Dean97

Will Pelkas be playing this match?

How were the keftedes @ausgreek? I need to tell my yiayia to make some lol.

Whats with all these youth players from Greece leaving to go abroad? It's good for their development. So far Antzoulas from Asteras and Vrakas from PAOK have gone to Italy. Also some PAO youth players have gone as well. Speaking of PAO half of their team are youth academy players and young Greeks. This will only be helpful for their development and maybe some day be solid depth for the national team.

You forgot to read "on his day". His inconsistency doesn't help the argument of him being most talented midfielder. The last 8 months he has been playing like Tziolis. His slowness doesn't help his cause either. People cant deny on his day he is our best midfielder. His problem has always been consistency. Samaris has been consistently average for the national team. Thats why i believe he was favoured more than Tachtsidis. Tachtsidis would have an ok game than have the worst game for a few months and then after a few weeks later have one best game of his life. He is not consistent. But his overall ability is compared to our other midfielders is more superior. No one has the vision and passing ability like Tachtsidis. You cant say the reason why he hasnt got a team yet is because he is not talented. There are other things involved. Like laziness, ego and so on. We dont know what he is thinking, only he knows.

Tachtsidis could be our very best midfielder on his day. He is talented. Zeca has the most energy and has been beneficial for our team. I'm keen to let Samaris have another chance. By the way some benfica fans say that he is not a number 6. He is more of 10 or 8 they say. Ive been saying for a while push him forward and not have him so deep. I'd leave that to Tachtsidis feel because of his long range passing and cleverness in his play. But where does that leave Zeca? I think Samaris has been misused. Most of his goals in his whole career has been from him pushing up into space or from set pieces. I'd leave the holding role for Tachtsidis, Zeca and Kourbelis. For box to box midfielders I'd have Samaris, Mantalos and Bouchalakis. We don't have anyone else. We are no Spain or Germany who have a good amount of depth in their talent pool. Benfica wanted to mould Samaris into a 6 when he should have been moulded into an 8 in my opinion.

Your probably right about Bouchalakis. We haven't got many options though. That's the problem with our midfield. Bouchalakis is playing good for Olympiakos and should be ahead Samaris and Tachtsidis. Kourbelis is an option but I'd go with Bouchalakis. I'm not sure if he is the answer. There's no harm in trying him. Could be benefit more than we expect. I just think he needs a good run of games. Galanopoulos and Androutsos in a few years could be the answer.

I didnt know that. It wont be an easy 2nd leg though.

Yeah hopefully he can do the same with Greece. Bouchalakis played well also. He is not as slow as people say. He is not the fastest but propably has the same pace as Samaris. He is way better than Tziolis. He loves playing long cross field balls. He presses well at times and can be a threat inside the box. He scored off a header and almost scored another one few minutes after. I dont if he is the answer for the midfield but is way better than Tziolis. He can be a little more ambitious with his passing as Podence made a lot runs in behind the defence. He joins the attack at times when needed. Samaris dosent do that for the national team. Also he looks more motivated than Taxi. As for Galanopoulos. We have our future star midfielder. He will be the key to our midfield in years to come. I saw the match AEK played against Vidi. I also think he is good enough to start for our midfield. He keeps possession well and has lots of energy. He also joins the attack and creates an opportunity. These are positive signs for our midfield. It will be interesting to see who starts alongside Zeca.

Thats true. I am watching Olympiakos vs Burnley. Fortounis scored a free kick. Bouchalakis just scored a header!

I don't think last season counts. I read an article on contra.gr saying that Skibbe might use Bouchalakis because of the reasons i mentioned. Samaris hasnt played, Tachtsidis and Siopis have been dropped by Oly and havent played. But all of them could easily start in this team. It just comes down to who deserves to play based on match fitness. Samaris is better than Bouchalakis but Bouchalakis has played more this season coming into the games in September. Bouchalakis is slow but better than Tziolis. He can keep the ball better and has better vision. Tachtsidis i think is our best holding midfielder but hasnt performed in the last 8 months which is why he was not wanted by the new coach. I dont know whos decision it was for leaving out Tachtsidis and playing Bouchalakis instead. They are both similar and i think Marinakis is sort of related to Bouchalakis.

As for right now though I don't know if he is match fit. I don't want any mistakes for our first game. I'd like him to start as I think he is good but we have to give to someone who has played more this season an someone who deserves it. I don't think Galanopoulos is ready yet for the big task. I'll give it to Bouchalakis for these next few games. As for Pelkas i would start him. I'd have Donis or Fetfatzidis as a super sub for him. I hope Pelkas plays the same way he does at PAOK for the national team. He doesn't stop running and hustling. He also has the technical ability to beat players and is fast. I would also play him as a second striker just behind Mitroglou. But Fortounis must play also in my opinion. So Pelkas should play on the wing.

I have to agree with @J1078 Karnezis has brain lapses with the national team. Paschalakis today proved to me that he should be the starting goalkeeper. Made many crucial saves. On Karnezis day though he can be very good.

We should see Mantalos there as an 8. He should be given a new position with a new responsibility. Samaris hasn't played lately and doesn't look like he is in the plans for Benfica. We don't know how match fit he is, so we should play our best and fittest players. Mantalos I think can handle the task of playing as an 8. Pelkas for me has to start. He deserves to start. He has been playing very well. Apparently Bouchalakis might get called up. Since Tachtsidis, Siopis and Samaris haven't played and are without a club. Also Kourbelis I think might miss out due to injury.

