Dean97

Karelis has talent he has that something that most young greek players dont have. He has improved dramatically but form is a problem and consistency.

id like to know as to why Tasoulis was called up by Ranieri. What did he see in him in the first place. I do believe though we now should be playing younger players more often but this player has not done much. I also want to discuss each player in this Euro Qualifying campaign and other players in general from what i know. Also were we are heading in the future. 1st i start with Karnezis. I believe he was not bad but could have done better in this campagin. He is the only decent keeper we have that is playing in a top league. But there were times where i wanted him to not be in the squad because ithing he could have done better in the games especially with the Faroes. Kapino has time still to improve but is not that far off. Glykos is not bad. I think he is better than Vellidis. So for now Karnezis is still the number 1 keeper for the Ethniki. Our right back position is one of my biggest concerns, not because Torosidis cant play because he still can and is good enough to still play but we have no proper back up meaning there are no up and coming Rbs from Greece that can take over Torosidis position in the next 5 years. Kitsiou is good but is noth there physically and defensively. Skondras is slow, Konstantinidis needs more time, and Bakakis is not playing as much as before but is my chosen to player to take over from Torosidis. So for now Torosidis is still the RB. Cbs we have a lot of depth there. Manolas, Sokratis and K.Papapdopoulos have that covered. Aswell as players like OIkonomou coming up and Tzanetopoulos. Siovas is good also. My other concern is who is the new Lb going to be because Holebas is more useful for our attack which i will speak about later. Stafylidis shows potential but is like Kitsiou. Tzavellas is slow but a decent back up. there is no else really this is one of the biggest problems that the Ethniki need to fix. Maybe a new formation is needed such as a 5-3-1-1. Next is the most trickiest. Defensive midfield. This is where Samaris has played most of our games this campaign and is on the most dissapointing players along with Lazaros. He is our only decent option and i am fan of this player but he for some reason he has not done that extra thing where you would think he would do something to save the team. He is a world class contributor in the passing sense but hasnt got the real vision that Tachtsidis has. ive watched a few replays of the Greece games where i watched how Samaris likes to play a simple a pass. A simple is not going to create anything for goal scoring opportunities. The only way your going to creating anything its if you play more riskier passes. For example like the one where Samaris played a nice through ball in the air to Torosidis who delivered a good cross for Aravidis to score against Northern Ireland. Another example is the one Tachtsids played to put MItroglou on through goal against Hungary. The more risker passes we play forward the more opportunities we have. This is why Tziolis should not be in tharting line up. He would be good as a bench option, so when you want to slow the game down when we are leading. If the coach can say this to players like Samaris, Tachtsidis and Petsos more often then our attack is going to look more dangerous. Our attacking mid options are not bad. We have Fortounis, Kone, Mantalos, Pelkas, Ninis and Lazaros. Only 2 of them should play more central. Im talking about Fortounis and Mantalos. Fetfatzidis can play there also. Ninis is also good there but can be used on the wing. Kone can be a good option off the bench. Out of all these players Fortounis should be starting more often. Our wingers should be Holebas he is the only one than can spark something into nothing and create something for a goal scoring chance for himself and for the striker. we seriouly lack natural wingers. Pelkas is closer but is not athletic as Holebas. Maybe Lazaros can play there but if your going to get the same thing with Lazaros such as being selfish then play Fetfatzidis or Pelkas. Mavrias can also be a good winger. Strikers. Mitroglou is going to play more often because he has an eye for goal. He dosent work as hard in runnig wise as to Karelis but all he needs is good service and were good. Vellios should be a back up. Players like DIamantakos and Vergos need more time. Giannou is 3rd in place in my opinion before Vellios. MItroglou needs to show himself more for the ball and run into space more often aswell. This is what my team looks like: Karnezis/Kapino Manolas Sokratis K.Papadopoulos Torosidis/Kitsiou Holebas/Stafylidis Samaris/Tziolis Tachtsidis/Petsos/Maniatis Fortounis/Mantalos Karelis/Kone/Pelkas/Ninis/Fetfatzidis Mitroglou/Vellios This is what my team would look like. The bald are players that start. The formation is 5-3-1-1. Its defensive which is good because im playing to our strengths. It can also become a 3-1-4-2 attack formation with the Torosidis and Holebas pushing up forward giving crosses to the likes of Mitroglou, Kone, Karelis, Tachtsidis even Papadopoulos who can go forward when needed on an occasion to support in the air for crosses as Samaris can cover. This a very balanced team which is being played to our strengths which more importantly is to not concede and we can scrape through against any team with a 1-0 or 2-0 victory. All that matters is that we win.

