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Great points. Bakasetas should be utilized as a sub going forward. I admire his dedication to the NT but he isn’t in good form. He had a very good Euro qualifying campaign with some nice goals and good link up play but his performance in the match with Georgia was very disappointing. He made way too many errors and sloppy passes and he did not even break a sweat. Also he missed his penalty which is a rarity. Mantalos should not be getting anymore call ups. With all these talented young mids we have the future looks bright especially given the plethora of strikers we know have. Greece went years without having an option at the #9 when Mitroglou left. I am really looking forward to see how we play under Ivanovich. He has even opened the door for Fortounis to come back in the October window.

Still waiting for new Toumba, but in the meantime we can celebrate the 65th anniversary of the Toumba Stadium inauguration. It was September 6, 1959, when the Toumba Stadium was opened to the public for the first time with a friendly game against AEK Athens which was won by PAOK 1:0 with a goal by Kiourtzis. . The stadium capacity at that time was 15,000. Here is is aerial view of Toumba in 1959 and a pic of the PAOK - AEK friendly, the first game at Toumba Stadium.

Looking forward to seeing a fresh start and some new faces in the line up. I have to agree with so many on here i personally think our lack of making it to tournaments has been our midfield which has been our weakest position ever since our last world cup appearance. Finally having someone that has some pace and skill in the midfield will be huge for this team. In regards to Backseats i went from not being able to stand the guy to admiring him for his passion for the Ethniki you can see it in him. Although he has produced many important goals he still can't be the starter on this team, for what he makes up with his powerful shot he lacks in speed, passing ability and overall creativity. i don't mind him coming off the bench i think he's at least earned that right to have a spot on the team but that's as far as it should go with him. I still would have loved to see Fortounis on this team as we are still lacking someone with his talent to be able to create space and thread passes. Now its up to the new coach to find a style of play that fits these players. I still have a feeling in this first game he will start some of the guys like Bakasetas and so on, so we may need to give him some slack the first few games. Overall I'm pretty excited but again we NEED to finish 2nd in the Nations League we have to assume we will have a very difficult WC qualifiers draw based on our FIFA rankings. I'm at the point where i don't think i can handle another missed tournament especially when i believe we have enough talented players to at least make tournaments.