Paschalakis had a very good game today against Benfica. Especially the second half. Made like 4 crucial saves. I think there is no doubt he will be called up. Pelkas has a lot of energy and is probably our most fittest player. He presses hard which is good and can take on players. He just didn't have enough support in the attacking play. A commentator even said he reminds him of Karagounis playing style. The goal PAOK scored started from Pelkas free kick. Limnios wasn't that involved today, that's why he was subbed off for Warda who scored the goal. PAOK have a good team and their Cbs Varela and Crespo did very well.

Yeah Bakasetas looks ok with AEK but with national team he can't do anything and isn't dangerous. Yes he played on the wing which is not his best position. He is not fast enough. At best he should play CF. For CAM we got Fortounis, Pelkas and Mantalos. The only good thing that I like about him is his shooting. His passing is ok but his shooting is his best attribute. Also free kicks. Tachtsidis would probably get called up because of Skibbe. He shouldn't be because he has dissapointed. If he played well in the in qualifying and the friendlies like score or assist, he would be called up regardless if he has a team or not. But so far he has no team and hasn't performed up to standards either so he should be out. Give it to someone who has something to prove like an Androutsos or Galanopoulos. Yeah I'm not sure about Vlacho. I think Barkas and Gianniotis are good enough back ups to Karenzis. Paschalakis is good enough to be in the team. It would be good to add him for depth. Even though Panathinaikos are a mid table team they have some players with potential to be in this team in a years time. I hear good things about Bouzoukis who is 19 and the left back Chatzitheodoridis. Their main objective would be to stay alive in the league.

My prediction on the starting line up for the first game: Gianniotis Torosidis Sokratis Manolas Stafylidis Samaris/Tziolis. Zeca Lazaros Fortounis Donis Mitroglou Hopefully Tsimikas gets a shot. I don't know what going on with Stafylidis. Tziolis shouldn't start but this is Skibbe. Donis most likely plays on the left with either Pelkas or Bakasetas (shouldn't be in the team) coming on. I think Retsos might be coming back in time but I'm not counting on it. Isn't it only his wrist? Mitroglou is questionable as he hasn't played and is probably not match fit. He is our only option. Koulouris and Manias are not good enough yet. I just want to win regardless. I have the team first before a player. But if Tziolis starts he will be sabotaging us. I believe if Fetfatzidis is on the bench and comes on it will do us no harm, it will in fact benefit us if Lazaros or Fortounis are gassed and also there defence will be tired and he will exploit them.

As long as he plays someone technical on the wing I'll be happy.

I don't know what to think. He wants to add youth to the keeper position. We might see Galanopoulos in these matches...

Girogos Vrakas who is a PAOK youth signed for Napoli as well. Let's see how he does there.

Bakakis isn't great defensively. Also most of our fbs are not that tall. So it's important we have height in our box when we are defending. Holebas was good in the air and so was Torosidis. Stafylidis Isn't that great in the air and therefore our left side could be targeted. Karelis will get game time throughout the season, that shouldn't be the concern. The concern is that we are limited in most positions, especially up front. We can't play youth players like Koulouris or Douvikas yet. They need to prove themselves. Karelis has proven himself and should be on the team when healthy.

Karnezis Lykogiannis Manolas Sokratis Tsimikas Samaris Zeca Lazaros Fortounis Pelkas Mitroglou/Karelis I think Karelis will have a big season coming up. I doubt we'll see Lykogiannis called up but he should be given a chance. We have Donis and Fetfatzidis as subs. Pelkas has been in good form and so has Lazaros. Hopefully Bakasetas isn't called up and we see Limnios instead.

It's also the fact there aren't many options in some positions either. Tachtsidis I believe is talented but has proven time and time again that he is very inconsistent. Mitroglou is too slow for me and shouldn't be guaranteed the starting position. Karelis is an option and that's about it. Donis is a winger mostly. Some are not motivated and that's a problem and that's also on the individual. Players like Sokratis, Manolas and Retsos are always motivated and they want to stay on top. We are lucky to have Retsos in my opinion. He has the right attitude and seems like a hard worker. Talent only takes you so far and if your not willing to put in the work and are not motivated then you shouldn't be near a national team let alone a pro footballer. We need fighters in this team. Also players willing to achieve big things.

That's correct. That's the things with Lazaros a few months ago. He came back to the team and didn't do much. That's why I believe that Fetfatzidis can single handle teams like Hungary and Estonia. He has the technical ability no like one else in our team. I don't mind seeing him coming off the bench but a player with talent deserves to start. He can also be a good impact sub. I like the way Pelkas has been playing lately. He is fast and presses the defence well which leads to him having an opportunity to score. He Is becoming a very good player.

Katsouranis used to be a good player back in the day. Tziolis was average at best most of his career and now he has been playing the worst he ever has. He is not up to it anymore. Even if he wants to he is nowhere near good enough in this era. I think the game against Egypt he didnt do as bad as normal and even at times did better than Tachtsidis. Tachtsidis seriously needs to get his s%$#! together as he has talent. It feels similar like a Ninis situation, doesn't want to work hard and probably doesn't even care that much. If he did he would be playing at a higher level like a Serie A or Bundesliga. He hasn't found a club a yet so my best guess would be Samaris and Zeca for the midfield. We need a midfielder with balls who can lift the team and create chances. Skibbe would be a madman to start Tziolis.