Club form and NT form are two different things. NT selection is chosen by club form and at the moment he is our best striker playing in a top league. There are very few friendly matches and you need to win qualifying matches, that's when you need an inform striker you. He is no where near the form he was in 2013 but is slowly getting back to that form. Vellios should be the back up for Mitroglou and not Klaus.

Like who. Who is talented like Mitroglou. He might a lazy player but he is the most effective player we have at the moment. Klaus I don't think we should play. The only player that comes to mind is Karelis. But Mitroglou is our best, meaning as in strikers for Greece.

Diamantakos scored his 2nd goal. I think this player will do well for the Ethniki. I agree with playing Mavrias also, but he is not playing regularly for the 1st team in Sunderland. Vellios for sure needs to be given a shot.

Vellios is big he is very good with his head. He is a bit more faster than Mitroglou and has more expirience in a top league such as the Premier League. he is in good form and in my opinion is better that Giannou in a technical aspect. Klaus and MItroglou are our better players and are both 27, but Klaus is in bad form and MItroglou is in good form. So, players like Diamantakos and Bakasetas have time, Karelis is another option but now Mitroglou should be starting and our main striker should be him. Vellios should play when MItroglou is not scoring for the NT. Also Vellios has more potential in the NT than Klaus.

Our defence is good to play a more attack minded style only for the inclusion of Pelkas and Mantalos. Fetfatzidis and Ninis are good enough to replace. Kone should be playing centrally all the time. He is more effective there. Fortounis must play also. Tsilianidis is an up and coming winger we could use just got work on s few things. Pelkas should be our winger and Holebas. Mitroglou should start, Vellios should be the back up. This is how our attack should be.

In the Greece vs Turkey match I saw Fortounis flat up top with Mitroglou, but I also saw him deeper like a second striker. All in all I believe it was 3-6-1.

I agree Giannou should be given a shot also Vellios. We should be trying different strikers. Mitroglou is slow most of the time and Klaus dissent get involved and when he does it's either he loses the ball or just plays a simple pass. You need a striker that's eager for the ball and that's running. Everyone should be running. Players like Diamatakos and Karelis are examples of running strikers even Aravidis. Players like Mitroglou like to sit and wait for a chance.

Diamantakos also should be given a shot.

I also want to add is how did Ranieri call up players like Mavrias, Mantalos and Dinas when you had players like Kaltsas in form scoring for Veria and earned where he is today. Started from the bottom to the top. I think Kaltsas is a talented player but shouldve went to team like Asteras Tripolis and played in Europe he would have been scouted from other teams abroad. Mavrias at that time wasnt playing for Sunderland. Mantalos is very talented i would have called him up aswell Dinas is good but Kaltsas was better. I see that when you call up players like Mavrias to give them confidence and get some club form. It shouldent be like that, players should only be picked because they earned it by contributing, scoring or assisting. Right now an example of who earned a call up is Giannou. Tasoulis i dont know who he even is. Ive never seen him play. Holebas, Stafylidis and Tzavellas have that LB covered for the next 4 years. The right back position is a concern, the only reason why i say that is because Torosidis is declining but is still worth being in the team. To conclude, the positions that need to be looked at so that we are content for the future is RB, LB, ST and Wingers. We have no natural winger. Id put Fortounis wing but he is more effective in the middle. We need a winger who are fast, can cross well, take on players, have skill and are good finishers. Thats why i think we might need to put Pelkas there for the time being and have a look at Kaltsas for later on. Lazaros is an option also. Kone should not be on the wing, also Ninis. CBs options are strong so is keepers. You really cant say anything has been good, even the midfield is poor but something is telling me that Tachtsidis and Fortounis have that covered.

