Leaderboard

I'm surprised everyone thought we would finish first lol yes the problem is Skibbe, but also the FA and the players. For me the players are at fault. They stink. No coach in the world could turn this team around. Someone mentioned a few pages ago about the 2004 win and how we didnt capitalize on it with new training centres. F&$@&$) bang on. We won the Euros and just coasted. We didn't Qualify for 2016 2018. And now you can forget about 2020. I have said countless times in this forum. We are back to the dark ages again. We need to invest. The FA has to be cleaned out. We need infrastructure, coaches, schools. Look at Portugal for F***sakes. Look at the players it keeps producing. The other day with a 2nd string team took care of Scotland 3-1. They are first in group A with 6pts. We can forget about going to anymore tournaments. It till drastic changes are made. Changing coaches everytime won't help us lol Get rid of Skibbe, but what will the next guy do with the vast talent pool in Greek soccer ???

Anybody who tries to derive anything positive from this match should be insta-banned fromthis forum. After EURO 2004 and the subsequent 10 years, Greece should have invested in things like a national academy to grow the game. Guess not.

Skibbe said in post interview we had injuries, what crap if we were that bad play more conservative to hold score and counter. Greek media asked him if he thought Finland was Brasil hahaha it's about time gets some heat. This team struggles when any team packs the back one dimensional balls in the box come out...

Skibbe is at fault for selecting them. He hasn't learnt anything and is afraid to play Fetfatzidis. Siovas should have been called up but Tzavellas plays instead. Mind boggling stuff.

We had a number of players just walking around the pitch not fighting for the ball with no will. Other players would do anything for the fanella like Karagounis, Kats, Salpigidis, Toro etc.. The majority of these players are a disgrace to the NT. Time to get rid of Bakasetas, Tziolis, Tzavellas they can never be selected this isn't Malta for ffs...

It also doesnt help that arguably some of our best young talent never came to fruition either through injury or stupidity. Ninis without injury wouldve probably been this teams best player and Katidis(only himself to blame for derailing a promising career) would have probably filled a role as attacking midfielder. Even Samaras having to retire effectively from NT at 30 created a void. Reading an interview in the guardian, its clear why Holebas doesnt play for this team anymore.

Hire Mourinho!!!

We need to start flooding the national teams Instagram, Twitter and fb with "fire skibbe!". I'm not kidding! If u don't have those accounts, make them and let's do this. He needs to go now. This is worse than Ranieri. We had no left side, tsimikas was by himself all game. Tsiolis kept f'ing up and kept passing the ball back even when he had guys going forwards. Tzavellas, tsiolis and skibbe have ruined this team.

The worst part is that they were better than us individually and as a team, and tactically, and mentally. Skibbe is bad and many of our players are bad. This team has no idea how to play together which really exposes the players' flaws and creates more unforced errors in these last two matches than I have ever seen with any team in any league. They get beat to the ball and really have no answer to subpar opposition with players from unknown leagues.

We should not be "absorbing an onslaught" from teams of this class... If we had the right players and right coach we should be dictating the game not the other way around..

Skibbe should be sacked ONLY because of frequently using Koulouris. Dammit, Karelis was even on the bench. This guy (Koulouris) isnt ripe for the Ethniki, possibly he never will be. Skibbe has tried to use Rehhagels blueprint (Otto literally gave him some advice years ago) and has thus opted for the "closed club", an idea of Ottos, that means he selected 16-17 players as a core who would be always called up (except theyd be injured, suspended etc. etc.) and the extra 7-8 spots would be given to in-form players. This was the idea. But Rehhagel was a genius. Skibbe, however, selected quite the wrong guys as members of the closed club. He dropped Siovas off, he chose Bakasetas (an average CAM and not a born fighter, to put it mildly), Tzavellas, Tziolis (how can somebody choose him instead of Maniatis? the latter has at least a proper club, not to mention his pace and work rate, while Tziolis plays for a holiday Saudi team), Kolovetsios (only as a squad member), Oikonomou, Vellios, Diamantakos, and recently has chosen Bouchalakis, Kourbelis, and worst of all, Koulouris. Inexperienced young pussies, glittering mediocre players who cannot really hustle (Bakasetas Mantalos Pelkas, Im looking at you), even something in the line of Avraam Aravidis Maniatis Zaradoukas (who are in all probability past it) would have been more difficult to beat.

