Greece-Latvia

[Genome]

Torosidis with another great through ball, Mitroglou can't get to it.

[Genome]

Oooooooooh another chance for the 2-0 ... Ninis with a pass to Mitroglou and very unluckily the ball goes just out.

[Genome]

Mitroglou out, Salpingidis in.

[Genome]

Ninis out, Fetfatzidis in.

Very friendly against eachother, nice to see knowing from which two teams they are :tup:

[Genome]

Tbh hadn't seen much of Fetfatzidis yet but in the first few minutes I can see why the crowd was chanting for him to come on.

[Genome]

Karagounis out, Kafes in.

[Genome]

End of the game,

Greece 1 - 0 Latvia.

[Genome]

Bravo to the team, good game, hope to see the same vs. Israel.

Here's our goal:

[george21]

I think we should have scored at least another goal, however we kept possession really well. Fetfatzidis looked really good when he came on and the future looks bright for him, I also like his style of play and he takes on defenders really well.

[Euro2004]

Hi everyone. Good to get the 3 points but we were not very convincing at all. Today Greece displayed the exact same weaknesses that PAO displayed against Copenhagen, the difference is the quality of the opposition. I hadn't really thought of this until i saw a comment by a poster on the greek sports sites complaining about the fact that the crosses were diagonal rather than the wide players beating the opposing full backs to cross the ball. That's what i was criticising PAO about recently too and with Karagounis, Katsouranis and Ninis in the midfield it's not hard to see why the same problematic patterns exist. Those diagonal crosses (from approx 10-20 yards further than the edge of the box) are easy to deal with. The goal we scored had to be superb and a little different because our predictable crossing was generally dealt with easily.

As for the players individually:

Sifakis - 6 - I can't give the guy a rating because he didn't have anything to do, so since 6 is usually considered the average i'll go with that :P

Torosidis - 8 - I remember at the beginning of last season he looked great. He ran the show for Oly against AZ in the CL, he scored that amazing goal against AEK and big things semmed to be coming. But then he got a series of injuries and in with the exception of the game against Nigeria at the World Cup, he hadn't had a good game since! Tonight he looked like his old self though. Great energy, was positive, and scored a wonderful goal.

Tzavellas - 6.5 - Had a good first half but didn't really offer much going forward. His delivery wasn't that good either, which was surprising by his usual high standards. He was pretty solid though and bailed us out with a superb last ditch challenge after Avraam made a mistake.

Avraam - 5 - This guy does my head in! He had one thing to do tonight, just one, and he almost cost us a goal! He's good on the ball, he can dribble and can cross. He has good technique for a defender too, BUT HE CAN'T DEFEND! Either try and convert him to a holding midfielder or drop him! He can't track a through-ball, he simply tries to cut it out, misjudges it and causes us problems time and again!

Papastathopoulos - 6 - He was pretty comfortable. He wasn't troubled at all but didn't show any true leadership skills either. It was just a basic performance.

Tziolis - 5 - He's simply not good enough! He is slow on the ball, a slow runner and slow in thought. He just doesn't play with enough passion and too low a tempo, so he has a negative impact on our expansive game. He also made a big mistake by breaking forward and losing the ball only to lazily jog backwards while they broke on us 3 on 3.

Katsouranis - 6 - Another that was too slow and relaxed and his tempo was unacceptable at times. He did get an assist but he really needs to sort his attitude out.

Karagounis - 6 - His tempo was too low too and he played too deep to be effective on his 100th cap. Average game

Samaras - 6 - According to Sportdog, he was the man of the match. I was clearly watching a different game! He had a very quiet game and overall we offered very little from his side

Ninis - 6.5 - Won possession on numerous occasions which suggests he read the game well but he was shooting a little too often. His final ball lacked quality too and overall struggled to make a real imprint on the game. As time goes by the more I realise how overrated this kid is.

Mitroglou - 7 - Missed opportunities but the service wasn't exactly great and he was at least lively. He was very good aerially and showed good feet at times. If he carries on like this the goals will certainly come, he just needs to be more clinical

Salpingidis - 6.5 - Had little time to influence the game but he looked as lively as ever. He was always in the mix of things. He HAS to start for us

Fetfatsidis - 6.5 - he didn't hae time to do much, but he shows glimpses of brilliance. This kid could be a real weapon for us!

