Dean97

Well put Alphonse. I just want to add that we also had Ninis and Karagounis also creating for us and we did won most games in the past qualifiers. Now we have Bakasetas, Bouchalakis and Zeca as our midfielders. They aren’t national team level. We have decent wingers like Limnios, Tzolis and Masouras who can create and score but JVS put other players around them that they can’t work with. We have young strikers now in Pavlidis and Douvikas who are still developing and are promising. But they are not like Mitroglou, Charisteas and Gekas of the past… They need time. As for the midfield it needs a total revamp. I’m tired of seeing players like Bakasetas and Zeca not have a clue in playing forward passes and putting players onto goal. They are limited players. Galanopoulos showed glimpses of improving the midfield but still isn’t the answer. We need try something different like Alexandropoulos, Vasiliadis, Papanikolaou and even Ninis who still has what it takes to produce a good performance.

I agree with you. He made too many errors. He knew we had problems in scoring and he played players that didn’t improve this. How can Zeca, Bakasetas and Bouchalakis create for this team they can’t. Then you have others who miss golden opportunities. He didn’t fix our problems and he was scared when we played against Kosovo and Georgia by sitting back which didn’t make sense. You are supposed to take control in these games. A Ninis in the midfield would’ve created something for our attackers and most likely put them through on goal. I also wonder why he didn’t give Vasiliadis a chance, since he wanted him to be involved. I also think anywhere you put Bakasetas he’s be useless. I’ve seen so many games where he’s lost the ball and wrecked our forward play. Crazy to think he was trusted so much and named captain. Also Tzolis was the lost inform winger and never gave him a proper chance. Look at when he came on against Sweden, it took 5 minutes to assist Pavlidis to make it 2-0. Anyways hopefully a decent manager like Valverde can come in and start playing our best players and actually have a plan to win games.

https://youtu.be/yUg5U40mQIk

You make great points. JVS for me didn’t have a plan since the start of the nations league. Firstly, why would he play 2 CDMs against teams like Kosovo and Georgia… we needed someone in midfield who can play nice long passes and threaten there defence. Kourbelis and Zeca failed offensively. All there running meant nothing. We still came 2nd in a really easy group. Bakasetas for me is the reason we didn’t qualify. Yes he go that goal against Sweden but what he has had big shockers in like 20 other games. For me he isn’t good enough to be captain and starting. I wouldn’t even have him on the bench. We need someone more skillful in that position. Fortounis was good enough to play there. We have RBs and CBs but he failed to use them. You can’t use a LB at CB and you can’t ignore RBs who are decent like Kitsiou and Kotsiras. They would’ve for sure have been better than Mavrias or Bakakis. What’s the point of not selecting Manolas/Siovas/Sokratis and putting LBs as there replacements. Greece have a tonne of good CBs to choose from. The way he handled Fetfatzidis and Siovas was appalling. 2 players that can make a difference for this team. These were the things that he failed in. I’m happy he’s given opportunities to Galanopoulos, Mavropanos, Androutsos and Pavlidis as they are our future. Pavlidis has been a bit disappointing but I hope this experience makes him better. This team here right now I think is our best team: Vlachodimos G.Masouras Mavropanos Manolas Tsimikas Alexandropoulos Ninis Fetfa Fortounis Tzolis Douvikas For me is Bouchalakis any better than Ninis? No, Ninis has still got what it takes. He’s an excellent passes and great positioning sense. He can tackle too. Alexandropoulos has got it all and is by far better than Kourbelis and Zeca. Douvikas I think is better than Pavlidis. It’s a close call though. Fortounis is our best 10. Tzolis and Fetfa can change a game in the blink of an eye. I don’t want to hear from people that Fetfa is playing in the Middle East. He only left Aris because he knew that JVS wasn’t going to call him up after being a little late to come down and train. Also to get good money since he isn’t liked by the Greek media or JVS. Giannis Masouras who isn’t like here for some reason, is talented and is playing in Holland at the moment. He’s by far our fastest player and is great going forward. Defensively he’s good but is known to be better going forward. His style of play would’ve helped this team in my opinion.

I don’t know much about him. But I think our best option is Valverde, he’s coached in Greece and he’s coached at higher levels in Spain with Barcelona. We need to bring in someone who will play our best players. Something we haven’t done with JVS.

I’m not so sure Santos and Otto ran the team there way totally. Maybe Otto did but I think some of Santos selections were questionable. The core of Santos team were Samaras, Salpingidis, Karagounis, Katsouranis, Torosidis and Sokratis. Everyone else were mixed up. I appreciated how he integrated Fetfa and Ninis a lot. With JVS, there are a lot of questionable call ups and most of our talented players aren’t there anymore. Players like Svarnas, Bakakis, Bakasetas, Bouchalakis, Rota and Mavrias aren’t really good enough on the international stage. Something tells me they paid a lot of money to get in. Wouldn’t be surprising as there is heaps of corruption in Greek football.

