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A lot of really good points here! Bouchalakis is and has always been a confidence player. He had 2 attempted smart passes to split the defensive lines that were unsuccessful and to our surprise(after viewing the match data) did substantial work on the defensive side of the ball. However, he is not and will never be a real deep lying playmaker. He lost the ball in possession 9 times, which led the ethniki last night. Unfortunately, it's not as if we get much more out of Kourbelis either. This national team is missing the likes of a healthy and in form Galanopoulos. Pavlidis should never have been used in this game. This is something that frustrates us to no end with JVS. Game script seems to elude him. In a more open match, Pavlidis is probably the better hold up player. But in a game where the team you're playing is packing the box and playing ultra defensive, Pavlidis is useless(as we saw yesterday). He was only successful in 29% of all on field actions. Abysmal. Giakoumakis should have been the starter here. As for Masouras vs. Tzolis, obviously we'd all prefer to see Tzolis as he has waaaaaay more potential. Masouras works well with Tsimikas and we'd rather see a real winger playing left wing instead of Fortounis out of position who ends up drifting central most of the time anyway. This then can leave our LB stranded in certain scenarios. All in all, we saw some good things and some bad. Let's hope for the best against Slovenia!

A win here will set off the following chain of events : - Ranked in pot 3 for WC Qualifying - Top the following group: England, Wales, Greece, Estonia, and San Marino . (We don’t drop any points) - Go into the WC Draw still as underdogs, with media saying we were a fluke. We get drawn with : USA, Greece, Germany, Japan. - Group goes as followed: Greece 9, Germany 6, USA 3, Japan 0. - Make a run all the way to the WC Finals against European champs , Netherlands. Media plays up the JVS vs Netherlands story line. We win easily, 3-0 with goals from Fortounis (2) and Athanasiadis (revitalizes his career in Greek 3rd division). JVS becomes a national hero. Wonderkid Tzolis is transferred to Barcelona for a whopping €3.5 million. - The following Nations League we start off 0-2 with losses to Armenia and Latvia

Start the team that took on Cyprus and did exactly that, offence from the word go, we were 2-0 up in no time, off course the Slovenian defence with be stronger but it’s our best chance to open them up

It's an interesting point to debate, how to start a game like this. Coming out all guns blazing seems like a good and logical move, put the heat on, get them on the backfoot and don't allow them to settle and as you said set the tempo. Plenty of managers in world football tend to adopt the more conservative and pragmatic strategy of 'You don't win games like this early, you only lose them' meaning if we go out guns blazing and concede one the other way it maybe game over. We are yet to see JVS coach in a do or die match so we don't know how he'll play it. I get the feeling given he's an attacking coach by nature and likes us to boss possession it's more likely to be all guns blazing. Something that works in favour of coming out in full attack mode is the longer games like these stay 0-0 it tends to suit the team playing for the draw, as the team chasing the win gets desperate as they through the kitchen sink at the opposition and leave gaps everywhere. On top of everything riding on this game, the tactical battle will be fascinating.

I think Slovenia won’t press as much in this game as they will play a more defensive role and only open it up if they are trailing. Like us they have only allowed 1 goal against so they are pretty sound defensively especially against a Greek team who has trouble breaking down teams and scoring goals.. JVS needs to approach this game with a lot of urgency and he needs the team flying out of the gate and not give The Slovenians a chance to build confidence and to set the pace of the game.. The Greek team also needs to watch the counter which I think Slovenia will be waiting for as they no Greece will be pressing to score..

File....you're on to something. I dont know if it will be tomorrow (I hope it is) but I cant help but think that this team is on the cusp of a very good run. I dont remember seeing a group of as many young Greek players as offensively gifted as these ones on any Ethniki of the past.... Limnios, Tzolis, Fortounis, Giakoumakis, etc.. It's a very exciting time...

Group finale for Cyprus, trying to avoid relegation

To think they started off so well...

The losses at home to Croatia and Czech Republic along with Lithuania away really killed off any hope of Greece qualification for the Under-21 European Championships.

Today the U21 won 1-0 against their peers of Scotland. Goal scored by Efthymios Christopoulos.

I want to see the exact same team but Giakoumakis. It's a game we can win, but that does not mean we will. Slovenians play for 2 results. I can see us miss the chance to go up.

Massouras needs to start. Bouchalakis sits on the bench for Oly.

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