EURO 2008: Malta - Greece

[AEK-MTL]

I think we could come away from this with a 1-0. Obviously, players must be phased out and maybe now's the time to try out some youth (playing away from home against a "relatively" weaker side). But we know that won't happen and I wouldn't be surprised to see the same starting 11 against Malta.

[loup]

Boys I have the answer at LB - my son is 15 months old and it looks like he wil be a lefty - by the time he is ready to play Fyssas will only be 50 so I think we are OK

now go out and procreate we need a replacement at GK and eventually a midfielder or two

Really though - what is Venetidis doing now in Larisa? It would be classic Otto to see him called up for the next round of matches

[loup]

I am a big chemistry guy - players have to play well together

Look at EURO

i am sure that if Dabizas had not gotten hurt in that drunken car accident we would not have won

Kapsis and Dellas were the perfect CB pair

Vryzas worked well with Charisteas and Otto had the magic touch mixing and matching the mids

Otto knew this was important - he essentially benched our 2 most famous/talented players Demis and Tsartas and used them perfectly off the bench

He should realize that Kyrgiakos and Dellas do not cover eachother weakness - they have the smae weaknesses - and since Kyrgiakos is much better form he should start

Anatolakis is a bit of a brute - but he played very well with Kyrgiakos in the othe qualifiers

The midfield since the glue of Zagorakis left is 4 seperate entities - the value of the whole is much less than the value of its parts

Please bench Kara - and let him shine off the bench

Ella re Otto do something good here

[OFI-mtl]

Boys I have the answer at LB - my son is 15 months old and it looks like he wil be a lefty - by the time he is ready to play Fyssas will only be 50 so I think we are OK

now go out and procreate we need a replacement at GK and eventually a midfielder or two

Really though - what is Venetidis doing now in Larisa? It would be classic Otto to see him called up for the next round of matches

Sorry loup your boy will have to wait,my boy is 7 and is a pure leftfooter, fyssas is good for 10 more years!

[Deuce]

Gentlemen, I'll go back to what I posted yesterday -- it's all about technique and philosophy. You can talk all you want about the composition of the team -- this guy should be in, this guy should be out -- and I agree with most of the changes recommended in previous posts -- but the switch is in the wrong position at the time, and that's the coaches fault. If you saw the match yesterday, you would have noticed that, after they scored the first goal, they went into "bunker-mentality" mode, sacrificing possession, spreading the ball and attacking, for playing not to lose. At that level of play -- against ANY team, no less the Turks -- the name of the game is SUSTAINED, determined attack-oriented ball.... They looked absolutely clueless when they crossed midfield with possession -- almost as if they were surprised to get through! It's "no-man's-land" football that leaves the team -- especially the midfielders -- in a position where they MUST rely on the long-ball to get anything going. And as I said earlier, long-ball works in that wanna-be, all glitz, Premier League, where defense is an after-thought -- not in a European tournament, where the name of the game is zone domination....

[loup]

Boys I have the answer at LB - my son is 15 months old and it looks like he wil be a lefty - by the time he is ready to play Fyssas will only be 50 so I think we are OK

now go out and procreate we need a replacement at GK and eventually a midfielder or two

Really though - what is Venetidis doing now in Larisa?  It would be classic Otto to see him called up for the next round of matches

Sorry loup your boy will have to wait,my boy is 7 and is a pure leftfooter, fyssas is good for 10 more years!

ok - I'll move my guy up front

[turkcell]

common guys beat Malta and we will eliminate Norway ....

TURKEY AND GREECE will go to Euro2008 ( but we see us in the final game again!)

[Genome]

Completely agree with Deuce ... I was ecstatic to see Greece score in the first five minutes (the best five minutes of the entire match for that matter, at least we saw some no-fear offense), but right after that I realised that things would get very tough from there on. I mean you just know that they're gonna get nervous, that they're gonna start the "bunker-mode" as Deuce said, and instead of looking for a second goal that could've decided the match or at least simplified it for the Greek side what did they do? Retreat, go into defensive mode, "wait and see", lose practically every ball or just pass them to the opposition. And as if that wasn't enough yet, Nikopolidis ... well ... maybe it's best I don't even start about him. But I will. At one time even by just throwing out he almost gave away a fifth goal... fisting the ball away instead of just catching it way too many times. Letting passed balls that were way too easy...

To me he was the worst man of the match. Shame, 'cause he has qualities, but yes, he's getting older.

But I would like to say (or do) :tup: to Samaras (among others, but especially him) who didn't stop fighting until the whistle was blown. I hope we will do better against Malta. I hope the Greek team will play with confidence, something they lack. They lack it when they get up front too early in the game, the lack it when they get behind anytime during a game. They need confidence, they need to fight and keep fighting, and they need to work on their technique and bring in younger players, not all at a time, but slowly integrate them!

[PAO_OR_DEATH]

re manges we'll win this one and get the 3 needed points, I will say we win 2-0

[DUDE]

I really want to see a front 3 of Salpi, Samaras, and Gekas for this game.

-----------------------------------------Halkias----------------------------------------------

Seitaridis------------------Goumas----------------------Kyriakos------------------Fyssas

-----------------------Torosidis---------Katsouranis--------Stelios------------------------

Salpingidis-------------------------------Samaras-----------------------------------Gekas

No need to explain the back 4, Fyssas needs to rebuild his confidence a.s.a.p. and should be given a chance now. The midfield is very attacking for a 3, but Torosidis can defend as can Katsouranis so hopefully Stelio can join the attack and cause problems. Katsouranis will have to be completely defensive throughout so we don't hit on the counter but the 3 could work. We know Salpi will harry and cause problems on the right and Gekas deserves a start. Samaras has earned his place with his performance against the Turks. If we see that we are getting exposed on the counter I'd bring on Basinas for Fyssas or Torosidis with Basinas going in to midfield.

