Dean97

Fantastic to see 4/4 wins and all of them being clean sheets. Haven’t seen this type of results for a long time. But yet again we were supposed to top this group. League B doesn’t look anything special. We’ve beaten most of these teams in the past. The real test is League A. I still don’t think we are playing our best players but I’m very happy to see 4 wins.

I would have to say Mavropanos is better than Sokratis right now. Sokratis has been on the decline. The best players in each position should play and if they can’t because of injury or suspension then you pick the next best replacement. That’s common sense. I base it off on what a players does on the field. The definition of the best could be different for some people here but I base it on players who are talented who have heart and can make a difference through there skill. Also players that have performed well for Greece. You could perform well for club but when it comes time to play for Greece and you don’t perform then you should be benched that’s how it normally works. If you play well then you should be rewarded with another game. Some players could have loads of game time and deserve a call up but also don’t perform for Greece which is the case here, most of the time. We have problems in midfield and attack and until we choose players that make a difference in those positions then I don’t see anything improving.

I thought we played well in the first half but took our foot off the gas in the 2nd half. We always play back passes, they have to stop playing it safe all the time. Also when we are up 1-0 we should keeping going instead of trying to slow the game down. This always happens. Siopis had a good game today. If it wasn’t for him being full of energy and working hard our midfield would be way worse than it already is. Bakasetas scored which was great so I can’t complain about him even though I’m his biggest critic. We won because of his goal. Bouchalakis needs to sit on the bench the guy gives the ball away and is very slow. I’d put Alexandropoulos in his place next game. Happy to see Limnios back in form. I thought Mavropanos and Hatzidiakos did well. Tsimikas and Vlachodimos are always great. But we need to provide better service and work with Giakoumakis more. This is where our wingers and midfielders are responsible. Also I have to point out. Greece is playing its 3rd, 4th and 5th best players in each position. Apart from Tsimikas, Vlachodimos and Giakoumakis, we are not playing our best players in the other positions for various reasons. Manolas and Sokratis are our best CBs but are not playing, Baldock our best RB only played 5 minutes, Alexandropoulos and Galanopoulos our best midfielders didn’t play, Fortounis our best CAM didn’t play, Masouras and Tzolis our best wingers didn’t play. So we are really playing our actual bench and reserve players instead. It’s crazy to think about.

Exactly. This is what I was thinking too.

I agree, I would’ve liked to have seen both Fountas and Tzolis in the same 11.

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.

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…

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 was great to see. I’ve been very critical of him I just hope he can somehow turn up for Greece and actually play well and be the reason why we win a game for once.

How did he play?

Midfield has always been the issue. Ever since Karagounis left the team we’ve gone downhill. He was a big part to our success over the years. Yes we just scraped over the line most of the time but it was because of Karagounis and his leadership, passion, hardwork and also talent that got us over the line. Ofcourse we had better CBs playing back then too than we have now. But I agree with you our midfield is horrendous. We possibly might have the best attack going right now with the players you mentioned, scoring and being in form. If you add Masouras to that list who is always decent for Greece we have plenty of options. We need to fix our midfield as soon as possible. Also we need to find the right RB also by trying all those options I mentioned in the previous post I made.

Interesting points by everyone. I think this team is still a long way off by making a tournament in my opinion. The reason being is that this team doesn’t play it’s best players and the only way you get in the team is by paying for caps. To be honest I’m tired of hoping that the team and EPO will sort itself out every international break. I have always hoped something would change in a positive sense such as better call ups. But they’ve let us down in that aspect time and time again. There are a group of players who constantly start that continuously sabotage the team. It’s not there fault, they are just not good enough. They might try but there lack of talent is very evident. They are just a handful and if we were to replace them with more faster and skilful players then most of our problems will disappear. That’s what I truly believe. This team doesn’t have world class players apart from maybe Manolas, so that’s why I think playing your best players possible is the answer. Might not solve everything straight away but it’s a great start. Also this team have been having it hard in terms of injuries. I think if Retsos, K.Papadopoulos and Galanopoulos weren’t injury prone our teams performance would look a bit better. This is based on from what I’ve seen in the past with these guys for Greece. Also you can’t ignore players like Fountas who scores nearly every week. Also to say we haven’t got RBs is a lie, what wrong with playing Kotsiras, Kitsiou or Giannis Masouras there. Lyratzis can be another option there. These players play nearly every week so there are options.

