Dean97

I don’t mind this for some reason. Durmisaj is a very good player. Knows Greek too. Manolas and Stafylidis are injured aswell as Pelkas. We could see a lot of new faces. Have a look at this article... https://hellasfooty.blogspot.com/2019/03/third-times-charm-how-greece-are.html?m=1 Id like to see Masouras given a chance at RB. I don’t think Giannoulis should play at LB. Koutris and Tsimikas are better and Kyriakopoulos is more deserving in my opinion.

Ninis and Vlachodimos are full Greek. They were born in different countries. Holebas is half and born in a different country. I don’t really like putting in foreigners in the team. It’s sets a bad image to all of Greek football. It shows that we can’t produce our own players. Lamprou is in form and should be in the team. If we don’t see this then I don’t know what to say. Limnios is off and on at PAOK. I’m not entirely convinced of him yet. There’s one player I like and who I think can help this team and that’s Bouzoukis. Very talented in my opinion and has something special. These players I just mentioned should be ahead of Bakasetas. I find Chatzigiovannis too weak physically and that’s where Masouras would be the one to edge out Chatzigiovannis in the call ups. Galanopoulos should be in the team and starting but he dosent score goals. Same goes with Kourbelis. Zeca can pop one in, Samaris If given the freedom to I believe he can score himself. If we can get it right in the middle of the field first then I believe the wingers and strikers would benefit. We need faster thinkers and also faster players physically in the middle.

Apparently Anastasiadis is looking to bring in Durmisaj from Panionios. He is Albanian and I don’t think has played for our youth. Again I’m not a big fan on playing foreigners. If he is for the strikers position then I’m 50/50 as we do not have anyone else apart from Mitroglou and maybe Koulouris. On a side note, does anyone believe that Chatzigiovannis, Lamprou, Limnios, Bouzoukis and so on ready to play for this senior team???

Are there any news articles about what Anastasiadis is thinking with the call ups?

I think Bakakis can help us in transitioning from the back to the front because of his quickness. But he is weak in defence. Torosidis still has dangerous crosses but is slow and gets tired easy. So they are both not good enough really. I hope Masouras the RB makes a career for himself because we don’t have anyone else there. You could put the player from Asteras Kotsiras. Decent player.

Pelkas and Stafylidis are now injured. I wouldn’t mind Bouzoukis and Kyriakopoulos taking their place. Also Lykogiannis is now an option. We haven’t conceded a goal with Lykogiannis playing. I hope we see Bouzoukis in the team now but something tells me we will see Bakasetas again. I really hope that dosent happen.

Not sure. He is back training though.

Retsos is still injured. Bakakis is not good enough in my opinion but if we have to put him there, then put him there. I just thought there are too many options at LBs, might aswell put someone there.

The best way to judge this group of players is by playing the most inform players and players in their correct position. If that is not the answer then we would have to put blame on our players because they are simply not good enough. So, from the nations league up until now this is the team we should see going into the first match. I’m taking into account who has played, scored, assisted and in form from that time period. Vlachodimos Koutris Manolas Sokratis Stafylidis Galanopoulos Samaris Lamprou Fortounis Donis (??? Either Mitro or Koulouris) We all know Koulouris deserves to be in the team. He is having an incredible season. Mitroglou will still be there because of the career he has had. Lamprou has been scoring nearly every 3 matches and has been preforming well in Holland. He should be starting. Donis has come back from injuries and scored against Bayern and has been playing. Also they are both wingers and play abroad which is important. Galanopoulos should start based on the fact he is played many European matches for his age and is constantly playing at AEK. Samaris has sort of rejuvenated his career in a way at Benfica. Zeca and Kourbelis have played aswell but you can only have 2 there. Fortounis since the nations league and until now has been way more in form then Pelkas and Mantalos. He has scored, played and assisted more. He is a no brainer. Koutris is the only one out of position. He is the only one who has been more impressive than Torosids and Tsimikas at Olympiakos. Lykogiannis is back and playing so another option at RB since we have too many LBs. Stafylidis is back and playing but I am questioning this as he isn’t really inform but he is playing. Also we have to factor in Kyriakopoulos as he could be an option. The rest is self explanatory. We have tried Kourbelis and Zeca and that hasnt seem to work so well. It’s now time to try Samaris and Galanopoulos. Let’s see how we would do with actual wingers in Donis and Lamprou. If we can’t do it with this line up then we really have no hope because the players I haven’t started have already either haven’t worked or are not ready yet. If this team i put can’t do the job well really don’t have a chance in my opinion. Let’s see this time around what happens because I really hope things turn to be good or we would have to wait 10 years for our next generation to lead us into a tournament.

