Dean97

Mantalos played well. Fortounis did as well but can do better. Mitroglou looks like he is regaining his old form but can do better. Manolas i agree is a liablity and Sokratis was rock solid. Karnezis in this game improved. Torosidis was average and so was Stafylidis. You could tell Maniatis and Tzavellas are at a lower level. Bakasetas needs more time. Holebas should start at left back and try Karelis at LW again as I believe they can combine well on the left. K.Papadopoulos needs to start.

Ive just been thinking of things and as i thought today i came up with a way of how to coach the national team and how to get far in major tournaments like the and the world cup. For the world cup coming up, i am going to suggest what ways would coach the team and my ideas to make a great national team. Its all about the attitude in the indivdual if you are good but not living up to it then your out thats how it should be. In my team i would want passionate players who are ruthless and do anything for the team to win (for example Karagounis). Also player selection should based on what team they play for and how reguarly they play for the team. Im against of the way a player gets chosen just because they play in a better team. A player like Gianniotas should not just get chosen over Fetfatzidis just because Gianniotas is playing in Europe when everyone knows Fetfatzidis is better than him. But because Gianniotas is playing for a better team and is in form you got to hand it to him for his work ethic. Players like K.Papadopoulos who have so much passion for the sport and so energetic these are characteristics of a leader. Sokratis i believe is the most hardworking Greek player today. I also believe Sokratis should be the captain and Torosidis vice captain. Next in line for captaincy should be K.Papadopoulos and Samaris. The latter two should lead the future of the team in the next few years. Manolas as well. I am a big fan of Kone i belive he is a very unique player to have in the squad, he is expirieinced and has been a captain at club level. Ninis i still belive in still but Fortounis has shown so much quality and has improved drastically with age. I dont know about Mantalos yet as a starter let alone the RW but he would definitely be in the squad. It is a shame that we do not have many natural wingers. Gianniotas is one, Vlachodimos hasnt shown good form and is not playing at Panathinaikos. Lazaros is an option. Tsilianidis is a player with big potential as i think in a few years he will improve more and more. Mavrias i like but needs more game time and a few goals. Mystakidis i think can play there but the player that i reall want soon back in the team is Pelkas. I have faith in this player i believe he can boss the RW position, he just needs to work harder and more. Lazaros Lamprou is another player to look out for. I am not sure about Diamantakos as a winger. One of my favourite players Bakasetas should be given more of a go because of his strength, passing and shooting abilities he can also keep possesion really well. I believe in this player, dont be so shocked if he scores in the next two qualifying matches. i would also like to see how he would play as a number '8' in a few friendlies. By the way he is not a winger. Holebas can be a winger but would rather him at LB because he can overlap all the time because of his speed and stamina also his defence has become the strong part in his game. Torosidis still has a place in this team but i expect these two retire after the upcoming world cup. Kitsiou is still at PAOK and needs further improvment also Bakakis is at AEK these two have potential to replace the two veterans in a few years time. Karnezis should be our keeper but is shaky at times. Kapino needs more expirience and Glykos is also a bit shaky. There is no other Greek keepers better than these three. The keeper should be chosen based on form. Also Dioudis is a player to look out for. I beleive we should focus on youth aswell. I also believe we should keep the same squad but call up the best youth player from the u18 and the best from the u20. This should be based on the form of the player and how well they performed for the youth national team. Players like OIkonmou and Vellios should be backs up frtherei respective postions as they both have the potential to do well for this team and are reay to explode. I also like to see Gianniotas and Stafylidis, as i rated both thses players when they were playing in Thessalonki for Aris and PAOK respectively. They both have shown good form and have deserved the call ups. But Stafylidis needs to work a lot on his defensive game while Gianniotas needs to work more on his attacking game but i see them improving and working hard. Fetfatzidis and Kone are two players i want back in this team as they can provide spark and create something out of nothing. MItroglou is on fire and Karelis is improving. A player like Tziolis i would not choose, Maniatis is good for defensive duties but nothing else. Kourbelis and Siopis down line the line would get call ups and be the like for like replacements. Also Petsos needs to play more in the friendlies as he can a good back up for Samaris or Tachtsidis. As a coach i would tell Tachtsidis to work harder in training earn his place in his club team consistently perform. This player is really talented especially when works hard. Look at the match against Hungary. Youth players like Donis, Retsos, Orphanidis and Tsimikas should be more ambitious and supported for better growth. Bouchalakis, Charisis, Korovesis and Koulouris need more game time. Korovesis is alo very versatile he can play LB, LW, DM and CAM. Vergos needs to work hard. Overall i need players to work hard, be ambitious and most of all passionate because without passion there is no will to win and passion is needed. I am hoping int the future players like Risvanis and Kolovos become stars. I also forgot to mention another favourite of mine Fountas. This player still has so much potential i would even give him a go against Cyprus that how much i believe in him. He is an ambitous player with a heart of a lion he almost got AEK out relegation zone at just 17-18 years old. BUt he needs to be more consistent work harder. Thats all it has work hard and results will come. Tzavellas is only good for set pieces and Chouchoumis needs more development. The biggest problem position wise is CDM. We dont have enough depth i am also hping Bouchalakis and Charisis perform so we dont see Zeca get a Greek passport. I just wnat this team to work harder for each other and fight for their country and win.

I'm personally not a big fan of Mantalos he is more of toned down Fetfatzidis if you ask me and nothing more than a squad player. Don't like him on the wing but what can you do when we don't have much depth in the RW position. I'd like to see Pelkas there but what is Mantalos best position and what do people think (especially AEK fans) of him as a box to box midfielder ("Number 8") for the national team.

