bbaw

we will be fine..... so long as we play our A game, cant ask for much more than that. if they beat us straight up, then thats that...tip your hat. just hope they dont sit back and let croats get into a rhythm. (which is what they almost always do) tactically i think that is a mistake.

defensive "boring" style of football........... its funny, in every other team sport - defense is prized and sought out..."defensive player of the year" awards are given out in acknowledgment of this difficult skill...... yet Greece ALWAYS gets knocked for it. Itlay played "catenachio" for decades and yet you never hear anything about Italy playing boring soccer. such a hypocritical, double standard.....

here is the best analysis for tonights game from my uncle who played for Olympiakos in the 50's. "diskolo paixnithi".... lol

jason - 100% mitro needs service.. we need to push forward to keep them honest or the barrage will be too much over 90 minutes...we cant sit back and absorb, giving them space to dictate the pace and tome of the game. we MUST get them to play our game..

lol...agreed...it is written in our DNA. Was the Romanian clip unexpected? thats a clip you posted..... "We had not scored 3 goals in a match for over 5 years before that night. " that sounds pretty unexpected to me.... my point is we have good players, and some very good...but we dont play offensive minded football - for a varierty of reasons beyond the scope of this discussion. but when we have to, we seem to prevail more often than not.... again, it would be nice to have some more "fire power" and our lack of it may costs us against Croatia...but, our players are solid, smart and have skill....but we play a certain way and that style suppresses our offensive potential.

we have good players, and, some very good players. the problem is the greek style, combined with EPO shenanigans and club owners who are $$$$ driven does not really allow for "showcasing" our players........for example: Machlas leaves Greece and LEADS the Dutch league in scoring more than once....Gekas goes to Germany and leads the league in scoring....why? they get fed the ball by tactics that Greece does not embrace....many of our guys play very effectively overseas against the best talent....so this BS about not having good players is just that, BS. how many messi/ronaldo/neymars/maradonas/pele are there? ok, so how many guys can Bend it like Beckham? seriously now. people that know soccer understand the subtleties of the game, especially the decision making that creates opportunities --- a beautiful goal could have been started three passes ago by a decision by a midfielder to reverse the play after spotting a weakness on that side....something like that, a great "soccer IQ" play goes unoticed by most but is very significant in the big picture. would it be nice to have a guy that can breakdown defenders and create their own space ? sure. thats why i said Donis a bigger void to fill than Manolas. but one guy cant dribble the entire opposing team...the perception that we lack individual skill, we make up for in team, soccer IQ skill. just because you can run a bit faster, or have a bit more accurate shot does not make you a good "soccer player"....wayne gretzy was not the fastest, biggest or strongest but is arguably the best player ever.....Franz Beckenbauer was not the fastest, biggest or strongest but is considered one of the great midfielders....there are many example like this... so, we have good players....probelm is the way we play, we must ALWAYS bring our A game to be successful.....so our determination and will to compete is the intangible that you hope is there today......

u cant depend on one player ------ sure u prefer to have manolas, but if he is the difference between going through or not, then we dont deserve to go through....donis, to me, is a much bigger loss and void to fill... we are tough to beat, everyone know its. we MUST walk on the field with confidence and show them right away who is the boss, set the tone and keep them honest with offensive football whenever possible. gotta love game day !!!!!!!!!!!!! im psyched !!!!!!!!!!

i guess my point is ----- dont sit back and defend defend defend ------ u cant absorb attack after attack after attack......the belgium example is a good one ----for one good reason and one bad one....yes we played tight and scored but we also moved forward a good amount of the time.....and, the bad one, once we were up 1 - 0 we backed up, stopped attacking, and played "not to lose" and eventually ate the tying goal.... i strongly believe we cant get a favorable result if we dont keep them honest and attack so they have to fear eating a goal on their home field....we MUST get them to respect our possibility to score so the whole croate team doesnt simply push up to put pressure on us... and yes, creativity has always been our problem, but this team has shown some ability..donis and mantalos out REALLY hurt us in that department......with all due respect, i would not go dull then turn it on...i would come out with pressure and guns blazing to attack attack attack....they wont expect it --- it will rattle them, take the crowd out of the game, slow down their offense and maybe even get us agoal....at least you set the tome early ------- dont **ck with us and send your whole team into our end, because we will not hesitate to attack.... remember defending and falling back into that style comes very naturally for us...attacking doesn't ---we need to set the tone early and keep them honest.....