Yes, but there will only be 20 spots up for grabs since the victors of Leagues A-D each get a spot in the tournament.

I have been defending Skibbe for awhile now but I think the time has come for a change. He did turn our campaign around after the dreadful European qualifiers, but since Croatia, we have regressed. To be fair, we have had loads of injuries but we seem to struggle making two passes together. After Friday, which we clearly saw that both Bakesetas and Pelkas were not doing well on the wings, he left them both in. He will probably stay until the Nations League is over but after that, we need seriously see who is out there and who can make an actually difference for the team.

This Nations league tournament and outcome looks very similar to our last Euro campaign when we finished last.. A lot of similarities.. I feel bad for Manolas and Socratis who have to go through the torture of playing for this team..

I'm sorry but last two matches are Skibbe's brain dead selections and lineups. Continuously playing players out of position and not using any natural wingers when we have a plethora of them sitting on the fu**en bench!!! Ena m@l@kistiri!!! Maybe he can get a job coaching in Saudi Arabia and take Tzavellas and Tziolis with him so they can toss his salad!!!

Koulouris hey... Skibbe is a koulouri

Pelkas horrible. My son who is u16 can take better shots. Po po po

would be cool to have this karelis mitroglou laz fortounis fetfa zeca tsi sok man bakakis barkas makes our cm very thin though but at the same time it's not like our cm's do anything anyways it's 0-0 still so we could pull something from nowhere. skibbes sub selection though worries me. please fetfa and laz

Fortounis Pelkas and Bakasetas all equally sh.t today. Better be changes at the half. I say fire this guy even if we win

I think this is a must win if we want to control our own destiny. FInland has a +3 GD and I dont see us beating anyone by more than one goal at the moment. FOr once it would be great for this team to control their own destiny and not need a result on the last day. On paper, Greece has a team that should not even remotely be struggling against Finland or Hungary. Although we really have nothing in midfield, at least playing someone with pace on the wings (no Tsavellas) gives Finland something to think about.

Was a very important player for the Ethniki for many years. As you say ellada, he had a hand in many historic moments for the ethniki. Also the equaliser v Germany in Euro 2012 which sent us into delirium for 5-6 minutes. My favourite player for a long time, it's a shame his career went downhill post World Cup '14. I'll always have fond memories of him though, bravo re Sam and congratulations on your career.

I predict Tzioli$ will score a long range goal, he is overdue.

ya I couldn't believe it, when I saw he was about to sub off Mitroglou with a half an hour to go, our best striker and when the team needs a goal. It was like watching Venturo manage Italy during there playoff debacle vs Sweden.

I can see Greece win this match, Finland isn't all that good.

Lets start a new topic for discussion about the Monday game.

How is starting Tzolis and bringing in Tzavellas acceptable?? How the hell do you not learn from your mistakes?? You had Bakasetas who is s%$#! and Pelkas on the wing at HOME against Hungary and it didn’t work so instead as of learning from your mistake you ass clown Skibbe you went with the same line up expecting to get a result?? Is this guy for real?? This is the same guy that was starting Tzavellas over Holebas what more needs to be said.. Even if a new coach comes in there is not enough time to reshape this team for the Euros in a much more difficult group.. sad to see but we are missing our 3rd straight tournament..

Nothing can be worse than Ranieri. I agree with you though in all but this.

best sokratis 9/10 (not unfathomable that they wouldn't score if he stayed on all game. we lost our spirit / organization after he went off and manolas became a lesser player in his absence. a true captain.) barkas 7.5/10 (he made lots of nice saves but he can't save everything) lazaros 7/10 (actually took on defenders, won free kicks, and was a threat) worst pelkas 3/10 (scoffed up build up plays, skied shots when mitroglou was free too shoot, not good on the wing he was okay some games but past 2 games I give up on him as a winger, he had a really bad game, at least has tenacity and chases down oppositions and high presses tho)\ bakasetas 2/10 (invisible and slows down buildup play) tziolis 5/10 (he wasn't as bad as people say and I think he's become more of an escape goat, he was very good first half too and saved our butts a few times but who knows if a better player could have done something much more productive in his spot)

For me Pelkas was the worst player for us. Terrible wing play, crap passes and crosses, he couldn't take on a defender 1 v 1.

At this point, we are hopeless. A new coach will at least bring some hope.

why is to so hard to find a level headed coach. ranieri through the baby out with the bathwater. skibbe soooo slow to make changes and bad decisions. simple. we need wingers. fetfa starting and playing well for oly. start fetfa. it's not that hard folks.

