georgelaz

I would take Santos back with open arms. Mavrias & Tzavellas seem to be next runners up for RB/LB in my mind as well. Fortounis is automatic starter now, it's not just a form thing, he's hit a new level, and it was obvious he's been a class above our other CAM's for a year or two now. Karnezis Torosidis---Manolas-- KPaps---Sokratis---Holebas Samaris Fortounis---Mantalos Karelis -- Mitroglou I'd do the above for now. 5-3-2. No one is going to score on us with that D and we can scrap at least a goal or two with that attack. Subs Maniatis (RB/CDM) , Kone (CAM/CF), Tzavella (LB/CB) These subs have great utility because they can play great in two or more positions. If we're playing a five star team like a Belgium I'd reserve Karelis on the bench and put Maniatis in there too frustrate their midfield. Other than than that, our D is pretty robust without 2 CDM's if we have 3 CB's Torisidis captain. Sokratis vice captain. Samaris 3rd captain,

Greeks tend to turn it up when they're underdogs. I think we get arrogant when we're in the drivers seat. Even if you look at history we've historically been better as underdogs eg) Spartans vs. Persians. As apposed to being considered the favourites eg) Byzantium vs. Turkish Tribes. Cyprus's edge is they're pretty much destined to always but underdogs barring a match against Gilbatrar.

yeah I feel the same way. Two things that have me optimistic 1. Fortounis being a starter. 2. The chances are slim that are luck will be THAT bad to repeat our euro 2016 campaign. If we do bad, it'll probably be a 3rd or 4th place finish.

Mitroglou is more a low work rate striker. He's almost a heavyweight at 6'2 200lbs. He works best when he bides his energy and get into good positions. Hence why we keep saying he needs a good attacking mid. If you want a runner, that's where Karelis comes in. He has a high work rate but lower potency than Mitroglou aka Mr. Mykonos lol

Mr. Mykonos XD dead lol. With Holevas on LW that'd be a good feeder for him. They have great chemistry.

yeah? would love to watch the full second game if it becomes available lol

The Australian commentators were class. 1) the mentioned the individual quality of our players and we need to solve the puzzle. 2) they mentioned that the culture in Greek soccer needs to be fixed because it's not the individual players as they succeed abroad at top clubs. 3) they pronounced the greek names properly (being around tons of Greeks helps) 4) they mentioned how greece should be winning games against Cyprus 9/10 times and Faroe Islands 10/10 times. The english don't bother me much. they have a culture of banter. historically they are pretty much friends. just a peg down france.

man that sucks. people underestimate the damage that footballers endure. kicks are 5x more powerful than punches but it's easy to underestimate the impact. really proud to have Samaris on the ethiniki. Pure class and I feel very comfortable with him in the CDM role.

Mantalos is quality. Just as I said we just need a quality CAM in there like Mantalos, Fortounis, Ninis, Fetfa and we have a chance to beat anyone really. I wish we could've played our best 11ada so we could've smoked them 3-0.

sometimes I feel he gets into the squad because he has 'good looking guy' points. the importance that Greek men are good looking is important for international politics. Whilst salpigids and Gekas are effective, there is a bit of shame attached to them not being as handsome. Whereas blokes like Tziolis, Samaris show the aesthetic potential of a Greek man lol

my current fifa lineup ---------- Mitroglou ------ Gekas ----------- Fortounis ---------- ---------- --------- Fetfatzidis --------- KPaps --------- Samaris --------- Holebas -- Manolas --- Sokratis --- Torosidis --------- --------- --- Karnezis --- --------- --------- Bench Tachtsidis Kone Lazaros Maniatis Klaus Ninis Kapino

If we suddenly starts dominating and moves up to the MLS (not improbable) I can see him come back to the NT. Dellas was thought to be finished by doing to Cyprus, but when he returned to AEK he also returned to the NT. He's actually playing and we're still talking about him. Unlike Salpingidis who basically disappeared after he couldn't get a PAOK contract.

I really like the picks overall. My guess is Gianniotas & Fetfa called so we can experiment with having two good LW & RW. If the Aussie's are gunna start Giannou playing in China, might as well play Fetfa playing in Arabia. Fetfa should be playing in the Portugese or French league IMO. He'd be a key player for a team there. In Italy he tends to get drowned out in the noise. England, Spain, Germany would be even worse.

Samaris & Petsos seem to work really well together. Was really really impressed with Petsos in the friendlies. Great outside box power shots, he plays to his strengths, seems very consistent.

he's got an in-form in fifa to an 80. him & mitroglou are really nice up top at 80+ lol

great interview. he's very well spoken and has great ideas on the topics discussed.

I like our team and I think Skibbe gets the idea of what's our best line up. After only 2 days at the NT he stated that he noticed that we have robust options at the CB position and that our weakness was the attacking mid which can be fixed with some tweaking. If Mitroglou, Samaris, Manolas, Fortounis, Karelis played the full 90 minutes, we would very likely have swept Iceland. They only started playing well against us when we played our B team. our A team is much better than them.

never heard of Mavrias at the Rb...

Torosidis steps it up for the ethiniki. He plays 25% better. He's still great for Roma, but they're stacked at RB. Maicon, Florenzi, Torosidis. Still very vital to the team because he's versatile as a utlity player. Can play LB, CDM, RB, even wings

dude scored a hat-trick and then 5 goals the next week. TOP FORM. We need to get him a championship in the superleague.

I think our vetting process is what made Greece punch above it's weight the past 10 years. Whereas form whore countries like England underachieve. I like the idea of slowly integrating 4-5 new players each tournament to form, potential, aging veterans, rather than tossing away hard earned chemistry, confidence, experience. I think we have the right balance. Ranieri killed us because he was a form whore, which works in the fast paced premier league but not in NT football imo. The core is Karnezis, Sokratis, Manolas, Samaris, Torosidis, Mitroglou, Holebas, Kpaps. We are now integrating Fortounis, Karelis, Mantalos, Petsos, Tachtsidis.

Kone was in top form vs. Colombia & Japan.

F*** this. bring back Katsouranis, Karagounis, Gekas. lol

still crazy to believe we were inches away from a world cup quarter final in 2014.

Our best attacking mids are Fortounis & Fetfatzidis. But since Fetfa plays in Arabia, Mantalos is the next best option. Best forwards are Mitroglou and Karelis. Velios is 3rd imo tbh I'd still play fetfa even though he's in Arabia. The top Saudi teams are almost as good as the top Greek teams now. Not kidding.