CPAO

In the past when were struggling to score we could always count on being able to keep a clean sheet or at the most give up 1 goal. Now there are way too many lapses defensively to count. Too many lost headers, too much ball watching, and a lack of closing down. I am upset we wont be playing in the next Euro but making the World Cup will make me forget all about that. We will definitely drop to at least Pot 2 maybe Pot 3. With that being said we seem to play up to the level of competition. It might not be a bad thing to have a powerhouse in our group. After all they don't just hand you spots in tournaments you have to earn them. We will have to prove we belong once again. What I am worried about going forward is the lack of a tough midfielder. A player who is not afraid to get his hands dirty and regain possession. The set up today of Samaris , Kone and Lazaro was doomed from the beginning. We need 2 DM in our 3 man midfield end of story. Samaris should be one of the 2 I want to know who will be the other. Ninis if healthy and getting regularly playing time has to be the CAM end of story. .............Karnezis,,,,,,,,,,,,,, ....Torosidis.....Manolas...Sokratis.... Staf...... .................Samaris....XXXX........................ ......................Ninis............................... .....XXXXX......Mitro........XXXXXX.............. That's what I think we truly have to work with going forward. The wide players I think should be based on form. Which is difficult given the status of Fetfa and others with their clubs.

Back to the dark ages... Until WC qualifying of course

For all those saying Romania will take it easy because they will have secured qualification. Did Colombia lay down for Japan at the WC?

Fortounis picked up an injury and won't be travelling with the team. Tachtsidis is going to take his spot in the 11ada. How does Markarian usually set up 3 in the midfield? ........X........ .....X...X......... Or ......X....X....... .........X...........

I think either Emelin or Gilbert will be moved for help at forward. Even if we do move Plekanec for O'Reily we still do not have a #1 C. I I think he can be an upgrade though given he is younger and can become even better. I think we know what we are getting from Plekanec.

Noticed I made the post in the wrong topic sorry guys lol

..................Karnezis..................... .....Toro....Sokratis...Moras...Stafylidis...... ...............Tax.....Samaris................... ......Fetfa..........Ninis...............X......... ..................Mitroglou........................... I think this will get the job done vs the Faroe Islands. Ninis and Mitro have chemistry as shown in past matches playing with one another from their time playing for the youth national teams so I will not be shocked if we see Ninis giving Mitroglou plenty of chances on a silver platter to finish. Must win and I think we will.

When I saw Belgium #2 I had seen enough.

Tampa Bay made a lot of adjustments from the last 2 games. They clogged up the neutral zone well not letting us carry the puck into the offensive zone, and didn't give us a inch of space causing us to constantly lose the puck when pressured. We were on our heels all game. Of course this all led to Therrien going back to his beloved dump and chase. Before we even think of changing our personnel we will first have to work on our strategy and game planning. We need to correct the way we exit and enter the zone as well our terrible power play. We play a grinding system when we have the players to play more attacking hockey. Anyways here is what I want to see next season. - Petry resigned - Markov moved to the second pair. He cannot play with PK because he cannot handle the work load. He needs his minutes managed or he will burn out come the playoffs. - Belieau stays up full time with the big club - Galchenyuk is the #1 C we have to find out sooner rather than later if hes the guy or not. - Desharnais is moved Patches - Galchenyuk - RW LW - Plekanec - Gallagher Wiese - Eller - Prust Mix and Match Sherbak is the future 2nd line left wing if he keeps developing, and McCarron has been great this year in Junior and should be a top 6 RW. We also have Hudon, Ghetto who could slot in to those spots. I think this year we should of played the younger players more. They said it would be a transition year and we would take a step back. We did take a step back but there was no real transition. We have an elite Goalie, Defenceman, and 35-40 Goal Scorer but we need a lot more.

I think we played our best game of the playoffs last night and came out with a loss. We played them a lot better than we did during the season. Anyways the winning goal was clearly offside but maybe it balances out the other goal that was disallowed. Sunday is now a must win for us. I can see us getting a split in Tampa just for the fact that its a back to back and I don't see either time beating the other two nights in a row. Either way I think it goes 7 and hopefully home ice makes the difference. That is if we get it back by winning one in Tampa.

Price has not looked good the last few games. I don't know if it was the little collision with Subban or if hes mentally breaking down. I do not think we go far this time around in the playoffs. Way too many passengers. Let's not forget Max has never been the greatest playoff performer either so if the goals are not going to come from him we are in even bigger trouble. On the bright side Eller is heating up. Eller needs to get more ice time with better wingers. He needs to get PP time as well. I am sick of Desharnais getting all the easy offensive zone starts and PP time and not producing.

Top two teams in each group make it 9x2 = 18 teams + Host France = 19 Teams then the best 3rd place team gets direct qualification so now we have 19+1 = 20 Teams and then the 8 other 3rd place teams play for the final 4 spots 20+4 = 24 and that's how it works