Our striking options are not the best. Mitroglou is our only hope of success. I think Vellios is one hope for the future aswell as Giannou. Also players like Bakasetas, Diamantakos and Vergos really have to step it up. Klaus and Aravidis are both the same age id rather have Vellios or Giannou instead of Klaus. Aravidis i dont know yet id keep him on the bench. Pecking order for who starts as striker should be: 1.Mitroglou 2.Karelis 3.Vellios/(Giannou he is top goal scorer along with Fortounis) 4.Aravidis 5.Klaus

My lineup would be players who we should start most games. The core players are Karnezis, Manolas, Sokratis, Torosidis, Samaris, Mitroglou. Everyone else has to earn their position in the team. Players like Fortounis and Tachtsidis should start also. It will be hard to choose over Ninis and Pelkas. Im a fan of Ninis i think he should be in this team cause he is at the right age and has some sort of expirience in the Ethniki. He has over 30 caps. He has more caps than Lazaros and Kone and also more goals. Our biggest problem is our LB position. So far we have Holebas. I think in 2-3 years Stafylidis will take his position, but both are weak defensively. Attacking, they are both reliable but the question is who do you start right now leading into the WC qualifiers. Do you stick with Holebas or do you go straight to youth. Players like Kitsiou, Maniatis, Lagos should be given a shot at the LB position. These players are good defensively especially the last two. I think we need to fix this problem at LB because Holebas is turning 32 i think we should find a replacement in the future. It might be a good idea that mold someone in that position. Also Torosids but he is more reliable. In my opinion the equal problem to that is where Kyriakos Papadopoulos plays. Does he play over Manolas? i dont think so. (Siovas has a place aswell.) Does he play DM? He hasnt got the passing for it but has got the aggression and tackling to stop plays. Does he come in as as a sub? I think its a waste. These are problems that should be fixed before starting the new era under the new coach. For now we should just have Moras and Tziolis there for expirience to balance it. Also have youth in the team that we want to include also. Players like Pelkas, Kapino, Mantalos, Karelis and Tzanetopoulos. If anyone has to prove themesleves andplay its the strikers. MItroglou, Athanasiadis and Aravidis. All 3 should be included in the squad. But this is another problem aswell. This is where the new coach has find out how the midfield is going to link up with attackers and create goals for the strikers. For the Luxemborg match: Karnezis © Kapino Sifakis Torosidis © Kitsiou Manolas K.Papadopoulos Sokratis © Moras Holebas Stafylidis Lagos Tziolis Tachtsidis Samaris © Ninis Kone Mantalos Fortounis Mitroglou © Athanasiadis Karelis Aravidis. Other mentions for the future: Vellidis, Maniatis, Lazaros, Fetfatzidis, Pelkas, Glykos, Siovas, Tzanetopoulos.

Yes that's true but did you see the other names I mentioned aswell. The only time Gekas was more vital than Samaras was 2009-2010. Every other time, Samaras was more useful than Gekas. That is what I mean. The other players I mentioned were more consistent but Samaras also was a key player but could've, should've done even better. Your looking at it as Samaras saved the team with the way he played, is it the way you play or is it the assists you give and the goals you score that make yourself and the team successful?

You didn't convince me I'm saying that Gekas was more vital in 2009-2010 scoring goals. Samaras is more useful in other areas such as making runs, beating players in the air, showing good touches. I know your a Samaras fan, but don't tell me you weren't annoyed at his inconsistencies and bad decision making.

I agree about Samaras with Gekas im actually not a fan of him it was only in 2009 and 2010 when he was producing his best for the ethniki after that ive always said he is useless his slow, lazy and very inconsistent. Samaras was more vital than Gekas overall but i still think that Samaras could have done even better with his decisions, im more of a fan of players like Salpingidis who worked his ass off and showed passion and was more consistent than Gekas for the Ethniki. If anything im more of a fan of Samaras than Gekas. I just always got annoyed in the decisions Samaras made and i know he could have done even better, thats why im very tough on Samaras.

I believe players like Karagounis, Salpingidis, Charisteas, Gekas, Zagorakis and Basinas were more vital. Im not saying Samaras wasnt vital in the team. He was vital to the team but out of everyone in the team he frustrated me the most and at times surprised me at what he can do. The only one in my eyes who i can say did not stuff up or made less mistakes was Karagounis. I think this topic about Samaras is useless he has no club. Its just pointless talking about the past unless you think he has a place now in the team.

