Dean97

In my opinion we should see this… Vlachodimos Androutsos Mavropanos Retsos Tsimi Galanopoulos Alexandropoulos Masouras Fountas Tzolis Giakoumakis I believe Vlachodimos is our best keeper. Tzolakis and Dioudis should be back ups. Androutsos should be rewarded after his performances in the friendlies, as he was a breath of fresh air especially in possession and when attacking. Mavropanos is our best CB apart from Manolas. He has all the ability to lead from the back. More aggressive than Hatzidiakos and is better on the ball then Tzavellas and Kyriakos. He has performed very well in Germany too. Retsos is my personal favourite. A bit unrealistic that he starts but I believe he should because before his injuries he was in the team all the time. He is also talented and can play across the back line and even defensive midfield. If people have watched him play they’ll know how smart he is and how good he is on the ball. He’s also returned and performing really well. Tsimikas our best LB with Giannoulis as 2nd choice. Tsimikas will also be playing going forward for Liverpool. Midfield and attack is the most important. Galanopoulos is ahead of Kourbelis and Zeca for me. He can do the job defensively and is slightly better going forward than those 2 because he is more technical. Another favourite of mine is Alexandropoulos. This guy should be in our team. He has it all. I also believe he’s better than Bouchalakis. He’s also faster and more skilful. He controls the midfield better also in my opinion. Masouras and Tzolis on the wings. No surprises there. No in is better than them. Fountas I believe has to replace Bakasetas in the 11. I remember Fountas played a nice long through ball to Fortounis to score against Austria in a friendly. He is also currently on fire and has been scoring. 5 goals in 6 games to be exact. Giakoumakis upfront. I would’ve put Douvikas there as he’s had a good pre season. But he can be back up for now. What are your opinions about my starting line up and analysis? We have games coming up in September so we need the 6 points.

Thanks for the reply. Seems Liscescu will give Vrakas chances this season. I could be wrong.

What do you guys think of Vrakas? Is he any good?

I agree. They’ve also had coaches that didn’t believe in them. Fetfa was doing really good in Italy and then all of a sudden got benched. Ninis had a string of bad luck along the way. Especially with injuries. I think them not making decent careers for themselves shouldn’t hide the fact that for the national team they are our best. Every time they’ve played they have made a difference and created a spark for the team unlike our current wingers and midfielders.

There must be a structure issue in Greece. Clearly our players aren’t developing. We need to be playing our best players possible. We can’t afford to be leaving out players with skill and speed. We aren’t Italy, Spain or Portugal. Manolas and Sokratis should still be playing. It’s what’s best for the team. I still can’t believe we are relying on a 33 year old Tzavellas and an injury prone Papadopoulos, who I like and I think he’s still good but he doesn’t deserve to play over Siovas, Manolas and Sokratis I believe. Bakasetas at CAM and Bakakis, it’s a mess. We seem to have good youth but they fail to go to that next step and there development I think is hindered because of the way the academies in Greece are being run. I think Olympiakos is the only decent club with a decent academy in Greece. We aren’t nurturing our players properly. We’ve had players like Ninis, Fetfatzidis, Katidis, Gianniotas and Vellios who all showed talent at a young age and Greece have failed to make them evolve into superstars. Now I’m seeing players like Tzolis, Alexandropoulos, Pinakas, Tzolakis and Kalogeropoulos perform well in the league and I hope they can make better careers for themselves. As they are future of the national team.

That’s good for him. Michelis seems like he has talent. Hopefully he gets his chances.

Great move in my opinion. Gets to play Europa and also play alongside Hatzidiakos.

Greece rarely produces top class midfielders and attackers. Most of them become average or trash. We mostly produce defenders and some keepers. It’s understandable to get over excited at a 18 year old Ninis or Fetfatzidis or Spanoudakis showcasing top class skill and vision at there age. The reason for this excitement is because it gives us some hope that we can produce top class players like that for Greece. We are desperate to have players that know how to create and finish there chances. Same with this kid, showed great technique and class but has become mediocre in his career. The majority of our young players end up becoming mediocre career wise. The media and the way the Greek culture is doesn’t help with there development also I think. Players like Fetfa and Ninis are still quality players in my opinion, especially with what we’ve seen from the national team currently. It’s unfortunate that these players made the wrong decisions and also the injuries they’ve dealt with. Don’t know what happened with this guy though… Our players that we have on the national team now are too basic in my opinion. I’m talking about Bakasetas, Bouchalakis, Kourbelis, Zeca. Even Masouras, Pelkas and Tzolis are basic but at least have some skill and pace to be useful. Maybe because these players are limited. Fortounis is the only one capable (on his good day) to create and score for the team. He’s the only one. Ninis and Fetfa who’ve had mediocre careers still have the ability and skill and intelligence on the field to make Greece look more of a threat to opposing teams. Compared to what we’ve got they still are good enough. But the media and the teams they play for don’t convince some people but if you look when they have the ball at there feet they are great to watch and effective. I’d rather have an 18 year old in the Greek league who knows what he’s doing because of his skill and intelligence than someone who is 26 or 27 playing abroad that can’t even turn his marker because of his limitations. We need to look at ability and heart.

