Euro2004

Yeah. To be honest I've never really thought highly of him because he seemed to have a problem with dealing with high balls. In the last year or so his fairly solid ground game seems to have deteriorated too! Sifakis is def the better of the 2 and if I was Greece manager i'd have Chiotis and Eleftheropoulos above him in the pecking order too. Hopefully he learns a thing or too in Italy

Tzorvas is already under pressure at Palermo having made a big mistake against Atalanta as Palermo lost 1-0. He was beaten way too easily at his near post and the Italian media has called him the weak link of the team. Palermo have jumped to his defence saying "everyone makes mistakes". Personally I can't see his stay there being a success. In a league renowned for producing world class keepers Tzorvas is simply out of his depth, however this is a bit premature isn't it? :blink: I mean he's played 2 games!

It's getting worse for him. He should leave and try and rebuild his career. I know he's not keen on Greece or Cyprus so maybe he should go back to Holland, Belgium or Portugal? That sort of level, because at the moment he's becoming a hate figure among his own fans.The latest incident came as Frank McGarvey, a former Celtic player, branded Samaras a disgrace: '"This is a game for players who'll roll up their sleeves and get stuck in and Samaras definitely isn't one of those guys: he's in a comfort zone at Parkhead," said McGarvey. "For Neil's own sake and for the sake of the club, then, he has to drop Samaras. Managers sometimes have a blind spot with certain players and that must be the case here but by continually selecting a player who doesn't score he's only putting unnecessary pressure on himself and the team. "Scoring every 13 league games isn't good enough for any club in the world, never mind Celtic - it's disgraceful. That isn't a good enough record for a midfield player, never mind a striker. Good strikers should be looking to score in every second game, although you could probably get away with one every three if the team was doing well." McGarvey added: "He isn't going to change and I don't see any room for improvement there. As soon as I heard the team for Sunday's game at Ibrox I was pessimistic about the outcome because it effectively meant that Gary Hooper was playing up front on his own. "Nothing really surprises me in football any more but I must admit that I was amazed when the club gave Samaras a new three-year deal. "Perhaps the most annoying thing about him is that he has good skills. He's strong and he's quick and he's not bad in the air so there's no reason why he shouldn't be scoring a lot more than he does. "I don't even think that dropping him is a hard decision for Neil Lennon - it should be an easy one. Celtic supporters would rather not have him in the team."' http://sport.scotsman.com/football/Frank-M...cord.6839301.jp Before someone jumps up and says "hater", let me assure you, I take no pleasure in this but everything I've ever said about Samaras is being repeated here. He has skills, but is ineffective because he simply doesn't try. You have to understand that mine is not a unique position re: samaras. Pretty much everyone shares this view of him in the UK. If 10 staunch Celtic fans came on these boards tomorrow and you couldn't see any of our screenames you wouldn't be able to tell the difference between us.

Re: Everton 3-1 Wigan &Vellios' performance :gr: David Moyes (Everton manager) said: “What we need at this club at the moment are hungry footballers. It’s my job to try to win games and Vellios won the game,” explained Moyes. “I’m looking to find a new team, basically. If we don’t put the young boys in and keep going with what we’ve got, they’ll get older and eventually we don’t have a team. So I have to see what young boys can go the distance. I need to try to keep progressing the club and under the current circumstances this is the only way.” Notice the emphasis on “hungry” players. Many would argue that Saha, for all his talent, only seems to declare himself fit for home games against smaller clubs. Vellios, on the other hand, was plucked from the obscurity of Greece’s second division for 50 grand, with a burning desire to succeed. He has talent, good technique for a big fella and a nose for goal. Moyes added: “He can finish from crosses, as you saw. He’s got the ability to get on the end of things. Technically he’s good – in fact, he’s very gifted. “There’s something to work with and that’s why I’ve said ‘Let’s see if you can do it on the big stage’, albeit at the moment just as substitute. Louie only trained this week and I think he was out with injury for six or seven months. He’s played one 45 and one 60 minutes so I’m in the business of winning games and there’s a bit of being fair as well.” http://www.mirrorfootball.co.uk/news/Evert...icle801212.html Notice the line I underlined... Valverde and other Greek coaches need to take note! This is how you avoid young players being ruined, by trusting them!

Everton were drawing 1-1 with 6 mins to go when... VELLIOS SCORED TO MAKE IT 2-1 TO EVERTON! :tup: :gr: Drenthe scored again after that to give Everton a 3-1 win.

Papastathopoulos came off in the 5th min today, i'm assuming he got injured? Any Greek-Germans here that can update us on whether he was indeed injured and if so for long he'll be out? Obviously it's a major concern with Croatia coming up

Generally i think goal.com's rating are pretty accurate. Ok I've seen a few clangers on there but generally it's not bad. Either way, "New Bremen signing Sokratis was immense against Hamburg" isn't like saying "he was a little below average" when in reality he was a little above average. Even a casual football fan can recognize when someone is immense so call me biased but I'm taking their word for it! :P :tup:

WOW and all these years the most ridiculous transfers have been made :LOL:

Yes but Valverde didn't want him to leave, so clearly the manager was happy with his performances.

