Rockafeller Skank

no coverage from the Greek Channels?

Havent gotten anything since Netherlands friendly bro. Don't grousouzeveis it.

Good lineup @EllasCan but there are some flaws. Both Samaris and Petsos are very heavy players. Probably the reason Maniatis is used is that he is fast and can help in a counter attack. Torosidis is old and can't cut it to have the whole line for himself, which means that we either get Gianniotas at late , or the opposite (Gianniotas at first and Torosidis subbed if we don't need a goal). Cholebas at that position also probably means that we ll get to see Stafylidis late on, which most of the posters here don't like.

Elyounoussi or Marin will be played in Pardo's position until the coach sees him worthy.

I think Tzavellas is a better option than Stafylidis. Holebas obviously our best option but i like him up front.

However, because im used to κρατάω μικρό καλάθι (translate than someone), let's not rush. Yes the NT DOES seem changed. Even the fact that AngryBoy Tzavellas said "this NT is a family" is an improvement. We have the quality and quantity of players to do well in the upcomming campaign, but let's keep a realistic target.

Maybe It has something to do with his form and anxiety. 2 years ago becoming a flop right after you were supposed to be the best CF Greece has lately produced, and not managing to make impact in teams like Fuhlam and even Olympiakos could have produced a lot of stress on him. Seeing himself being considered a super star in a better league, playing regularly on CL and winning strong and meaningful titles is probably the change we see. As many mentioned, he looks more confident than ever and he actually helps the midfield by keeping the ball and not just being a box forward.

Αnd whom do we put on the side? Mantalos being the 10 Skibbe prefers means fortounis , who must indeed be included in our starters , must move to the sides. He is not very fast and he is too smart to just be the guy who chases balls and crosses from the left or the right. A 3CB system would totally λυτρώσει our midfield. But I am not aware if we actually need this. In our last 6 matches, apart from the 0-1 defeat against Australia we ve scored 2 to 4 goals in each. And we didn't play trash teams like Gibraltar. 4 Against R16 EURO team Hungary 2 Against top pot 3 team Montenegro 2 Against R16 Euro team Iceland 2 Against Top team Netherlands 2 Against Asian Champion Australia Of course some of them were friendlies but the point is, In 6 games we scored 12 goals., which is as many as we scored in our whole qualification for the WC 14 in 10 games. The team has obviously stepped up its offensive play, Gianniotas MUST be a starter, Mitroglou MUST be a starter, Mandalos, Fortounis MUST be starters , Karelis COULD be a starter. We can finally see a team that wasn't tryharding to win a Liechtenstein 1-0, which is good. I think in this match we saw which players Skibbe considers starters and probably rocks in the following qualification campaign. I think he still has questions about the LB , LW , GK and a 6-8 in Maniatis place. As I previously stated I dont like Fortounis ending up in the sides, he is oo smart to be played there. Gianniotas - Holebas should be our starter wingers in my opinion. And I believe Fetfatzidis should be reconsidered from the Greek NT. As for the Left Back. I never said Staf is a legit Left Back. I just pointed that being wanted from good teams means he has something and definatley some potential since he is still 22. However currently, with so many offensive centered players in the field, I think Tzavellas has the upper hand in the LB selection. The reason is that he is better as a defender (although slower), because he is playing as a CB (clearly defensive role) for 1,5 year. Maybe this is the reason we saw him start? Skibbe just wanted his defensive attributes? I didn't see the whole match and from the highlights I didn't see Tzavellas go up much. Can someone say for sure? So back to the reason I made this comment: We ve finally found chemistry in the team's offence. Fortounis in the wings is a no for me, if both Mantalos and Fortounis MUST start Id prefer to remove one of the Samaris -Maniatis - Petsos who will probably will be our 2 clearly defensive midfielders, but that can only happen against bad opponents like Gibraltar and possibly Estonia. Mitroglou Holebas- Fortounis - Gianniotas Mantalos Samaris Anyone-Sokratis-Manolas-Torosidis Karnezis