Skibbe needs to be fired tomorrow and we need to use these last to games to get familiar with a different coach.. Can you imagine how hard our Euro group will be??? we will have 3 teams better then us and 2 of the 3 maybe world class caliber.. We are so F..ked.. Can anyone really see how this team can possibly get out of the euro group.. Not a chance in hell..

would be good I think. we'd probably be frustrated by the style though he's very defensive minded. it showed how keeping siovas out of squad eventually hurt us when we wore thin. it was kinda flukey though that sokratis, retsos, and kpaps were ALL injured lol

Don't even try to do the math its over... Finland would need to lose to Hungary and we would have to beat them by 2 or more goals ayt home.. Its DONE don't waste your time even thinking of the possibilities because their is non..

sokratis injury killed us. tzavellas is a liability at cb bakasetas, pelkas on the wing, tziolis are a waste of space fetfa, lez, bouchalakis would've been way better we had no pace to take advantage of breaks we had chances but couldn't hit the target at all. tziolis wasn't that bad imo but an in form samaris is way better.

Ever since Tzavellas has played we conceded 2.

I have been a Skibbe defender on this board. But it's time to shake things up. The team has stalled out.

Can’t put make up on a pig and make it beautiful

Get this piece of sh.t clown out of here right away...

mitroglou is useful as a target man. his first touch is very bad he can't catch ground through balls. karelis is very good at that. so two strikers in a 4-4-2 might suit us. thing is we don't have the depth to sustain this with injuries

Fortounis isn't as bad as people say. He has no one around him for help. Pelkas looks like he is struggling on the wing and Bakasetas is piss poor. Tziolis is Tziolis and Zeca is not useful in attack. Mitroglou with the touch of an elephant.What is Skibbe doing?

Ya I've been saying that as well man.... I hate to lose but I want him out so it might be worth it...

We're going to see another frustrating first half if he fields that line up. The only chance we'll have at creating will be guys making individual efforts, which in itself is going to ruin our shape, guys will be out of position which will give Finland some very dangerous counter attacks. It's aggravating cause I feel like I did back in the 16' qualies where I almost want us to drop points so this dud gets canned. I don't want us to lose, but I can't keep watching this nonsense.

Greece should be easily taking care of teams like Finland and Hungary. They're not France or Belgium. Our quality is much greater and we should only be looking at achieving wins.

Tzioli$ with the dollar sign giati einai ola ta lefta

K. Paps wasn't the dude who unironically cost us 2 goals vs Croatia at the 4-1 win of them against us? The gap between Sokratis - Manolas and the rest is right now huge. Retsos Hatzidiakos and Mavrpopanos are the upcomming centerbacks we have. If you ask me, noone else SHOULD be in the equasion for now. The Vlachodimos insident is not a coach problem and honestly Vlachodimos impact is gonna be minimum. None of hte GK that get called are THAT BAD to say that an even better keeper would make a huge improvement in the way team works. I don't understand the fuss about Holebas. I agree that he is an excellent player but would you say the same about Otto not taking Zikos at Euro 2004? Same incident and I think Georgatos as well. They both lost a Euro in their name. I say take the win over Hungary with half our starters injured/out of form and say thank you.

Greece need the win, the Finns will sit back and play for the draw. Finland are ranked lower than Hungary and they have a couple of good footballers. I will take the 1-0 trade mark win for the Ethniki.