People have got to stop bashing Samaris. Yes against Gibraltar he was not playing well but did you see him against Holland what he did. He is the main reason we keep possession. Maniatis did alright but you can tell he hasn't got a clue and isn't smart enough to create a goal Samaris is already smart enough in that aspect. Tachtsidis is more smarter than both of them in the way of creating a goal. I also like to see him, Kone and Fetfatzidis back in the team. It's going to be difficult for them to be in the team when Mantalos and Fortounis are playing very well.

Mantalos played well along with Mitroglou and Papadopoulos. I think this team has good players all round. Maniatis played alright and so did Tzavellas. One of the problems I had watching this game was when Sokratis gave the ball away why weren't Manolas and Karnezis more sharper in clearing the ball. It was a sloppy goal. When I saw Papadopoulos come on and saw the way he played I know he could've done better than Manolas in the 1st goal. It is still a hard decision of who should be our 1st choice keeper as Kapino did well. In what 1789 said who else is there down the line you think is a more technical player to show for the ball and smarter player to draw a foul. I can't think of one. I still believe Samaris should be our main starter in midfield. All in all I was very pleased in what I saw in this game but I still think something is missing.

Who else thought that Kyriakos was better than Manolas today.

I don't know about that line up can you trust Mantalos as a defensive midfielder. Is he strong enough defensively. Also is Papadopoulos not in the squad anymore, is he going to be playing against Netherlands.

You can't just put Ninis in because he has played 2 or 3 good games. What about players like Fortounis and Mantalos who have been in good form for the past 2 seasons.

Apparently this is the team for the friendly and premier against Netherlands and Gibraltar. https://gre-365.com/2016/08/07/%ce%b7-%cf%80%ce%b9%ce%b8%ce%b1%ce%bd%ce%ae-23%ce%ac%ce%b4%ce%b1-%cf%84%ce%bf%cf%85-%cf%83%ce%ba%ce%af%ce%bc%cf%80%ce%b5-%ce%b3%ce%b9%ce%b1-%cf%84%ce%b7%ce%bd-%cf%80%cf%81%ce%b5%ce%bc%ce%b9%ce%ad/

I know what your trying to say but I've come to realise how good Papadopoulos actually is. Even if Oikonomou is in good form I'd still choose Papadopoulos. I believe Oikonomou can't do what Papadopoulos can do. Such as tackling, heading, strength and the will to win.

He is too driven of a player and passionate. Let alone of his well known abilities.

Whenever he is injury free he should be in the team. If I was coach going into a tournament and I had to choose between a player and Papadopoulos I'd choose Papadopoulos. Its worth gambling on him. I would never choose Oikonomou and Siovas over Papadopoulos is what I'm trying to say.

Papadopoulos should be in the team he has said the Ethniki is his life. He shows it every time he plays.

Samaras was a key contributor to the ethniki's success he worked hard and was passionate, also the most frustrating player to watch and that's where the inconsistency comes in. I don't know if that because I expect better of him or that he is not that good. Bottom line is that he was a good player and I respect what he has done for our national team. To say he is the best Greek player is not true. The players that in my opinion gave more to the National Team were Salpingidis, Karagounis. Other players such as Sokratis, Torosidis, Lyberopoulos, Gekas and others. The players that contributed a lot more were the players in Euro 04. Until we win a World Cup all of those players will be the heroes.

True but we need to start Stafylidis playing LB because he is 22 and he can play for the NT for the next 10-12 years.

Mitroglou should not be played by himself upfront. He needs a hard working, fast striker or attacking midfielder next to him to do the pressing.

I think Holebas would go LW. Skibbe has said the 433 has been played before and has not worked which is true.

Let's not forget about Bakasetas he is a 2 footed player and is good at free kicks. He mostly plays attacking midfield at Panionios. I'd rather him on the right wing instead of Christodoulopoulos.

We can't have Mitroglou by himself there. I think we need 2 strikers in my opinion. Unless we play a striker that likes to run (Diamantakos). A 442 is a best possible formation for us. It's a balanced formation of attack and defence that's why it's a common formation. I also agree with having Samaris and Maniatis in the middle. Fortounis can be the one that is alongside Mitroglou or can ghost around him feeding balls and finishing rebounds. The right wing is an issue.

I believe Samaris is a special player he passes the ball like an expert same with Tachtsidis. Karelis I'd like to see play more. Bakasetas could be the answer in what we are looking for. Fortounis is the guy that should be starting. I don't want to see Tziolis or Lazaros in the team. Kourbelis should be given a shot. Also Gianniotas. We should be finding replacements soon but not now for Holebas and Torosidis. I also think Mitroglou should not start anymore and we should play either Vellios or Karelis upfront. Or play both. Maniatis also needs to be in this team.

Mystakidis is also impressive but right now I would rather Bakasetas.

I know you think Mystakidis is a better player than Pelkas can i ask why Mystakidis has not been called up but Pelkas has.

Pelkas has more goals than Fetfatzidis in the Greek League. Plus Fetfatzidis played more games than Pelkas overall. They are practically the same kind of player, (fast, good vision and technical dribblers) but one is younger than the other and one is more ambitious than the other.

I just saw some highlights of Pelkas he is very impressive. He is like Fetfatzidis but Fetfatzidis is better. But in my opinion Pelkas is a better finisher and can score some wonder goals.

I think he and Stafylidis had 2 good games. I just think is Stafylidis going to live up to it because Tzavellas is not that fast to play LB. Holebas has one season in him after that I'm not sure how he will be.