Dean97

Good lineup georgelaz. Your forgetting Pelkas though. We must fit him in somewhere.

I never understood why Tatos never played for the national team he is such a good player. Especially in his time with Aris in the superleague.

I really hope Karelis plays more often. Before his injury he was on fire. Even in the Ethniki he combined well with Fortounis.

Pelkas has always been hyped up by the Greek media. Even the commentators over exaggerate when does a simple touch. Him along with Ninis, Fetfatzidis and Koutsianikoulis were named as the Greek Messi. Pelkas is having a much better career than those mentioned. I really hope he continues this form as it would only do good for the national team and also PAOK. I am a Olympiakos fan but I am proud of the way PAOK manage their team. I believe PAOK and Atromitos have strong Greek youth. I also hope PAOK continue to produce more Greek players in the starting 11.

Yeah I agree, Mantalos should play central. Karelis is striker. He can't play on the wing. We saw that against Estonia and we all felt frustrated.

Also Skibbe is more focused on integrating Karelis back in the team which is good because he is talented but he should be focusing on our midfielders and wingers. He needs to find the right combination. If the wingers or midfielders are not supplying Karelis or Mitroglou then what's the point of having a striker. We need players who can create and work with the strikers. Fortounis hasn't been doing this enough. I can't wait to see Karelis, Donis and Kourbelis on the same field together. Add Pelkas and Zeca and you have a hard working attacking team.

How can Gianniotas off nothing? We all said what a difference he was when he came on. His enthusiasm and speed proved to be vital. Yes he plays in the second division. Big deal. As Limnos 77 said the Spanish second division is better than the Greek League. Only the 4 big teams in Greece are better than most of the teams in the Spanish second division. Tripolis, Xanthi, Levadiakos and even Atromitos would struggle against these Spanish teams. Same can be said for France, Germany and English second divisions. We should just be choosing players who play week in and week out who are inform. Gianniotas gets picked because of his age and experience. Unlike Limnios, Manthatis and so on. But there is no excuse to not play Pelkas from the beginning.

That's what I have been saying. Although Pelkas has been playing more often and scoring more goals.

I like the way you think La Mendel but realistically we can't field those players. Fighting spirit is what we lacked and that's why we didn't qualify. Im surprised you didn't mention Karagounis. Karagounis had the most fighting spirit in the team. As well as Salpingidis. Tatos and Fotakis are good players who should have had more chances in the team. They had skill and grit. We need to play fast players though. In today's era you need to have players who have skill and speed. We can't to play slow players like Tziolis. Maniatis has the fighting spirit also. That's what I like about him. Zeca is the most hardworking in the team currently. We need players like him. Fortounis, Samaris, Stafylidis and so on need to toughen up and look at the players from the past. Sokratis and Kyriakos show the fighting spirit. That's why I like seeing them play side by side. Manolas is very good also. I have high hopes for Donis because you can see that he likes to keep working and never give up. Plus he has speed and skill. We need to take care of him. Younger players like Manthatis, Androutsos, Limnios, Galanopoulos and Kourbelis show glimpses of that fighting spirit which is good to see. By the way Pelkas scored 2 very good goals against Panathinaikos. Fortounis scored 2 aswell but Pelkas goals were better and harder to score. If Pelkas keeps this form going he should no doubt be in the team or starting 11 in the next games. I believe if we can combine players with skill, speed and spirit then we will go far. Players like, Pelkas, Kourbelis, Sokratis Papadopoulos, Donis, Anestis, Gianniotis, Manthatis, Galanopoulos, Manolas and Zeca.

Well if he comes on as a sub and Is our best player then we have problems. Donis and Lazaros should be our starting wingers. Do you actually believe Gianniotas should be playing in the Spanish second division?

I am watching Stuggart Vs Leverkusen and Donis and Retsos are on the same side. Donis beat Retsos are few times one on one. Retsos is playing leftback. He looks very fit and in shape. Donis looks dangerous on the right. But Retsos needs to be stronger in tackles because Donis shrugged him off a couple times. Also Donis really needs to work on his crosses. Anyway it's good to see 2 young Greeks playing at a high level against each other. Proud moment.

Gianniotas should come back to Olympiakos. He could do a better job than Carcela.

