Dean97

Bakasetas has no place in the team. He is slow and is clueless. I once thought he was a decent player at Panionios. I now don’t think much of him. He just doesn’t do it for the national team. With Mantalos, it’s been proven time and time again that this guy is not the same player that he once was before his injuries. He also proved that he can’t play on the wing. He is not a winger. Pelkas is the same. I have said many times for Pelkas to play on the wing and he has proved he can’t do it there. Its all obvious now. How many more chances do these guys deserve? Just because they have a significant role in their respective teams it doesn’t mean that they get chance after chance in the national team. It hasn’t worked so look at other options... I hope Anastasiadis is going for Donis and Chatzigiovanis at least for the wings in the future. I don’t think he will ever call up Fetfatzidis and Lazaros just because of the age factor. I think he has the mentality of out with the old and in with the new. The new age of Greek footballers such as Bouzoukis, Chatzigiovannis and so on. I predict that he wants to build towards the future. That’s why we have seen Koutris and Vlachodimos get their debuts respectively. Siovas I think is the exception. I like him but I think his pace is a bit of a concern. As long as he can position himself properly and consistently we should be fine. He did well I thought against Finland. Also Sokratis has got the pace to cover if need be.

We haven’t even tried something different for our front 4. We shouldn’t dismiss that we can’t open other defences when firstly we haven’t played to upfront and secondly we don’t play natural wingers. Donis is essential to this team even though his end product is not that good. If we can first play with natural wingers then we can put someone who has great vision like Bouzoukis for example. At least we should something else apart from having Pelkas and Mantalos on the wings. I also can believe Bakasetas is still in our plans. The media must love him.

I agree. The formation is fine it’s just who you put in that formation is what counts.

@J1078 i agree. Bouzoukis seems like the midfielder you were explaining. He can pass has vision and has an incredible shot. He has something special and I hope Angele is keeping an eye on him. I wasn’t too high on Mitro this game. I hate it when he doesn’t sing the anthem with the rest of the team. He looks like he doesn’t care. Even Zeca sings it. Also his performance wasn’t that great. Zeca and Kourbelis are good for shutting down opponents and running. They can’t control the midfield so that’s why i suggested that we play someone who can pass and move forward with ball effectively instead of always passing backwards. Also Pelkas and Mantalos don’t play like wingers. You could see they were trying to always move in the middle to do things. A winger is supposed to make runs down the line and take players on and whip in crosses. Instead we saw them more central than outwide where they should be. They are not natural wingers like Lazaros, Fetfatzidis, Manthatis, Lamprou, Chatzigiovanis, Limnios, Donis and Gianniotas. Even Bouzoukis can play there but I prefer him as a CM.

Mantalos and Pelkas shouldn’t see game time. They should be on the bench going forward. Bakasetas should dropped out of the team completely. You said something about how our style would will never be pretty and how we will always struggle to score goals. There are two solutions to these problems in my opinion: 1. Drop Mantalos and Pelkas to the bench and play Donis and Fetfatzidis on the wings. That’s if we stay with a 4-2-3-1. 2. Play 1 of Kourbelis or Zeca in midfield and play Galanopoulos or someone more attack minded there eg. Mantalos or Pelkas. We need to stop playing players out of position and need players who are more talented to get the job done. We all know Mantalos and Pelkas play better central so why not put one of them as the 8? Why do we need to have two 6s playing behind Fortounis? Kourbelis and Zeca are not technicians and aren’t really accurate passes of the ball. That’s why we need a proper 8. This would result in more opportunities created. The finishing part of the game needs to worked by the players. It’s all about which player you put in which position and what type of player he is.

Yeah but he makes mistakes at times. Koutris from what I saw hardly made any mistakes.

I’d go with Koutris.

Ofcourse he is 10x better than Bakasetas.

I agree.

Bouzoukis would be great for this team.

You can’t have both Zeca and Kourbelis in the same midfield for starters. You need someone who is a bit more attacking. Mantalos would be good there.

That’s what I was thinking. We need to work on our finishing and headers towards goals. It’s like we rely on just set pieces to score. It’s disgusting for a team like ours. We actually do have talented players. It’s just that we can’t finish. Mitroglou is inconsistent in this aspect aswell. Something we need to improve on fast. Also not to mention our midfield. There is no attacking mindset. Hopefully Galanopoulos plays in the future. We need something.