This whole Epo clearing - Gkirtzikis leaving - Referees getting denied - is αναζωογονητικό for the National Team. I will repeat that Skibbe call ups were clearly on point. Stafylidis is clearly not as experienced as Holebas , but whoever saying he is a step down, are we aware where Holebas was playing at his age? Its Munchen 1860 II. at the age of 22, Stafylidis had already picked a starter spot in taems like GSL Paok, Championship Fuhlam , Bundeliga Augsburg and got interest from Bayer Leverkusen. I am not aware how he ll end up, but honestly this is one of the healthiest careers a Greek Footballer has had, left Greece and managed to go to teams where he will and can play/take matches on his feet, even if it was on loan.

Honestly we have no good 100% left back right now. Holebas is worthy of being a winger because his offensive attributes are wasted when playing LB. Either that or he , while playing as a LB goes forth and we end up being outnumbered on counterattacks. Remember the Ivory coast game. He had 2-3 shots on the bar. Thats kinda unusual for a not-exactly-top-class-defender. This way Skibbe gets the maximum of his offensive attributes while he , being training for this all of his life, is aware of defensive mechanisms he can do to pressure/predict opponent movements. As previously mentioned, our first 3 opponents are Gibraltar, Estonia , Cyprus. I do not believe they ll pose much thread with any of the left backs we have available in this call-up.

Even ending up second in the qualification campaign is a step up. Even making it to the play off is gonna be a step up. This is the target. I ll be happy if the team makes it to the play offs and doesn't get stomped there but still does not make it to the WC. It's a lot easier to qualify for a 24 team Euro than it is to qualify for a 13 UEFA Spots competition. Defeating Gibraltar Estonia and Cyprus is the top priority here. We will have games in our history when approaching Bosnia and Belgium. Belgium coach was terrible but we don't have sign of the new one either. I saw Jordan Lukaku getting selected against spain. They lost 2-0. They are not one level above, as someone posted, you are wrong. They are far more levels above us, especially offensivewise, but they are known for being chokers. We still hope they bring their big game in the qualifiers and especially stomp bosnia's useless defence, to make our 2nd spot realistic target more easily achieved.

Not to mention that on paper in our last previous matches , we ve won Hungary, a team in the R16 of Euro, Australia and Holland , both teams of the WC 2014,Montenegro , a pot 2-3 team. All we need ot 3 wins over Gibraltar, Estonia and Cyprus to believe. Also, since our main contestants for the top 2 spots are Belgium and Bosnia, the fact taht they play each other while we play the easy opponents first, means that if we make a 3/3 in our first matches we have at least one , if not both of them behind in the points level. So good and serious behaviour could actually see us through just for that reason.

"How many saves did our keepers have to make against Hollish shots of 25+ meters?" Are you even trying ? Our defence couldn't let them break into our goallie area (i didnt watch the match just the highlights) and like all their shots apart from their goal were outside the area. Our defence worked almost perfectly. With an unfit Torosidis, an unfit 6ari named Maniatis and our 3rd choice LB we didn't give them much space to handle. And yeah, Huntelaar was missing - their best CF right now (since RVP is probably not competing at NT level again), Arjeen Robben,Janmaat were missing, but: Wijnaldum was there, Sneidjer was there, Klaasen was there, Quincy Promes was there (most of u dont know about this talent but hes gotten lots of focus from the dutch media), Nasrigh,BasDost were there offensivewise. Defensivewise, Bruma, Zoet(the best GK they have according to Dutch themselves in international football forums), Blind, Strootman, Willems, they were there. Apart from Huntelaar, I still don't believe in Arjeen Robben being the dutch NT's σημαία coz he is being at least 4 months/year (summer excluded) injured which means the team - the same team that has qualified in every tournament lately apart from euro 16 - has made it there with or without his help. We beat a powerhouse team's A+B team combined, some A players played some B players played. We had Tzavellas as a Left Back and we saw Bakasetas, Maniatis,Papadopoulos and Kapinos play, so what? This is a good result. I don't know if the team has big chances to qualify for the WC but I know they will fight for it. The fact that we ended up in Pot 3 for this tournament qualifiers is the reason qualification is a big IF, were we in Belgium's side and having a pot 3 team like Montenegro/Finland instead would mean no big trouble. Also, Cyprus beating Turkey is bad news.

