Omonoia9 Posted March 29, 2015 Share Posted March 29, 2015 Katsouranis, save Kiraly Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Omonoia9 Posted March 29, 2015 Share Posted March 29, 2015 +3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jarvis1981 Posted March 29, 2015 Share Posted March 29, 2015 Greece have given a good effort today but they are inept offensively. It's probably best that they are officially eliminated today from the Euro 2016. Now the team can just focus on changing their style to include some skill play up front. Still way too many long passes and a real lack of finishing skills. Some players may be injured but they are the older players the team needs to see the younger players. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Omonoia9 Posted March 29, 2015 Share Posted March 29, 2015 Hungarian keeper Kiraly refuses to take the free kick, and that's the way this ends Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Omonoia9 Posted March 29, 2015 Share Posted March 29, 2015 Hungary 0-0 Greece FT We deserved better Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Omonoia9 Posted March 29, 2015 Share Posted March 29, 2015 Group F Standings Romania-13 Northern Ireland-12 Hungary-8 Finland-4 Faroe Islands-3 Greece-2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Omonoia9 Posted March 30, 2015 Share Posted March 30, 2015 embarrassing really file we cant score been the NT problem for years Mitroglou and/or Samaras need to be on the squad! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
js1000 Posted March 30, 2015 Author Share Posted March 30, 2015 (edited) samaras and mitroglou were both out injured, we are really short up front athanasiadis is not international quality - not his fault he tries his best but lacks quality - karelis isn't even good enough for PAO which is why i would have taken gekas. good performance though good effort they wanted to play for the new coach shame ranieri has ruined any chance we had of qualification. Karnezis - 6. dependable couple of good saves Torosidis - 7 captains performance good crosses and was a threat going forward Papastathopoulos - 7. dependable and reliable as ever, we're lucky to have him Manolas - 6. ok, caught flat footed a couple of times though. Stafylidis - 7. only his 3rd game for the NT, good crosses great going forward looks comfortable at this level. Samaris - 6. made a few interceptions, didn't really offer much going forward. Papadopoulos - 6. did well considering he was played out of position and has been out for ages. Fetfatzidis - 7. caused the hungarians panic but lacked end product which is unsurprising as he hasn't played for ages. reminds me of raheem sterling. Kone - 5. the quality he has he should have done better. fluffed 2 headers. Christodoulopoulos - 5. just runs with his head down doesn't look up and keeps the ball for too long. Athanasiadis - 5. tries hard, held the ball up well but lacks quality, he was never going to score. 11 caps 0 goals so far. Fortounis - neat and tidy player, needs a run in the Olympiakos side to get match fit. Gianniotas - too lightweight Katsouranis - waste of a substitution, tachtsidis was the man we needed to try and open up the hungarians, if we were leading and needed a man to do a bit of time wasting then he would have been worth bringing on, but not when we're chasing a goal. on the whole i'm very optimistic with markarian, the players looked hungry and wanted to play for him, we just need some strikers and we'll be a very good side. Edited March 30, 2015 by js1000 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Accor6 Posted March 31, 2015 Share Posted March 31, 2015 Welcome :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Omonoia9 Posted March 31, 2015 Share Posted March 31, 2015 Not a great performance, but an improved performance. Having Kyriakos and Fetfatzidis in the starting eleven boosted us. Markarian got everyone to pull for one another for the most part. We looked really great at the beginning of the restart. We made really good use of our width. Torosidis and Stafylidis proving very influential with some great touches, passes, and crosses. On one play I believe Torosidis swung the ball over to Stafylidis who trapped the ball expertly. Play like that has been at premium for Greece and it's great to see a 21 year old pull off those types of touches. Stafylidis was a big question mark before this game. There were a lot of doubts about whether he could perform, but yesterday he got good defensive cover from Samaris, for the better part at least, and he grew with the game. By the 60th minute mark he was easily one of the game's better performers. He did show one or two signs that he could struggle from a physical standpoint and Hungary did try to isolate him, creating good chances for themselves, one of which caught Manolas flat footed. Luckily Gera couldn't make it count. Manolas managed to use his size well on that occassion. Fetfatzidis also did a great job and looked more mature than ever. He's often described as being flashy or luxurious, but he was a major reason why Dzsuzsak, who was by some distance Hungary's best player, didn't have greater influence over the game's proceedings. In a sense he was one of our best defenders. And when it came to actual defending, he wasn't afraid to get stuck into challenges or win back possession. Whereas Salpingidis was resourceful for his determination, Fetfatzidis was resourceful for his timeliness and poise. He also played with real intelligence. On one chance he tried playing Kyriakos, who was in the six yard box, with a low cross to his feet. Hungary would have anticipated that the ball would be met by