paokarag4

While I back us to beat all three of those teams, I will say we shouldn't underestimate based on name. Kazakhstan has 4 wins in these qualifiers (same as us) and Luxembourg has managed to collect 11 points in a group which contains Portugal, Slovakia, Bosnia and Iceland.

Yep, a win is the only result that gives a shot at direct qualification. Hoping for the Dutch to drop points against the Irish who have been bang average this qualifying campaign isn't realistic. I expect the boys to be up for this game there is so much on the line, plus the added fact that the Dutch game was our worst performance of the Poyet era. The Dutch are better technically and are probably faster and stronger than us so the lads are going to need be switched on from the start and be super focused. Playing smart and fighting hard for every ball, 2nd and 3rd ball is the way we match it with them. Interested to see if Poyet sticks with Mantalos as an 8 for this game as he did against the Irish. The Kourbelis-Siopis-Bakasetas midfield was blown away in Eindhoven so I wonder if Poyet will rejig the look of our midfield three. FWIW I think Mantalos should only play central if he does start, not out on the left as he did in Holland. Otherwise you think the starting 11 will be the more or less the same as in Dublin. Giakoumakis will start considering he scored a few days ago and he probably is physically our best chance to match it with Van Dijk.

Apart from the first 10 or so minutes, a comfortable evening in what on paper could've been a tricky game. For large stretches we controlled the tempo and showed our quality against the Irish. We all have questions about various call-ups and player selections but ultimately (especially with International football and a nation like Greece) it's a results business. Say what you want but Poyet has topped the nations league group and with 3 games to play in the qualifiers he has in 2nd spot in the group. Massive game against the Dutch now, it will be a packed OPAP Arena and the crowd will be buzzing. They blew us away last month, so we will need to play our absolute best to stand any chance. Their midfield in particular bossed ours and we struggled to break through their pressing. I suspect it will be different in Greece, but interested to see what tactical changes Poyet makes this time around. I'm sure he learnt a thing or 2 from the disaster last month. All in all, it's been a successful qualifying campaign so far and we are still in with a fighting chance. The play-offs are there and waiting worst case and the way this team has been able to win the game they "should", I am relatively confident we qualify one way or another.

Goutas called up to replace the injured Chatzidiakos. Considering the squad flies for Ireland today and he plays his club football in Wales, he will fly directly to Dublin and link up with the squad there. With 4 center backs still in the squad, I feel it confirms Tzavellas is only being called up due to either Poyet wanting a "personality" in the squad or EPO forcing it upon him. He isn't seen as a feasible option unless the game is either comfortably won or lost.

Chatzidiakos ruled out of the 2 upcoming games with an injury. Retsos/Koulierakis in the running to take his spot, I don't give Tzavellas a realistic chance of starting but then again who knows. Considering Baldock was already ruled out pre-call ups, it's less than ideal to lose member of the back 4. Against Holland last month, we all remember what happened when we were without 2 of our starting back 4. A few players without match practice recently, since moving to Nottingham, Vlachodimos has been the no.2 and riding the bench. Mavropanos also with his move to West Ham hasn't been a nailed on starter, but he has at least played three matches in the last month (2 in the Europa League and one in the League Cup). Kourbelis is another who has not seen the pitch since late August for Trabzonspor, so Poyet has some decisions to make on how many potentially underdone players he starts in the game.

Call-ups have been announced, Konstantelias is in. Other new faces compared to last month include: Galanopoulos, Dioudis and Saliakas. Baldock is still out with the injury he sustained during the previous international break. Interesting to see if Saliakas gets the start over Rota at right back. Full squad Τερματοφύλακες: Βλαχοδήμος, Πασχαλάκης, Διούδης. Αμυντικοί: Τσιμίκας, Μαυροπάνος, Χατζηδιάκος, Κουλιεράκης, Σάλιακας, Ρέτσος, Τζαβέλλας, Γιαννούλης, Ρότα. Μέσοι: Μπακασέτας, Μπουχαλάκης, Κουρμπέλης, Αλεξανδρόπουλος, Χατζηγιοβάνης, Γαλανόπουλος, Μάνταλος, Σιώπης. Επιθετικοί: Ιωαννίδης, Μασούρας, Πέλκας, Κωνσταντέλιας, Γιακουμάκης, Παυλίδης, Φούντας.