they will expect us to sit back and defend, thats why we must come out an attack.....early and often....they cant score if the ball is on their side of the field....the element of surprise will disrupt whatever plan they may have and may even get us an early goal.... they have not conceded b/c they are always on attack.....if u go back and look at time of possession in their games, its always higher than the other squads they play.....

i just would love to see offensive pressure right away to disrupt whatever rhythm croatias offense needs to get going....

losing out is never acceptable, but if u miss the tournament playing your best then, and your opponent beats you , so be it....u tip your hat to the opponent, and u move on to the next challenge....even with injuries they are part of the game so your call ups and talent evaluation is also part of being a good team....but at least the result was in your hands...u can live with that. but to have one leg tied behind your back, as an obvious flagrant attempt to tilt the odds, well that is unacceptable on every level.... these games are sssssssssssooooo close, and one mistake can be the difference....thats why this guy, manolas, in this playoff is very important and the decision by FIFA so clearly premeditated for reasons other than fair play, blah blah. blah....this example could have been made a million times prior to this incident....it was NEVER made before...to make it NOW, the way it was takes the game away from the players. i dont like 0-0 tomorrow. I dont like the idea of parking 10 guys back and absorbing pressure for 90 minutes b/c eventually one goes in....i would love to see the team set up an offensive formation and attack immediately. it will be unexpected and will keep their offense in their end of the pitch and prevent them from getting into any offensive rhythm....we need to test their defense early and often.... smurfs like stafylidis and tzavellas are very key in this game - active pests that keep things tight and give no room that can also chase the ball for 90 minutes......also fortounis needs to play his A game.

"don't talk too much, go to the pitch and try to do your best"............well said / no nonsense H MANGES DEN MILAN POLI............ love this guy, Skibbe one word answers -------- not too much blah, blah, blah....

j, i am not a conspiracy theorist or anything remotely related to it - but this timing and the fact that I have NEVER heard of this being enforced this way (other than missing the next game) SCREAMS premeditated attempt to cut one of greece's legs off (pardon the pun). The lack of an appeal gives SO MUCH unfettered, unchecked power in the hands of those able to influence outcomes of games/matches/tournaments. I am LIVID ---- and Im not even the coach/EPO etc. If I was I would eb SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSOoooooooooooooooooooooo fu******* pissed. It's not even like they tried to hide it, you know? Man, I hope we undress Croatia and rub FIFA's face in the s*** they created..... like u say, i hope there is no "trickle down" to the refs.....

exactly RS......he was singled out, targeted and it was orchestrated based on his ability to play , which as u point out, was announced the moment he played for ROMA....SSSSSSSSSSSS oooooooo many others have done this without any additional penalty other than missing the next game....it stinks to high heaven.... isnt there an appeals process whereby Greece can demand a rational explanation for this decision? I cant imagine such an arbitrary decision not being challengable...

the manolas decision is without a shadow of a doubt motivated by every dark, negative, underhanded, corrupt and anti-greece sentiment that exists in this governing body called FIFA. the guy got the yellow AND sat out the next game - like everyone else who does the same thing he did - even it was motivated by the need to kill the clock. E V E R Y B O D Y does it, gets banned one game and thats that.... I cant believe FIFA chose NOW to make this decision, and make an example - especially with the other injuries. They take the game out of the hands of the players, and into the hands of kleptokrtats. Can there be ANY other message than "WE DONT WANY GREECE TO ADVANCE"...... I hope the boys take this as more motivation, and stick theor collective middle fingers at FIFA and everyone else... We play good in tight games, no matter who we play..lets hope they dig down deep and pull this off.