So , enlighten me, are we gonna win the WC 18 or nah?

Ok so i decide to ditch a match after 15 mins when we re losing 1-0 coz its a no-hope, and focus on getting laid with a chick, she comes over we watch the cartoon movie zootopia and we fuk and I end up missing our best match in 2 years and 2 months? Nah man, that's unfair.

Didnt they say we have another X1 reported?

But he aint playing at Leverkusen bro. I dont understand what u talking about.

Siopis is a good Tziolis replacement. Kid helpd Panionios defence when Hatziisaias left.

We can break the Serie A teams into 2 groups, teams Tachtsidis played there, and teams Tachtsidis hasn't played yet.

A. He is still playing at a top level (aka a Bundesliga club). B. He ll be a starter obviously,whenever fit. C. They are not a low budget club. They in fact have a many years program to be able to hit a Bundesliga title. However, I do not know how much time that means and if he is considered as an attributor to that target. They won the Bundesliga 2. Easily, they will probably try to go for a top 10 maybe even hit a Europa Spot. D. If it's the same coach he had in Schalker, he/we should consider this an honour. Someone insiting on u playing by his side.

If the starting 11 reported are really the ones that will play, I can't see us leaving there with a bad result. We are playing with a global powerhouse, yes but they are putting their B team in it. Draw is a good result, win is a brilliant result. I expect Gianniotas on second half, and maybe earlier, since Karelis is not used to the winger position and is for this match changed sides. Might work, might not.

exactly the line up i predicted with Karelis instead of Gianniotas and Mantalos instead of Maniatis (probably due to the last one having no team?) we re playing defensive agianst them which is good.

They dropped Memphis Depay, no Van Persie, No Huntelaar, No Robben. I don't think we ll see another 4-0. Match will be close their defense is/has always been non existent and their Offense is their B team.

winger /10 very talented he got dnipro to the final on his own. good mak replacement if u ask me. he s not gonna play at PAOK as a winger if he comes but he has his talent.

I think Gibraltar match is also taken for granted and some sort of a friendly. I personaly however hope that Skibbe asks/demands lots of subs in the Netherlands game, and maybe we see 2 schemes in 1 match. Honestly , Maniatis is a good player and he has been a starter of the NT when fit for many years. He is fast and defensively a very good 6th , however , he is not a δημιουργικό one. His duties are just defensive. Samaris isn't much of a δημιουργικός either, so as many mentioned, having them as our main midfielders means θα μας βγεί η παναγία μέχρι να βγεί αντεπίθεση. with 3 cbs however we have an extra player with offensive duties, which can mean better transition. Just the opinion of someone who doesnt know coaching though. If we go for 4-2-3-1 i doubt Maniatis/Samaris will be that duo. Same reason why K. Paps aint worthy of a midfielder. If we go for 3-2-3-2 or 3-2-4-1 we can have literally 5 players focusing on defensive duties and 5 players focusing on offence. I honestly believe that our forwards Mitroglou , Karelis , Diamantakos, evne Vellios, despite not being able to score yet, are talented enough to score if they have the correct feedback. They are not the world class players Lewandowski, Benzema , Ronaldo who can both playmake and score but scoring is an attribute they are good at. a 3-2-4-1 with wingers like Gianniotas , Cholevas and both Mantalos , Fortounis in seems pretty decent to destroy a week hollish defence and score some goals against our 3 first opponents of Qualifying which are the easiest ones, Gibraltar,Cyprus and Estonia. Also, how funny is it that the year greece was drawn against cyprus, olympiakos was drawn against apoel?