Ellada2004

Fetfa got the call up as I anticipated. No Mitroglou and Donis. Thankfully Van't Schip didn't bring in Bakasetas. Also Torosidis is back in the fold. All in all pretty good I would have liked to see Donis called up.

Dominant performance by OLY over the two legs. They could have had 5 goals today but some great saves from opposing goalie kept it close. Anyways good luck in the CL and I hope they get a favourable draw and progress to the knockout rounds.

That was a sloppy goal to conceed right at the end of the match. I'm sure PAOK should be able to get past this team at home.

Ya Samaris has been at fault for some of the goals with his costly turnovers or sloppy passes. We need to replace him in the midfield. Also I hope to God Van't Schip doesn't call up Bakasetas.

Yes Fetfa going to Saudi Arabia didn’t do any favours for his cause to be recalled to the NT but he’s back in Greece and looked good for Aris vs Molde last game. I’m not saying he should start but he could be brought in off the bench for an offensive spark. We need a win in Finland, it’s a shame the team was so discombobulated from the coach to the veteran players vs Armenia and they gave away three points at home that could have put us in prime position for second.

Agreed Finland are beatable they have a couple of decent players that's it. Our talent pool is greater for sure. If Van't Schip gets this team to wake up and play to the level they should and not conceded stupid goals then Greece should get 3 points and on to Liechtenstein.

Fortounis has great vision and can unlock a defence with a great pass. His goal vs Armenia was incredible. The one thing we need is more speed and Fetfa can bring that. I cant wait for the match at Finland if we win were back in contention and hopefully going forward Van't Schip can have the Ethniki play a winning brand of football.

I was looking a few days ago for a press conference but didn't see anything. He has said that he will play open attacking football. Our group of players is not capable of playing Dutch "total football" even though personally I'm a huge fan of that style.

Yes hopefully he goes with the players he feels are in best form and can play the style of football he desires. I have a feeling we will see Fetfa get a call up in September. It just sucks that the one guy we don't have available is Fortounis. He would be able to carve the Finns open with his dribbling and passing abilities.

PAOK got screwed big time. What do I always say about the scum Eglesi!!

It was a winning plan. I hope Greece can get back to those days of success.

Bravo OLY.. Now finish them off in Piraeus.

I hope OLY crush the Turks in the Poli!

Since he loves attacking style then let's see if he brings in Fetfa? Was Van't Ship scouting the PAOK game today vs his favourite Ajax?

Zeca is needed because he does a lot of the grunt work. As for Samaris I don't know what he is doing lately for us he constantly gives away the ball when we are in possession and he is a defensive liability. Fortounis is amazing on the ball no question. What a shame he got injured in a friendly match with OLY and is out for the remaining qualifiers. What's going on with Donis is he healthy to play?

Great statement regarding Sokratis and Manolas. They better start playing like the world class defenders they are. They were the ones who pretty much got Ange canned so they better step up there game. Sokratis was terrible vs Armenia and the pair have been in poor form for the Ethniki since this campaign began.

Agreed, I won't get into the whole if Fetfa belongs on the NT debate but there is no way Bakasetas should be selected over him that's for sure. Samaris has gone downhill I was expecting him to be a solid player for the NT. The new coach was watching the AEK and Aris matches I can't wait to see who he selects and in some cases who he leaves out for the September qualifiers.

I feel your frustration J1078 you are like me all in with the Ethniki. It’s been a very rough past 5 years. Its been a roller coaster, finishing last in our group in Euro 2016 qualifying was probably the lowest point. We almost made It to Russia when lots of people thought we would have finished 3rd place behind Bosnia. Hopefully Van’t Schip has the team ready for Finland. If Greece can scrape out a win will be two points behind and will be playing Liechtenstein in Greece the next match day while Finland will be hosting Italy.

I was not thrilled with Skibbe especially in the first leg vs Croatia and in the nations league match at Finland but in retrospect as I posted before he managed to get us to the World Cup playoffs in a group with Belgium where we tied them in Brussels and we were minutes away from handing them a rare home loss. Also he didn't lose to Bosnia and if not for mantalos missing a sure goal Greece would have won in Zenica. If I knew Ange would have been this erratic it would have been better to just stick with Skibbe for these qualifiers. Anyways like I have said I hope Van't Schip can some how get this team focused on playing sound winning football. Greece have better talent than everyone in this group with the exception of Italy.

It's one aspect of our problem.. Coaches playing players out of position is another for example.

I hope he is able to pick the best players for the NT (not the EPO) so no Bakasetas for example. Will wait and see what happens vs Finland. I pray to God that he can get this team to play with cohesion and get us back into contention for second place.

OLY move on after a huge 2nd half pumping in 4 goals on Plzen.

God I hope he works out. The EPO is still paying Anastasiadis and Skibbe. They also wasted money on the fool Ranieri for a disastrous 4 game run in Euro 2016 qualification.

That's right the EPO messed things up with the hire of Ranieri the guy is a clown and didn't take the job seriously. When Greece had tough focused coaches like Rehagel & Santos who knew what they were doing and stuck to the right tactics and played to the strengths of the NT the results don't lie. Euro championship where the team stifled amazing talented sides like Spain France, Czech Republic and Portugal. Countries such as England who had there so called "Golden generation" during the same time fell flat and couldn't even reach a semi final. With Santos the team was consistently obtaining results and qualifying for world cup and Euro's. The EPO needs to stop hiring these mid tier coaches and find someone who is credible and can work within our style.

Hopefully with a new coach these players will be successful and I hope the Ethniki can turn things around in Finland.