EURO 2008: Greece - Malta

[plato-ny]

I think Antzas also wont play due to injury.

[as5664]

Both Charisteas and Antzas are out, but Mantzios has been called up.

I have a feeling we will play a 5-3-2 against Malta, and it will look like this:

--------------------------------Nikopolidis------------------------------

Seitaridis---------Dellas------Kapsis-----Kyrgiakos--------Torosidis

----------------Katsouranis-----Basinas----Karagounis------------

-----------------------Amanatidis----Samaras----------------------

[plato-ny]

Mantzios is taking the place of the injured Charisteas.

[dark_horse]

In-form Mantzios recalled by Greece

Greece coach Otto Rehhagel has added Panathinaikos FC striker Evangelos Mantzios to his squad for his side's remaining UEFA EURO 2008 qualifiers against Malta and Hungary next week after watching him impress during the Super League leader's 2-1 victory at home to rivals AEK Athens FC on Sunday.

Recalled

The 24-year-old had initially been left out of the 21-man selection, but Rehhagel was persuaded to recall Mantzios after seeing him score in the Athens derby. Mantzios has been capped six times by Greece, but not since the 1-0 defeat by Korea Republic in London in February.

Qualified

Rehhagel is without Olympiakos CFP defender Paraskevas Antzas and 1. FC Nürnberg striker Angelos Charisteas. Antzas is still recovering from a thigh injury, while Charisteas has an ankle problem. The reigning champions have already booked their place in the finals regardless of the results of the remaining Group C games at home to Malta on 17 November and in Hungary four days later.

Greece squad

Goalkeepers: Antonios Nikopolidis (Olympiakos CFP), Konstantinos Chalkias (Aris Thessaloniki FC).

Defenders: Giourkas Seitaridis (Club Atletico de Madrid), Sotirios Kyrgiakos (Eintracht Frankfurt), Traianos Dellas (AEK Athens FC), Nikos Spiropoulos (Panionios GSS), Loukas Vintra (Panathinaikos FC), Ioannis Goumas (Panathinaikos FC), Vassilis Torosidis (Olympiakos CFP), Christos Patsatzoglou (Olympiakos CFP), Michalis Kapsis (APOEL FC)

Midfielders: Angelos Basinas (RCD Mallorca), Georgios Karagounis (Panathinaikos FC), Stelios Giannakopoulos (Bolton Wanderers FC), Alexandros Tziolis (Panathinaikos FC), Konstantinos Katsouranis (SL Benfica).

Forwards: Dimitrios Salpingidis (Panathinaikos FC), Nikolaos Liberopoulos (AEK Athens FC), Theofanis Gekas (Bayer 04 Leverkusen), Evangelos Mantzios (Panathinaikos FC), Georgios Samaras (Manchester City FC), Ioannis Amanatidis (Eintracht Frankfurt).

[loup]

Mantzios is taking the place of the injured Charisteas.

if he stars then i think he has a chance of taking the 23rd spot in EURO from Salpigidis

[Olympiakosthyra7]

hopefully we can get a good result against malta i think a win against malta and Mitroglu will start lol!!!!!1

[as5664]

Mantzios is taking the place of the injured Charisteas.

He has been called up, but I doubt he is taking anyone's place yet...we'll see though, you may be right

[DUDE]

How on earth can Otto call up Mantzios ahead of Papadopoulos???

The PAO-AEK game was obviously the first PAO game he's seen this year. m#$%!s.

[Guest geok]

File Irlande, exeis dikio, den to e8esa swsta. An h Agglia den parei ba8mous (kertisei h Croatia) alla h Croatia hasei apo ta skopia exoume kai mia elpida na paroume thn enath 8esh. To 8ema einai mia apo tis dyo omades na mhn parei ba8mous sto meta3y tous paixnidi (dhladh na mhn er8ei x). An omws kerdisei h Croatia ta skopia ektos, emeis meta 8eloume nikh ths Croatias ektos me thn Agglia gia na mhn parei ba8mous h Agglia. Opws kai na exoun ta pragmata emeis san e8nikh prepei na kerdisoume tous 2 epomenous agwnes oti kai na ginei, kai meta blepoume.

To eipan kai oi die8neis shmera (antigrafo apo to sportfm):

[Guest geok]

I saw what papadopoulos missed against AEK...

Unfortunately I must say that Pap goes from bad to worse and he seems another person in comparison with pap of 3 years ago when he was the first scorer. I saw Mantzios and he has class; he deserves a place in the squad (not necessarily in the starting 11 though).

I hear that amanatidis and seitaridis have some injuries, so I expect Otto to leave them at the bench, to heal in front of the game against Hungary.

If that actually happens, I think our best attacking triplet could be:

Salpi (he did very well against Malta in the first game), gekas and either Samaras or Mantzios (playing the role of Charisteas, who is currently injured).

I don't expect anything different in the middlefield as we don't have enough players there to choose from anyway...(I think Otto should correct this in the near future) so I would predict:

Katsouranis, Karagounis, Mpasinas

The defense can be more tricky. I think we may even see...kapsis there (as a substitute)! I think we will definitely see Kyriakos, I am pretty sure about that. Most likely to see Torosidis too. For some strange reason, after what happened a few days ago, I think we will see Dellas there. One position on the defense is therefore open.

