a paihtara! He's essential for the Turkey game. Plus Basinas (like Kargounis) is a hardcore Greek! Remember the passion he showed against Fener in both legs and against Turkey away? He's a legend! :tup: :gr:

[aekrossoponti]

Another note, as Ethnikistis pointed out, Samaras needs to move his slow a** alot more. :D The last thing we need is another "Vasilis Tsiartas". :LOL:

to be honest another tsiartas would be exactly what we need.

[loup]

I just watched the 1st half vs Korea carefully and have some thoughts:

Nikopolidis - was solid - but in reality not tested - looked good on the one foul shot against him

I think the chemistry between the central defenders is what was badly missing for the qualification for Germany and I think we have restablished it with Kyrgiakos and Anatolakis - I love these 2 together

The wide defenders are solid - Fyssas (I understand the problem with his age) is the most offensive minded of our D - and almost set up a goal early on and one late. He also shouwed some speed defensively as a Korean looked like he was on a break right before half. Giorkas looks much better than he did in late for the WC qualifiers with a hop in his step.

In the mid: Katsourani was impresssive - he was a stud defensively and very active. i'm not sure why all the criticism toward Basinas- he was offensive minded and pushed the ball forward - with some success.

I will now refer to Karagounis as Kargyozis until he actually plays some soccer. Running at defenders and falling down does not count. I had recently watched him vs England in th ematch of 2002 - and he is much more uselless now.

Gekas what happened buddy??????? He an Amantidis look so out of place on the Ethniki. Thery are talented. But ouch!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

How empty of a net does Gekas need to score - and Amantidis vs Bosnia if you remember. They are now well over 20 games between them without a career goal for the Ethniki. Its time to put up or not play as Lybe is a proven contributor and others like Paps and Mantzios may soon jump over them in the pecking order.

Sammaras and Charisteas were active - Samaras is still the only forward we have who can creat for himself and I really love his potential he is by far the most exciting player we have. I think Charisteas is improving since bottoming off after the Toure head smash and still think he is important.

I see huge potential for growth for this omatha and I see a huge 2-0 win in both games in March. :gr:

[turkcell]

See you all after the match here in this forum....

I will you give you a little view into the future:

......a victory in Greece can look like this (Player : Serkan Balci /FENERBAHCE ISTANBUL)

and think that there are 10 men more who make this... :) :D

So still looking forward to this day?? It can be a very depressive day for all of you... :P

[dark_horse]

Sure dude, the Turks will come cakewalking there way to victory. :P

This game isn't as easy as you think. :nono: If you think Turkey will come to "Blue Hell" and come away with an easy victory, your crazy!

Remember EURO 2004 qualifyer? The Turkish players were talking about beating the living crap out of England in there home soil. Well, England put up a beat down on your countryman in Sunderland. 2-0 ENGLAND! :LOL: :box: The Turkish players were talking about how they'll surprise England with a "barrage of attacks" in Istanbul. Those we're the excat words being say by those Turkish players in the media. What was the outcome, 0-0 draw! Turkish players are very arrogent, they kept on promising results, yet they choke as they do often (even in playoffs).

I'll say this to you, you Turks should not just worry about Greece, you should worry about Norway. ;) March will be an awfully tough month for you, let's see if you think Turks are really good. :whistle:

[dark_horse]

If Greece does beat Turkey, this is the way we will celebrate!

HELLAS !!!!!!!!!!!!!! :gr: :nw: :gr: :nw: :gr: :nw: :gr: :nw: :gr: :nw: :gr:

[turkcell]

:tup: :gr:

may friendship win.....

[jarvis1981]

Game result is up to Greece.

It's up to the home team to set the tone of the match. If Greece comes through with a game like they played against Norway then win.

Even though Greece is not the most flashy team on offense they do create a lot of problems for teams when they get the ball deep on the oppositions end.

While Turkey does have a good offense they also give up a fair number of goals. Greece is not playing a great defensive team in Turkey.

Turkey should end up with more ball possession but Greece will have more scoring chances and hopefully more goals in the end.

This is a huge game for Greece. A win and quite frankly Norway and Turkey will have a hard time passing them later on.

[dark_horse]

:tup: :gr:

may friendship win.....

Now that's more like it. ;) :gr:

[dark_horse]

This is a huge game for Greece. A win and quite frankly Norway and Turkey will have a hard time passing them later on.

Not quite, Greece needed to play both Norway and Turkey on the road. If Greece fall to both of those teams, Greece could be in big trouble. :huh:

[drakos13]

:tup: :gr:

may friendship win.....

helal olsun! :tup: :D

[Olympiakosthyra7]

:gr:

We need to win this game this game gives bragging rights

[dark_horse]

Thyra7, Greece does need to win, but a draw would NOT hurt our qualifying chances. We would still be tied for 1st place with a draw, with Turkey still gets the top spot on goal difference. The thing is, if Norway can beat Turkey in Germany while the Greeks do there part in beating Malta, Greece could be in 1st after March 28th. So what senarieo do you prefer:

Greece WIN over Turkey

Norway WIN over Bosnia

4 days later

Greece WIN over Malta

Turkey DRAW with Norway

or

Greece DRAW with Turkey

Norway WIN over Bosnia

4 days later

Greece WIN over Malta

Norway WIN over Turkey

[DUDE]

Thyra7, Greece does need to win, but a draw would NOT hurt our qualifying chances. We would still be tied for 1st place with a draw, with Turkey still gets the top spot on goal difference. The thing is, if Norway can beat Turkey in Germany while the Greeks do there part in beating Malta, Greece could be in 1st after March 28th. So what senarieo do you prefer:

Greece WIN over Turkey

Norway WIN over Bosnia

4 days later

Greece WIN over Malta

Turkey DRAW with Norway

or

Greece DRAW with Turkey

Norway WIN over Bosnia

4 days later

Greece WIN over Malta

Norway WIN over Turkey

A draw WOULD harm our qualification hopes. Turkey and Norway will be favourites against us at home, and if they then beat us we're out! In a group like this where the top 3 are much stronger than the rest we HAVE to win all our home games, simple as that.

[dark_horse]

Greece won't come to Norway or Turkey with a loss if they pull themselves together. The game between Turkey vs. Norway could either benifit or hurt Greece's chance of qualification, I know it sounds a bit silly. We're not alone doing the scoreboard watching, most people are. So we do want Greece to win at home without any exception. :gr: :gr:

Hopefully file, we could be looking at this at the end of March

Greece 15 pts

Norway 10 pts

Turkey 10 pts

:tup: