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La Mendel

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Posts posted by La Mendel

    NT Coaches

    in Greek National Teams

    Posted

    I actually believe that Postecoglou if given free reign would be a great coach for the Ethniki.

    Sadly it will never happen.

     

    Fortunately. He always was against playing guys over 30, he could have been easily another Ranieri.

    Giorgos Samaras ‒ (retired)

    in Greek Players Abroad

    Posted

    He was clearly being sarcastic! I hope we never have to put up with Anastasiadis nor Samaras as captain.

     

    Ok, thanks. I didnt detect the irony. Was glad, thought a bit of good news after the "Bomba Ranieri" and other unpleasant surprises (cf. Samaras, Salpingidis omitted by Markarian, lot of injured players, the whole Ranieri era etc. etc.).

    Ioannis Fetfatzidis ‒ (Now Playing for Aris)

    in Greek Players Abroad

    Posted

    It is true, the team was horrible for several months. Some of the players hasnt the heart + guts the former team possessed. When I say former players I dont think on Karagounis alone. Katsouranis, Moras, Tziolis, Vyntra, Tavlaridis played at least with passion (that could be seen clearly versus Poland). The same goes with players like Salpingidis, Gekas, Avraam, Samaras, Spyropoulos, they could put up a decent fight. We need first of all a decent coach who chooses a better match strategy and plays competent players.

    Ioannis Fetfatzidis ‒ (Now Playing for Aris)

    in Greek Players Abroad

    Posted · Edited by La Mendel

    Salpi is a legend, for obvious reasons.  And he should no longer be in the team, for obvious reasons.  What's odd about Salpi is how he even got to be a forward in the first place.  Technically, he's never been gifted.  If I had a young Salpi, I'd have him in the middle of the park all day clocking up those miles, and taking advantage of his best attribute, his tenacity.

     

    Fetfatzidis better get his head out of his arse soon because he doesn't deserve to be anywhere near the NT.  I don't care how technically brilliant he is with the ball at his feet.  I know plenty of guys like that down at the local park who still have a semblance of "the skills" but could never make it past a certain level.  The "kid" has basically warmed benches most of his career and now he's in nowhere land.

     

    If we include players like him in the NT, lord help us.

     

    * The above is just my opinion.

     

    I dont agree with that rating of Salpingidis, I think he still has in the tank, as a center too, for that matter. I would choose him now over Fetfatzidis, Ninis or Kolovos (another Greek Messi whom we could admire against the Faroe Islands), but the evaluation of Fetfatzidis is unfortunately correct, he is essentially a Ninis 2.0.

    Ioannis Fetfatzidis ‒ (Now Playing for Aris)

    in Greek Players Abroad

    Posted

    So why should have Santos started Fetfatzidis? He did nothing neither before the World Cup nor at the World Cup (nor after that by the way) that would have explained such a move. Salpingidis was very useful in the qualifying matches, scored the winning goal vs Slovakia, vs Latvia, scored against Liechtenstein and Romania (except the first, these goals were scored in 2013), performed well against prior the World Cup (that means one or 2 weeks before), it was an evident decision by Santos to start him vs Colombia.

    Ioannis Fetfatzidis ‒ (Now Playing for Aris)

    in Greek Players Abroad

    Posted

    But man, your posts are predictable. Rehhagel, Santos, Katsouranis or Karagounis is the villain (or two or three or all of them).

    A few examples: "the only fight he got out of me was when otto put charisteas wide, when we had stelios, amantidis and sammy. i blamed otto, not charisteas." "it wasn't kats & maniatis fault who failed to mark space and clear the square ball or super-salpi, who failed to track armero?" "all in all, a few of us wondered if fetfa was better off in the CM, but santos never used derby matches against lithuania or luxembourg to find out."

     

    Salpingidis: At the end of the day, Salpingidis didnt shine against Colombia, and was on consequence replaced by Fetfatzidis. What did he do in that 30 minutes? Practically nothing. Two weeks earlier (vs Portugal) Salpingidis seemed far more stronger than vs Colombia. He chased memorably Nani for 30 metres or so, and eventually tackled him. Also it is easy to see why Santos chose him after he seemed to be in good form (although I must add Fetfatzidis - who was then subbed in and created our best chance - played better too as against Colombia).

    Ioannis Fetfatzidis ‒ (Now Playing for Aris)

    in Greek Players Abroad

    Posted

    sorry buddy, i have to pick a fight with you again.

     

    think about what you wrote. think about the same place samaras was already exiled to is where fetfa decided to move. fetfa had a hernia and his season was lost. what did georgie have? an extended summer vacation?

     

    as far as slapi. poor ninis, blamed for a german LB scoring from 20+ yards out. "we could have won that match, ninis F***ed up" "we play counters and we track back, that is santos' system". 

     

    yeah, ok. manolas & karnezis F***ed up in 2014 when the colombian LB was in the greek box.and the tracker-backer extraordinaire was doing what? what was salpi doing? which goal was more pathetic? i just watched an oscar winning movie about maniatis and what were maniatis & kats doing? do they know how to mark space?? maniatis answered that question again against CR, his oscar was in comedy for his mini temper tantrum kicking his feet like a girl.

     

    so, fetfa going to saudi for the 2015-2016 season establishes why samaras & salpi were selected over fetfa at the 2012 euro & 2014 WC??

     

    Salpingidis was an important member of the team after 2008, he was a regular in the three last tournaments. He arguably was one of our best performers in 2010 at WC and at the Euro 2 years later, he scored 3 goals in that two tournaments (and he gave an assist to Samaras against Germany in the quarter finals). He scored our first World Cup goal ever, he was our first player who scored at both great tournaments. As for the qualification, he scored that single goal at the play-off vs Ukraine, and score again a very important goal against Romania in 2013. He worked usually a lot and took an active part in our defending. From time to time Ninis was given a chance in place of him as a winger but more often than not he failed on important matches. Then the same happened with Fetfatzidis, in the end Salpingidis always secured his place as a starting member in the Ethniki because he turned out to be more reliable and took a greater share in our successes in the last 6 or 7 years.

    As for Samaras, he certainly wasnt 24-y-o when he played on loan for some months in Saudi Arabia. Before that move, he achieved great results on club and on national team level too. He played regularly for Celtic, won n-times the Scottish first league, scored several goals in the Champions League. He was in the starting eleven in the Ethniki too, scored important goals (vs Croatia in 2011 or vs Ivory Coast in 2014), and gave great assists, for example in 2009 against Ukraine. He had a share in our first World Cup win ever against Nigeria, then he was a crucial member of the team at Euro 2012 and WC 2014 when the team reached the second round. He excelled against Russia in 2012, then gave an assist and scored the winning goal against IC in 2014 on the vital group stage matches at the last two great tournament. He played more than 80 times for Greece, and was usually solid (no wonder he wasnt replaced practically since 2008).

    Fetfatzidis is much more younger than Samaras was in January when he moved to Saudi Arabia, and his achievement with the NT is compared to that of Samaras almost zero. At Euro 2012 he didnt play at all, and wasnt a regular member even in 2014 (he played half an hour against Colombia, and after the mediocre performance of Salpingidis on that occasion he was in the starting XI against Japan but was subbed out after 41 minutes, than perhaps he didnt play at all). He performed a few times fairly well and scored 3 goals on cca 20 matches, but he didnt contribute much to our successes so far. On club level he played for a couple of Serie A teams and was better in Italy than our former saviour Ninis but he never played regularly for any of them if I remember correct. He signed a 3-years contract now, that means he will play in Saudi Arabia until he will be 27 years old. So there is a great difference between his going to Al Ahli and the same move of Samaras (and he was only for a short time there).

    • Like it 1

    Ioannis Fetfatzidis ‒ (Now Playing for Aris)

    in Greek Players Abroad

    Posted · Edited by La Mendel

    Nowadays a lot of young and (in his case say somewhat) talented footballers go to Saudi Arabia, UAE, China and places like these. Sometimes even without playing for a European club. I remember I was a bit stunned when I saw that Pisculichi plays at 24 for a Qatari team (he played before that for Mallorca). That was in 2008, now it is a fairly common thing to transfer to these clubs even when youre young.

    As for Fetfatzidis, I hoped for some time he will do better than Ninis (who was a disgrace when he played for Parma and fell soon out of favor), but he became nowhere a member of the starting eleven. Now as I see it, he doesnt deserve a place in the NT (starting XI).

    NT Coaches

    in Greek National Teams

    Posted · Edited by La Mendel

    What do you mean by "he is right"? The players he mentioned played only a couple of matches in the last year. So why should they be culpable, first of all? And you wrote another harangue. I am glad. (Among others, Fyssas is now to blame for the recent losses and problems. No comment.)

    I dont want discuss these matters again and again. One more time Ill try to explain this. Most of our midfielders are mediocre players. Santos played 37-y-o Karagounis and/or 35-y-o Katsouranis because he hadnt better midfielders. The younger "options" (Kone/Tachtsidis/Christodoulopoulos/Fetfatzidis) STINK. This could be seen in the last year fairly well. Even Maniatis is not so good, but he does at least the dirty work. As for the others, Samaris, Kone and the others are at this moment at most average. Tziolis too, but he is more diligent. After Karagounis retired and Katsouranis (for a couple of months) disappeared, the younger midfielders you always wanted - the players I mentioned before - were horrible against Northern Ireland, the Faroe Islands and Romania. None of the new midfielders is on the same level as for example Karagounis, Zagorakis, Katsouranis or Basinas was. That this is a great problem (how to achieve outstanding results with - for the moment - zero outstanding midfielders) was proven against Hungary, when Maniatis wasnt available and Markari?n played Kyriakos Papadopoulos as a central midfielder, also one of the centre backs.

    Yet I think with a proper match strategy (defense first + counterattacks & set-pieces), the Ethniki can achieve great things again, with some of these midfielders as starters too. Only the head coach should have rely on the players who can contribute most to the effective national team.

    NT Coaches

    in Greek National Teams

    Posted

    So Markarian is class for resigning but the same standards or logic don't apply to Karagounis as the TD?

    Also when Karagounis, Katsouranis, Vydra & Salpi (to name the obvious main culprits) were still carrying their sorry carcasses around the field where was their "class" to admit they weren't good enough and retire? Different standards. Katalava.

    I think we all want the best for the Ethniki but some on these forums are stuck in 2004.

     

    Why are they the main culprits or why should they have been retired? Karagounis retired after the World Cup, Katsouranis played only two matches (had a cameo role against Hungary and was arguably our best player against Poland) and the team performed better on these occasions than on any of the other games after the second round of the WC, Vyntra played only 11 minutes against NI, and he was in the starting XI against Finland and Poland (acceptable performances by him), Salpingidis played still less.  Or do you think Karagounis, Salpingidis and the other should have retired before the World Cup? They were among our strongest players (played regularly for the team on the qualification matches and in the final too, especially Karagounis showed there he has still got it). So why are they to blame for the hopeless production on the last year?

    NT Coaches

    in Greek National Teams

    Posted · Edited by La Mendel

    I know he interviewed him and Markarian, and then chose the latter, but he saw Markarians achievement wasnt so great, perhaps he is now more inclined to Michels appointment.

    NT Coaches

    in Greek National Teams

    Posted

    I must add it is correct that he resigned after a Faroe loss, unlike Ranieri who wanted to stay and had to be sacked. He didnt inherit (again unlike Ranieri) a good team from his successor, in fact it was a disastrous and s%$#! team he got after Ranieri, but his achievement was small too.

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