The goalie for this game will be Nikopolidis (Chalkias will play in the next game).

If we win comfortably, in the second half we may see some new faces for a test (like Spyropoulos, Tziolis, Mantzios). It would be nice if Otto shows that he actually considers these players too.

going for 6 points in the next 2 matches!!! :gr: :gr: :gr:

[Crazy]

Seitaridis will not be playing in the 2 games against Malta and Hungary since he is still suffering from tendonitis and for that reason he will go back to Spain for therapy.On the other hand Salpigidis was able to train with the rest of the squad today and looks like his mini injury after the derby with AEK has gone away.

SOURCE

[Guest geok]

I would also love to see that defense in EURO2008. But I think as long as Dellas is alive he will get a place in the squad.

In the game against Malta we should just attack like crazy. I would like to see a 4-3-3 with Torosidis and Spyropoulos attacking.

I think when Spyropoulos establishes himself in the starting 11, we can also send Vyntra home. I think this National Team is just too good for players like Vyntra (I can explain more in forthcoming posts if anyone wishes to hear my opinion on Vyntra). But I think Otto will retain him because he follows orders.

I hope for a lot of goals against Malta.

:gr: :gr: :gr:

[Genome]

Basinas avoids EURO comparisons

Midfielder Angelos Basinas says it is impossible to compare this Greece side with the vintage that stunned Europe by winning UEFA EURO 2004™ – at least not until the conclusion of the tournament in Austria and Switzerland.

Source + full article here.

[loup]

Seitaridis will not be playing in the 2 games against Malta and Hungary since he is still suffering from tendonitis and for that reason he will go back to Spain for therapy.On the other hand Salpigidis was able to train with the rest of the squad today and looks like his mini injury after the derby with AEK has gone away.

SOURCE

i wouldn't consider this being a moupmoupa, but if patsa plays in seitaridis' place..then otto is stuck in quicksand.

now is the opportunity to play the best current option at fullback positions - torosidis right and spyropoulos left.

patsa has played well in the previous matches (both against bosnia) where seitaridi went off with an injury or was suspended.

i think with torosidi playing on his true side and with a true left-footed spyropoulo on the left, greece has a good offensive dynamic from the fullback position.

i'm hoping that by next summer, those 2 will be our fullbacks with seitaridi moved to centerback. seitaridi just hasn't produced offensively at right fullback and i think seitaridi won't lose anything moving to centerback. a very versatile defender.

a greek flat back four of: torosidis - seitaridis kyrgiakos- spyropoulos, looks very appealing to me.

that would be a wicked 4

tough yet fast

that said Spyropoulos would have to prove himself

there are some talented wingers/outside half in the youth rank - so if toro could stay at the back line we could be awesome come South Africa

[loup]

are we really already qualified - with 1 loss and 1 draw (with a stravomara ref) - we're awesome :gr: :gr: :gr: :gr: :gr: :gr: :gr: :gr: :gr: :gr: :gr: :gr: :gr: :gr: :gr: :gr:

[plato-ny]

Seitaridis will be out for a couple of months.

[Guest geok]

File Aek66, I wanted to say that Vyntra is a player that follows orders (those of Otto) quite well, this is the reason that I think Vyntra is in the team.

Vyntra is not a bad player. But I think he is just not good enough for a National Team of this calibre. at this point in time He is prone to mistakes (ask Pao fans about it!!!) and is easily influenced from the crowd. That is not a professional behaviour for the level that the National Team has achieved. He most likely won't be able to deliver when we reach a quarter final or a final stage in a major competition. Of course I could be wrong (and I hope Vyntra proves me wrong) but most of the goals Pao systematically concedes seem to be his mistakes (or at least he deserves a proportion of the blaim for them). Just see his marking when Lymbe headed it in a few days ago. He was marking him with his eyes! To sum it up, Vyntra does not seem bright enough footballer for me (bright meaning clever) for a football team with the players that Greece has right now; he does a lot of stupid things, systematically and consistently.

He can sit on the bench and maybe he becomes cleverer, but with a healthy spyropoulos or Seitaridis, I don't think we need them. In fact, I would notice a shortage of players in the middlefield for our team, so if we could dispense of a player that we don't need (and that would include Kapsis who just today announced retirement-but after Euro 2008), we could add a couple of players in the middlefield. Which players I don't know, but there are plenty of clever phantis members who can make suggestions. With a better balance in the team we can really expect great things from this National Team, now and in the future, because there is plenty of talent and ability there, as these boys have proved.

:gr: :gr: :gr:

[cyberfish]

Seitaridis will not be playing in the 2 games against Malta and Hungary since he is still suffering from tendonitis and for that reason he will go back to Spain for therapy.On the other hand Salpigidis was able to train with the rest of the squad today and looks like his mini injury after the derby with AEK has gone away.

SOURCE

i wouldn't consider this being a moupmoupa, but if patsa plays in seitaridis' place..then otto is stuck in quicksand.

now is the opportunity to play the best current option at fullback positions - torosidis right and spyropoulos left.

patsa has played well in the previous matches (both against bosnia) where seitaridi went off with an injury or was suspended.

i think with torosidi playing on his true side and with a true left-footed spyropoulo on the left, greece has a good offensive dynamic from the fullback position.

i'm hoping that by next summer, those 2 will be our fullbacks with seitaridi moved to centerback. seitaridi just hasn't produced offensively at right fullback and i think seitaridi won't lose anything moving to centerback. a very versatile defender.

a greek flat back four of: torosidis - seitaridis kyrgiakos- spyropoulos, looks very appealing to me.

I have to admit this is a very interesting suggestion. I've never thought of Seitaridis as a CB, and I don't think he has ever played the position, but it would be an interesting experiment. From what I know though, Seitaridis is not all that good with headers, so we might suffer in the hands of teams that play with lots of crosses.

[aekrossoponti]

Of course I could be wrong (and I hope Vyntra proves me wrong) but most of the goals Pao systematically concedes seem to be his mistakes (or at least he deserves a proportion of the blaim for them). Just see his marking when Lymbe headed it in a few days ago. He was marking him with his eyes! To sum it up, Vyntra does not seem bright enough footballer for me (bright meaning clever) for a football team with the players that Greece has right now; he does a lot of stupid things, systematically and consistently.

lets be fair to vyntra as he wasnt used in the derby.

the players who were to blame for lympe scoring are mantzios and tziolis. although matzios really got the most blame. tziolis with short hair does resemble vyntra somewhat though

[plato-ny]

The 34-year old Kapsis will retire after Euro

[aekrossoponti]

let me ask you a question, if you managed a side with all average defenders along with seitaridis and torosidis. what would you do? torosidis can impose himself on a match offensively, from the right defender position. it's a dynamic that many good sides don't even have. i think the answer would have to be: torosidis at right defender and seitaridis as a centerback.

a very interesting line up i have to say. the only problem could be seen in toros defensive ability or lack thereoff.

having said that i am with you 100% that toro needs to be moved from the left side as we are waisting a great player there. i woud propose a more conservative approach a la have gioukras play right back and torosidis play right midfielder in front of him. that way i think we would ahve the best of both worlds plus a really strong right side. a left side duo of spyropoulos and amanatidis or a healthy lagos also sounds promising.

i just fear that giourkas injury will have otto play patsa on the right and toro on the left and still give us no chance to see spyropoulos on saturday.

the mantzios callup is somewhat puzzling. mantzios is aplayer i do rate but he had a mere good 45 min vs aek whereas pap plays a good season and is much more versatile. i believe otto values size and papa and salpi do lack somewhat in that department which may give mantzios the nod over pap and perhaps also ultimately salpi.

plus please correct me if i am wrong but mantzios seems to have a left foot our team lacks.

[as5664]

I think we are finally going to see Torosidis as right back aek66. And that will open a spot for Spiropoulos as well. Goal.com says it's likely that Otto will use Vyntra as right back. If this is the case, and Torosidis is back on the left, then this, I agree, would be crazy. Torosidis does have that offensive ability, and I agree we should exploit it (on the right side) when necessary.

One think, however. With our mainstay 4-3-3, are the right backs intended to run all the way up field, or just up to the midfield?? I think that is why Seitaridis hasn't had such an offensive role, our tactics don't always allow for it. The few times we have used 5-3-2, it has been VERY defensive.

Personally, I would likeTorosidis on the right in the midfield using a 4-2-3-1, kind of like this:

Seitaridis-------Dellas-----------Kyrgiakos------Spiropoulos

-------------------Basinas------Karagounis------------------

Torosidis--------------Katsouranis------------------Samaras

---------------------------Gekas--------------------------------

I think this formation would not only keep our game nice and tight, but would be quite vicious on the counter attack. Nevertheless, I like 4-3-3 against more offensive opponents because it forces them to play more defensively, to our advantage.

[aekrossoponti]

concerning mantzios marking lympe: good question.

i believe it was tziolis marking lympe. mantzios just failed to clear ribos cross and thus allowed lympe to actually have a chance. another explanaition could be the height mantzios brings to the table and thus an aerial supoeriority over most attackers in the superleague.

[loup]

i think mantzios was in front of him - but not marking anyone just standing there

[as5664]

i hope you're correct...it's malta, but regardless - i'd like to see torosidi as right fullback and spyropoulo as left fullback.

No, I meant in general, not the Malta match specifically. Seitaridis is injured anyway, so I think we should see Torosidis as right fullback. I don't know where the hell Goal.com got Vyntra from.

Even though it's Malta, we have to be careful they don't get us on the counter. I think Otto will play a solid 5-3-2, hence the Kapsis call up.

Torosidis-------Dellas------Kapsis------Kygriakos------Spiropoulos

-----------------Katsouranis--Basinas---Karagounis------------------

---------------------Amanatidis---Samaras/Gekas---------------------

This would serve well, I think :)