Ellada2004

Unbelievable what a s%$#! result

Will see after these two games (how the team performs & how JVS sets up the team) but if Greece don't get into the playoffs at the very least then I would lean toward letting him go. There has been some positives during his tenure especially off the start in 2019 but the end goal was to make the World Cup, JVS said the the same thing "Project Qatar" is what it will ultimately come down to.

Ya I heard them talking about that interview on another Greek soccer show. He reached out too Sokratis & Manolas because their problems were focused squarely with coach Ange. That’s fine but why can’t he get over what Siovas said? It was nothing malicious. We could have definitely used Siovas in these qualifiers. Pure stupidity!

I hope Olympiakos get the 3 points. They cant play any worse than they did in Germany.

No K Pap and no Stafilidis? Surprising. It hurts Greece do not have Mavropanos. I wonder if Spain are missing any of their best players? Anyways lets GO GREECE we need 2 wins!!

Crap! Every time we have a qualifier and vs a tough opponent like Spain we have our key players miss out..

What is happening with Manolas at Napoli? I see he was not even on the bench vs Salernitana yesterday. Is he having problems with Spalletti and or the owner still?

Bravo ELLAS!!

Spain are the clear favorite but if they show up and play like they did in their loss at Sweden then Greece have a good chance to get a win.

Stafy going up against Spain's talented forwards? No thanks JVS! This game we will need to be at our absolute best for 90 minutes. We cant giveaway any cheap goals like we did against Sweden. When is JVS making the call ups?

It will be a tough match for Greece as Spain will likely dominate possession and we will have to defend in numbers and wait for our chances. I can see Greece scraping out a win.

Greece down one spot to 47.

Tough game for OLY they could not get into any positive rythym. The Eintracht goal before the half was a tough one to give up. A lot of players had an off day, I would say on Bouchalakis put in a good performance. I hope OLY can rebound at home next matchday and go top of the group.

Get a 3rd goal PAOK

Free kick just wide!

Fabulous finish from Zivkovic

Nice goal!!

I have to admit Tzavellas has been terrific during this campaign. He has busted his arse off and made some crucial challenges. Hatzidiakos has been disappointing with his play and decision making. When will JVS ever address or issues at RB? why won’t he give Kotsiras a shot? Anyways I hope we play well against a Spain & finish off with a win vs Kosovo. I am praying to God we can somehow squeeze into the playoff spot.

The whole Siovas thing was overblown by JVS he simply said in regards to Svarnas at the time that he would benefit from having experienced & high end players like Manolas & Sokratis to guide him. Guys who have been playing in CL football and at World Cups and European Championships. I don’t see what was so bad about Siovas comment? Our CBs have been good for most games but we saw the silly mistakes you can’t make at Wcup qualifying especially vs a good side like Sweden and it just took all the steam out of the Ethniki. As for the 1-1 game vs Georgia JVS can not put Mavrias on the field a guy who doesn’t even get game time in the Cypriot league and we saw how he got exposed on the goal. The game in Kosovo at the end we conceded a silly goal but I really won’t put all blame on the defenders but JVS should have gone out and attacked Kosovo instead of sitting back and inviting pressure for the whole 2nd half and they got a goal in the 92nd. That result was totally on him. Greece should have come out in the 2nd half up 1 nil and put the game out of reach but his stupid subs and tactics cost us 2 points there that we desperately needed.

It is tough for that reason that we want stability for the NT and changing coaches all the time is not beneficial. I miss the days when we had Otto & Santos two coaches in a 13 year period. Looking back I think EPO should have kept Skibbe for the 2020 Euro campaign as bringing in Ange was a total mess. He only lasted for 4 matches and all the trouble that started between him and Sokratis and with Manolas kept those players away for this campaign. I said at the start of this campaign that JVS had to at least get the Ethniki to a playoff spot. I thought we could take 4 out of 6 points from Sweden and that would give us the edge. I thought JVS had learned from his mistakes in NL and would have the NT come out and put away Georgia & Kosovo for max points but unfortunately I was wrong. Greece got 3pts but we were unlucky not to get something last game and the defensive blunders cost us. As many of us here have said Manolas and Siovas even Sokratis back there and we most likely do not eat those silly goals. JVS could have used them in the Kosovo match were the equalized again of a garbage goal. For these reasons I think I would go in a new direction as we cant afford to miss out on Euro 2024. Greece have to qualify!!

True JVS is stubborn he has tried to build the NT around Bakasetas? He is a decent player and has given us some good performances recently especially in the win against Sweden but he is not one of our star players going now into Euro 2024 qualification. He has a place on the team as a substitute but he is not one of our core players. As for JVS if he goes I wish him well he has gotten us some good results and at times we have played some attractive attacking football. I would say give Donis a chance he knows Greek football and I think would command respect from the players. Also he may be able to talk to our banned players from the squad and bring some of them back. JVS totally botched that whole situation especially sending Siovas packing over nothing. Especially since aside from finishing goals our other main problem has been keeping clean sheets this campaign with just one vs Georgia. Just another strike against JVS.

Alexandropoulos will be great in the NT midfield for years. He had a solid game in PAO win today. Why didn't JVS give him some game time in the last 2 matches? Dean do you think JVS should stay on after the last 2 qualifiers? I think he should go unless he somehow gets us to the playoff. I think we have reached our ceiling with him. I had no problem when EPO hired him and he has gotten us some good results vs Sweden, Spain and Belgium but its those dropped points vs Georgia and Kosovo that are going to bite us in the arse. I thought he would learn from the NL campaign and that we would get the max points against them. Also I am disappointed with his handling of Manolas, Siovas and Sokratis. Manolas for sure had to be on the NT going into qualifying if he was in the lineup I doubt we drop points vs the minnows and he would have helped us greatly in Sweden but JVS decides to throw Mavrias in the game vs Georgia and he cost us big time! Those 4 points we dropped are going to loom large at the end of this qualification. Very frustrating that we will most likely miss another major tournament..

Great analysis on the Ethniki. I really enjoy the different points of view.

Samaris? he has been out of the NT fold for years..

Good points Dean. JVS has given the youth an opportunity so I give him credit there but why does he change what works in terms of lineups and tactics in games were the Ethniki is successful like in the friendlies or vs Sweden in Greece and against inferior opponents he sits back like Slovenia in NL, Kosovo and Georgia and the team fails. This is the biggest problem along with excluding our experienced players and a top class CB like Manolas who we dam well needed yesterday along with Siovas and Sokratis who is nearing the end of his career but can still contribute. As for Skibbe all I can say is he did manage to get us to World Cup playoff were ultimately we lost to Croatia who made the finals of 2018 World Cup so no shame there.