Dean97

Yeah I agree about Bakasetas. But what does Skibbe see in him to start instead of Gianniotas? I like Bakasetas as a player but he is not worth to start at the moment especially on the wing. Can anyone guess why he started some matches? I believe he has decent touch and a good shot. That's about it. He can give a good ball now or then but is sometimes not as effective does everyone agree?

Yugoslavia was a country. Who had many different states that broke up in the late 90s. My point is that those states are now countries and are no different with one another. I'm not saying all are bad but I'm saying you Bosnian's should be ashamed for what yous did. I saw this happening weeks before the match and I was right. Yes there are football hooligans and they do these type of this things. What about the police,the coaches and players from your team that provoked the whole situation. Also how could you Bosnian's speak so badly about us Greeks on social media or the internet in general. Saying we are this and that, who do you think you are. To talk down to us and speak very badly about us. Yous are nothing You have only been a country for only 15-20 years and yous think you can speak like that, the arrogance is unbelievable, where most of your problems are with Serbians. I think it's time to move on from this as I am just stating how I feel about this situation.

Yes football hooligans do that. That doesn't mean you get away with it. Also the police were hitting the fans for no reason. Is that football hooliganism aswell? I was probably just speaking of the way I feel about Bosnian people who are Slavs and who are not far away from another Slavic country who think they are high and mighty, who are clueless just like some Bosnian's. I'm talking about the Skops who say Alexander the Great is a Slav when he clearly is not where his mother and father spoke Greek and he was born in a ancient Greek city called Pella. Not all Slavs are bad but there are some real clueless morons who need to be taught a lesson.

This should be the line up against Estonia.

Haha number 8 is a good combination. In all seriousness Mantalos should not play right wing unless Pelkas, Manthatis and Gianniotas prove their not good enough. Bouchalakis is a central midfielder. Donis should play on the left. I also believe we need wingers for Fortounis to play well and overlapping fullbacks.

There are bunch of animals. These Bosnian's think there something. They are a bunch of blockheads who have no knowledge about anything. They want to act tough by hitting old men. Why don't they come to Greece and do it in Karaiskaki stadium. Bunch of pigs. I hope they get demolished by Belgium. Has the verdict come out yet regarding point deduction? They deserve every single punishment.

Karelis is no good on the wing but Donis is. Gianniotas, Manthatis and Pelkas should be contenders for that right wing spot. Apparently Sturm Graz the team Lykogiannis plays for might sign Bouchalakis. I think it's not a bad move. But he should earn his spot in the Olympiakos starting 11. He is talented. He could be one of our main midfielder for Greece. Players like Charisis, Kolovos, Androutsos, Galanopoulos, Masouras, Lamprou and Limnios need to start working hard and have a solid season to be called up. Players like Kone, Ninis and Samaras seem to be fading away as the new generation look more than capable of being in this team.

They should at least get a 2 point deduction and a fine. Dzeko started it by holding Manolas throat. Then a player hit Manolas which then resulted Gianniotas rushing in when their assistant coach knocked out both of Gianniotas teeth. After the that the Bosnian fans attacked the Greek fans for no reason. Which led the Greek players to tell the Bosnian police to stop them. Meanwhile the police were hitting the Greek fans aswell. After all that the Bosnian fans chucked stuff on to the field to while the Greek players were walking to the tunnel. If this is not worth deducted points then I don't know what is.

I agree. Fortounis is better. I still can't believe Mantalos missed that shot. I think it's time one of Mantalos or Fortounis sits out in the next match against Estonia. If Fortounis was to sit out then Mantalos plays attacking midfield. Which then leaves the right wing open to either Gianniotas or Manthatis. I'd like to see the later play as I think he has something to offer. If not play Gianniotas. Also Pelkas is a decent winger option. I also think Sokratis is out for one match so he will be ready for the Belgium match. I'd like to see Tachtsidis and Zeca start against Estonia.

Unbelievable. Mantalos misses right in front. I didn't expect that from him. His was worse than Fortounis. That was a nice cross from Mitroglou. This game could've been ours. Donis did alright. He looked better on the wing than Bakasetas. Yet again another poor match from Fortounis. I expect a lot more from him. Mantalos also. Karnezis played well. Zeca did alright too. We need friendlies. We need players like Siopis and Gianniotas to play so they can gel with the team. Tachtsidis was needed in this match. Tziolis should not play again. A win would of done the world of good for us. A draw is not good enough. We had chances and couldn't score. This is a problem. We always seem to be chasing instead taking the advantage of our chances.

