Dean97

The coach played a system that didn’t benefit our players. Fortounis played in the wrong position. Zeca played at RB where you needed his hustle in the centre. Manolas and Sokratis didn’t play well and that’s what happens when your midfield is non existent defensively then the defence would be under pressure (in this case a lot) and eventually make mistakes, which happened. There was no excuse on the 2nd goal where Manolas let the Insigne score like that. By his standards he should have done better. The coach is to blame for starting the game the way he did. Our players are not good enough to be playing different positions. They haven’t even mastered their own position let alone play anywhere else. Italy have quality players. Bosnia have a few quality players. Who do we have? Sokratis is on the decline. Fortounis and Samaris are too slow and make silly mistakes. Manolas is close to quality but still needs areas to improve on. Our players are one dimensional. Masouras worked hard and tracked back a lot and helped out Zeca.

We don’t have any quality players. If we did then our players can play anywhere. It’s mind boggling that we leave out players who have glimpses of quality eg. Fetfatzidis, Lamprou - and call up players who are D+ level at best eg. Valerianos, Bakasetas, Mavrias. It will be the end of Anastasiadis having a job with Greece if we lose our next match. I’m more than happy for him to be fired and bring in a foreign coach who knows what to do. He played a system that didn’t suit our players. Fortounis dosent press, Pelkas would have been great in that role. Kourbelis and Samaris as deep lying number 6s/CBs. They have limited to no skill on the ball. That’s why our midfield is non existent and can’t get things going. Fortounis cant take on players. He relys in playing in tight spaces and moving side wards. Instead of beating a player and putting the ball on a platter for the striker. Fetfatzidis is capable of doing this. Gianniotas can play the wingers role almost perfectly.

Post of the year for me!

I like that line up a lot! Full of energy and better CMs. Alphonse touched on point and said that we need midfielders who can brake on players in the middle and have the vision to play it out. This is so important as other countries are have this. Samaris and Fortounis are slow and don’t work hard enough. Hopefully with a new coach soon he will understand what needs to be done.

That’s true but I don’t like the way he conducts himself. Sometimes it looks like he dosent want to be there. He preserves his energy when his energy should be up to standards and it’s not. Fortounis throws his arms in the air and gives up. I don’t like that.

Logically the coach is to blame. Putting out a formation that the player are not used to and players out of position won’t help us. What’s wrong with playing 4-2-3-1. Vlachodimos Kotsiras Manolas Sokratis Koutris Kourbelis Zeca Masouras Fortounis Kolovos Koulouris You can’t go wrong with that. What we should of seen is: Vlachodimos Torosidis Manolas Sokratis Koutris Kourbelis Zeca Lamprou Fortounis Masouras Koulouris

Yeah they didn’t look up for it.

If our players play in their positions and play a system that everyone is used to, with added passion and determination then yes. We have a chance. Also we need players with high energy and work rates also fast players.

One of the main reasons Leece got promoted? Because Samaris is excellent and so is Zeca. We have no creativity from our midfield. At least Siopis can run and close down and has the energy. What does Samaris have. Nothing. Karagounis and co played with passion. You can’t also expect Valerianos to do well at CB when he hasn’t even mastered playing at LB. Our quality is not up to standards and it showed today. I agree with you about Kyriakopoulos.

Kolovos and Masouras are not bad. Fortounis delays our attack. Samaris destroys our build and can’t take control. No real substance. Kolovos can keep possession well and Masouras makes good runs and likes to work. Our midfield is non existent and our RB is weak. So is our LB. This team is always sabotaged by selections and tactics. Samaris and Fortounis don’t deserve to start let alone get a full 90. Pelkas and Siopis should have started instead. Fast players that like to hustle. Wrong mindset and attitude of the players as well. The coach is too blame for sure.

Players from the u21s... Tachtsidis, Lykogiannis and a few others should have been called up.

I agree 1000%

I think @gsots nailed it. We have the talented players to win but the coach refuses to use them.

Does anyone know how many tickets have been sold to this game?

I agree 100%. I think Lamprou is not even in the u21s squad.

Yes I did, i was looking at the positive aspects of his game. His forward runs were good and if you remember Samaris had the ball and completely was too slow to pick him out at times and when he did he stuffed up the pass. I don’t remember Mavrias getting beaten that often. Most of the goals came from the left side and centre. Mavrias would excel in a 3-5-2. He does make mistakes but who doesn’t in the national team.

Yeah that’s what i was thinking too. I just feel that we need someone with speed. I don’t think he likes to play there.

I was thinking how we have somewhat a full squad with no injuries and now he is out. Unbelievable I was optimistic because of how his speed could get us out of trouble. We are going to have it harder now .

Best thing to do now is to have Masouras and Kolovos on the wings. Donis would’ve provided that spark to burst through with speed. I don’t know who else we have to do that. Probably Pelkas.

Your kidding me... I was hoping it was nothing. What are we going to do now? He was our only hope for some speed.

Donis should be fine. I believe we will see a 4-2-3-1. We saw it against Turkey. So he wouldn’t make drastic changes now. My opinion what we will see: Vlachodimos Sokratis Manolas Siovas Koutris Zeca Samaris Pelkas Fortounis Kolovos Koulouris I have a feeling this will happen. Should it happen? No. We need to have our best players playing so I would suggest we play 3-4-2-1. But that’s too drastic for now as it should of already happened. Kourbelis should start over Samaris. I would trust Kotsiras. He seems strong enough and is tall so he can clear headers out of our box. Also doesn’t seem to get beaten easily. If someone could back me up on him because I haven’t seen him play that much.

This is what I believe also. Fortounis disappears against good opposition. We just have to wait and see.

He is injured. He is not good enough anyway. He makes mistakes in defence and gets beaten easily. Torosidis should start instead even though he is 34. Mavrias is ok but would excel at RWB and not RB. Bakakis would be the same too in my opinion. Defensively they are not good enough for this team but can add something in attack and provide good width. We haven’t got a quality RB. Even at LB with the options we have which is a lot still needs to work but definitely the better side than RB.

I agree with this formation but not the personnel. I’ve changed the players around in bold from your post. This is what we should do in my opinion. Mavrias is good. We need him attacking down the right for that width. He suits the RWB role. We need a clever midfielder who can pick our good balls to either flanks when needed to. Fortounis and Pelkas can do well as LF and RF. They can drop deep and collect the ball and also get in behind. I prefer Pelkas getting in behind with his pace.

Yeah I agree. Hopefully with Donis and Kolovos we can somehow get a point.