Dean97

I think we have better options at LB such as Koutris and Tsimikas. I do like Stafylidis but he isn’t very reliable defensively. I don’t know where to put him because I like him as a player. He should have a spot somewhere but it seems that the bench is where he needs to be for now unfortunately. If Stafylidis was more solid defensively I would start him without a doubt and maybe even put him captain. But he isn’t. His shooting and speed is very good so again I don’t know exactly where he should play. Technically he is ok nothing special. Passing is decent aswell. We’ve got better CBs and better wingers to play. Could he play CDM? I don’t think so because Kourbelis and Galanopoulos had great showings. Zeca and Bouchalakis should be the back ups. Vasiliadis is a CM/CDM. Haven’t seen him play but apparently he is good. Want to see him play. It does seem we are already stacked for wide options and CAM. I just think Pelkas if used correctly can be advantageous to us. Technically good, fast great energy on his day he can destroy teams, as seen in the past against Panathinaikos and Benfica. All of sudden these last few years he has more grit about his game and aggressiveness. CAM seems the best position for him but Fortounis is more talented and Bouzoukis seems to have more potential. Mantalos shouldn’t be ignored in my opinion. A great player that is slightly underrated. If he was faster physically he would be playing in England or something. He has all the attributes to succeed. Unfortunately injuries have stunted his development. Same can be said about Pelkas. Sokratis and Manolas can stay aside for now. I don’t want to stop any momentum going forward. JVS has said that they won’t be called up until next year. So the remaining 2 games we will see more new call ups apparently. We will be getting headaches, but for the right reasons as we will have a plethora of options.

I don’t know if we should include Manolas and Sokratis again. So far the replacements are proving themselves and we look decent. I know they play at bigger clubs but I would rather younger more hungry players who can develop. Hatzidiakos is an example. We need to find a replacement for Bakakis at RB. Retsos should be a candidate. But I would like someone who is more athletic with pace and good with the ball. Giannis Masouras fits the description. Kitsiou should be looked at. Lyratzis from Volos is another (I haven’t seen him play). I don’t think Stafylidis should be captain down the line. I don’t mind him but we need someone more stable and more consistent as a captain. Maybe Mantalos or Kourbelis should be the captain. Fortounis is great but don’t know if he is a real captain. Limnios and Donis are similar player. Loads of pace and great dribblers. Maybe we should have 1 start and either Fetfatzidis or Masouras on the other side. Wouldn’t mind having Galanopoulos and Kourbelis again. Hopefully something builds even more between the 2. Pavlidis, Limnios, Hatzidiakos and Galanopoulos impressed so they must be in considered for starting spots. Also we have Pelkas. Hopefully JVS can get something out of him. Pelkas has pace, energy, technique and the ability to score amazing goals. His pressing is one of the best for all Greeks. He just needs someone to instruct him and to express his strengths. We have 4 decent options at CAM. We have 4 decent options on the wing. We need more depth at RB and CM. Also Vasiliadis from Paderborn is being considered for a call up.

Yes that’s what impressed me the most.

Yes I agree. He can cover. Did you see the goal line clearance he made when Paschalakis was out of position? I don’t want to get ahead of myself but I don’t believe he is the future... I believe he is the now!

I don’t think Mitroglou or Fortounis can handle this new system in my opinion. They would be great options off the bench. Pavlidis works more because he has the fitness. Mantalos and Bakasetas work harder than Fortounis. Fortounis though has quality about him. Wouldn’t be smart to leave him out completely. Will probably used the way Tsiartas was used. Come on the field to make a difference if needed. Pavlidis and Koulouris are the future so having Mitroglou wouldn’t make no sense. We should be building towards the future as much as possible. I think with Bakasetas determination he will be included again. I believe the Bosnia game was Bakasetas best game he has ever played for the NT.

I definitely think Van’t Schip should stay on for at least 2 years. He needs to restructure this team. I am much happier with Greece’s performance. We were so organised defensively and stood to the plan. Limnios was great today. Donis and Limnios are great to have in this side. I just want Donis to be a bit less selfish. Donis speed and Limnios speed is definitely needed in this team. Bakasetas doesn’t deserve to play ever again. He showed determination but didn’t execute and most time killed our momentum going forward. He is not good enough for this level.

I agree with you. But how can you play Bakasetas? When you have Fetfatzidis, Donis and Mantalos on the bench.

BAKASETAS IS THE WORST PLAYER TO EVER PUT ON A GREECE JERSEY ...

We definitely deserved something out of this game. All that hard work went to waste with the penalty.

Vant Schip wants to make people keep on guessing. All these reports are changing by the day. Perhaps he is playing mind games... The keeper position is the least of our problems. Our problems are at fullback and midfield.

Fountas should be given a chance. I was actually a fan of his when he was at AEK. He was their best performer for them back in the day. Now he is scoring nearly every week. Would’ve taken him or Bouzoukis over Bakasetas.

Hasn’t played as much as Tsimikas and Giannoulis but I believe he is better than both.

I predict the squad will come out either tomorrow or the next day. In regards to Manolas, he should still be involved because of his pace. But I still rather give youth a chance. In my opinion Risvanis or Nikolaou would be a good replacement for Manolas. Hatzidiakos and Mavropanos can battle it out for Sokratis position. I would rather use Retsos elsewhere either as a RB or CDM. He would be wasted as a CB. We have many options there. Also I hope Vasiliadis has a Greek passport because all I hear is how good he is. We need better CMs and he might be it. Pavlidis and Koulouris are our future and are both in great form. Would like to see Lamprou and Donis on the wings with Fetfatzidis as the 10. That would be interesting.