We can't hold on to the ball for more than 10 seconds. Tziolis needs to get subbed. Gianniotas has to come on soon or else we won't score.

This will be our biggest match. I expect a fighting effort from both team's as this match is very vital to making it to Russia. If we win this, it would be huge. If we draw that is also huge. But if we lose we are going to have problems. I always want Greece to win no matter what. I expect us to score aswell keep a clean sheet. I just hope Tziolis does not start. I'd rather Retsos or Kourbelis. Maniatis should start. He is one of our most experienced players with a very good work ethic. Siopis should be his successor.

Yeah your right in a way. He wouldn't be too bad for the national team. I also think he is better than Kourbelis. Also way better than Maniatis and Tziolis. Bouchalakis needs consistent game time in order to prove himself to Skibbe. I also agree with the last paragraph you wrote. We need more Greeks in the Olympiakos 11. Maybe have Bouchalakis instead of Cambiasso and Gianniotas instead of Seba/Pardo. Keep Fortounis as the attacking mid and have either Siopis and Androutsos fighting for the same spot instead of having Martins. Maybe loan out Nikolaou to a mid table Greek SL team to get minutes... Rotate Risvanis and Retsos to have healthy competition next to Botia. This would be healthy for the national team.

Does anyone have an opinion on Andreas Bouchalakis from Olympiakos?

I think Manthatis should be given a chance. He is not experienced but he can do the job. Donis can be useful aswell. I was thinking the same as you Georgelaz, but Lazaros can be very inconsistent and frustrating. I wouldn't mind seeing him start. The new additions to the team will be Lykogiannis, Donis, Retsos, and 2 others with the rest being the same. Bakasetas and Diamantakos don't deserve to be in the team, aswell as Vellios and Tziolis. In my opinion if your going to call up Donis then choose one out of Diamantakos and Bakasetas. Not both. We all know that Mitroglou is starting. It is also very rare he gets subbed off. So use that other spot in where we need it most. Central Midfield. I hope Maniatis and Zeca boos the midfield with their energy and running. That's what we are going to count on from them. Your not going to count on them with producing amazing passes like Tachtsidis would.

I think it's a 2 match ban. Apparently Skibbe might call up young Olympiakos defender Retsos.

Siopis is a good player, the only bad thing is that he is short. He is slightly taller than Fetfatzidis if that. He is fast and works hard. The only problem is his height.

I think players like Lazaros,Kone, Samaras,Ninis and Fetfatzidis look like they are done with the national team. When it should be Tziolis. Fetfatzidis is a no brainer to be on this team. Also why hasn't Bouchalakis been given a chance yet? I know he doesn't play often but when he does he looks better than Maniatis. I hope Siopis surpasses Maniatis one day. I'd like to see Kone return to the team but I know Mantalos and Fortounis are more than capable of lifting this team. Ninis is out of form he needs to show how good he is again and show why nearly all of Greece rated him to be the next Messi. Lazaros has been in alright form and we need wingers but he is very in consistent, he also annoys me with the decisions he makes on the field. Just like Samaras. Fetfatzidis needs to be on this team. He has far better technique than Mantalos and Fortounis. He has the best technique in all of Greece. Manthatis looks promising for the wing position and I think Gianniotas needs to be given more chances. At the end of the day Greece's biggest strength is there defence. The two things Greece rely on is the defence and in form Mitroglou. If we can get this constantly and consistently we should be fine.

I understand and I agree with what you are saying. All I'm trying to say is it wouldn't hurt for Siopis and Kourbelis to score a few goals a season with good amount of assists. Bouchalakis when he gets a chance scores from outside the box. He has had a good left foot and powerful shots. He just needs more experience and game time. Maybe I'm asking for too much. I remember Samaris a holding midfielder who played for Panionios and scored at least 3-4 goals per season. Then he went to Olympiakos for one season and scored 3 or 4 goals with a decent amount of assists. This season Kourbelis and Siopis haven't scored once and had 0 assists each. They need to work on shooting and creating chances for themselves.

I love the optimism but dominated the league I don't think so. Siopis and Kourbelis have not scored goals and are very limited in assists aswell. Retsos has potential, but still needs experience. The last real Greek to dominate the Greek League was Fortounis last season. Before that it was Mitroglou. Although the future looks bright with players like Kyriakopoulos, Limnios, Risvanis and Barkas. They are still not their in terms of being in the national team. Or proving themselves to be the next Charisteas, Zagorakis or Basinas. They have some sort of talent. What I'm trying to say is that Ninis and Fetfatzidis were considered the next big thing at the age of 18. I don't see a player today who is like that. I also agree with Donis being a second striker in the national team just behind Mitroglou.

