Bananas

I've never been a fan of Samaris. Whenever I've watched him I shake my head and wonder why Benfica paid so much for him. But I'll tell you what, his performance in the second game against Australia was nothing short of superb. He was in the middle of the park and played more like a traditional number 8 (a very underrated position). He wasn't sitting deep in the DM role which I believe does not suit him. If you're going to get the best out of him, he needs to be a bit further up the pitch. The grunt work of being the DM doesn't suit him.

The EU as a basic concept has gone too far. A lot of the basic concepts to help increase trade are good. Having consistent environmental standard are good. Avoiding trade wars is good. But when the EU can say to one country "you're naughty, how about I stop giving you money until you do what I say" then it's gone way way way too far. What the EU did to Greece just prior to the OXI vote was an abomination and should have outraged the nation. I don't see any light at the end of the tunnel, just years of the same. In the future people will look back on this period as one of the darkest in our modern history.

The whole Noboa saga was disappointing. On paper and considering his wage he should have dominated the midfield. He wasn't bad and he clocked up lots of kilometers (pull out your calculators you yanks) but he just wasn't the player I was hoping for that could just say to the opposition "f--k off, this midfield is mine".

According to Wikipedia, he won the Foreign Player of the Year award so you'd think he is decent. The other notable thing on Wikipedia is that Malaga apparently offered 6 million for him and that offer was rejected ?! Makes you wonder if this rumour has any merit.

Ha ha, the first thing I thought was Hernan Crespo must be in his 40's ?! Man, he was a good striker.

Pereyra!! Let's see if he does a Tevez and fails to come. He's not that stupid is he ?

That's the thing. Now that Berbatov is gone he'll be the on the highest salary in the team. If you're on the highest wage you better be a very good player, otherwise resentment will start within the squad will kick in.

Pelkas in one word, unreliable. Pelkas can often disappear during a game for many minutes. His A-game you could say is better than Mystakidis but not by much. Mystakidis on the other hand is consistent. I have not seen him drift in and out of games the way Pelkas does. He also has a tendency to score goals during tough games or when the team really needs a goal, whereas Pelkas tends to play at his best when the pressure isn't on. All this sounds like I don't rate Pelkas. I do, but he has a long way to go. He's still a boy. Mistakidis is far more developed in my eyes even if he isn't as technically gifted. As for Fetfa, I can't take him seriously for the NT. He's 25 years of age and he's spent more minutes in his career on the bench than on the pitch. Don't be seduced by the flicks and tricks. There's a reason why he's been riding the bench most of his career.

Sometimes I'd love to be a billionaire, just to have fun for a time. I'd buy 11 right backs who are all at least 33 years of age, and play them all in the first 11. You want right backs, I'll give you RIGHT BACKS !!!

+1 Not so! I'd post a pic of myself to prove the point, but I don't want you getting excited. Who knows what your crazy imagination will conjure up ?

Ha ha!

Thus the conundrum. If Mitroglou doesn't run, either someone else has to do his running for him, or a hole appears in the tactics. That Mitroglou is a better striker than Vellios currently in positioning, finishing and general vision is beyond dispute. But, the problem is the team has to adapt to him, rather the other way around.

Mak to start for Slovakia. I'm torn. On the one hand I want him to have a great tournament and maximise his sale price. On the other hand if he happens to have a really poor tournament, he might stick with PAOK. Ah, conundrums.

I haven't really been following this. Is there a chance Brexit could actually happen ? It would be huge blow to the EU project. It's interesting that all the "serious" commentators paint Brexit as a financial disaster. I'm not in a position to judge the financial implications, but for myself, the fact that the EU is fundamentally undemocratic and unrepresentative entity, the answer is GTFO now. A big OXI for me.

Say it isn't so. It's expensive signings that flop that can cause things to unravel quickly. The youtube video I saw of him missing goal after goal is not encouraging either.

You were 6 in 2000. F--k me, I was 28. The first tournament I remember was 1982 in Spain. 1986 was the ultimate, hands down. I can tell you know that from then till 2004 they were grim years for the Ethniki, very grim. We routinely copped some bad floggings. The vivid memory I have of 2004 is when the final whistle blew and people were shouting, hugging, celebrating, I just stared at a childhood friend of mine who I grew up with (his only flaw is that he support Panathinakos) following the NT and we just laughed. It was so surreal. So yeah missing out sucks, it really really sucks and I hope it never happens again, but the NT has come a long way.

He didn't stick to the golden rule. Go for the far post. Kace played quite well. Was involved in the play and got forward. Albania did well for their debut tournament game. Yes, silly errors and nerves but they played their hearts out, which is all you can ask for.

Albania giving a decent account of themselves considering they are playing with 10 men.

Ftou sou. Beat me to it. Go Kace.

If the media reports about Djalma are true ie. he'll be on 800K per season, then he'll be the highest paid player in the squad (now that Berbatov is gone) and as such, I'd expect him to be the best player in the team. I am happy with the transfers of the two players from Dnipro. Not so sure about this one though.

It was mentioned many times. But it was never stated unequivocally. More a case of "we believe it could be the surface ...". What Ivic said just sounds more ... plausible.

Well, it will be interesting to see how the season will unfold regarding injuries. We won't know for quite a while if this will make difference to our horrendous injury list, but I'm glad the we are taking the initiative to at least try and solve the issue.

Ha ha. Yeah I noticed him. With a voice like that you'd think he would have a gig in the sex industry instead of journalism.

Kace on the bench for game 1 vs Switzerland.

Nice to see Michel clearly state that statistically the defense was not good during the regular season and that this is something they hope to fix by signing a GK and CB. Also, looks like we might have some clarity on why we have so many injuries. Michel said that the warm downs post training were not adequate.