Dean97

We looked like we played good football for a while and yes Bakasetas can hit them well from distance. I was mostly impressed with Ioannidis for the way he held up the ball and got into great positions and that finish was a typical strikers goal. Good on him.

If poyet wants to leave then he should leave. But the bigger question is who comes in next? I think for all his faults poyet is the best option to have after the work he has done. But yet again his faults are mainly his player selections like all the managers we’ve had in the past… I think he’s a good manager but his selections haven’t been good enough. I’d rather bring in Santos than a Skibbe type manager in. We need to start utilising players like Konstantelias and Fortounis otherwise what chance do we have of qualifying? We need our best players out there plain and simple.

The few things I took away from this win is Giakoumakis deserves to start instead of Pavlidis from now on. His bullet header and his positioning to start the 2nd goal told me everything. He is our best ST at the moment outside of Douvikas who didn’t get called. We are lucky to have so many inform forwards at the moment. Wish that could be said at CM. We still desperately need a 6 who is fast and can make quick passes and decisions. I saw Mantalos playing as the 6 at times because I assume poyet thought Kourbelis was getting caught out for his slow moving and thinking with the ball. Which I agree and believe was the case. Midfield in general needs improving and different players. Vlachodimos saved us a handful of times. Especially in the beginning of the first half. He did well considering he had been criticised a lot by Benfica fans. I’m still not convinced in having Bakasetas as our captain and starter. I don’t think I ever will be. Fortounis is way more creative and better player in general and I’ll always stand by that. Happy to see the team win and succeed but there are still a lot of question marks as usual with player selections.

I haven’t watched the game yet but this is what happens when you don’t pick your most talented and inform players… Relying on Bakasetas Mantalos Kourbelis etc won’t get you anywhere. It’s been like this the past 4 or more years.

I’d like to see: Vlachodimos Baldock Mavropanos Hatzidiakos Tsimikas Mantalos Siopis Fortounis Masouras Pavlidis Konstantelias

Regarding the call ups, I’m not totally satisfied with them. I don’t think players like Papanikolaou, Rota are ready to play for Greece. Tzavellas doesn’t need to be there as he’s old and we have better. Nikolaou plays Serie A every week and deserves a call up. Lykogiannis and Kyriakopoulos play in the league too every week and Lykogiannis scored and Kyriakopoulos got 2 assists recently. Players like Tzolis and Alexandropoulos can help this team massively in my opinion. Tzolis was fantastic recently for Norwich and Alexandropoulos is our best CM in my opinion. He should be there instead of Papanikolaou. Bouchalakis, Retsos and Chatzigiovannis haven’t played enough to justify a call up. Although I do think Retsos is good player. What I liked was the inclusion of Fortounis and Konstantelias. Two players that can win you a game. Kotsiras should be there and Douvikas is top scorer for the Dutch league and should’ve been included for sure.

I hope so. We need his quality.

Propably the week before. I’m curious to see what everyone else would like the call ups to be. I want to see some new faces like Konstantelias and even Vagiannidis. I think Nikolaou should be given a shot to see what he’s like. Apparently Donis is doing well again. Always thought he could bring something. I feel like this team needs new players. Apart from Mavropanos Tsimikas and Vlachodimos I’d like to see different players getting a chance. Especially in midfield. Try and test new players there. I’m not excited to see players like Bouchalakis, Kourbelis and Bakasetas starting. It’s time to move on from them in my opinion. I know we haven’t got a great amount of players playing in the top 5 leagues, but I’m keen to see new and especially young inform players given a proper shot.

Nikolaou plays every week in the Serie A. I think he’s over due on a call up.

Well deserved👍

I have to agree with most things you said. I just think with Greece it’s different, most players don’t develop or improve over time. I agree the national team is not a place to develop players but at the same time some seem to have more talent than those who are more experienced. A good combination is what we should look for. But I think it’s better to give players a chance when they are inform or have some momentum. Some young players like Koulierakis and Konstantelias have momentum and are playing well. Might aswell give them a chance to get used to international football as they have the talent and are the future. I also think it’s more about what someone can offer over someone else. In the end though the best of the best should playing. Konstantelias pulled off a man of the match performance recently against Atromitos. He’s skilful and quick and would be useful. PAOK seem like to be the only team wanting to produce Greek players. Also interestingly Bouchalakis hasn’t played much football lately as the Korean midfielder Hwang has taken his place and rightfully so. Kourbelis also seems like a rotational player these days. It hard to keep an eye on the league when there are so many foreigners playing but I’d rather keep an eye on the Greeks and see how they are doing.

We haven’t seen players like Samaris and Tachtsidis for ages. So what has Bouchalakis and Kourbelis done so special to play all the time? I’m not saying the first 2 are better but it’s not like the other 2 are much better either. I don’t like to limit our options as everyone should be in contention. Especially if your good enough and can make a positive difference to the team. But in our case something isn’t working since we aren’t making tournaments and our next group for euro qualifiers will be more difficult unfortunately. It’s time to trust our younger players. We’ve given citizenship to Vasiliadis. And we have not seen him once. We have Greek German players that should get citizenship just to expand our options. I understand national teams coaches pick players based on form and matches played but in our case this method doesn’t work. We should try different methods and see what works. Like for example players who are 27 with and not playing in the top 5 leagues should not be called up with a few exceptions like Vlachodimos. Then give young players who are 18-24 more chances to play. The thing is we need to change things around and give everyone a chance because we could find out that some players are better than others. Doing the same thing isn’t working. We need to go the next level.

I have been quiet lately on these forums, I guess I should give some input. I like Koulierakis from PAOK he seems to have it all at the age of 18. I feel Konstantelias is talented especially on the ball but has a lot to improve such as putting on more muscle and finishing. I don’t know why Koulierakis doesn’t get game time for the senior team. It wouldn’t hurt to see him in friendlies. The EPO and coach should be smarter to give these types of players game time. It would help with there development and help them improve. Also get a better contract in a better league. All I want is for our players to improve. I’m tired of saying the same things that’s why I haven’t been on. I’m also tired of seeing the same things when it comes to the league and national team. That’s why I haven’t been on these forums and I feel like I’m almost giving up. Why do we have to see the same old players get called up for? Why can’t we change it around especially in friendlies? I know the answer it’s because no one wants Greece to progress in football and they are more out for the money. It’s tiring. Theres no reason why countries who have a less population than us produce more players and make the tournaments and we don’t. Examples are like Croatia and Portugal. There’s need to some sort of structure and plan in place. Someone has to care for the betterment of football in Greece. We haven’t got many players playing in the top 5 leagues and we should. We have some exciting young players coming through but even they need improving and with time they will. I believe the national team needs more these young players in the team mixed in with players that play at the highest level. There’s also not many Greeks playing the league itself. Only PAOK seem to be giving chances to Greeks. Also how many times do we have to see Bouchalakis and Kourbelis in the midfield. It doesn’t work. I have to give some praise to Bakasetas though, I have been very critical with him he’s actually been scoring goals and assisting for Greece and that’s all we can ask for. He’s still isn’t our best footballer but if he can score the goals and assist I’m not complaining. I talk like this because I really want the best for Greek football and the national team I just wish the higher ups did too.

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.