There is always limitations in this team. There arnt all rounders in this team. Samaris is the closest to an all rounder. Kone is an all rounder, he can pass, shoot, control the ball, tackle, good at delivering set pieces and can also get on the end of them. Maniatis can't pass, Tziolis is too slow and can't pass, Siopis is too short. Tachtsidis is slow and can get lazy but has amazing passes. Zeca and Maniatis are the right options to play against Bosnia. They run all day and help out the defence.

Ausgreek looks the more realistic one, but I like the idea of playing Gianniotas as ST. If Karelis was fit I would play him and Mantalos as strikers and Tachtsidis behind them as CAM in a friendly match. The reason being Mantalos and Karelis have good speed and Tachtsidis is decent in the air so when a cross comes in Tachtsidis will be there in time to header it in. Also from a counter attack Mantalos and Karelis can chase through balls because of their speed which will allow them to take more shots on goal. That's a tactic I would do. Also Mitroglou can play just behind the 2 fast strikers because he is good at holding up the ball. Also Fortounis should be tried out on the wing. He has good crosses. Tzavellas and Maniatis should be just bench options and should be put on if we need to slow the game down or put an extra man in defence. Players like Tachtsidis, Mantalos, Fortounis, Karelis, Siopis or even Pelkas should be on the same field due to their knowledge of the game and the massive amount of creativity that they have. Zeca, Maniatis,Tziolis, Oikonomou and Vellios would disrupt any free flowing attacking football. We would just see long balls to no one. Also I read somewhere that Skibbe is looking at calling up Risvanis. I don't know what to think of it. My first thought was it's a good Idea because he is a promising player but we have good enough depth in that position.

I believe Mantalos should go CAM against Bosnia. He is wasted on the wing. Stafylidis will be a key player for us. He has improved. I always thought he was good, I just think he can be a bit of a liability in big matches. He is only 23. He can be even better. As far as Lykogiannis, he should be given a chance in friendlies. He is not starting material for this team. I would have liked to see a Tachtsidis-Siopis midfield combo. Our biggest problem is keeping possession, and taking control of the midfield. We have seen Samaris, Maniatis, Tziolis and Tachtsidis been given chances as nothing seems to work. Androutsos should play in the Bosnia match, maybe come on in the 65th minute. I also think Zeca won't benefit us that much. There is literally no one else worthy enough to be in the midfield. Papadopoulos is a CB for me. Our other problem is that our defenders are the worst passers. Manolas and Sokratis misplaced passes a couple of times in the Belgium match. Tzavellas offered nothing but long balls forward to no one. Torosidis is not the player he used to be. But these players are very good defenders and that's it. They can't contribute much in going forward. They can only mark, win headers and tackle. Next thing is Fortounis better pick up his game or else we will suffer. He is very good he is just not showing like he was last season. Mitroglou is in the best form, as we need Fortounis to give him passes to score from. Tachtsidis is vital to this team. He is big, confident and very positive to the midfield. But his slowness is a problem and can get lazy at times and that annoys me because he is very good. Mitroglou has improved in this aspect. A player that will benefit this team is Manthatis. He is physical and skillful and also has good speed. Gianniotas should be given more opportunities. Also back to the defence Oikonomou and Siovas are very average they would have to have their game of their lives if they were to play against teams like Belgium to to keep a clean sheet even that would not be enough. We are lucky to have very fast and strong CBs like Manolas and Sokratis. Papadopoulos has the best strength and the best headers in the team. He is like Dellas. In the next match I believe we should have Fortounis come off the bench in the 70th minute as a winger. He has got a decent cross in him. Does anyone know if Karelis is back for the match against Bosnia? If he is it will be a huge boost. Also when we have a full team we are very dangerous. One thing that should be done is have Tziolis off this team. He is not good enough. Papadopoulos is a better defensive midfielder even though his position is CB.

I would not count on it. Tziolis looks like he will start next match.

Manolas did very well. So did Sokratis. Mitroglou has regained that confidence he had back in 2013. He looks like he is playing on another level. But his slowness holds him back to do even more damage. Papadopoulos is out next match. Stafylidis has improved but is still a liability.