Greece - Italy

[paxiotis7]

Imo Mantzios deserves a start. He has been playing well. As much as I dont rate Patsa, I wouldnt be surprised to see that he would start becaues he had a good game today. Toro, Kats and Kara are automatic starters. The CB's are gonna be tough to call. We have a bunch of good center backs. Imo Dellas is good, but he is slow and is not as good as Papasthaopoulos and Aavram. But I like the idea of 5 in the back, if the wings can get up fast. Id would field somethiung like this

------------------------------Xalkias-----------------------------

---------------Papastha----Dellas----Avraam-----------------

---Patsa--------------------------------------------Torosidis---

------------Tziolis-----------Kats--------Kara------------------

--------------------Matzios------who cares (Lymbe)----------

All our good strikers are hurt, id like to see kousiankoulis get a shot. I konw under otto he wont get a start, and Id like to see him as a sub. But under Otto we wont see that.

I know its a friendly, but Imo were gonna get dusted. 0-3, depending on who Italy fields.

[zenon]

If Otto lets them play positively I see a Greek win.................no talk of defeat please!

[Genome]

The squad has just been announced. Mantzios returns, along with a surprising (in a good way) call up for Koutsianikoulis. Samaras, Seiteridis, Kyrgiakos, and Charisteas are all hurt and not in the squad.

Goalkeepers: Costas Halkias (PAOK Salonika), Alexandros Tzorvas (Panathinaikos)

Defenders: Traianos Dellas (Anorthosis Famagusta), Socratis Papastathopoulos (Genoa), Nikos Spyropoulos, Loukas Vintra (both Panathinaikos), Avraam Papadopoulos, Vassilis Torosidis (both Olympiakos Piraeus)

Midfielders: Costas Katsouranis (Benfica), Giorgos Karagounis, Sotiris Ninis, Alexandros Tziolis (all Panathinaikos), Christos Patsatzoglou (Olympiakos), Angelos Basinas, Vassilis Pliatsikas (AEK Athens)

Strikers: Fanis Gekas (Bayer Leverkusen), Nikos Liberopoulos (Eintracht Frankfurt), Vangelis Mantzios, Dimitris Salpigidis (both Panathinaikos), Vassilis Koutsianikoulis (Ergotelis)

I'm pleasantly surprised with Koutsianikoulis!

The Italy squad:

Lippi Annouces Squad For Greece Friendly

Italian national football team coach Marcello Lippi has announced the squad that will travel to Athens in order to play a friendly against Greece on Wednesday.

Goalkeepers: Curci (Siena), De Sanctis (Galatasaray);

Defenders: Bonera (Milan), F. Cannavaro (Real Madrid), Chiellini (Juventus), Dossena (Liverpool), Gamberini (Fiorentina), Grosso (Lyon), Legrottaglie (Juventus);

Midfielders: Camoranesi (Juventus), D'Agostino (Udinese), De Rossi (Roma), Gattuso (Milan), Maggio (Napoli), Montolivo (Fiorentina), Perrotta (Roma);

Strikers: Gilardino (Fiorentina), Iaquinta (Juventus), Pepe (Udinese), Quagliarella (Udinese), G. Rossi (Villarreal), Toni (Bayern Munich).

The injured Gianluigi Buffon, Andrea Pirlo, Antonio Di Natale and Alberto Aquilani were obviously left out of the squad.

Source + full article.

[Akritis_1944]

Quick point.

Sokratis has to play.

He plays and trains in Italy and he has firsthand knowledge against the makaronades.

[Genome]

And that is only one of the many reasons he should play! :)

[dark_horse]

Has it been raining that hard in Greece?

[dark_horse]

[haydar]

I think Mediterranean people look like eachother very much Except Frenches. When i m abroad people were asking to me if i m Spanish.

[Irlandos]

I'd like to see us experiment with Koutsianikoulis on the left side of the midfield and Karagounis just behind the strikers - a rhombus formation instead of a flat midfield. ;)

Papastathopoulos should start (and finish) the game with Dellas coming on only if there's an injury. :)

Btw, Who called up Avraam on the NT???? :huh:

[DUDE]

I'd like to see a healthy blend of youth and experience. A formation that will give a fair chance to the new boys but will also give the more experienced players a chance to show what they can do when surrounded by younger more energetic players.