Always tough to concede a goal so late. The way we played in the final 20-25 minutes really didn't help us see out the result, we just kept inviting pressure and while for the most part we defended well eventually they created a good enough chance to score. I don't mind sitting a little deeper when defending a lead, especially away in a derby. It was inevitable that Pana would get on top in terms of possession, my issue is when we won it back we really had no outlets looking to counter. A hopeful long-ball to one player making a half-hearted run forward was never going to threaten Pana and so they just kept coming. When we won the ball we needed to counter with more purpose and numbers, to push them back and gain meters up the pitch. I'm also not a fan of Lucescu completely exploding about the officiating in this particular match. I only watched the 2nd half, but I don't think anyone would say the officiating impacted the result. I understand the explanation by some media that he was referring to previous games but still. It's not the time to do it, we blew the win because of how we played the final third of the game, not because they scored 5 seconds after minimum allocated stoppage time had elapsed.

My favourite all time show! Followed by Better Call Saul

Always seems to a tricky game in Giannina. Rotation was always going to happen, hopefully Kedziora and Nasberg gel quickly. Our attacking 4 looks good, with Zivkovic and Samatta coming off the bench if things get hairy. We just need to win this, however we can. We've already left 5 points on the table, can't afford to drop anymore at this stage.

Agree we are looking good but just can't quite create a clear opportunity once we've worked the ball into a dangerous area. I really like the look of Samatta, good touches on the ball and links up well. Very pacey too especially given his size. Meite is giving me Alexandros Tziolis vibes, way too composed on the ball and when you think he's surely lost it, he somehow retains possession. He is making me nervous early days, but we'll see how we goes. Was always likely to be a tight game with not many goals. Aris look solidly dangerous on the counter, will be tight 2nd half.

Talk about amateur hour, the 4 players who were thought to be suspended for this game were actually eligible to play. Obviously didn't impact the result but how that can happen at this level is mind boggling. What if this had been a game against the Irish, Dutch or French? The four players in question were: Tsimikas, Kourbelis, Siopis and Mantalos. Fyssas and Konstantinidis have taken the fall as technical directors of the team and maybe be sacked (although I doubt it). Surely more than 2 people know the rules? Crazy. Απίστευτη γκάφα της ΕΠΟ: Δεν ήταν τιμωρημένοι οι τέσσερις παίκτες που δεν έπαιξαν με το Γιβραλτάρ https://www.sport24.gr/football/apisteyti-gkafa-tis-epo-den-itan-timorimenoi-oi-tesseris-paiktes-poy-den-epaixan-me-to-givraltar.10175083.html

Very disappointing performance, team was in good form and had just frustrated a more talented French side. But to be blown away like that in the 1st half is really poor. TBF we didn't do much wrong until we conceded the first goal, the Dutch had a clear height advantage and looked threatening every time they had a corner. The way we were torn apart for the 2nd and 3rd goals was simply not good enough for this level. That just about buries any chance of direct qualification we have. The Dutch have a game in hand on us too and own the H2H (we would have to beat them 3-0 in Greece for other tie-breakers to come into calculations) so they are basically 4 points clear of us with the game in hand too. We also have to play France again. We have to win our last 4 to have any hope, and even then it's out of our hands. If the Dutch win 4 of their last 5 they would qualify ahead of us. Off to the play-offs we go! Let's hope the squad can have a strong finish and hit the play-offs in March with plenty of confidence.

