Suggested Call Ups, Starting 11

[Boxou]

For the next game my ideal squad would be 

Kapino/Karnezis

Torosidis Sokratis Manolas Stafylidis

Maniatis Siopis/Zeca

Gianniotas Fortounis Mantalos 

Mitroglou

 

Glykos, Tziolis, Vellios, Mpakasetas, Oikonomou, Manthatis are locks more or less. I'd like to see Kitsiou getting a call up in the absence of Tzavellas, Siovas because he's playing great in Leganes, Kone and Retsos as we have limited options in the midfield and perhaps Lazaros as a winger. 

 

 

[Rockafeller Skank]

Sadly the differences in the set up will be far less than u guys hope/think.

Stafylidis will be moved to Tzavellas position since the latter is inelidgible.

Most of you forgetting Babe Karelis comming back fron an injury and he ll have his out of form self ready to look useless for one more game.

As for Tachtsidis inelidgibility we all fear Tziolis but I believe it's just gonna be Zeca starting instead.

Karnezis

Toro-Sokr-Manolas-Stafy

Zeca - Samaris

Mantalos-Fortounis-Karelis

Mitroglou

 

Edited April 6, 2017 by Rockafeller Skank

[pash]

Karelis is back? I thought he was going to be out until summer. Surely he can't be fit at this point?

[J1078]

I also thought Samaris was out for the next match.

[georgelaz]

lazaros with some rocket shots in the final and a goal (albeit a glykos error)

especially with all our injuries and he's explosive on the wings.

pelkas is also maturing nicely with that rocket against pao

[Antaeus7]

I see this as a possible lineup for Greece against Bosnia. 

Kapino
Torosidis 
Stafylidis 
Manolas
Papastathopoulos
Zeca 
Fortounis 
Mantalos 
Maniatis 
Mitroglou 
Gianniotas 

Edited May 8, 2017 by Molon Lave

[kbxk508]

I still think Fetfatzides should be in the squad. We have no fire power off the bench. 

[ausgreek]

We have Tziolis the fire breathing dragon-pirate.

[Antaeus7]

I agree Fetfatzidis should be given a chance to make the squad. Just because he plays in a Saudi league doesn't mean he is not good enough. 

[georgelaz]

               Mitroglou

fortounis Mantalos Gianniota

         zeca   maniatis

Staf Sok      Manolas Toro

                  Karnezis

Likely what we'll see and decent.

Would be nice to have fetfa, kpaps, samaris, tachtsi, tzav, karelis as options though.

kone, lazaros, pelkas should also be taken into consideration.

the auto starters are = manolas, sokratis, karnezis, fortounis, mitroglou, kpaps when available. the others I think dependent on form.

Edited May 13, 2017 by georgelaz

[Dean97]

I think players like Lazaros,Kone, Samaras,Ninis and Fetfatzidis look like they are done with the national team. When it should be Tziolis. Fetfatzidis is a no brainer to be on this team. 

Also why hasn't Bouchalakis been given a chance yet? I know he doesn't play often but when he does he looks better than Maniatis. I hope Siopis surpasses Maniatis one day. 

I'd like to see Kone return to the team but I know Mantalos and Fortounis are more than capable of lifting this team. Ninis is out of form he needs to show how good he is again and show why nearly all of Greece rated him to be the next Messi.

Lazaros has been in alright form and we need wingers but he is very in consistent, he also annoys me with the decisions he makes on the field. Just like Samaras. 

Fetfatzidis needs to be on this team. He has far better technique than Mantalos and Fortounis. He has the best technique in all of Greece. 

Manthatis looks promising for the wing position and I think Gianniotas needs to be given more chances. 

At the end of the day Greece's biggest strength is there defence. The two things Greece rely on is the defence and in form Mitroglou. If we can get this constantly and consistently we should be fine.

 

[Antaeus7]

Greece would need to improve their midfield. 