Am I hating or speaking the truth? We all had a big discussion about whether Celtic wanted him or not. He's warming the bench and they've just bought another striker, knocking him further down the pecking order. He has a chance to move to a respectable Ligue 1 club and instead he prefers to stay at Celtic to collect a bigger pay cheque. Sorry, he deserves to be criticised. The lazy bum can't get into a team no better than Aris but still the dominant team in a ridiculously poor league and he's too lazy to make an impact. He also shows no ambition in leaving the club. His own fans are booing him. Club legends are ridiculing him, yet i'm the bad guy for laughing that he CHOOSES to sit on the bench?

The French press is claiming that Bordeaux are keen on completing a deal for Fetfatzidis before midnight!

Well not sure what went wrong there but Kone has gone to Bologna on loan!

Well in a frenetic last day it now appears that Chievo are favourites to sign Kone. Either way looks like he's staying in Serie A

@Akritis :LOL: @GS, Maniatis is a right back mate, Makoun will replace Hurtado. I expect him to be an upgrade on Hurtado but to be honest Olympiakos have been drawn in a tough CL group. They should be looking to buy players that can make the difference there, Makoun no longer seems to be that player. I mean why else would they buy him? The Greek league is already in the bag. They are also being linked with Pablo Orbaiz (another holding midfielder! from Bilbao) Looks like they are planning on defending like mad away from home.

Tziolis has agreed to return to Racing Santander in La Liga. They face a real battle to stay in the division this year and they haven't got much money but former Aris manager Raul Hector Cuper is the manager and believes Tziolis can help. He's having a medical tomorrow

Moras has been released by Bologna and is being linked with a move to Serie B side Torino. AEK were also interested not long ago but it appears like they simply dont have the cash to make it happen

As the deadline day approaches Kone is still at Brescia, but is expected to move on. Lazio were the favourites a couple of weeks ago but their interest appears to have cooled. Since then Catania were considered favourites but they want to offer a player as part of the deal, whereas Brescia aren't keen on the player being offered and want money

Samaras has been completely dropped by Celtic and it's clear he isn't needed or wanted there and he only has himself to blame. In the game against Sion at home when Celtic drew 0-0 he was being booed by his own fans. Celtic have now signed Bangura for

Gekas is being linked with a move to Glasgow Rangers for

Scored tonight as Schalke are over turning a 2-0 defeat away to HJK, winning 5-1 after 64 mins. :tup:

Abdoun can't have any truth in it. I mean you have Javito & Fetfa that can play on the right and i'm sure there's someone else that can too, Fuster is it? Even Djebbour can. Why would you sign him then, i mean even Rommedahl was released because he wasn't needed so don't believe that one mate, that's just the Greek media in my opinion Muntari is finished. He is Panetolikos level now, it would be a ridiculous signing. It's a bit like when AEL signed Geremi and everyone was getting excited. He's was way past it and was terrible, same applies here. As for Estrada i'm going to assume you're talking about Marco (the Chillean international from Montpellier). He's ok from what i've seen. He has an excellent left foot (he can also play as a wing back i think) but he's a little small. I don't know whether he's the answer but he's def better than Muntari. As for Makoun, what can be said about him? He was excellent at Lille and Lyon, but now he's just become abysmal for Aston Villa. When African players see such a rapid decline in their ability i always get suspicious because they are known to lie about their age. As young teenagers with footballing talent many are suspected of forging documents so they can earn moves to Europe. If you're 18 and playing as a 15 year old you might stand out with your physical ability and it gives you an advantage on trial. For those interested here's an article discussing it: http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2010/fe...age-old-problem Various clubs now use bone scanes to judge the development of the bone according the age the players claim they are. When players like Makoun decline suddenly and dramatically i get suspicious. The worst example is Obafemi Martins. I mean at 16 he's at Inter and tearing it up, now he's supposedly 26, has lost all his pace, Rubin didn't even want to put him on the bench, he went to Birmingham on loand, didn't earn a permanent move and now his career is in limbo. Er... suspicious! Maybe Olympiakos can include that scan as part of the medical he will have to undergo? If not i wouldn't take the risk. If it is just a bad season he had though he'd be an excellent signing. He does get forward a little more then a holding midfielder should though so he'd have to play with Tziolis rather than with Ibagaza so i'm not sure it's what you'd want.

I have no idea but he's brilliant in either position. Personally i think he's at his best on the right of a defensive 3 but he's excellent either way

Samaras was an unused sub in today's 5-1 win over Dundee Utd <_<

Sokrati has been getting rave reviews after last week's 2-0 win, tomorrow a much sterner test awaits though as Werder go to Leverkusen. Will be interesting to see how they do