Επιβεβαιώνεις τα λεγόμενά μου πως είσαι ο μοναδικός οπαδός που μπορεί να "βοηθήσει" το ΠΟΚ κατά του ΠΑΟΚ. Γιατί ο ΠΑΟΚ δέχεται σφαγές και πόλεμο κι εσύ τα βλέπεις μέλι γάλα. Οι άλλοι πρόεδροι είναι πρώτοι στη λαθρεμπορία, με ναρκωτικά, απειλές, με στησίματα αγώνων, με φυλακίσεις, με συμμαχίες κι εσένα ο μόνος καϋμός σου είναι ο ΠΑΟΚ. Κι αν πάρει ένα σφύριγμα ο ΠΑΟΚ όπως όλες οι ομάδες παίρνουν θα το κάνεις σημαία σου και θα παραγράψεις όλα τα κατά του σφυρίγματα. Θα πάρεις μία εικόνα για να παραπληροφορήσεις. Ποιος θέλει VAR και ποιος δεν το θέλει; Όχι, όχι, ο Ιβάν είναι κακός. Γουστάρεις να έχεις Ολυμπιακό παντοτινό πρωταθλητή. Κι ας έχει στημένα και ναρκοπλοία. Γουστάρεις να σε κυβερνάει η Αθήνα και να είσαι ο υποτακτικός της. Ο Σαββίδης είναι κακός. Ο ΠΑΟΚ είναι χαλίφης. Γουστάρεις Καραϊσκάκη και Αγιά Σοφιά με τα λεφτά του κράτους. Αν ο ΠΑΟΚ πάρει μία υπογραφή τότε θα ξανακάνεις επανάσταση για τον μονίμως ευνοούμενο. Γουστάρεις Μαρινάκη να βλέπει αγώνα δίπλα στον 4ο διαιτητή. Γουστάρεις ΑΕΚ να παίρνει κύπελλο με γκολ οφσάιντ. Γουστάρεις να βαράνε γυναικόπαιδα και να μην κουνιέται φύλλο. Αν ο ΠΑΟΚ πάρει κανένα στραγάλι θα το κάνεις σημαία σου. Αλλά σε καταλαβαίνω. Αν δεν καταφέρεις να κάνεις "ζημιά" στον ΠΑΟΚ τότε κανείς δεν θα σε χρειάζεται. Στο ξαναείπα. Νομίζεις ότι είσαι οντότητα για τους από κάτω; Ένας πεινασμένος Βούλγαρος είσαι. Με πρόεδρο οπαδό Ολυμπιακού, πρώην πρόεδρο Βέροιας, που ανακοίνωσε θα βάλει κάτι ψίχουλα για να "φτιάξει" το προπονητικό κέντρο. Οπότε κοίτα να κόψεις βαθμούς από τον ΠΑΟΚ, γιατί αν δεν το καταφέρεις σε βλέπω να παίρνεις ξανά τα τρακτέρ. Εδώ θα είμαστε. Αλλά βέβαια μπορείς να επιλέξεις να διαβάζεις Χρύσανθο που θα σου πει για το Ευρωπαϊκό αήττητο των 54 χρόνων. Τον χαλίφη Ιβάν και το βρώμικο σωματείο του ΠΑΟΚ. Και στο τέλος μαζεύεστε να ρίξετε κι ένα ζεϊμπέκικο να γιορτάσετε το Κύπελλο του 1970. Και όταν ξαναγυρίσεις να δούμε ποιο θα είναι το 4ο όνομά σου. Αν και ομολογουμένως το "Ο ΑΡΗΣ" έχει μεγάλη επιτυχία. Αλλά δε μασάς, ο ΠΑΟΚ θα φταίει και γι' αυτό, όπως και για όλα.

You don't start a match with the mentality that "I need to hunt for a goal fast" because it backfires (whole euro 2016 campaign). Ofc after 70 if things are rough and let's be realistic, if we don't win tomorrow the pressure is gonna be on us in the last 2 matches that are gonna be must win. We win tomorrow and we are on par on points with the Finns whose last 2 matches are Greece - Hungary away. In case we end up in equal points with the Hunns we are up front because of the away goal. We win tomorrow -> we need a big f*ck up to lose first spot.

next game I want to see mitroglou lazaros fortounis fetfa zeca mantalos tsimikas sok man bakakis barkas basically just play real wingers rather than baka/pelkas. kourbelis is good but he just had an off game imo. Is mantalos injured or can he play? mantalos as a cm would be good he actually defends very very hard and has everything needed to be a box to box. He will cause the opponent so much difficulty and drag defenders out of position so that our front 4 can be creative with more space. lazaros not afraid to take a shot so almost like a second striker and fortounis/fetfa/mantalos opening space creating shots. mitro just a strong powerful target man. we can then sub in toro for bakakis for 30 mins and lazaros (tho i'd do donis for lazaros but not available so I guess pelkas is best compromise for now) we are the best team team in the group we just need to pump up our attack so we can score. If we can get a lead we're impossible for 80% of teams to beat. That's why I think mantalos at cm is the difference maker If we staf, samaris, retsos, donis are in form I'd start them all for sure. (maybe not on retsos cause I like bakakis's work rate attack wise whereas retsos is more defense oriented). we miss samaras/karagounis a lot cuz those two can create something out of nothing. I think lazaros/mantalos are the modern equivalent