Kyriakos in the air, not the ground. We can only hope he can build off this performance and add numbers on the board. Fortounis came into the game cold and had a hard time adjusting to it's rhythm, but I thought he could have made a difference had he, not Kone, made those crosses just outside the right hand side of Hungary's box late in the half. Fortounis would have done a better job of finding a lurking Kyriakos I feel. There were moments where his ability to string the ball around was evident, if minor; however, with him on the field we defend a man less. I love watching Kyriakos play. He's such a commanding player. I think he got beat only once and this was late in the game when the team began to tire. Aside from that one moment, how many times did he snatch the ball back for Greece and put us on the front foot in the attack? In our own penalty area he was composed enough to head the ball down right to his teammates' feet as Greece attempted to counter quickly. Details, the little differences, when put together make the differences that count the most. Katsouranis is finished. I had seen him play for Atromitos and it was obvious he was past it, but I never thought he would be this bad. Twice he was found outstretched and sprawled, on one such occassion he nearly cost Greece the game, if not for Nikolic's miss. He then had a very good chance to score and make himself the hero on the night, althought he should have played it back to Torosidis on the given go instead. I think people are right to wonder if Tachtsidis would have squandered that chance? In my mind, he should have started. Greece sorely missed his range of passing. His ability to neatly spread the ball to wings would have made Greece more effective in possession. Instead Sokratis and Manolas spent the game playing hot potato before one of them finally elected to play a long ball. I can't blame Markarian though for choosing to play with poverty in possession. Hungary have scored at least one goal in each of their last five; Greece have scored only one and have conceded in each of their last five. So he prioritized the need for a cleansheet and hoped for a goal through either the individual brilliance of Fetfatzidis or the aerial presence of Kyriakos and Kone. Great post. Unfortunately, Markarian is in a difficult position taking over mid-campaign like this, but the early signs are good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Giourkas Posted March 31, 2015 Share Posted March 31, 2015 ^I hope he does all his experimenting now so by the time the next WC campaign kicks off he has his starting 11 set. This should be a period of strict evaluations. He should make it clear that anyone going through the motions will get axed from the NT. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Original 21 Posted March 31, 2015 Share Posted March 31, 2015 I expect to see Aravidis in the squad for the June game against the Faroe Islands, he's the only Greek striker that makes off ball runs all game, is good with the ball at his feet, a very good header, great speed, and a very capable set piece taker. He would have been a huge help against Hungary, he would of scored on the chances Kone and Klaus missed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
js1000 Posted April 1, 2015 Author Share Posted April 1, 2015 Markarian did slightly better than Ranieri, but only slightly. He showed he is a political man by bringing on Katsouranis when we needed a goal.. not a 35 year old Euro 2004 token player. whilst i agree with your point about kats, i think markarian did miles better than ranieri, the players simply didn't want to play for that clown which was evidenced by them making northern ireland look world class and losing at home to the faroes. A decent striker and we would have beaten hungary, greece passed better and played with more energy than they have in a long time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Omonoia9 Posted April 1, 2015 Share Posted April 1, 2015 We have to give him time. Hopefully the Faroe Islands away match allows him to learn more about the players while also affording him the opportunity to try a few things and you would HOPE we finally get a win. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Tsamados Posted April 1, 2015 Share Posted April 1, 2015 I think Markarian needs to line up a friendly or two against the likes of Iceland, Lithuania, Albania, Georgia or Kazakhstan. Try a few different attacking options out: Aravidis, Karelis, Gianniotas, Ninis. Also Markarian should instruct the strikers to shoot on sight of goal. Most other European teams do as chances are the keeper fumbles the odd shot and a lurking striker bundles it home. A lot of the time our players seem unwilling to take a shot and instead pass the ball when a shot is the best option. With regards the Hungary game I think it was unfortunate that Samaras and Mitroglou were injured as I think with their inclusion we'd have wrapped up 3 points. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RED SHERIFF Posted April 2, 2015 Share Posted April 2, 2015 (edited) I believe there will be a friendly before the Faroe's match Edited April 2, 2015 by RED SHERIFF Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XXX-18T Posted April 2, 2015 Share Posted April 2, 2015 Yes we need friendlies and lots if we need to sort out our attack. Maybe a friendly vs Cyprus or Pao / Paok Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RED SHERIFF Posted April 2, 2015 Share Posted April 2, 2015 Geez we have plunged to new depths...our big hope Mitroglou is a shadow of the player he was before injury...and our last hope. Karelis ,Giannotas,Athanasiadis,Aravidis if we are hoping any of them to start banging in goals forget it. All of these guys are below average at best ..however they are the best we have. We have no creativity in midfield still ..our players still have little off the ball movement. We have to accept the next 4 years at least we will be very poor as a team it's sad because this team has some genuine talent... sokratis,manolas,k.pap.xolevas, samaris,taxi,karnezis, kone,lazaros,fetfa, toro are all very good footballers... if we are going to say the next 4 years...we might as well say 10 years... because I think this crop of 18-23 yo is the worst in the last 20 years.... I see zero in the u19s or u21s to get excited about. If you go through the names that played v Croatia u21 and v Ukraine u19s this week.....other than Mavrias there is stuff all... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Tsamados Posted April 2, 2015 Share Posted April 2, 2015 It really is sickening that we are just one or two players short of a decent team. Why can't Mitroglou just pull his finger out and start playing well again? What happened to him that turned him into a shadow of his former self? I don't buy it was just an injury, it seems to be a more mental thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J1078 Posted April 2, 2015 Share Posted April 2, 2015 It is pretty bad that we cant produce at least one striker in all these years, in saying that I don't think the Euros are done yet realistically I think the coach did a descent job, yes he made some bad decisions with our subs but in all fairness he's had no time with the team, and we played decent ball even though we lacked finish, do you guys really see Hungary winning 4 out 5 games? I can see them losing two games and as long as we get 4 wins and a tie we are in the playoffs, let's hope Finland beat Hungary or at worst tie them. Hungary still have Romania at home and norther Ireland and Finland and Greece on the Road, we can still do this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kbxk508 Posted April 2, 2015 Share Posted April 2, 2015 (edited) There were 2 key objectives in the Hungary match. One was to not concede and the other was to win the match. On reflection I think we dominated this match and just failed to score. For 30 mins in 2nd half we had them pegged. I think Hungary will drop points against Romania, Northern Iteland and possibly away to Finland. Edited April 2, 2015 by kbxk508 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
levendis Posted April 2, 2015 Share Posted April 2, 2015 (edited) Just because we dominated possession doesn't mean we dominated the match. Why would teams stop us from having possession? The only player that showed some creativity with the ball was Fefta. Most goals we allow are from counter attacks or set pieces. Hungary was more than willing to sit back at goal and pick their spots to attack. They ended up having better scoring opportunities than us, we were lucky to come away with a point. Edited April 2, 2015 by levendis Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RED SHERIFF Posted April 2, 2015 Share Posted April 2, 2015 With the league down the shitter...and clubs using cheap imports ...the future looks bleak right now. i don't think the league is the problem (in NT sense)....Serbia,Croatia,Slovakia, Czechs,Sweden,Denmark etc etc....with historically very poor leagues produce quality footballers.....note they all have smaller populations than Greece too... Belgium produced this current crop of 'golden generation' footballers with an average league... The SL will improve in the next few years....a debt free PAOK + PAO will improve, AEK and Iraklis returning in a few months...16 team league......(osfp,aek,pao,paok, iraklis, tripolis, atromitos, xanthi,) that's half the league with either strong administration/infrastructure or historical strong support....Long way to go...But it's a start.... Aris,AEL are not too far away either... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RED SHERIFF Posted April 3, 2015 Share Posted April 3, 2015 ironically.... our NT was poor in the mid to late 1990s....and the 0-7 to Juve and PAOs 0-5 to Man Utd and Barca x2came in the era that were supposedly a stronger league... Not sure if football has changed or the way it's played has changed..but the way Osfp and Paok to a lesser degree play the game in europe lately seems a lot more 'assertive' than the way Greek clubs played 10-20 years ago...the clumsy naive defence errors and stupid penalties are not as readily conceded.. Pflipsen and Ciric were in my mind flops...Pflipsen average, Ciric a flop....Signori to Iraklis was a Superannuation move... One can argue the quality of foreigner that Atromitos, Tripolis...even Panetolikos have signed lately have been much better value and performed better than Pflipsen ,Ciric, Signori, Biscan,Seric,Savini,Oscar, Juanfran, Botia etc etc etc etc A lot of it also shows that the league is not a stroll in the park for over priced foreigners..If you don't work hard and perform at near your best....even Platanias and Levadiakos will expose you for an imposter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Omonoia9 Posted April 3, 2015 Share Posted April 3, 2015 When you have a team like asteras who fields 11 foreigners it becomes an issue for the NT because it means the best players are plying at lower level clubs....and the top clubs should be a mix of the best greek players and quality imports . I think in a perfect world, we fuse having our best players at Olympiakos and PAO, or at other clubs throughout Europe. We shouldn't be afraid of our best players leaving Greece. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts