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Objectively - Tzolis hasn't played in months for a relegation bound team who has nothing to play for. Not saying he is not talented, but you are responsible for your choices. Fortounis has only played a few minutes for OLY since his return, can you trust a roster spot to him? Manolas has barely played since December. So OLY pays all this money (for Greek soccer, it was significant) and doesn't play him or maybe he is hurt. I am not saying these players shouldn't be playing, what I am saying is I understand why they weren't called up. From the 25 players selected, I guarantee you most of us would agree on 22 spots. We are talking about three spots and we say his selections stink? You have to give the new coach a chance. With JVS it wasn't so much his player selection, it was his insistence on using Bakasetas and his substitutions.

I’ve seen Tzolis play some games in the EPL when he’s been given a chance and he didn’t put a foot wrong. He played nice passes and got into goal scoring situations and gave his teammates good opportunities to score. He also tracked back a lot too. It’s not his fault. Norwich are just crap. We got a player like Tzolis who is still young and full of potential and really is a rare player to have for Greece. In my opinion he’s our best winger/attacker. Just like Alexandropoulos is our best CM in my opinion. Fortounis on his day is our best CAM. I agree with @J1078 Fortounis is still our best CAM even at 70%. The call ups are all wrong. This is the same team that JVS picked. They are choosing the same failed players again. Nothing will change. We have Nikolaou who is always playing in the Serie A but they rather go with Tzavellas who is not even wanted at his club. Vasiliadis plays Bundesliga every week but never gets a chance. Manolas and Siovas are ignored again. They are not picking the best players…

Seems like it.. https://www.sport24.gr/football/ethniki-ellados-klithike-o-mpalntok-apo-ton-poget.9645838.html

Donis, Tzolis and Vrousai have been underwhelming at Ethniki level.

Honestly I was hoping with a new coaching change we would have seen Manolas or at least Siovas back along with Fortounis who can create space and open up defences. Even if he’s at 70% ready he’s still our best option. For me I don’t think we will see much of a difference with this team that we seen in the past.. I hope I’m wrong but I see they same thing playing over and over again with this team.

Been up since 4:30 am to get the bus from toumba at 5:30.. I always thought Greeks were experts in disorganisation and chaos but it might all be an act. You should see the organisation of these boys. It’s like a restaraunt/club in here with a full stocked bar. Cups, straws, ice, beer, vodka, gin, whisky, rum, about 5 different fruit juices, coke, Fanta, sliced limes and lemon, Tonic, bar snacks, sandwiches, water… even sugar in a jar with a spoon for cocktails 😂 I take the ill judged aspersions all back as this magic bus next level stuff, it really is. Then I was brought back down to Earth when we found out the bus driver forgot to fill up with petrol before we left toumba 😭 haha unreal man, he had one job!!! Anyway, this tour of Greece is fantastic. Beautiful scenery, driving past Mt Olympus, stopping off at Thermopoli etc. I was really nervous about the game earlier on but very relaxed now.. can’t imagine why 🫠 Μόνο ΠΑΟΚ 🏴‍☠️

That’s not fair to Tziolis. He played in one cup game before he got hurt and scored a brace and had a few assists. Not saying he is the Greek Messi but it’s pretty obvious he wasn’t given a fair shot at Norwich. They give him 2 min cameos at the end of matches, maybe it’s his attitude in training but there is no excuse you don’t play ur young kid when ur already relegated to at least see what you have in him.

Yea it's official. Sheffield United posted a congratulations on their page

Interesting development https://www.sport-fm.gr/article/podosfairo/ethniki-pithanotata-tha-klithei-amesa-o-mpaldok/4301682

Great post! Who knows what Poyet is thinking. I thought Manolas was going to be called up for the NL matches? He better top this group!

Fortounis has the vision to carve up opposing defences unlike no other player at our disposal. We are not going to see Bakasetas giving nice through balls to our strikers that’s for sure. Also no Tzolis? We saw his quality when he came on in the wcup qualifier vs Sweden and gave them fits and Greece won 2-1. He hasn’t been playing at Norwich but the coaches Farke and Dean Smith don’t know wtf they were doing and I’m glad to see them get relegated.

Got this video from Athens4 earlier. He is ready for the game. video-a97efccf22a3177ac6a2c1f48d115031-V.mp4

I just hope now that they’re relegated he gets to play in the championship and show what he’s got

I’ve watched a lot of the English league for years. Although you could be right, I would assume he has to earn his playing time. If he was good enough, the owner would have been putting pressure on the coach to play him considering he spent all this money on him. I hope I’m wrong, but I don’t see this kid cutting it in the best league in the world.

Not too many changes from what we've seen in the past. Interesting that Kourbelis, Papanikolaou and Fountas have come into the squad. Don't know much about Papanikolaou but I think he plays in a DM / CM position for Rakow who are 2nd in the Polish league and just won the cup. That's good. We need these type of players.

Ya I don’t get not calling up Tzolis & Fortounis especially vs N Ireland who like to sit back. It will be tough breaking them down. Even Italy had a tough time with them in the final wcup qualifier which ended 0-0.

Tzolis has been stealing money from Norwich all year. He doesn’t deserve to be called up. Paok absolutely robbed Norwich. Will he be good one day? Maybe. I hope so. But right now he’s terrible. He can’t even get on the field on the worst team. As for the call ups, if they can’t beat these teams even with their 3 rd stringers then there’s a problem. No excuse about call ups. That excuse has been used for 10 years. Turn the page.

Disappointing call ups once again. What’s the point of following the team if your going to get the same standard crap… No Tzolis and Fortounis means we will have no creativity in the midfield and the attack again. Only positive for me is the inclusion of Fountas as he should start but I feel like he won’t see much game time if any. I guess Manolas, Siovas and Sokratis are no longer part of the plans so unfortunately that means we see more of Tzavellas.

That’s good news. Let’s see how Baldock performs for us. At least Poyet now has 3 natural right backs for this window. I will give him credit for that. The last coach would only call up one.

Because we play 4 games. It is like a Euro or WC where you play 3 (or more) games. You never know. Besides that: 4 keepers can train with 2 pairs, and that is way better.

I just heard Baldock has been approved and will be called up for the June matches. can anyone confirm?

After all these years talking him up, I would like to finally see him play...(Baldock). Tzavellas/Dioudis - I don't get. Would have picked Saliakas and one of the other two. Captain I guess it depends on who starts from them. One of them will start.

Yes, I agree with that I would have selected Saliakas, Nicolaou and Kiriakopoulos over Kotsiras, one of Goutas / Tzavellas and one of Dioudis / Paschalakis. If Baldock was available, I would take him as the team's starting RB. Who's our captain? Bakasetas or Mantalos

Tzolis and Lyratzis have been called up for the U-21 NT. That's why they are not on the senior team.

THEIR BUCKLES ARE MADE OF CHOCOLATES

They haven't discovered leather yet.

In 3 games in Northern Ireland, we have gone 1-2. Got swept vs them in the 2014-2015 Euro Campaign. Our market value is 123 million while theirs, 30 million. We have the clear advantage, but let's face it, we never make it easy. I see a 1-1 draw. Honestly, I'd be content with a draw cause we should be able to take care of them in Greece.

The lads will gather June 21st. From June 27th till July 11th they will be overhere. First match ECL Q2 is on July 21st. Might be on or two days sooner as O Aris starts in the same round too and if we draw the same home-away dates. UEFA might change the date of reverse one of the matches.

There’s no harm in calling up players like Fortounis and Tzolis. At least start them on the bench and bring them on. We’ve called up worse players in the past and have put them on the bench or even worse started them. Greece needs to play its best players possible. We are not Spain, Italy or Germany where we can get away with leaving out some of our best players. It’s not just 3 spots. It’s more than that. Kourbelis, Bouchalakis, Bakasetas, Rota, Tzavellas are not needed and have failed the team. Rota ok hasn’t been so bad but we have better. We don’t need 4 keepers also. 2-3 would be better. Players like Goutas, Papanikolaou are ok and have played every week but we can definitely do better than those players too. There’s a handful of players playing in better leagues that didn’t get picked like Vasiliadis, Kyriakopoulos, Nikolaou, Lykogiannis. Ok Tsimikas and Giannoulis are our best LBs but Nikolaou should be ahead of Tzavellas and Vasiliadis ahead of Papanikolaou and Kourbelis. Also even players who do deserve to be there like Pavlidis haven’t done well for Greece. So should he be given another chance again to start, I don’t think so. Only Tsimikas and Mavropanos who play at the highest level and play mostly well for Greece deserve to start because they do well for both club and country. Vlachodimos too. The rest are either not good enough for Greece and have been given loads of chances or haven’t been given proper chances like Alexandropoulos or Fountas who can give something better to the team. You need to change things around instead of going back to the same old failed things. We wasted the friendlies on the same players. We now have no choice but to see the same failed players again in more crucial matches like nations league where getting first is a must and is another chance of qualifying for a major tournament. The team is run by crooks and there is no integrity when it comes to the national team.

What about Taxi Fountas?? 2 goals in his debut with DC United in MLS 3-2 win on apr 23. Then 2 goals against Houston dynamo in 2-0 win on may 7. Then a goal against inter Miami in 2-2 draw. 5 goals and 3 assist in 6 starts. Yeah it’s MLS but who cares he’s in form I think he deserves a start against northern Ireland in nations league.

You’re right. But Tsimikas is arguably on the best team in the world while tzolis can’t play for a team that’s terrible.

Tzolis is just 20. Has enormous potential, but the reality is when given the chances at Norwich, his performances weren't good enough. He needs to be managed well, and in hindsight would have been better to go a different league where he could get more playing time, and develop his game. But when PL comes knocking, and the signing fee is lucrative for a 19 y.o., it's a life changing opportunity and you can't say No. Saying that, we don't know what is going behind the scenes, if he's happy or not. Probably not, as he is not getting much opportunity to play with a club that's relegated. I am certain, that Norwich believed they had a gem and that the price they were picking him up for was a bargain. If you look at Liverpool, they bought Tzimikas for a similar price (I think it was a bit more, 12-13k) and he has been there for nearly 2 years, and while not a regualr starter, getting more game time now, he's defenitely improved, definitely happy and enjoying his time at Liverpool, and I would say his market value has gone up, or is expected to go up over the summer break.

Just tuning in now. Not sure why I rushed home when I knew it would be delayed haha

In good old Greek fashion game start postponed as police used tear gas.

With Lucescu, one more time at OAKA to win another Cup! With PAOK, Lucescu, 2 times, 2 titles. A Portuguese proverb: “There is no Two without Three”. Here we go for the hat-trick of Cup titles! In Athens, at historical and mythical OAKA. Let’s go. 2014/15, OAKA, Oly-Xanthi 3-1 with Lucescu (against Vítor Pereira, the “tactician” of my Porto!) 2016/17, Volos, PAOK-AEK 2-1 with Ivic (against Jiménez) 2017/18, OAKA, AEK-PAOK 0-2 with Lucescu (against Jiménez) 2018/19, OAKA, PAOK-AEK 1-0 with Lucescu (against Jiménez) 2020/21, OAKA, Oly-PAOK 1-2 with García (against Martins)

Football, Greece, Thessaloniki, Toumba, travel to Athens...passion and chaos, how I would like to be there to feel all those emotions...hope you can be sharing and reporting that disarming experience and all your feelings. Celebrating till dawn, next to the White Tower!

Drink a lot of Malamatina and/or beer --> head spins But on a serious note: this is the reshuffle after knowing who wins the three European cups and qualifies through the League (it doesn't make a difference now as all remaining finalists are qualified) and Russia out. There are rumours that the Ukraine-teams will play their League in Turkey and their European matches in Poland. But if that is not the case there might be another reshuffle which probably won't effect the Greek berths.

Aphrodite's Child double album 666 is a masterpiece.

No Lyratzis is upsetting. Other than that and the obvious Manolas/Siovas omission, pretty standard stuff.

One of Greece's greatest musicians passed away last Tuesday. RIP Vangelis (Papathanasiou)!

All players except Michailidis are taking part in full practices, so Lucescu should have a full squad by game time. We just have to make sure El Kadduri does not warm up before the game. One interesting statistic is that El Kaddouri has not played in any PAOK Greek Cup finals so far. He missed all of them. 19,000 tickets sold to PAOK fans so far. Hopefully the remaining 2,500 tickets will be sold as well by tomorrow.

I consider anything reported by most Greek media as rumors or outright lies.

Reports are that 16,000 of our tickets have been sold. Around 5,500 left. EPO also announced that all of their 5,500 tickets have been allocated. Rumors are that 75% of those tickets ended up in the hands of Panathinaikos supporters. Spanish refs for this game. Also if you can't watch the game live, ERT3 will have 2-hour delay replay via their ERTFlix platform.

Enjoy file. I wish my old man was still around to see it.

Usually such rumors are propagated by media controlled by our competitors in order to create issues before important games. They tried another one with Kurtic leaving the team after this season.

Silly move if it was to eventuate. We were never winning the title this season. We wanted a run in Europe and we got the best one in our history (in terms of matches won) We are into another Cup final, regardless of the result Lucescu needs to stay and be allowed to build a team he wants. I will say any other manager has the poor run we've had of late, they probably would not have survived but that doesn't mean it would've been the correct move (or the poor run in November) Nothing has been lost big picture wise and even if we finish end up sliding and finishing 3rd or 4th there is no real difference, except maybe a qualifying round and starting a fortnight later.

More Greek goal scorers in Euro leagues this week than what the entire NT had during last WC qualifiers. Giakoumakis 2, Pavlidis 2, Limnios 2, Douvikas, Emanoulidis, Tsimikas

Still miles ahead of what we got tho.

He’s already 25 not a whole lot of upside there. Just steady.

Just a trip to Greece last summer. With a layover in the UK that was the cause of much consternation. I like how the sites get really excited about the team going to Holland. Like, why? We didn't win anything by choosing that country. We literally just held out some money and the businesses that are there said, "oh thank you, I will take this money and provide the service I normally do."