Baldock ruled out due to injury, that's a blow. My confidence in us getting a result has dropped with the news, Rota is poor defensively and gets found out often. In a game where we are going to have to be solid at the back, it does hurt our chances. Going to need a big defensive shift from Masouras (which he is capable of)and the mids to support Rota at right-back. No surprises in the reported starting XI but of course we won't know for sure until an hour before kick-off. Mavropanos is suspended due to the send off v France in June. ----------Vlachodimos Rota----Retsos---Xatzidiakos---Tsimikas -------Kourbelis----Siopis-----Bakasetas (playing as a 10) Masouras----Giakoumakis/Pavlidis----Mantalos

Disappointing to lose, seems the big 6 weeks finally caught up to the squad and we put in an average performance. If you had offered me qualification to the Conference League group stage and 6 points from our first 3 league games before a ball had been kicked in July I would have taken it. OFI is a good team who has kept it's core and their coach, plenty of teams will struggle to get a result in Crete this year. International break doesn't come at a bad time for us, allows the new signings time to work with Lucescu and gel with the squad. Hopefully no injuries for our internationals and the boys come back raring to go for a local derby.

He has signed with newly promoted Cagliari to play in the Serie A. They are managed by Claudio Ranieri. Reported transfer fee is only 2 million Euros, because he was in the final year of his contract.

Vlachodimos moves to Nottingham Forrest on a 4-year contract. He will be the fourth Greek international playing in the Premier League this season.

I am a fan of Poyet and what he's doing with the Ethniki, but there are 3-4 of these call-ups that are puzzling. Bouchalakis and Limnios have not played one minute of football in the first month of the season, yet they are un-droppable. While Alexandropoulos and Konstantelias are not called-up. Tzavellas he wants for experience(dressing room etc), but seems like he's played one out of three for a newly promoted side in Turkey, not exactly inspiring form. Poyet is trying to do what Otto and Santos did before him, have a 'club' like feel to the NT where it's the same core of players that are called-up. While that has some merit it can also lead to disharmony amongst players/coaches/fans. Ultimately if we get results people will forget about these decisions, but if you add the layer of Fortounis stepping away the media and football public are starting to slowly starting to turn on Poyet. The atmosphere around the team had been so positive because of great results, hopefully this doesn't throw too much of a spanner into the works and the team can keep chugging along. You can guarantee if we come out of the 2 games next week with 4 points, everyone will be singing his praises. Let's see what happens.

A reporter from Sport24 is reporting that Fortounis is retiring from the national team effective immediately. Not too many details but apparently Fortounis will address the issue publicly. I dare say he wasn't called up again for these qualifiers and decided he no longer wants to be available to play for the NT. I am just guessing though, so who knows. https://www.sport24.gr/football/telos-o-fortoynis-apo-tin-ethniki-omada.10164092.html EDIT: Fortounis has confirmed via a post on his Instagram that he is stepping down from the Ethniki. Saying he wants to focus on his club football and wishing the NT all the best for the future. https://www.sport24.gr/football/fortoynis-gia-tin-apochorisi-vomva-apo-tin-ethniki-thelo-na-afosiotho-stin-omada-elpizo-i-apofasi-na-ginei-sevasti-apo-oloys.10164128.html

I think it's a fair comparison, they have a similar build and play style. Based off the highlights I saw (which never tell the full story) Marcos Antonio seems to be more talented and more technically gifted. We won't know until we see him in action for us, so let's see what he's got. Think we are pretty well loaded up in central midfield now, Schwab, Tsingaras, Marcos Antonio, Ozdoyev, Meite and Felipe Soares who is currently injured.

And he cruises into the 2nd round with an impressive 6-2, 6-3, 6-4 win. Next up he'll face Swiss qualifier Stricker.

Our boy @PaokCT will do it, Warda is his golden boy!!

If Ozdoyev isn't allowed into the country (crazy typing that), then we become even thinner than we currently are in midfield. Clearly Schwab will start and Tsiggaras will have to play through gritted teeth. Probably means Giaxis will get a run off the bench too.

Looks like Samata's scans were clear and he has escaped without doing anything serious. He will be monitored day-to-day and is a chance to be fit against Hearts this week. Even if he misses the first leg, massive relief that he hasn't suffered a long term injury.

Nevermind, he's failed his medical and now the move looks to be in doubt.

Looks like he's on his way back to the Premier League to join West Ham.