I never thought he would come. Valverde seems more realistic but I even think he won’t come. I’m hoping he does though…

Any coach that comes in should have total control. I don’t think JVS has full control. The EPO decided to sabotage the national team after 2014 and look at what has happened.

Valverde would be a step above Santos. I remember Santos had us playing defensive, boring football. Not willing to go back to that. Greece can play attacking football. They just need the right players and the right system for it. Also the correct coaching and Valverde would be perfect for the job. He loves Greece aswell. Hopefully we get him.

I’d rather Valverde. He’s more accomplished.

It’s time for JVS to go. He’s had his time. We’ve gone downhill since he took over. These group of players are good enough in my opinion to go to a tournament. A player like Pelkas proved he is better than Bakasetas. Mantalos has regressed so much I can’t believe it. Bouchalakis is too slow. He didn’t play Alexandropoulos who is by far our best CM and JVS doesn’t know it. Tzolis is by far our best attacking player and only gets 30 minutes. Give these 2 a few full 90 minute games and see what happens. But no he has to stick to Bakasetas, Bouchalakis etc. How can he not pick a proper more experienced RB like Kitsiou or Kotsiras. Even though they aren’t the greatest they are RBs who can do the job. Androutsos should be playing CM and be used as a player than be put in any position and a reliable player to cover most positions of need be. He’s good. How can you play 3 or 5 man defence against teams like this. Play 4 at the back from the start and start Limnios, Tzolis and Alexandropoulos. Even though we had a few players out there’s no excuse in not beating these type of teams like Kosovo. JVS has failed. JVS out for me…

The core of players he has chosen haven’t gotten us over the line. Bakasetas, Zeca, Bakakis, Kourbelis, Pavlidis and Tzavellas haven’t lead this team to success. These are the guys that have had the most caps under JVS… This is what happens when you don’t take care of your best players and work with them like Fetfatzidis, Manolas and Fortounis. International football is different, you can’t work with different tactics and players every week. So you should pick your best players and hopefully the tactics and formations will work for you on the day. You need all you can get and JVS and EPO have limited the team with excluding it’s best players. But not just that, it’s the core of players JVS has relied on and the tactics he has put in. We dropped points against Georgia and Kosovo with that core. We got lucky with the draw against Spain and now we lost recently to Spain and Sweden. If we were to at least hold on and beat Kosovo and Georgia we wouldn’t be in the position we are at the moment. The coach is to blame for the poor performances. In my opinion get rid of that core of players entirely, except Pavlidis and bring in a new core like Manolas, Fortounis, Fetfatzidis, Fountas, Alexandropoulos… and a manager at a decent level and watch this team transform into a successful team.

I really hope in this game we play Alexandropoulos. It’s time for him to play, as he deserves it. Since we are not going to the World Cup and we have chance to give other players a shot, I would do this: Athanasiadis Saliakas Goutas Mitoglou Tsimikas (c) Alexandropoulos Mantalos Pelkas Pavlidis Tzolis Douvikas I liked what I saw from Pavlidis as a second striker in the friendlies. He had good energy and played some nice passes. Should give Saliakas a chance to see what he’s got. Goutas was great against Spain. Would like to see Mitoglou. Tsimikas should be captain. Start attacking them and give the home crowd a show. That’s if anyone will be there.

I see what your saying. Greece is not better than Spain and Sweden. But player wise they are better than Kosovo and Georgia and there is no excuse for not putting them way. We played horrible in those games. That’s on the coach for me. We seemed like we didn’t care enough in those games and it cost us. We also failed in the nations league before this campaign. Clearly since then JVS hasn’t learned what’s worked and what hasn’t. I really liked what he did in the beginning as we looked like a positive and attacking team with new young players. Since then our performances have been really inconsistent and we’ve lost our ways. Playing Bakasetas has hurt us in my opinion. The only decent game he’s played was against Sweden when he scored. Apart from that he’s been garbage in my opinion. So he’s had a lot of time to correct his mistakes and fails to learn from them. I say if a coach like Valverde was to come in and build the team around the expirienced players like Manolas, Siovas and Fortounis and have the best young players who are playing around them to build towards the Euros. Players who have played and play Champions league or Europa should be the core and then players like Tzolis, Douvikas, Alexandropoulos and Galanopoulos should be the ones that should be trusted and will gain loads of experience if they start and get games nearly all the time. Players like Bakasetas, Siopis, Bakakis and Tzavellas have had there time and it’s time to move on and let players like Alexandropoulos, Goutas and Tzolis get more starts and chances.

The way it should be is if the team doesn’t make a major tournament then you find a different coach. We should be employing different coaches every time, until we reach a tournament. Then you stick with that coach. Can’t be continuing on with someone that can’t get the job done. It’s that simple. There are rumours that we are looking at Valverde. Hopefully it’s true. EPO need to wake up and stop bringing in low level coaches as it wastes money and time. They need to bring in someone that is of higher quality.