This is a big disadvantage for Olympiakos and Greece, especially Greece. This gives Bakasetas an advantage to start against Sweden.

How long will he be out for?

Also as a reward, both Pelkas and Masouras deserve to start our next game. Especially Masouras. Androutsos has also proven himself.

Funny thing is Bakasetas has scored and assisted the most out of everyone in the team since JVS took over. 3 goals and 3 assists. I would be the first one to criticise him as I don’t think he’s good enough for this team. I still think he’s not good enough. If only JVS had the same amount of trust and patience in a guy like Fetfatzidis we would be doing much better than what we are. Every game Bakasetas has played he’s ruined every attack we try to make. I wouldn’t have him anywhere in this team. We keep saying this, but nothing changes. JVS couldn’t pick a worse player to put as captain aswell. I don’t dislike the guy as a person but as a player he’s out worst if we’re being honest. At least Bouchalakis can play 1 touch passes and can control the ball a bit better. Bakasetas doesn’t provide anything in defence or attack. He’s slow, loses the ball 9/10 times and passes side ways and backwards. He also has no skill on the ball. He’s only had one or two decent shots on target in 30 something games he’s played. He must have a terrific agent. That’s the only explanation.

They had a slow first half and wasn’t so inspiring. Zagaritis looked good. Was taking most of the set pieces. 2nd half we lifted the tempo and were more clinical. Alexandropoulos is too good to be playing u21s. He’s more useful for the men’s team. Good to see the team score 5 goals against that kind of team.

Not so good in the 1st half. Better in the 2nd. Masouras was man of the match. He was very lively and had a few chances to score. Our full backs were solid and I believe Androutsos should continue to play. As per usual Bakasetas kills our attacks and because of this most of our attacks were slow and didn’t pull off. Vlachodimos played well though. Luckily Masouras got into good positions. A decent performance overall against most of Belgiums bench players. I just believe if get rid of Bakasetas we will look better.

Unfortunately I have to agree. JVS once again proven he hasn’t learned anything. These friendlies should be a time to select players in positions that we desperately need improving on. Players who are deserving of call ups. It doesn’t give me much of optimism when I see the likes of Bakakis, Bakasetas and Tzevallas in the team. Yeah Bakasetas has done good in Turkey but every time he plays for the national team he is completely lost and ruins our attacks. For me if your club form doesn’t match your national team form then you shouldn’t be selected. He’s had too many chances. After the nations league we should’ve moved on from him. Bakakis has been out of form for the last year and a half and still gets picked over Kotsiras who’s had the season of his life and Giannis Masouras who is a very fast RWB who has skill on the ball aswell. He has also played nearly every game for his club in Poland. Tzavellas for me does not belong anymore on the team. That ship has sailed in my opinion. The biggest mistake JVS did was to drop Siovas. Also not convincing Sokratis and Manolas to play. These players can still help Greece, especially in a major tournament. Alexandropoulos who is arguably our best box to box midfielder is left out. Someone who can control the midfield and is the most dynamic. He’s only 19. Ninis, who has improved his game, who is our best passer doesn’t get a look. Fetfatzidis, a player that Greece will propably never produce again, gets ignored. I had hope in the beginning with JVS, but he’s made the team go backwards unfortunately. I don’t know if it’s a lack of football IQ, politics or is getting bad advice. This is unacceptable to be ignoring some of the countries best players and continuously selecting players who aren’t good enough to beat the likes of Kosovo, Georgia and Slovenia. We are not a football powerhouse but we should at least be beating these teams and making tournaments like we used to do. For me play the most skilful and inform players you have. Play players that have been overlooked for a long time. Understand why we couldn’t beat those teams and make some changes. Don’t stick with the same players that couldn’t get first in a easy nations league group or draw with Georgia.

Great memories. I was really young then but I still remember the craziness in Brighton. Would love to have those memories again.

I’ve actually thought about that. We could use him there, but I believe we have others for that role who are better anyway. We need someone faster mentally and physically there. Bakasetas decision making is very slow and isn’t that good technically on the ball like most of our current midfielders.