[ausgreek]

Looking at the assumptions of the performance of Mantalos and Fortounis, it sounds more and more like Mantalos should be AM, Fortounis at LW. I don't accept that Fortounis has a mortgage on AM position as Mitro has on CF position.

Staf went so well that he may end up being LW and Tzav coming straight back in at LB, on a more permanent basis.

[Rockafeller Skank]

Donis having an Impact vs Bosnia while Bakasetas failing to do so vs 3 minnows was obvious to someone without any coaching skills.
These are the players that need to be core players, weather as starters or as early subs depending on the result we wanna keep/get:
Karnezis/Kapino as Goalkeepers
Mitroglou as Striker
Sokratis/Manolas/Papadopoulos as CBs

Torosidis as Right Back

Tzavellas/Stafylidis as Left Back.

Stafylidis/Donis as Left Wing

Fortounis/Mantalos as Attacking mid/Right Winger. Their creativity has won us many matches, Mantalos lost a crucial chance that could ve given us 1st spot, but he gave us solutions vs the weaker teams. Can't drop a player just because of a Miss. He is very talented, although he had a bad game, his defensive duties were never unattended. He deserves a spot in the starting 11 but can't make it on the wings.

All these players are the core players.

Our weak spot is the defensive mid/holding mid positions who we haven't ended up in any good conclusion yet.

Samaris seems the favorite for starter whenever available so I guess he should be considered a core player as well.

When we need players out of the game, like Pjanic yesterday, and probably like Kevin De bruyne in August Zeca will probably be use to just be the shadow of such a player, to not let him have space to breathe.

When we need someone tall to be able to contain players like Medundjanin and Fellaini, Tachtsidis will be used to battle with him. When he aint available, seems like Tziolis will be used instead.

Maniatis probably lost his starting spot from Zeca now that he proved his worth and lust, so I doubt we ll see him start again vs a decent team. Might get playtime vs Gibraltar or when games vs other minnows are considered finished, because Skibbe seems to rate him, as well as Tziolis. 

Can't say anything about Gianniotas,Siopis,Retsos,Kourbelis,Vellios,Karelis,Lykogiannis,Kolovos due to limited playtime.

All I can say is that Oikonomou, Diamantakos need to be dodged from the team, unless no other options (booked/injured) are available. But after all, who else can take a spot ? Pelkas,Siovas are some possibilities.

 

So, to sum up, GK, Offense,Defense, seem locked for a while, from players who proved their worth to Skibbe. Midfield clearly seems questionable about who plays, but it might not be a matter of form or talent, but a matter of needs.The fact that Skibbe uses new Mids every game probably isnt the fact that he hasnt ended up in proper starters. Seems like he does it for the needs of each game. I guess he can experiment vs minnows like Gibraltar and Estonia, as long as the 3 points are secured. Maybe Skibbe is a really good coach after all.

The aim for this NT is not to qualify for the WC, but the playoff spot. WIth groups like this , ending up in Portugal/Switzerland, Sweden/France/Netherlands, Spain/Italy in 2nd spot, missing WC against them can't be considered a failure. Missing 2nd spot, especially after such results as X vs Bosnia @Bosnia and X vs Belgium @Belgium, though is a big failure, but it's not Skibbes fault that we dropped to pot 3 and were 49 in the rankings when he came. So blaming him for missing the WC is unrealistically not a choice. Praising him if we do make it, however, is.

Edited June 10, 2017 by Rockafeller Skank

[OFI-mtl]

Apart from Mitroglou our 3 best players are CB would love Skibbe to put Manolas Kpaps Sokratis on the field together.

...................Manolas........Kyriakos.........Sokratis..............

Toro..............Samaris........................Taxi...................Stafy.....

..........Donis..........................Mitro.......................Fortounis

Adding width of Toro and Stafy who ca whip ball in it opens up space for Fortounis/Donis like Pedro Hazard get for Chelsea and letsMitro operate..I think we are tailor made for 3-4-3

[nick]

I'm a fan of 3-4-3 or 3-5-2 but I think skibbe is stuck on 4-2-3-1..with this setup I think the only spot that should be up for grabs is RW..

....................karnezis

toro......manola..sokratis..stafylidis

..............Samaris...zeca

??...............fortounis.......donis

...............,.mitroglou

 

Manthatis interests me a bit but he's not ready for this yet. Probably Gianniotas. It really is too bad that fetfatzidis decided to throw his career away because he could be great there 

[PaoOle]

23 hours ago, Rockafeller Skank said:

lt seems questionable about who plays, but it might not be a matter of form or talent, but a matter of needs.The fact that Skibbe uses new Mids every game probably isnt the fact that he hasnt ended up in proper starters. Seems like he does it for the needs of each game. I guess he can experiment vs minnows like Gibraltar and Estonia, as long as the 3 points are secured. Maybe Skibbe is a really good coach after all.

Great point! Tsiolis vs Bosnia illustrates this point. He had him in the right role and played well. The more tools he has the better it will be.

[ausgreek]

After swinging my kompoloi I got from Greece, it came to me that the next team that the Skibbe reads out should be:

(Coach likes 4 2 3 1 format)                    

                                      Orestis

Toro               Manolas         Sokratis               Stafyli

                           Samaris            Zeca

        Gianniotas          Mantalos                  Donis

                                         Mitroglou

Subs:

Vellios    Fortounis   Manthatis

Tachtsidis    Siopis    Kourbelis   Maniatis  

 Kyriakos  Tzavellas   

Kapino    

 Karelis still injured.                                      

Edited June 11, 2017 by ausgreek

[RED SHERIFF]

I'd go Taxi ahead of Samaris ...and Fortounis ahead of Mandalos

Edited June 12, 2017 by RED SHERIFF

[ausgreek]

That would work too. I was just thinking that Mantalos keeps playing out of position, it has Not worked and he could finally get a shot at AM again. Then again, good wing play could bring either Fortounis or Mantalos ( at AM), into the play a lot better and therefore Mitroglou too.

Mantalos must be frustrated that he is not given that shot whilst Fortounis is not in good form with the Ethniki-it may seem.

I wonder if anyone would not play Stafylidis at LB, if Cholevas was still in the mix? Stafyli has come a long way and is now vital. 

With Sokratis sitting out Estonia match with his yellow card, Kyriako goes in there and Oikonomou may retain his spot in my previously posted squad.

 

 

 

 

Edited June 12, 2017 by ausgreek

[RED SHERIFF]

Fortounis is a better no.10 than Mandalos.....Unfortunately for Mandalos that is the reality......so if only one can fit in the 11..it has to be Fortounis for now.

[Greekaroos]

A real positive in this current team under Michael Skibbe is the return of team unity, passion, discipline & not relying on the same starting 11 match to match. Although Greece don't have a superstar, Skibbe is slowly building a very good solid squad.

[ausgreek]

The Skibbe has tried Bakasetas, now he should try Viktor Klonaridis who is also a second stricker/winger. Donis is also a CF, good back up, along with Vellios for Mitrogou. Donis also showed he is a good winger and a threatening attacker.

Good to see Mitro is inspired and working for results out there too.

 

[PaoOle]

Mandalos is a nice player but when both at their best Fortounis is better. Given that Mitroglou with all his strengths is slow, Fortounis speed makes him a better choice for NT. The problem is that Giannotas and Klonaridis that are fast, are not good for starters. Granted I have not watched Giannotas the last 2 years but i doubt he changed much. Poise and offensive quality (e.g, Donis) shows even in one game.

[Greekaroos]

Michael Skibbe in a short time has picked a lot of younger player in his squads. You only have to look at the changes from the Brazil 2014 FIFA World Cup squad & you realize the majority of the changes started to happen since Skibbe's arrival.