Holebas at LW would have worked well. He didn't like it so he left. Tzavellas just defends and doesn't like to attack. I believe it was Skibbe fault and Holebas fault. If he would've stayed things would have definitely been different.

Yeah I guess your right. Especially about Vellios. He didn't play at all but gets picked. I don't understand him. Hopefully things change.

I agree with most of what your saying. But Skibbe played Tziolis and didn't even call up Fetfatzidis. That to me doesn't make sense. Anyway he did the right thing in calling up Donis and it proved that he is here to stay. Im my opinion PAOK and Atromitos have the best young talent in Greece. Like Skibbe said we need to help them younger talent progress in order to be competitive in the future. Skibbe said a lot of things that hopefully he will back up on.

Wouldn't be a bad idea if Stafylidis went to PAOK but he deserves to play in a better league. I'm surprised that Koutris is getting a lot if attention from teams abroad. He has some talent but nothing like Holebas or Masuaku. He is is young still and can further develop.

I understand where your coming from. But I don't understand why we can't call up players from second divisions if they are good enough. We all know Spain, Italy, France, Germany and England second division could be or probably is on the same level as the Greek League apart from the big 4. Yes we should be calling up players that are playing consistently. Also we should be playing our most talented. We all know we have a depth problem on the wing and midfield. We can't afford in my opinion to be cutting out players because of the division there in. For example Vlachodimos who plays for Nimes has 13 games and 3 goals in the French second division. Limnios who has 7 games and 1 goal in the Greek League. Who deserves the call up? Probably Vlachodimos but because Limnios is young and has got time while Vlachodimos is in his peak at 26, I believe Limnios is more talented and will have a better career than Vlachodimos and plays in a better team like PAOK. Both have experience at Greece youth level. Then there is another debate of who is better between Mystakidis and Pelkas. Skibbe problem is he can't differentiate between other talents. If he did then Holebas would still be here and Fetfatzidis wouldnt be ignored. Also Tziolis wouldn't be starting, Kourbelis would. I know what your going to say about Fetfatzidis but come on we all know he should be in the team. You can't say he is not talented. I would like to look at other talent but most of them are either not ready yet and most of them can't cut it, that's why we see Stafylidis and Mantalos out of position.

http://www.agonasport.com/agonasport-allnews/epic-vasilakakis-double-inspires-atromitos-fight-back-against-platanias Have a look at these highlights. Gianniotis should be capped. Vasilakakis with 2 amazing goals. Also Atromitos have amazing young talent from the u20s. Limnios, Barkas, and Katranis came from there. Nastos, Kivrakidis, Bastakos and Giannoulis are good talents.

I personally think Samaris is our best defensive midfielder. He has been out of form lately but is still our best. Tachtsidis is more inconsistent.

Same here. Skibbe better at least stop calling up Tziolis. I have never heard an explanation as to why Fetfatzidis was never picked. He has put on some weight, but it also looks like he has put on some muscle. This is good because he needs to strengthen his body, so that when he gets in challenges he can hold his own and keep the ball.

You seem to be a big fan of Charisis. What are the positives of him being in the national team. I remember seeing him at PAOK, he had good long shots.

If anyone has time they should see this. Skibbe talks about how you must be playing for your club to get picked and so on. Also says he will try and add some new young players. In my opinion the reporters are not asking tougher questions. Like what happened with Holebas and why Fetfatzidis wasn't picked. A reporter asked that players like. Koutris, Bakakis and Siovas should have been called up because of the form they were in.

If we want players like Tziolis, Maniatis, Tzavellas, Diamantakos, Vellios and Bakasetas out of the starting lineup who will replace them. Sure Kourbelis, Siopis, Koutris can replace the first 3. Karelis, Donis and Pelkas can replace the other 3. But who are we going to replace these players I mentioned such as Pelkas and so on. We havent got enough depth like a Italy or Spain. Most of youngsters between 17-21 are not there yet. Unlike Retsos and Donis. I feel like we need to move this conversation onto another topic.

Why is it impossible? Like you said qualification starts in 9 months. 2 years before the world cup Samaris was playing for Panionios. We didn't even know who he was. Then 2 years later scores in his world cup debut. Anything is possible.

I'd like to know aswell. He looked alright against Montenegro.