Ellada2004

I wanted to see JVS call up Alexandropoulos and give him some playing time vs a tough Belgium side. From 2004 -2014 Greece was a football powerhouse under the guidance of Rehhagel & Santos we won the European championship and during that time we defeated the likes of Portugal, Spain, France, Czechs Croatia etc.. Greece only missed the 2006 WCUP due to a fluky loss to Albania. It would have been great to see us in Germany with that side we had I think a quarter finals place would have been attainable. Anyways now we are missing out on the Euros again where we should have qualified behind Italy in such a gift of a group that was handed to us. Just going to be hard to watch us not there again!

For sure lots there are lots of good managers currently available.

No Fortounis, it will be a tough go in Belgium I hope we can keep it close.

Your right on Dean, JVS messed it up in NL, in the first match at Slovenia we sat back and rarely looked to go forward and Greece only managed a draw. This vs a team that Cyprus beat in WCUP qualifying recently. Also JVS was to blame for the debacle at home vs Kosovo where we only managed a draw and played miserably in the 2nd half. As most of us have said here JVS came in to the NT and at the start of his tenure he had the Ethniki playing attractive attacking football where we saw many shot attempts and many high quality scoring chances created. Even in the Euro qualifier in Italy vs a very tough side he set us up well and Greece went toe to toe with Italy and we were unlucky to not get a result. JVS must know Bakasetas cant cut it at the NT level? A guy who played and won the Euro as a player for Holland who was around great talented and smart footballers and he keeps selecting Bakasetas and not only starts him but has him captaining the NT? What gives? Enough already! I hope he gets the call ups and tactics right we have a friendly with Belgium and then vs Norway lets see what he does in these matches and then in the qualifiers. Greece as you said have the talent to make the Euros and the World Cup but we are being held back by these managers and the EPO!

Yes JVS totally screwed us up in that Georgia game a wasted opportunity. Greece looked like they were on the road just trying to get a draw? It was really disappointing. JVS has a must win game vs Kosovo and then Greece vs Sweden. I can see us giving Sweden a real good battle if he gets the lineup and tactics right. 2 wins here and Greece will be in 2nd place going into the October matches.

Great stuff! We need him to start scoring regularly for the Ethniki and get us into the World Cup!

Good points, out of those players I wouldn’t bring Koulouris for myself I have seen enough of him and I don’t think he can be successful for the NT. JVS should put Bakasetas on the bench if he gets called up and be used as a sub. He should never start nor should he ever be captain! Siovas eluded to this in his interview as well. JVS has a habit of putting together pretty good lineups and tactics in place in friendlies as we saw vs Honduras and even against Austria but then for some reason he starts the wrong players & plays players out of position as we saw vs Georgia. Why did he play so scared vs Georgia at home? Georgia are a decent side on the upside but Greece should have opened up the game instead of sitting back. I liked how he approached the matches in the Euro qualifiers when he first took over. Lots of quick passing and nice ball movement and heavy pressing up the pitch. Where was that vs Georgia it was a pitiful performance and although we could have won with a gift OG we are lucky we didn’t lose that game.

Yes he seems very easy going not at all arrogant. At one point he said when Skibbe was there he wanted to call him up but he said he was recovering from an injury and said for the good of the team to take someone else. Looks like he will only come back to the Ethniki if JVS is no longer the coach. That is a shame..

Thanks for this J1078. Its very telling what Siovas says about JVS and the coaching staff getting rid of him for no real reason just saying Manolas and Sokratis could have helped the NT and players like himself, Svarnas, Hatzidiakos, Staf, etc. Also he touched on how you cant have our best CBs out of the NT as we are first a defensive oriented team going back many years. It looks like it will come down to Septembers match with Kosovo for JVS its an absolute must win to save his job and then he needs to get a result vs Sweden or else he has to go. I heard on one of the podcasts that he gets a paper from the EPO with the players that are to be called up? The source was a a journalist from one of the Greek sports channels. Just crazy we have guys like Manolas, Sokratis, and Siovas sitting at home and Mavrias is IN the team when he cant even get playing time in his club team in Cyprus and we saw what happened when he came in vs Georgia!

Good we get to go up against Haaland.