Hmm Fetfatzidis is the guy your after. Also Donis.

Pelkas made a poor decisions. Mantalos no better. We are looking better with Anastasiadis though.

In all honesty I hope we see a 3-5-2 because that means Bakasetas won’t start.

Yeah Karelis and Bakasetas don’t deserve to be called up. Same could be said for Mantalos and Pelkas.

I agree with that aswell. We need to start being a team again.

That’s what i was thinking aswell. Finland have to lose there last match and we have to win to get any sort of chance of topping the group.

I would like to see this for sure. I’m sick of having 1 striker up top. It hasn’t done us anything. We are lucky to have Mitroglou but even he is not capable sometimes. Again why would you call up Koulouris if your not going to use him? Regarding Fetfa. Fetfa and Koulouris play 2 different positions file. What Fetfa can bring to the table is enough for this team. He can put the ball on the plate for our striker. He can take players on with speed. He has flair and skill. The only problem with him is he can’t finish. Koulouris on the other hand can. That is the only good thing with Koulouris is that he can score. His touches and passing aren’t at the level of say Fortounis or Fetfa but is definitely a poacher. He reminds me a bit of Gekas. He is still young and has an impressive tally so far. It depends what you mean by killing it in the GSL. Koulouris is killing by scoring goals but that’s it. If your looking at all round play then Fetfa is the man. Fetfa also had a very impressive game in the Europa League.

I am very curious to see what formation he will play this game. If you look at the selections he has called up 4 cbs, 4 fbs, 4 dms, 4 ams and 3 out and out strikers. There are no natural wingers, Masouras I think is more of a striker than a winger. It wouldn’t be that shocking if he goes for a 3-5-2. I wouldn’t think he called Koulouris for no reason. I think there the formation should be the same for the Greek national teams too. That is what I think they will do. We could see a 4-2-3-1 for all the levels such as the u19s,21s and men’s. I think that’s what Basinas was referring to in the interview. It’s a good idea as it will be easier for the younger player moving up. Also how does Karelis deserve a spot? Bakasetas shouldn’t be there at all. While Pelkas and Mantalos are questionable. Fetfatzidis and Lazaros deserve to have a spot in this team but it is early days so we should rightfully give it time. With Euro qualifiacation in March we could see players like Chatzigiovanis in the team as Angelos is looking forward into integrating players from the 21s. I would actually wouldn’t mind seeing a 3-5-2. Out defence is our strong point and you can’t go wrong with playing to your strengths. I do though at the same time would like us to be more dangerous in attack such as our build up. Also our finishing needs to improve aswell.

I’ve got a question though... What will Basinas bring to the table that Vryzas didn’t?

Yeah I’m feeling positive about this interview aswell. Hopefully the players that don’t perform are benched for ones that should be given a chance. Eg. if Fortounis is having a bad performance than put Fetfatzidis in and so on and so on.

I believe Fortounis and Mantalos should be our main CAMs in 4-2-3-1. With Fortounis as 1st choice. I want to see Pelkas either as an 8 or on the wing. Pelkas should have been trained to play on the wing in his career. If Pelkas and Zeca are in the middle I believe that we will see a lot of running in the middle and more creativity. With creativity being a priority. Zeca can hold and be the destroyer. Regarding Holebas I believe he won’t be back. He is 34 and looks as if he is done with Greece. Regardless that he is in form. Let’s give Koutris a chance. I’d go something like this: Vlachodimos Retsos Manolas Sokratis Koutris Zeca Pelkas/Kourbelis Donis Fortounis/Mantalos Fetfa Mitroglou

I think you may be right. I believe we do have 3 or 4 players that are very good and that’s about it. The rest are either poor footballers or average and don’t deliver for the national team.

IMO Karnezis doesn’t have to be there. We have a lot of depth in GK position. Don’t forget we also have Dioudis who is performing well. I would have like to see Gianniotas there instead of Paschalakis. I think Anastasiadis will play 3-5-2. He should allow the wingbacks to attack with freedom but they must come back. Mitroglou will probably play with Koulouris upfront. I am for playing 2 strikers but I don’t think Koulouris should be playing. He should be with the u21s.