I think the captaincy should go to either Tsimikas, Vlachodimos, Manolas or Fortounis. These guys are our best players. As far as long serving or a real leader, that should go to either Sokratis or Kyriakos Papadopoulos. Both these guys have played a lot for Greece and both have more leadership qualities. That’s if Sokratis plays again and if Papadopoulos stays fit. Also Mavropanos is the most inform out of all our CBs so he has to start.

I think its really easy to figure out why we aren’t playing well and the coaches have trouble picking the right team. For some reason most of our players are more inform for club, but when they come and play for Greece they forget how to play. Players like Pavlidis, Limnios, Pelkas, Mantalos etc. players like Bakasetas and Bouchalakis are useless and I’ll explain why. You have to look at the clubs these players play for. Pavlidis has better players around him at club level and that is why he can score goals. Same goes for Giakoumakis. For Greece they have Bakasetas and Bouchalakis trying to provide for them and yet these 2 can’t get the basics right, such as passing and controlling the ball. Limnios is another, he has no one capable to play together and therefore is left on his own to make things happen. Fortounis at times for Greece had to do double duty and drop in deep in midfield to collect the ball and create a play, when the number 8 should be doing that instead. We have to stop playing 2 defensive midfielders. Especially against teams worse than us and level with us. We haven’t got top quality DMs like other nations. Most of them are destroyers like Siopis we haven’t got a deep playing playmaker that can pull the string in deep positions. We haven’t got an 8 of top quality that can do the job defensively and get forward well. The only one number 8 we have is Alexandropoulos and he’s got it all. We need to give him games. If your not going to use him then we’ll have to play a CAM like Pelkas or Mantalos deeper in midfield who can help the team going forward. One defensive midfielder like Siopis can cover defensively. We also need to play out and out wingers. Pick any 2 from Limnios, Tzolis, Chatzigiovannis and Masouras. Then play Fortounis at CAM and you’ll have a more functional attack and the goals will come. Against better opposition 2 DMs will be needed as we haven’t got top quality midfielders who can do everything that’s needed.

I think that u19 generation back then that consisted of Bakasetas, Bouchalakis, Stafylidis and Kourbelis have to be dropped out of the team. We haven’t gotten anywhere with these guys and you could say they cost us qualification. They are all in there late 20’s now. For me it’s simple, play your best and most skilful players. I don’t care where you play. This team have players playing in Greece, Turkey and some in Germany. Still can’t get the job done. To ignore skillful players like Fetfa is absurd. I don’t care if it’s just friendlies your supposed to put away teams like Montenegro and Romania comfortably. Some of our players are injury prone like Retsos, Fortounis and Galanopoulos. These guys are better than what we have playing right now and when they are fit should automatically be in the side. Mantalos and Pelkas are very inconsistent and Bakasetas is just completely useless. We can just get by with Mantalos and Pelkas but I still think we need even better. We should look at possibly bringing Ninis back. If Kyriakos Papadopoulos (who I think is still good enough for this team) can come back and play for Greece while playing in Croatia then Ninis should be given another go. He’s injury prone just like Kyriakos Papadopoulos, so it’s hard to rely on them but when fit put them in they have quality. I can’t think of a better players at the moment. I would like this team to consist of players in the age range of 18-27 with a few exceptions. Get rid of that core I mentioned that play currently and play your best players. Media and EPO make it hard for that to happen as there seem to be too much politics and corruption going on especially with caps. Sokratis and Manolas should come back for the better of the team. Mavropanos is great and has a big future but I don’t think Hatzidiakos, Goutas and other young CBs are ready to take Greece to a major tournament. What we actually need is ti have everyone playing and fit but that isn’t always the case. My team if everyone is fit: Vlachodimos Baldock Manolas Mavropanos Tsimikas Alexandropoulos Galanopoulos Fetfatzidis Fortounis Tzolis Giakoumakis subs: Fountas, Siopis, Retsos, Masouras, Sokratis, Ninis, Tzolakis, Douvikas, Pavlidis, Limnios, Dioudis, Giannoulis, Kourfalidis, K.Papadopoulos Apparently Baldock is very close to getting his citizenship. https://www.sport24.gr/football/mpalntok-gia-ethniki-ellados-eimai-mia-evdomada-makria-apo-tin-dieythetisi-ton-leptomereion.9581444.html?utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=eb&utm_source=Facebook#Echobox=1648839167