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Starting lineup

Sokrates/Manolas did the ethniki a service. Under the coach at the time, preparation was a disaster. They voiced their concern and no one did anything. They were basically ignored. They had a three week camp and had not even scouted the opposition. The coach asked (I believe Siovas) do play left back at game time. A position he had never played in his life against Italy. Them speaking up was a service to the ethniki. They were the most senior and influential and the only ones who could make a change. The end result was that the coach was replaced and we got a clean slate. Say what you want, but JVS has been doing his best. He has made us more attacking and has the ethniki playing more offensive football. Under his watch, we have seen players like Tziolis and Limnios get call ups. While we couldn't break down Slovenia, he dominated that game and the gk made some great saves. Pre JVS, how often did you see a descent team (Slovenia) play with 10 men back against us? If attitude is a problem, then yes, by all means don't call them up. But if I remember correctly, that wasn't the case with those two. I believe he wanted to start fresh and realized how much influence they had over the team. He wanted to exclude them to instill his vision of the team and try new players. We all deserve second chances and if they want to serve and follow the rules, call them up. Even Fetfa (who actually broke team rules), should be given a chance if he asks for one. Team above all else.

Your right Greece had Slovenia on the back foot that game. We were creating so much in attack so many quality chances that one goal should have least been scored. Oblak made a couple unbelievable saves & we had some poor finishing. Slovenia barely created a chance that match even with Ilcic back in their lineup. Fortounis is our go to guy to create in attack. Olympiakos was anemic in the 1st half vs PSV. When he came on and was on the ball you could sense good things were going to happen and he played a big role in the goal and also unlucky he hit the bar of a wonderful taken free kick. Fortounis must START for us end of story..

How can this be the right mix of players when we had problems breaking down slovenia and kosovo ? I am not saying Ninis is the answer ,but Dean is basically saying that we cannot afford not to have our most skilled players on the field. I agree with him.

Κ Σακιτς ροζ Δελή Σουντ Σάσα Τζεγγο Σίλβα Μπερτ Γκάμα Μανος

Love the pathetic way some things are done in Greece. In the stand we see they have the name of the town written with yellow chairs. "Tripol" in Greek characters and "is" in Latin characters ..........

Did not look like offside to me.

Haha I realized that after I hit submit. 1-3 us, but I'm going to revise this and say at least two goals will be scored in the second half.

Oh nice

I'm happy Manolas will get another chance but i do understand the concern of others, The problem was not just Manolas and Sokratis complaining about the coach the problem was they would dictate who should get called up and start and who shouldn't and when they didn't agree with the players selections they were vocal about it which caused division in the locker room and that division reflected there play on the field. I get all that but if JVS spoke with him and feels he can give him a chance to come back as long as he understands JVS runs the show and not the players then I'm good with having him back as he is desperately needed.

But the point is if Sokratis and Manolas didn’t say anything than who would. Everything starts from the top. Ofcourse they are going to have a bad attitude. The EPO are very incompetent, especially when it comes to the national team. They were right in standing up for the team. Are they supposed to not say a word and let the EPO keep sabotaging the national team? They’ve must've been holding there frustrations in for so long that they couldn’t take it anymore. I’ve never heard or seen Manolas whining about anything regarding Siovas and the national team. All he said was that he hasn’t been spoken to by JVS since he was dropped from the team. It’s also not a bad thing if leaders such as Manolas and Sokratis are vocal to the EPO about the things that are going wrong with the team. They’re are not doing it to be bad guys or egotistical. They see what’s wrong and they won’t let it stand anymore. As @Ellada2004stated, the national team should be a top priority. Also as @naslhas stated the national team should also be about playing the best/skilful and most inform players the country has to offer, who play at the highest level and give 110% for Greece. Not players with better agents or other immoralities.

Sorry not following which proposed lineup you dident like. Ill just say this about the second Slovenia game. We did break them down.No obviously we dident roll over them the way a spain or germany would but.....The Kourbelis miss in the 2nd half was well drawn up and completely there for the taking. In international football when somethings on the line, its always tight but JVS put us in a position to win that game if we take that chance imo. This team used to capitalize on the 1 or 2 chances it got but they dont capitalize of late. Also in that game Oblak came up huge twice and was world class as usual for them. He was a real stand out. The Bakesetas strike and Pavlidis near bike ( I never wanted to see a bike come off more than that lol) were also quality chances. At the end of the day the players have to finish. Im so tired of watching Fortunis hit wood work game in and game out....his production for the national team would be stellar if we had a dime for every time he hit a post haha. I deff think Fortunis starts...did everyone see that beautiful cross with limited playing time to win it for Olympiacos? Also did any one else catch Benfica's decision not to play Vlachodimos totally blow up in there face? I feel like he would have had something to say about that first Aubameyang goal.....that goalkeeper's timing coming out was so bad and he dident even try to make himself big. 2 of the goals were preventable....but there was no marking on that 3rd for benfica.

You guys miss the point, no one is arguing that EPO isn't a rabble and unfortunately will continue to be. But when you play on a team and you're a leader, attitude is everything and when senior players do what they did it's toxic. What's to say if they were called back up they wouldn't sabotage again from the inside and same guys that are on here advocating for certain players to return would be crying out about why are we losing to the Georgia's of the world. Attitude is everything in team sports and a few bad apples CAN ruin the whole bunch. EPO is a rabble but saying something post-game isn't going to change that, in general players don't have the power to change the federation. They can force personnel change as Sokratis did and Manolas and JVS has done well up until now (without them) I know the NT in theory needs Manolas back but it needs a Manolas who is playing at 110% and has bought in to what the coach is building and is gonna keep his head down and work hard. Not a Manolas who's gonna come in and start whining about why he wasn't called up for over a year, and why his koumbaro (Siovas) has been banished. If reports are true and he is on the verge of a recall his attitude will determine whether he gets the call, not his playing ability because even blind Freddy can see he is good enough. Fans need to stop turning a blind eye to these things because it's stuff like this that was a massive contributing factor to the Ethniki's capitulation over the last 6-7 years. I don't care how good a player you are if you don't do right by the team and come with the sole intention of helping, then I'm all for keeping these players away, even if it means missing out quality.

Well said on many fronts. Initially I didn’t like how Sokratis attacked the coach on live media right after the Armenia game but looking at it now something had to be done after those two embarrassing loses to Italy & Armenia and what occurred leading up to those fixtures. Sokratis was directing his frustrations to the EPO who bring in sub par coaches after Rehagel & Santos. EPO can’t get the NT a stadium to call home they flip flop from OAKA to saying they will have the stadium in Crete rebuilt and nothing happens? They have to start putting the NT as there top priority. Greece have to be qualifying for World Cups & Euros this is the best exposure to be playing at these tournaments and the $ they will bring in is huge. JVS has been better but he can do far better still if he brings back Manolas and stops calling up guys like Tzavellas and if he brings Bakasetas in as a player who can come on in as a sub and he has to have Fortounis in the starting eleven. Then he will be taking big steps forward & maybe Greece can punch a ticket to the World Cup.

There’s no evidence to suggest that Manolas doesn’t want to play for the national team. JVS hasn’t picked him because he wanted to see other players. Now that his job is on the line a player like Manolas will be needed in these qualifiers. I agree we should be looking to replace Sokratis, Mitroglou and Samaris are all getting old and we need to find younger players for the future. They are in a different boat to Manolas. Svarnas, Lampropoulos, Tzavellas and Stafylidis won’t take us to the World Cup. We struggled to even come 1st in a easy nations league group. It won’t get easier against Spain or Sweden. Players like Bakasetas, Svarnas, Tzavellas, Lampropoulos, Kourbelis, Koulouris, Stafylidis, Bakakis and Mavrias aren’t going to take us into the World Cup in my opinion. These players are holding Greece back. We can easily find better replacements. Bakasetas seems to be doing well in Turkey but I don’t think he should be playing the 10 role for Greece. I haven’t been impressed. He’s slow, uncoordinated and very basic. Svarnas has done alright for Greece but something tells me he isn’t the answer to replace a player like Sokratis or take a spot from a player like Mavropanos. He’s isn’t international quality. Tzavellas should be no where near the team. I will leave it at that. Stafylidis isn’t a CB and hasn’t fully convinced me to be a starter. At LB we are stacked and he isn’t better than Tsimikas or Giannoulis. Bakakis and Mavrias. These guys will get destroyed at a World Cup let alone against Spain in a few weeks. These guys aren’t good enough to play RB for Greece and we urgently need to find the best possible replacement. Lampropoulos he’s 31 and very average. Kourbelis. I feel that he should be a CB. Isn’t creative enough and let’s us down in attacking phases. We need a better 6. I would replace him with Alexandropoulos for now. Koulouris has been picked even though he hasn’t played for like months. Very average footballer for me. Scored 20 goals for Atromitos but goes missing for Greece. I dont know what it is and he’s been given enough chances. I believe Douvikas or Ioannidis would be an upgrade over him. Pelkas is another player that can’t turn it up for Greece. I’ve just listed and explained the problems within our team. These players would love to play for Greece but they just don’t cut it. You can be very passionate or motivated to play but if you aren’t good enough, you aren’t good enough. To conclude, I don’t think there’s one Greek player that doesn’t want to play for the national team in my opinion. If a player doesn’t follow the rules and has a big ego or is being a smart ass in training then yeah I agree that these players shouldn’t be part of the team. That run in that Manolas and Sokratis had with the EPO was done for the right reasons. Right or wrong they want the best for the team and not themselves. They realised the importance they have on the team and used that to help the situation. I’m glad they did what they did, it shows that they truly care. I’d rather them do that than nothing at all. We needed someone to stand up against the EPO. The EPO seem not to care about the national team. These coaches the EPO have appointed the past few years have been appalling. We’ve missed out on signing very good coaches like Michel and Schuster. With JVS now I feel like there is some hope. He wants to play younger players and play more attacking and possession based football. That’s everything that most of us including myself wanted. Some selections are very questionable but now that he wants Manolas back in the team it’s giving me more hope because Manolas is definitely needed.