We can put Koutris at RB because he played their a few days ago. He won’t be as effective because he is left footed. But an option to consider which them leaves Lykogiannis, Stafylidis and Tsimikas to battle over the LB spot. Kyriakopoulos I would like to see tried but I’m not sure if it will happen. I strongly hope that we see something more from our midfielders. I actually would like to see Samaris and Galanopoulos given a shot together. But we also have to be realistic and say to ourselves what will change this time around? We can change the speed of our players because what they lack. Kourbelis and Zeca are hard runners but lack the quality going forward and also too slow in passing. We haven’t got real control in the middle. Someone with great technical ability and an eye for a good pass.

I hope things go well this time around.

That’s true @georgelaz our difference makers are always injured. Papadopoulos heading can be a difference maker. Stafylidis long shots are dangerous and Donis speed and skill is very good. @Ellada2004 We always show up against opposition better than us. Though we drew against and lost against Belgium and we drew twice to. Bosnia. Not good enough in my opinion of you want to make tournaments. It was a great effort though on those 2 matches. @J1078 I agree with what you said. Our players aren’t good enough and haven’t adapted with the time and other aren’t simply good enough. Our midfielders are slow and are not creative. Fortounis is our only hope in this department and even he is not all that. With goal scoring we are relying on Mitroglou because he is the only one that score and no else. Also maybe Fortounis aswell but he is trying to create most of the time. Our wide players are not wide players and aren’t good enough as players to play there. Our actual wingers are still young. So I don’t see any inspiration really from our side. Our defence is good but they can only do so much.

I would also like to point out when choosing your squad you logically should be choosing players that are inform. Also picking 3 left backs dosent make sense. You o lot really need 1 or 2 max. There are players that are versatile and can play 2 positions for example Retsos. Manolas, Sokratis and Kyriakos when healthy are the 3 you would choose. No point picking someone your not going to use when you can use that spot to call a winger for example. Which leads me to my next point. Do Pelkas, Mantalos and Fortounis need to be all on the team let alone the starting 11? Under Skibbe he played Mantalos at RW for nearly the whole qualifiers. He also didn’t utilise Lazaros at the time which was his mistake. We know now that Pelkas and Mantalos don’t work outwide so why do it again?? instead pick wide players that play there like inform Lamprou and Chatzigiovannis. Call one of Pelkas or Mantalos to be back up to Fortounis. Masouras can be the other back up for the wing for now. You also only need 2 strikers and 2 keepers.4 Fbs altogether too. 3 cbs 2 dms 2 cms and so on. Something like this Vlachodimos, Barkas, Gianniotis Torosidis, Bakakis, Manolas, Sokratis, Kyriakos, Retsos, Koutris, Tsimikas Kourbelis, Galanopoulos, Zeca, Samaris, Fortounis, Pelkas Masouras, Chatzigiovannis, Lamprou Mitroglou, Donis, Koulouris

I have to agree with everything you said. If you think about it’s true. Debating whether Samaris, Kourbelis or Galanopoulos to start is like beating a dead horse. None of them are difference makers. We are very weak in this department. More than the wing. The wing is very bad also. We can’t just rely on Mitroglou either. He goes missing most of the time. As you said we need huge luck for us to qualify. I don’t see us realistically qualifying for the Euros. We should just completely revamp the team and set us up for the future. Lamprou is in form. Chatzigiovannis and Bouzoukis have led Panathinaikos this season. Donis is our future and Koutris can be our left back for the next 5-10 years. I like Kyriakopoulos aswell. Some of these players are not completely there yet in their careers but we haven’t made tournaments with Mantalos, Bakasetas, Pelkas, Samaris, Tachtsidis and so on. We always say If we beat Bosnia we will qualify. But don’t forget that Italy is involved and we don’t do that good against smaller teams. This team needs to be treated more than what it is. Like a club. Management or whatever should be tracking our players continuously and making sure they follow their routines and are playing and also helping them. It has to be run like it’s a number 1 priority.

Not many Greek players can play bother CAM and on the wing. There is one player that can and his name is Bouzoukis. I’m my honest opinion I believe Bouzoukis is better than Bakasetas. I would put Bouzoukis in the team. I’m not totally set on Chatzigiovannis but I would give him a shot same with Masouras. Fetfatzidis would be threatening on the wing for us with clever quick feet and eye for a pass. No coach seems to like him and I’m not entirely sure why. I still believe in Pelkas. In my opinion the reason we didn’t get much out of him was because he was burnt out. He stated every match for PAOK since July 2018 until December 2018. From that period he was playing non stop and his style of play which is relentlessly pressing the oppositions backline all the time affected him and his fitness in my opinion. The few games he played earlier in the season he was very good. Mantalos on the other hand I believe is deteriorating because of the many long term injuries he has sustained. He is declining in my opinion but would still be a good option off the bench. Bakasetas in my opinion is not good enough and too slow. Same would go for Bouchalakis as he is slow too.