Watched it the other day. Great times Greece were a a force in World Football. Remember countries like England, Belgium, Former Yugoslavia Switzerland and more have never lifted the Euro 🏆

Greece could have moved into the top 50 if we beat Georgia.

According to Hellas football Argentine midfielder Loucas Villafanez of PAO has expressed his interest to represent Greece and is in the process to obtain his Greek citizenship.

Watched Olympiakos vs AEK. I’m left puzzled how Masouras nicely finishes two goals and I think to myself why does he and others miss these same chances for the NT time after time?

Looks good 👍

Will see what happens in the remaining 6 games. Skibbe had a lot of downfalls as well with some of his selections but at least he got us to the World Cup playoffs and we lost to a very strong Croatia team.

Yes heard that Baldock will get Greek passport it was on Hellas Footy podcast. Both are very insightful shows.. Enjoy listening.

That draw was a huge let down I still can’t believe how the team played that poorly in such a important match.Will see what happens in September & how Sweden will look after the Euros, fatigue, injuries etc. Georgia are a team on the rise they are unlucky not to have 7 points. They will get something from Sweden at home but we have to go to Georgia and win. As for Sweden vs Spain maybe Sweden can get a draw at home but I don’t see Spain losing any games in this group and they have there 65 game unbeaten run in World Cup qualifying that they will try to extend. JVS had us playing very fluid when he took over, we even had a good performance in Italy in a match we could have got something out of. He needs to drop Bakasetas from the starting 11 everyone can see this why not him? Also the RB issue has to be addressed and we will be much better.

True but losing out those two points could be costly. I still think we can get beat Sweden if JVS gets it right vs Kosovo and we have a fully fit squad to choose from. Georgia at home can get a result vs Sweden. It may very well come down to the last match day with Greece home to Kosovo and Sweden at Spain..

True I expect them to give Sweden a battle I just can’t understand what there plan was yesterday and why the performance was so sub par? First got to get the win vs Kosovo another weak side that’s our problem.

Definitely I can’t believe these smaller countries are starting to get results against European powerhouses and we are just pretty much stuck in the same boat from 2014. Greece have had some good results in between but we HAVE to be better and perform better consistently with the players on our roster. Greece have more talented players than the countries you listed but the coaching,EPO and other factors seem to be holding us back. It’s so dam frustrating that Greece in a match you have to get 3 points at home tied Georgia and yet we were actually lucky that we did not lose even though it feels like a loss. JVS said he will ultimately be judged on Project Qatar, right now it’s looking very tough and if we can’t get a win vs Kosovo than I don’t think he should be able to finish his project!!

I heard on Greek radio after the match that EPO should go after Donis but he makes good $ coaching in the Saudi league. Maybe Ouzonidis? Now that Zagorakis is EPO president I hope he can bring back Manolas we need him come September.

After two games the major problem is that Greece are not threating in attack and creating chances as we did when JVS came into the fold in 2019. There were games were we saw 15 +attempts at goal vs Bosnia, Finland and Armenia I recall. Our problem then was mainly finishing now we have had 2 goals one from a penalty and the other an OG. Today we were slow moving the ball and so many times Bakestas would play the ball backwards and destroy our attack when we could press forward. That was just incredibly frustrating to watch. Georgia created better chances from open play and Vlachodimos had to make a nice save on a free kick and a save at the end of the game on a shot from Kankava or else we would have lost. Defense is an issue too once we got the lead we should have seen out the win with 15 minutes left, this is another problem not being able to keep clean sheets under JVS. I can understand giving up a goal to Spain away but these smaller countries like Kosovo, FInland and even Liechenstein have scored vs us under JVS. JVS has to be sharper vs Kosovo if we cant beat them with their recent run of form then he has to go ASAP. The only positive is that after being outplayed in two matches with not even a shot on target we somehow have 2 points.

True ask English fans like TO blue who haven’t even reached a final in decades lol..

JVS has got to stop bringing Bakasetas into the starting 11. He’s a decent player and has a good attitude but he can’t be starting as I and most off us have said here. Also our RB situation continues to be off huge concern. Mavrias came on and was completely exposed. I was expecting to see a lot better performance from Tzolis, I like his play of late. Today he should have finished that chance off early in the match. It would have taken the weight off the team and put Georgia in a position to open up more