Apparently we are looking to get Valverde in as coach. I don’t know if we have the funds for him but if we do I would sack JVS tomorrow. He failed as soon as he put Tsimikas at LCB. You can’t put your best attacking player at CB. Why not put Mitoglou in there? Goutas looked fine at the back and Mitoglou would’ve looked the same in my opinion. I don’t really blame JVS for us not having the ball enough because some of our players are not top quality. Mantalos has a bad touch, Bouchalakis is too slow to make things happen and Siopis runs around but gets no where. Androutsos has a great touch, maybe if he played in his natural position which is midfield then we might’ve looked a little better. Spain have too much quality and it looked easy for them but I got annoyed at the many times these Spaniards were playing dirty and wasting time. You can keep the ball all you want but if you don’t score, you will not win. They got a lucky penalty.

I’m reading that JVS is going to play Tsimikas at CB again. This guy is clueless. How can you put your biggest attacking threat at CB??

I agree. Siovas didn’t really say anything bad. He just pointed out the obvious. If we are going to be playing LBs at CB then I’m all for Siovas to come back. Mavropanos has been scoring lately and it seems he should be a CM. The level from Manolas and Sokratis to our other CBs is really low. We might aswell try and convince them to come back because I don’t really see a CB or 2 that is playing at the highest level. Apart from Mavropanos who might get a position change. You never know. The reason why we’ve been conceding is because our CBs are not truly CBs. Think about it. Hatzidiakos started off as a midfielder in his early days. Tzavellas was a LB. These are the guys we are playing there. They’ve done well but they aren’t going to get us over the line. We might aswell bring Manolas and Sokratis back to guide a Mavropanos or Hatzidiakos…

I agree with everything your saying. In my opinion he should leave. Again I appreciate him bringing in the youth but his stubbornness of playing Bakasetas all the time has hurt us. He is a guy who has almost every time killed our attacks, it’s not good enough. Those points we dropped against Georgia and especially Kosovo tells me we are not qualifying. He hasn’t learned from the nations league and he has been a big disappointment as coach. We need someone who understands Greek football and the Greek players. Someone who knows what works and what doesn’t. Regarding Alexandropoulos, I always praise him, he’s the total package. I’m an Olympiakos fan and I see a lot of talent in him.

I was actually a fan of Samaris but over the years he has been disappointing, especially for the Ethniki. I don’t know if there is a major gap between him and Bouchalakis. Like have we improved with Bouchalakis over him? Hard to tell in some cases yes but most cases no I think. CM I is still a problem area in my opinion. I look at someone like Alexandropoulos who’s got it all and who I think is better than both but not given a chance even in friendlies.

If I was to pick a team and choose the best players for each position, this is what I would do: Vlachodimos Masouras Manolas Mavropanos Tsimikas Alexandropoulos Galanopoulos Masouras Fetfatzidis Tzolis Douvikas Subs/Reserves: Retsos, Ninis, Bouchalakis, Hatzidiakos, Athanasiadis, Tzolakis, Androutsos, Fortounis, Pelkas, Giannoulis, Limnios, Pavlidis, Fountas Someone very underrated is Giannis Masouras. Had a great season in Poland. Don’t know why he never got picked. Douvikas I think is our best striker. In total we have 3 keepers, 3RBs(Retsos and Androutsos can fill in there), 4 CBs, 2LBs, 3DMs, 1CM (Ninis), 3CAMs, 3 wingers and 3 strikers. A great balance. In my starting 11 JVS would start 4 of those players.

I agree 100%. If we want the best for the team then we need to play the best players possible. I’m sick of past coaches playing limited players. Santos did it with Vyntra and Katsouranis. Skibbe did it with Tziolis and Tzavellas and now JVS is doing it with Bakasetas and Stafylidis. I don’t think Skibbe is better. They are propably level. But I appreciate JVS in trusting some of our youth. I have mixed feelings. I don’t know if he should stay or go. If he goes then we’ll propably get someone similar to him. If he stays then who knows what will happen. Will he learn from his mistakes? He didn’t learn from the nations league.

We can’t blame Mavropanos. Yes he made a mistake, he’s still young. He has been very impressive the last 2 seasons. He just needs someone more talented and experienced next to him. Manolas or Siovas would’ve been perfect.

Spot on Alphonse. In the beginning when he took over we looked good and even in the first half of today’s game we looked great. But like many have said he hasn’t learned from his mistakes and his in game management is poor. He has to evaluate our players better also. For me the fascination with Stafylidis and Bakasetas has to stop. He has chosen these guys as his captains and I don’t know why. Things have to change and I don’t know if he is capable of changing. He seems very stubborn with his decisions where he should try and work things out with our best players and integrate them into the team.

I’m just saying currently, a few players shouldn’t be there from the beginning like Bakasetas and Tzavellas and a few shouldn’t be starting like Bouchalakis and Giannoulis. The players I mentioned have had better from than others and most if not all are more talented footballers. Don’t get me wrong he has put in some good young players in but when you have a few obvious players that shouldn’t be there it handicaps the team from being at its best.