Massive blow for him. Not a massive blow for the national team really. I wouldn’t of played him. We need to move on and I think Anastasiadis knows that. Donis, Chatzigiovannis, Lamprou and Masouras should be fighting for those wide positions. Pelkas and Mantalos have not worked there and I really hope we don’t see it again.

He hasn’t always been starting but he’s done ok for himself so far. I’d like to see him do more and I do think he is capable of more. I think Kourbelis and Galanopoulos would be our best partnership in my opinion. I believe they can compliment each other and they will given the opposition nothing and do anything to defend well. They are both fast and are improving by the month. I say we go with them for the next few matches as they are our present and future in these positions. Zeca is also another good option. I don’t want to see Fortounis jogging at a slow pace anymore. He has to show more energy in what he does. He is our best option in CAM but if he’s not going to do more I say get him out and bench him for a while. Also I don’t think Mitroglou deserves an automatic starting spot. He can’t really start if hasn’t been playing and hasn’t been scoring. Yes he is our best option but it doesn’t set a good example to the rest of the guys who want to earn a spot and build a legacy for themselves. Koulouris seems like deserves the spot and rightfully so, but I don’t rate him in other aspects of his game. At least Mitroglou can offer strength and experience. That lineup you posted above is most likely our best way to go for the next match. I’d like to see other deserving players be given a shot as I believe they can benefit us for example Lamprou and Bouzoukis. I don’t know if Angelos will play Pelkas and Mantalos in the starting 11. They both can’t play wing and they have proven that. Either one would be a good back to Fortounis though at CAM. There are some other that have done well for themselves like Siopis and Kyriakopoulos. Ive seen Kyriakopoulos play and he reminds me of a future Holebas. The can deliver a good cross and and has a lethal left foot. His height would give us an advantage also when defending high balls in our box. This is an alternative lineup to @georgelaz line up. Koulouris Lamprou Pelkas Bouzoukis Samaris Siopis Kyriakopoulos Siovas Mavropanos Toro Barkas As i said not a huge fan of Koulouris but he deserves to start. Lamprou has shown excellent form so far and Bouzoukis can play on the wing even though he plays central. Pelkas would give us a boost with his speed. Samaris and Siopis would be good backs ups to Kourbelis and Gala I believe. Kyriakopoulos as I mentioned before and Toro because we haven’t got much players there. Siovas continuously playing in Spain shouldn’t go unnoticed and Mavropanos is slowly getting back into action with Arsenal. Our future Centreback. Retsos hasn’t played yet because of injury but he would be in the plans too. Barkas a good alternative to Vlacho. Obviously the first line up @georgelaz posted is the ideal and logical line up but I thought I’d have a bit of fun and give an alternative 11.

We have to include Lamprou in these conversations. He is in form and scoring. Masouras is good but hasn’t proven enough in my opinion. Same goes for Chatzigiovannis. I like Bouzoukis though he shows some brilliance and he can score goals. Another option we can use at CM/CAM.

I actually rate them more than other wingers we have. They can still go and they have experience. They are still fast as well. They are better options to have than Mantalos or Pelkas on the wing. Masouras and Chatzigiovannis are not proven and we will have to wait and see what they do. They aren’t that impressive now. Donis on the other hand is better than all in my opinion.

I say forget about it. We don’t need someone who doesn’t want to play for the shirt. We need players bleeding for the shirt and really wanting to play for Greece. Holebas used Greece and now he dosent need them anymore. I say good riddance and now Stafylidis, Retsos, Giannoulis, Tsimikas, Koutris and Kyriakopoulos can all fight for that LB spot. Our real problem is RB and a proper answer in midfield in my opinion.

That’s true we do have better. But I believe he can be an asset to the team when available.

Is he still injured?

Has anyone realised this player has been injury prone since 2012. That’s 7 years of him being in and out of action. Also during that time he had very serious injuries with his knees and slowed him down a lot. Does anyone know what’s up with him now??

Same here but in my opinion nothing compared to the form he had just before his move to Fulham. At that time he was scoring nearly week in and week out and scored a harrick in champions league for Olympiakos, the guy was on fire. His time at Benfica was really good but in my opinion he was at his best with Olympiakos in 2013.

Yes he played for the u19s and 20s for Asteras. He is very versatile and he is a CM by trade. He seems very talented from his videos.