I even think Salpingidis was more of a threat for the Ethniki.

He has shown up in big matches such as Russia, Germany and Ivory Coast. But he has not shown up constitently he was very frustrating to watch like bad decision making poor touches and so on. He is not a top goal scorer either. He had shown more consistency with Celtic than with Greece. If he had scored 20 goals like Charisteas and Gekas than we can say he succeded.

In my opinion i think Samaras is finished i also agree that Samaras never lived up to the expectations as a youngster but still did alright in his career with Celtic but not with the National team. Also Ninis is the same but the difference is Ninis is younger by 5 years and is playing in a team. Fetfatzidis is another name who i think if he played more games for Olympiakos he would have left earlier and this talk of him finishing his career in a league where you dont care about your career anymore would not happen. He would be playing in a top a league such as La Liga Serie A Bundesliga and Ligue 1. Also other names to mention Koutsianikoulis, Vellios, these are the players who should now should have been our top players, players that are essential to the Ethniki and playing for top clubs in europe. The only players right now that are doing well for there clubs and at a good age is: Manolas, Sokratis, Samaris, Mitroglou, Torosidis and K.Papadopoulos. These are players playing for top teams in good leagues. Fortounis i believe is saving his career playing at Olympiakos and is in the form of his life. Other players that still have time are Kapino, Karelis, Pelkas, Oikonomou, Petsos, Stafylidis,Tachtisdis and Mantalos these players have time to still prove themeselves and become starters for bigger clubs in bigger leagues.

Karnezis, Sokratis, K.Papadopoulos, Manolas, Samaris, Holebas and Torosidis should be the players that start every match coming up. Thats our defence. The rest need to be changes often. For eg. have Ninis or Fortounis to start in that creative AM role. Maybe Pelkas aswell. Striker next game would have to be either Klaus or Aravidis, Mitroglou has to sit on the bench. He can come on if the new striker is not producing anything. Have 1 of Kone or Lazaros to start on that LW. RW should be Fetfatzidis. Tachtsidis can be on the bench as well as Karelis. Kapino and Vellidis as keepers and Maniatis to be a back up for Torosidis for now. Have 3 future players that were going to fit in for later to gain knowledge of how we play for eg. (Bouchalakis, Pelkas and Petsos.) I like to see Bakakis in the future because i think he is talented. Aswell as Mystakidis. Mystakidis is like Kone in the way his position is second striker. They both like to roam around the box. Stafylidis should be back up to Holebas and Siovas, Oikonmou should be back ups. Overall this is what i would do if i was coach. I would be tossing up between Fetfatzidis and Karelis in that RW position of who should start most of the time. I also think that 1 of Lazaros and Kone should start on that LW. As Samaras has no club. This Squad is young and filled with a core of expirienced players (meaning caps.) Tziolis should step aside not because he's old but give the new generation a chance in that position such as Bouchalakis, Petsos and Lagos. We need to give these players playing time and become a team. Maybe have Tziolis there if it means to have balance so the team will not be lost.

This is from Sir Alex Ferguson about Teamwork.

Vyntra was shocking today his crosses were bad and we missed Torosidis badly in my opinion the other selections were not that bad i also believe Karnezis was at fault for the goal aswell as Vyntra. Our attack is very fustrating there is no end product. I really cant believe what has been happening to our Ethniki. Best players today were Holebas and Fortounis. I dont understand what is so hard to score seriously this cant be happening nothing else in my opinion can be done to fix this MItroglou can only do so much, Sokratis was doing his job, Aravidis should have not started really, Samaris cant really say its just fustrating that we were a team in the Round of 16 at the World Cup to a team that cant win a match against teams that werent even in the World Cup. I hear people say here that it is the players fault mostly and i agree, we cant be this bad was. Ever since Karagounis retired we have looked lost and confused when we attack with the ball was Karagounis that much of a superstar. I believe Samaris, Kone, Tachtsidis and Fortounis are better than him in terms of ability and age. Now to come and think of it I want Karagounis back and playing or i wish he was 5 years younger so he could be still playing this is so frustrating.