In the first half I'd like to see a 3-4-3:

-------------------------------------------Tzorvas--------------------------------------------

----------------Papastathopoulos--------Dellas--------Avraam----------------------------

Torosidis----------------Kastouranis----------------Pliatsikas---------------Spyropoulos

----------------Karagounis--------------Mantzios----------------Koutsianikoulis----------

And in the 2nd half I'd like to see us try a 4-4-2 (let's see if Koutsianikoulis can play on the left):

-------------------------------------------Tzorvas--------------------------------------------

Torosidis---------Papastathopoulos----------------Avraam-----------------Spyropoulos

Ninis--------------Kastouranis----------------------Tziolis-----------------Koutsianikoulis

--------------------Mantzios--------------------------Gekas---------------------------------

What I don't want to see is a substitution every 5 mins. Let's give the new boys a chance to prove how they can flow. But we've all seen Otto call up players and not play them in the past so don't expect anything different here. I see Tziolis and Mantzios making an appearance but I'd be willing to bet that Koutsianikoulis, Tzorvas, Ninis & Pliatsikas don't see any action <_<

[drakos13]

koutsianikoulis !?? wow.....

i dont think he will play, i think hes around more to be seen in training with the other team. That would make a bit of sense, but still big occasion for the guy.

Manztios has got to play IMO. hes been a new player with PAO, and if he carries the form for PAO and into the NT, its a great releif for our striking options, the guy really is a better verison of Xaristeas...

[DUDE]

koutsianikoulis !?? wow.....

i dont think he will play, i think hes around more to be seen in training with the other team. That would make a bit of sense, but still big occasion for the guy.

The fact is Greece is in desperate need of a left sided midfielder. From no where we've been presented with one that appears to have alot of talent. Whether he's ready for the NT or not is debatable, but there's only one way we'll find out. He's been called up so it's logical that he plays. After all, friendlies are beneficial because they allow managers to experiment in order to find solutions to current problems, hopefully Koutsianikoulis is the solution we've been desperate for.

Manztios has got to play IMO. hes been a new player with PAO, and if he carries the form for PAO and into the NT, its a great releif for our striking options, the guy really is a better verison of Xaristeas...

I agree that he should play but he's nothing like Haristeas, they are totally different players. They are both targetmen, but Mantzios is lethargic & lazy yet skilled and talented, while Haristeas is relatively unskilled, strong and a real work-horse.

[Genome]

koutsianikoulis !?? wow.....

i dont think he will play, i think hes around more to be seen in training with the other team. That would make a bit of sense, but still big occasion for the guy.

The fact is Greece is in desperate need of a left sided midfielder. From no where we've been presented with one that appears to have alot of talent. Whether he's ready for the NT or not is debatable, but there's only one way we'll find out. He's been called up so it's logical that he plays. After all, friendlies are beneficial because they allow managers to experiment in order to find solutions to current problems, hopefully Koutsianikoulis is the solution we've been desperate for.

I agree that he should play but he's nothing like Haristeas, they are totally different players. They are both targetmen, but Mantzios is lethargic & lazy yet skilled and talented, while Haristeas is relatively unskilled, strong and a real work-horse.

I hope Koutsianikoulis gets more of a chance than Pliatsikas for example.

Get these people in to actually do something with them, definitely during friendlies!

[Clover22]

Some good line up ideas but some of them too defensive; you can't have all these defensive mids behind 2 strikers. Nothing will be created. We must start Ninis since he's really our most creative mid. Him and Kara behind Mantzios and Salp makes sense since they play together all season! So its like the preparation is already done for you. Koutsianikoulis should come in later in the second half. And I agree we need a left sided attacking mid. Stelios is finished. I wonder who could play that position. Papas is really good and needs to be looked at but he goes up the right. Also I think we should stick with a 4-4-2.

[evalagoal]

There are 2 things that I want to see from this game:

1) I want us to play an exciting game no matter what the end scoreline ends up to be.

2) I want to see our younger players play (not 5-10min) against this Italina team.

I just hope that fans understand that the this is friendly and NOTHING MORE

[loup]

KOUTSIANKOULAS?

???

NINIS?

[thrylos]

A game vs Italy is not a place to test all the youngsters. 45 minutes for one youngster and 45 minutes for the other would be good in the same position.

[jcoutavas]

Hehe true, Kefalonia's dialect has enough words that come from Italian.

Genome, do you have ties to Kefalonia? My yia-yia was born in Keramies and my pappou was born in Lixouri.

[Genome]

Hi jcoutavas!

Yes my dad's from Neochori (in Pilarou) ...

so Keramies huh? :tup: That's not too far from Agios Gerassimos right?

[Genome]

[Genome]

Fyssas just got an award for his work during 2004, and apparently two others were expected (Tsiartas and Nikolaidis).

[Genome]

We're off!

(We're playing in white of course).

[Genome]

Only 9000 fans present ... that's kind of sad.

It's a friendly yes but we're playing the World Cup Champions ... :unsure:

[Genome]

Tzorvas with a save.

Corner for Italy again ...

Tzorvas with another great save ! ! ! :o :o :tup:

[Genome]

Mantzios with a shot, wide!