[Genome]

Looks okay :) but isn't Seitaridis out for wednesday's game?

[Athens4]

-----------------------------------------Halkias----------------------------------------------

TAVLRIDIS (But he hasnt called him)------------------Goumas----------------------Kyriakos------------------Fyssas

-----------------------Torosidis---------Katsouranis--------Karagounis------------------------

Salpingidis-------------------------------Samaras-----------------------------------Gekas

[george21]

xalkias

seitaridis - dellas - kyrgiakos - fyssas

karagounis - katsouranis - stelios

lybe - gekas - samaras

just to tell you paok4 you are 1 man short in your line up

[DUDE]

Looks okay :) but isn't Seitaridis out for wednesday's game?

Yes its official, he's now out! As is Amanatidis :( Not a good sign. Will Giourka ever play for Greece again?

[Olympiakara10]

What I want to see:

Halkias/Eleftheropoulos,

Tavlaridis, Kyriakos, Seirtaridis, Torosidis

Karagounis, Katsouranis, Salpigidis, Ninis,

Gekas, Samaras, Lyberopoulos/Papadopoulos

What will happen(again):

Nikopolidis,

Dellas, Fyssas, Seirtaridis, Kyrgiakos, Vyntra

Basinas, Giannakopoulos, Karagounis,

Charisteas, Amanatidis, Lyberopoulos

[GS1905]

Yes its official, he's now out! As is Amanatidis :( Not a good sign. Will Giourka ever play for Greece again?

On EPO website, it says he has a pulled hamstring. Why did you ask such a question? Are you smelling some conspiracy?

[Genome]

Why wouldn't he play again? Please explain...

[Ziaka]

Seitaridis and Amanatidis did not travel to Malta.

I like DUDE's lineup, but we all know that otto will not field such a team. For starters I don't see him playing Chalkias.

Beating Malta should not be that hard. Let's face it they are one of the weakest NT's in Europe. Only win is expected in this game. I forecast a 2-0 win for our boys.

[Irlandos]

Malta have not lost in their last two competitive games. The game needs attention.

Nikopolidis should never be trusted with the gloves again. I'd like to see a change in GK once and for all. Chalkias is old enough and ugly enough to have made his mark but he hasn't. Put Sifakis in there.

As for the rest of the team, we need cohesion, team work and good psychology. Zagorakis provided much of that in the past, he's now gone. I'd like to see a 4th midfielder because going with three forwards may mean we are playing three men short, when nobody can get the ball to them.

[Genome]

[js1000]

dude nice to see you drop basinas from your line up but like my self you attended the korea match, you can't seriously consider halkias for this game you saw his second half performance v korea he's the only keeper i can think of worse than nikopolidi and you remember him at portsmouth he did not have 1 good game for them and had his contract terminated by "mutual consent". shame about seitarides the only decent player we have, its an ideal opportunity to call up tavlarides although i doubt otto will bother. if we scrape a win by an odd goal i'd be delighted

[AEKPROTATHLIMA]

You know what it sounds good all those line ups that we give before each game so maybe Otto should read this forum and get some advice!! :tup: Now back to the game i am going to say that we will hvae the same line up except Seitaridis because he is injured. I don't care who plays but they need to play with heart and win this game!!!!!!!!!!! :gr: :gr:

[loup]

aek 66 - what you say about the cental mid being offensive is key and what is lacking from this team in a 4-3-3

we have 5 mids only

1. Tsiolis - unproven and more of a holding mid

2. Basinas - very off form and likely injured - but he is better as a defensive mid

3. Katsouranis - not really a playmaker - but has improved offensively - tends to drift back to help the defence - not a bad option here

4. Stelios -our best wing mid - needs to roam and needs space - not a cental guy

5. Kara - should be coming off the bench - not a creator at all

6. Torosidis - although some consider him a fullback - more of wing player from what I know of him

Is there not a creator in all of Greek soccer that can play this position?

Seriously does anyone know of anyone who has not yet been called up? And can help with this problem

[js1000]

You know what it sounds good all those line ups that we give before each game so maybe Otto should read this forum and get some advice!! :tup: Now back to the game i am going to say that we will hvae the same line up except Seitaridis because he is injured. I don't care who plays but they need to play with heart and win this game!!!!!!!!!!! :gr: :gr:

you can play with heart but if you pick players with no ability or players carrying injuries(haristeas)you'll get nowhere at this level

[DUDE]

File I agree that Halkias is abysmal! Nikopolidi is no doubt better than him, but following his clangers (vs AEK, Kalamaria and now Turkey) it is plainly obvious that he is not on form and Halkias is the only other option for this match (because we didnt call up a 3rd keeper). As for Basinas, I'm a huge fan, I think he's immensely talented, but like you say, we saw how bad he was at Korea and against Turkey he was even worse (easily the worst performance I've seen from him in an ethniki shirt) so I'd drop him.

@ Aek66, now that I know Seitaridi is out I'd go with Torosidis right-back, and a midfield of Stelio, Karagouni and Katsourani.

@ GS1905, def a conspiracy and I won't be surprised if Seitaridis never plays for Greece again. Not from Otto or Epo's side (because as Aek66 says, he'd walk into our team) but he seemed very pissed with the fans and he might refuse to play again.

@ Olympiakara2005, file alot of the players who you mention cannot be picked for the Malta game. A squad for the games was registered and players like Tavlaridis and Ninis were not in it so they aren't eligible.

At everyone: I'm in 2 minds about what Otto should do about the players who were poor against Turkey but are good enough to play. For example, if Fyssas and Basinas are dropped they may never recover from the confidence blow. It's an unenviable position that Otto is in, I just hope he has the balls and the wisdom to make the right decisions.