Kafes - N/A - didn't had time to impact the game

Santos - 5.5 - Again I was unconvinced. Not because we didn't play particularly well but because he didn't shout at the players to get them moving when our tempo was so low. It was as if he considered that low tempo to be acceptable and that worries because we would not have beaten better opposition today

[Omonoia9]

Did exactly what we needed to do. Get the 3 points at home. Took care of business. Hopefully we still have the Jews number.

[Genome]

Hi everyone. Good to get the 3 points but we were not very convincing at all. Today Greece displayed the exact same weaknesses that PAO displayed against Copenhagen, the difference is the quality of the opposition. I hadn't really thought of this until i saw a comment by a poster on the greek sports sites complaining about the fact that the crosses were diagonal rather than the wide players beating the opposing full backs to cross the ball. That's what i was criticising PAO about recently too and with Karagounis, Katsouranis and Ninis in the midfield it's not hard to see why the same problematic patterns exist. Those diagonal crosses (from approx 10-20 yards further than the edge of the box) are easy to deal with. The goal we scored had to be superb and a little different because our predictable crossing was generally dealt with easily.

As for the players individually:

Sifakis - 6 - I can't give the guy a rating because he didn't have anything to do, so since 6 is usually considered the average i'll go with that :P

Torosidis - 8 - I remember at the beginning of last season he looked great. He ran the show for Oly against AZ in the CL, he scored that amazing goal against AEK and big things semmed to be coming. But then he got a series of injuries and in with the exception of the game against Nigeria at the World Cup, he hadn't had a good game since! Tonight he looked like his old self though. Great energy, was positive, and scored a wonderful goal.

Tzavellas - 6.5 - Had a good first half but didn't really offer much going forward. His delivery wasn't that good either, which was surprising by his usual high standards. He was pretty solid though and bailed us out with a superb last ditch challenge after Avraam made a mistake.

Avraam - 5 - This guy does my head in! He had one thing to do tonight, just one, and he almost cost us a goal! He's good on the ball, he can dribble and can cross. He has good technique for a defender too, BUT HE CAN'T DEFEND! Either try and convert him to a holding midfielder or drop him! He can't track a through-ball, he simply tries to cut it out, misjudges it and causes us problems time and again!

Papastathopoulos - 6 - He was pretty comfortable. He wasn't troubled at all but didn't show any true leadership skills either. It was just a basic performance.

Tziolis - 5 - He's simply not good enough! He is slow on the ball, a slow runner and slow in thought. He just doesn't play with enough passion and too low a tempo, so he has a negative impact on our expansive game. He also made a big mistake by breaking forward and losing the ball only to lazily jog backwards while they broke on us 3 on 3.

Katsouranis - 6 - Another that was too slow and relaxed and his tempo was unacceptable at times. He did get an assist but he really needs to sort his attitude out.

Karagounis - 6 - His tempo was too low too and he played too deep to be effective on his 100th cap. Average game

Samaras - 6 - According to Sportdog, he was the man of the match. I was clearly watching a different game! He had a very quiet game and overall we offered very little from his side

Ninis - 6.5 - Won possession on numerous occasions which suggests he read the game well but he was shooting a little too often. His final ball lacked quality too and overall struggled to make a real imprint on the game. As time goes by the more I realise how overrated this kid is.

Mitroglou - 7 - Missed opportunities but the service wasn't exactly great and he was at least lively. He was very good aerially and showed good feet at times. If he carries on like this the goals will certainly come, he just needs to be more clinical

Salpingidis - 6.5 - Had little time to influence the game but he looked as lively as ever. He was always in the mix of things. He HAS to start for us

Fetfatsidis - 6.5 - he didn't hae time to do much, but he shows glimpses of brilliance. This kid could be a real weapon for us!

Kafes - N/A - didn't had time to impact the game

Santos - 5.5 - Again I was unconvinced. Not because we didn't play particularly well but because he didn't shout at the players to get them moving when our tempo was so low. It was as if he considered that low tempo to be acceptable and that worries because we would not have beaten better opposition today

I agree with almost everything you write (definitely trying to convert Avraam!), I just would've rated Papastathopoulos higher. Saved us on Avraam's mistake and saved us again later on when during a Latvian free kick he had to be both man marking and at the 2nd post because someone (I think Avraam) wasn't doing his job properly.

Enjoy reading your ratings they make a lot of sense! :tup:

[Euro2004]

Was it Sokrati that saved us on Avraam's mistake? I thought it was Tzavellas. Either way, i can't understand why Avraam is so highly rated by Olympiakos fans

Enjoy reading your ratings they make a lot of sense!

