Leaderboard

Game highlights:

We move up to 46 in the rankings after the win. However let’s see how far we drop if we lose to France

I feel the same Pelkas can’t be our best option as starter. Mantalos is hit and miss for me as he shows flashes of playing well but then disappoints.. You are right we can’t just rely on Bakasetas to score we need our strikers to start scoring regularly by somehow getting them more involved in the game, it seems to me like our strikers are only involved when there is a scramble in the opposing teams box. Maybe they are playing too deep and they need to back out a bit and create more space for themselves in order for the other players to use them as a passing option. I’d like to see a few changes to the lineup against France but then again, do you mess with a winning lineup right now? Let’s see..

Fantastic win and good performance! Really liked how we constatly went on the attack, some great passing and that can get better, a few times we had open players and delated the pass. I think if we are going to get a point against France we need to be smarter, at 2-1 and despite dominating we did some really stupid things in the last 10 mins to give Ireland chances to equalise. I was really happy with the performances of Vlachodimos, Kourbelis, Bakasetas, Masouras and Baldock. Not sure what Poyet sees in Pelkas... he was horrid and the chance he blundered was so poor... I would rather Foundas any day, a Konstantelias or Fortounis would be a huge upgrade. Really dont want to see Pelkas against France Good to see a good crowd too, looked bit empty at kick off but it quickly filled up

GROUP B STANDINGS France-9 Greece-6 Netherlands-3 Ireland-0 Gibraltar-0

If we keep up this level of performance I can't see why we won't get a result against France.

Absolutely Huge win for us… Poyet has found something with this team and it does seem like we are finally learning how to win and we are starting to build an identity. I know the game was close, but for me, Ireland was not in the same class as us today. The team is starting to put a lot of pressure on opposing defenses. They are sharing the ball and and starting to find openings.. This was a huge confidence booster for the boys. Bakasetas went from one of the most hated players on this team to possibly one of if not our best player right now and he’s looking like a true leader out there. I’m not expecting miracles, but if we can take something out of that France game that would be absolutely huge not only for the standings, but for the players overall confidence. Overall fantastic performance we slowed down at the end when we had a one goal lead and we gave Ireland some opportunities but overall huge three points.

Definitely we were well deserving of the win! The passing and movement was fantastic. Bakasetas is on a roll that crazy pass to Masouras whose finish was beautiful. Greece should have put a couple more in and we wasted a few good chances. My only concern is that our strikers can’t finish goals. Giakoumakis had an excellent chance in the box and got it all wrong. Pavlidis played well had some nice touches and passes to set up others. Ireland were lucky to be on the match. I like our chances of grabbing second if we show up like this vs Holland.

Pelkas couldn’t decide whether to take a shot or pass it off. In the end his attempt looked really bad. I was going nuts plus he was giving away the ball cheaply. I can’t believe he got 70mins. Fountas should take his spot vs France. Great crowd today they were loud and it was nice for the Ethniki to get first win at OPAP!

Great analysis. Greece dominated Ireland they create 2 or 3 decent chances while we had a bunch of quality chances. Bakasetas is so inform right now even the British commentator was raving about him. I use to criticize him for his decision making but he is our best player ATM and looks dangerous every time he’s on the ball in the final third. My only concern is getting goal production from Pavlidis & Giakoumakis. If they start firing in the goals we will be very tough to beat. Also Mantalos & Pelkas had awful performances. I hope Poyet leaves them out of the eleven vs France. That being said Poyet is getting results with 8 competitive wins out of 9 matches.

This was a game we had to have, and we got it. Pulled it out, doesn't matter how. First win in our new house, as well!

Funny that this rumor just dropped too (probably just Turkish press doing what PaokCT does): https://www.transfermarkt.us/serdar-dursun/profil/spieler/80059 It's like all of these come from someonevwho just filtered for 31-year-old strikers who play in Turkey haha