You guys make good points. But JVS has us set up the wrong way. We should’ve came first in the nations league. That alone has given me big question marks about the coach. We should’ve beaten Georgia. We looked weak in that game from the start. Not good enough. JVS gave us some hope when first took over, but to he has made the team worse as time goes on. He has to get over this fascination with Bakasetas. If Fortounis goes to the Middle East, we can say goodbye to him playing for Greece in my opinion. Which means we will see more of Bakasetas. He’s not the only problem but he’s the big part of it. Bakakis has declined and Mavrias isn’t good enough. We need to sort these positions out first. Tzavellas has done ok but by no means should he be involved in this team. We produce top CBs but we are going to play a 5’10, 33 year old LB at CB. Where the logic there? On top of all this undeserving players are starting over more deserving players. Limnios, Svarnas and Mavrias haven’t done anything for there clubs to warrant a call up. 2 DMs don’t work for us. We’ve been doing this for 7 years and we have gotten anywhere. Play a box to box CM and DM... Give time to Tzolis and Alexandropoulos who are young and in form. These are things that I think we need to fix. We’ve got the players to make a tournament we just need to use the right players and give opportunities to the players that deserve it the most.

I feel the same way. After that draw, we can only hope that he makes some changes to the starting 11. We’ve got friendlies coming up so it will be interesting who he calls for those matches.

Great post. I agree with everything you have said. JVS wanted to rest Bouchalakis, Zeca and Bakasetas in friendly. Wrong move in my opinion. What we saw in the friendly, should’ve been repeated that same way. Pavlidis and Giakoumakis in the starting 11 with Pavlidis in a second striker role with Fortounis also swapping positions with Pavlidis from time to time. Also Siopis played really well and so did Mantalos as a CM. He sabotaged us before the whistle blew against Georgia. He the tried to protect a draw with 10 minutes to go. Like he didn’t trust in our players. This is what happens with poor team selections. Your relying on very limited midfielders in Bakasetas, Bouchalakis and Zeca to make things happen and yet they did nothing or passed backwards. We always seem to play better in friendlies. Why not continue the same way into the qualifying games. The team has regressed since he has taken over. In the beginning of JVS reign we were playing good football then as time went on we started going backwards in terms of our performances. When you don’t use Fortounis correctly and ignore players like Fetfatzidis, Fountas, Ninis and some others then what are you expecting to happen? Even Alexandropoulos played well in 15 minutes in the friendly. He looked way better in 15 minutes than Bouchalakis and Zeca have there whole national team career in my opinion. Also Siopis seems more consistent then Zeca.

Players playing for the big 5 leagues in (England, Spain, Italy, Germany and France) should be looked at first. Tsimikas, Manolas, Siovas, Lykogiannis, Kyriakopoulos, Mavropanos, Limnios, Vasiliadis, Giannoulis, Koutris, Koutsoupias, Retsos, Koulouris and Nikolaou, should be looked at first. Most of these guys are playing week in and week out. They are playing in competitive leagues on a weekly basis. It doesn’t matter to me if some players are playing in the 2nd division of Germany or England, these leagues are still more competitive in quality than the other lower league teams like Croatia or Austria for example. Players from the other leagues like (Greek, Dutch, Portugal and Belgium) should be looked at next in my opinion. If we do that then we are giving ourselves a proper chance of selecting the best possible players. Also we should changing our starting 11s when it isn’t working like Bakasetas. I’m tired of seeing JVS doing the same thing. Yes we haven’t lost lately but that draw with Slovenia and recently Georgia felt like losses. These are games we should have won. The match against Spain we defended well and didn’t have the ball. That’s to be expected against teams like that. But against teams level with us and lower we should be taking it to them, with loads of attacks and shots on goal.

That was a very good video. Siovas said that some players are not deserving to be in the team. He also says we need players that are playing at a high level. I also agree with everything he said.

I recently saw the same video. They were good times. I can’t believe how far we’ve dropped off.

I’m not a big fan of having g foreigners in the team. It makes us look worse that we can’t produce good midfielders. We already have Zeca. The coach needs to look at the statistics for each player and see where it went wrong. I don’t think he would even do that. I’d like to know Bakasetas statistics. Probably gave away the ball 99/100 times.

You can tell the type of coach JVS is by the selections he makes. Bakasetas, Bakakis, Mavrias, Svarnas, Tzavellas, Bouchalakis, Kourbelis and Stafylidis. These players aren’t good enough and will not take us to a World Cup. If he can understand that then maybe there’s a chance we can go to the World Cup. But he hasn’t learned anything. He makes the same mistakes and doesn’t trust in his players. We need an experienced coach who can evolve the team and that has won a few trophies. Who also understands our players. When we get that coach, I don’t know.