All these compliments you always give me going to give me an ego! :P I might apply to UEFA.com for a jouranalistic role, then when i get rejected i'll say, "YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT! ASK GENOME, HE KNOWS ABOUT MY TALENT!" :D

[Clover22]

I have to say it finally looks like the team are coming together. Best game in ages. Good passes, communication and more creative play. Its about time. Good to see Santos breaking in Fetfatzidis; he was impressive and showed a lot of promise. Bravo Santos and team!

[Euro2004]

I have to say it finally looks like the team are coming together. Best game in ages. Good passes, communication and more creative play. Its about time. Good to see Santos breaking in Fetfatzidis; he was impressive and showed a lot of promise. Bravo Santos and team!

don't get too excited. last year we beat them 5-2 at home. In fact if i'm not mistaken we also beat them 2-0 away. So we had a better result away than we did at home the other day. I thought it was pretty average overall. So mediocre in fact that i'm not that confident going into Tuesday, in what is surely a must win game

[pao123]

if mitroglou had converted one of his million chances i think we would have scored more goals...sometimes after acouple of goals the floodgates open...thats the kind of game it seemed like it would be...but we will never know now :D

euro, for me mitroglou looked alright but nothing special and certainly not worth a 7 rating (especially if you have ninis and samaras as a 6.5 and 6, who to me looked better and more comfortable out there than mitroglou who was a 2 seconds late/early in every chance)..its not enough as a striker to be "in the chances" at the international level, you need to score...there will be alot of games that he will only have ONE of those types of chances, and if he doesnt convert it will cost us...if they scored a goal and we tied, im sure your rating of him would be lower and you would be more critical of his inability to finish his chances...

as for ninis, i dont know what you were waiting for..for him to dribble the whole team maybe? he looks more mature out there..he had alot of energy, and for the most part played good and smart passes/crosses...if he raises his game just a couple more notches he will be a star...you can just tell by the way he plays that he is one of the most if not most naturally gifted players on the squad...he just needs more expereince and a bit more improvement in certain aspects of his game...maybe he is just overrated to you because we expect him to be a messiah instead of just a very good, exciting, hard working and gifted young player...we naturally put alot of pressure and expect more of young players, especially with the greek media the way it is...the kid is 20...chill :D

in saying this, i STRONGLY believe one day very soon mitroglou will be very important to the team. simply its evident that he just needs to get a bit more experience at the intl level..we need a natural goaltzi on the team now that gekas is gone...i have always believed that mitroglou has the potential to be that player for us. i have ALOT of faith in his abilities and think with the right attitude, hard work and guidance he could become WORLD CLASS...i think once he get more games under his feet, adapts to the international level and pops in acouple goals, he will be a killer goalscorer at the level... the same goes for ninis and fetfatzidi..once they get more comfortable at this level and gain some more experience they will really help the team...

i also would like to remind everyone that mitroglou is 22, ninis and fetzfatzidi are 20 and 19 (ninis is only 8 or so months older that ioanni) so its still too soon to be saying things like " ninis is overrated" and/or "this kid will be next greek messi"

these are ridiculous things to say when you consider that in two years these players will still only be 24, 22 and 21 respectively...they have ALOT of growth left in them so it not right too both put them on a pedastal or write them off....we need to be more focused on giving them the opportunity to expereince and grow...santos so far has shown that he believes in our young players (lets not forget rehhagel barely had ninis in the lineup or mitroglou in the team regularly..and forget it if you think he would have called up fetz) so santos is taking steps in the right direction in certain respects...he is adding freshness and young attacking flair to the team, giving us another dimension and also looking towards the future (something rehaggel really never did and everyone criticized him for)

also, i think its too early to judge santos...he is learning as well...i believe the results and play will slowly improve, changing coaches and especially philosophies takes a while, so its important that everyone is patient and has faith in the coach...i think santos is a good coach and the right man for the NT but i also believe it may take some time before all of that becomes evident..it may take a while, everyone needs time to adapt to a new identity. santos is trying out some new things, naturally some of them will work and some wont.

if everyone doesnt agree with euro about avraam i believe you are CRAZY!!! he has no place as our starting centre back

sorry for the long post..on to israel tomorrow :gr:

[Crazy]

A.Papadopoulos is not Beckebauer but at least he has not said NO to the greek NT calls like some others.