I kind of wish those players would be dropped permanently. We have to bring in the new generation. We have nothing to lose now we should use these next 4 matches to see which players are good enough for the team. No point in having Manolas, Sokratis and the others anymore. We need start giving these younger guys experience from now up all the way through nations league and the next qualifying campaign. A good amount of games where Galanopoulos and Limnios could potentially reach 10–15 caps by the next qualifying campaign. They should’ve had 10 by now.

You can add Zeca and Mitroglou to that list aswell.

It seems you want to put Mantalos in a more deeper CAM role instead of an advanced one. I don’t mind that but I think Mantalos should be the 8 alongside Zeca who can be the 6. I would have either Bouzoukis or Albanis for the advanced 10 role. Fetfatzidis can play there also. We have trouble bringing the ball forward from deep and I think Mantalos can help with that and offer extra support in attack. He would also have to focus on defence and protect it as much as he can, which means he has a big task. I just think our build up play is not good enough and I think having either Pelkas or Mantalos in the 8 position in this case Mantalos would be the best solution.

I agree. I forgot to add Bouzoukis because I read somewhere he could be involved in the upcoming matches. Quality player.

Do you mean Mantalos should play as a 6 or 10? In any case this is my prediction for the upcoming games: Vlachodimos , Paschalakis, Barkas, Natsos, Bakakis, Manolas, Trianta, Sokratis, Siovas, Hatzidiakos, Tsimikas, Giannoulis, Zeca, Kourbelis, Bouchalakis, Samaris??, Mantalos, Vrousai, Fetfatzidis, Masouras, Pelkas??, Vellios, Pavlidis, Koulouris, Donis. Thats 25 players. Question marks on Samaris because he hasn’t been playing much and Pelkas has an injury. Not sure if Mitroglou will get the call. Pavlidis and Koulouris have been scoring. Vellios is also in good form and Donis has started playing again. We can all agree Samaris hasn’t done much for the Ethniki and shouldn’t be involved anymore. Tachtsidis and Lykogiannis can be good options as they have been playing well and have had many matches.

Apparently Triantafylopoulos and Hatzidiakos will get called up, what are everyone’s thoughts?

Good to hear from you. Id do this... Vlachodimos Retsos Manolas Sokratis Donis Zeca Mantalos Tsimikas Fetfatzidis Pavlidis Vrousai 3-4-3. Fetfatzidis can take players on and put some nice through balls on the floor. Tsimikas can whip in crosses as Pavlidis and Vrousai are great in the air. Zeca as the 6 and Mantalos as the 8. We need some creativity from deep. This formation can become 4-2-3-1 instantly if things need changing. Fetfatzidis as the 10 and Donis and Vrousai outwide. Both can do damage on the wings. Possession football with urgent pressing.

We can be a top 20 team. We just need a good coach. In 2004 Greece were the underdogs. Then they won the whole thing. They fought for the shirt and played as a team. We had more leaders then aswell. Rehaggel made the team gel. We have decent players currently it’s all about wanting to fight for the shirt and the coach playing the right players. We can improve. I hope Van’t Schipt does something amazing and the team gets to back where it belongs and that’s the top 20. It will take time. We also need a massive cleanup at EPO.

I thinks it’s based on form such as losses and wins. We’ve been losing lately and it’s understandable to be this low. We haven’t made tournaments. It does seem lower than expected but hopefully with the ranking of 60th, the EPO can now understand how bad they are at running the team m. They are the most at fault for all this.

I hope this time it’s not the case but I think you are right. EPO don’t care about the success of the team. They are money grabbing morons.

He says all the right things and it was also interesting he said this: “Στην Ολλανδία η ομοσπονδία είναι εντελώς ανεξάρτητη και ο προπονητής διαλέγει τους καλύτερους. Δεν υπάρχουν πολιτικές ισορροπίες κι αυτό θα κάνω κι εγώ". He says the Dutch federation is completely independent and the coach picks the best players. There is no political balances and that’s what I’m going to do. (Meaning he will pick the best players.) What I get from this is he is indirectly saying that the EPO are political and are involved in call ups. Where as in the Netherlands it’s not like that. Also says this: “Για το αν έχει συζητήσει με την ΕΠΟ πλάνο ανάπτυξης: "Ναι, είναι μέρος της συμφωνίας μας. Προς το παρόν όλη μας η προσοχή είναι στην ανδρών και τους επόμενους μήνες θα αρχίσουμε να βάζουμε και τους προπονητές των μικρών εθνικών ομάδων στο ίδιο κλίμα. Θα συζητήσουμε με την ομοσπονδία για αυτά τα πλάνα και με ποιο τρόπο θα τα υλοποιήσουμε". On whether he has discussed with the Development Plan to EPO: “Yes, it is part of our deal. At the moment all our attention is on the men’s team and in the coming months we will start putting the coaches of small national teams in the same climate. We will discuss with the federation these plans and how we will implement them. " I don’t get what’s part of the deal exactly? But the less EPO has a say in the team the better. He says all the right things but actions speak louder than words and all that is left is execution.

I agree. Retsos is a smart young player won’t be too long until he gets his starting spot back. Played very well in the Greece u21 loss to Germany. Very versatile players. Played well at CDM/CM. And covered a lot of ground.