La Mendel

Gekas announced his retire from the NT: http://www.sdna.gr/news-english/article/62715/gekas-announces-his-retirement-greece He wanted to close his career this year, but he decided to carry on for one season.

Gekas retired from the NT: http://www.sdna.gr/news-english/article/62715/gekas-announces-his-retirement-greece

Oh no! Will he get over it before the Romania match?

I dreamed yesterday we won 2-0 with the goals of Tziolis (74') and Torosidis ('90). Tziolis did some great dribbles before his goal. :P

If hes a free agent he can always sign for a team.

Stafylidis is injured. I would accept Giannoulis or Vyntra as a left back with Holebas playing on the left side of the midfield. Then we would have a sort of defensive minded player on the left who can help the attacks. A midfield with him, K. Papadopoulos and Tziolis would give us some safeness.

Lets hope he wont play.

Karnezis - Torosidis (vs Finland Vyntra), Manolas, Papastathopoulos, Holebas - Tziolis, K. Papadopoulos, Tachtsidis/Petsos - Karelis, Mitroglou, Fortounis.

We were successful with old and out of form and/or unfit players and then achieved the worst results in the last 20 years with promising and talented youngsters? Its possible that the old and "untalented" guys were even so more useful than these young scumbags and thats why they were capped (Katsouranis, Tziolis, Gekas, Spyropoulos, Vyntra and other much bashed players). They were selected because they were best choices, not because theyre world class as Messi, Ronaldo or Pirlo.

Several Greek sites state today that Tsanas wanted to see yesterday (at Oly-Panionios) mainly Siovas, Bouchalakis and Fortounis. See for example: http://www.gazzetta.gr/football/article/790937/tsekare-siova-fortoyni-kai-mpoyhalaki-o-tsanas Fortounis is said to have been very good, Bouchalakis was OK too, and both of them scored against Panionios. An afterthought. How many defenders does he want to call up? There were some eight of them among the foreign-based players, and now there is Siovas too. I thought he wants to cap attackers from the Super League (Mitroglou was the only striker on the list).

I thought so too. Very good post.

Good comment, we shouldnt cap guys after ONE good performance versus a shitty team. And people bashing Katsouranis, Maniatis, Tziolis again. They did much more for the NT so far than playing just one good match. "Radical shake up" with Aravidis, Platellas, Soiledis, Kolovos, Mantalos, Dinas and the likes? It would be perhaps a greater disaster than that against Faroe Islands.

Good news, he should be called up right now, when his form is so outstanding.

Back to topic: We should find an experienced head coach instead of Tsanas as soon as possible. If Tsanas would be a Mourinho or a Fernando Santos, he would have been considered as a head coach after the Ranieri debacle. Nor was his overall strategy versus Serbia very convincing. Id say we could beat Finland at home, but we will have a tough time vs Romania away.

More news on Tsanas: http://www.newsnowgr.com/article/846235/vlepei-thrylo-o-tsanas.html He will go to the Oly-Panionios if I understand it well. Possibly Siovas, Kapino, Fortounis could be included in the squad.

Kone, K. Papadopoulos, even Fortounis. Tziolis could have been also called up (instead of Mantalos, for example). They would have offered stability, the chemistry between the players could have worked. With the former system we could have easily secured a draw (at least).

Played for Celtic, scored a bunch of goals in the Champions League, was x-times Scottish champion, participated with the NT at two Euros and two WCs, scored at both tournaments, cca 80 caps under his belt. Cf. "he didnt push for his chance", "he is unprofessional". WTF?

Was he the only option, a player with zero caps? Hilarious.

+ he cast our former defensive system aside.

They scored thrice after he was subbed in (the first BVB goal came in the first half), but yes, he played as a fullback and seems he was OK (enemy didnt score).

So far this can be seen (it isnt much): Tsanas doesnt lean exclusively on younger or experienced players. Not every older foreign-based player was called up (no Gekas or Avraam), nor will be there younger "options" who dont play for their club at all there (e. g. no Mavrias), but there are youngsters and more experienced guys in the squad too. This is a balanced squad so far (as for the ratio of youth vs experience). Of course, it is possible that the performance of the team and the results will be mediocre, we cant prognostize that now.

Hope he will play regularly for Augsburg, good luck to him.

Because Katsouranis is godfather and wants to have his friends in the squad. Every head coach is necessarily his (and Karagounis') puppet. Everybody knows that. *parody column*

He should have a new thread, he will remain the head coach for at least these two matches vs Finland and Romania. Tsanas about Santos: http://desporto.sapo.pt/futebol/seleccao/portugal/clube-portugal/artigo/2015/08/20/kostas-tsanas-sobre-fernando-santos-desejo-lhe-tudo-de-bom The title is: "Tsanas about Santos: I Wish You Good Luck". He praised (elogios) Santos in the interview, he is quoted to say: "He is a good man and a great coach. We had a good relationship. He knows what he wants, this can be seen in the way he manages the team." He wished Santos good luck to the qualification. The article mentions Benfica players Samaris and Mitroglou were called up by Tsanas.

BVB won it eventually versus Odd Grenland. Seems it was an astonishing match. The Norwegian team scored in the first minute, after 22 minutes they were down with three goals, but Dortmund scored three times in the second half, and won by one goal (3-4). Sokratis was in the first half (when the enemy goals occurred) on the bench, during the break he replaced Castro (the right back). After he came on, they didnt concede a single goal in the 2nd half and eventually won. Odd Grenland - Borussia Dortmund 3-4 (3-1): http://www.goal.com/en/match/odd-vs-borussia-dortmund/2134143/live-commentary