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Greece vs Belgium (3 September 2017- World Cup Qualifier- Karaiskakis Stadium, Piraeus)


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29 minutes ago, Rockafeller Skank said:

What else would you do in his position?

Vellios failed miserably. Diamantakos played 15 minutes. It's not like we have options mate.

I guess your right. Bakasetas would be a better option. Donis aswell. We also got to play our best players possible or else it will be a massacre. 

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44 minutes ago, Dean97 said:

I guess your right. Bakasetas would be a better option. Donis aswell. We also got to play our best players possible or else it will be a massacre. 

Bakasetas - Stafylidis - Mantalos - Holebas

from all these players used on the Left Wing, the only one who actually made some sense and has some man-to-man skills is Donis. I believe we ll just miss another flank from thousands of mistakes of anyone who we put there if we remove him. He is an atomist when it comes to shots etc, but he barely loses the ball. Donis is gonna be on the wings.

As for Bakasetas, how better is he from Diamantakos and Vellios mate.

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6 hours ago, Rockafeller Skank said:

you mean 500%.

They are two points behind, which means that 
we lose tomorrow to Belgium - they win Gibraltar , they go up by 1 point
we win Cyprus - They draw Belgium , we go up by 2 points

last matchday  we win Gibraltar - Bosnia wins Estonia , we remain 2nd by 2 points.
, so honestly the match with cyprus seems more crucial than the Belgium one, since even if they win Belgium, as long as we win Cyprus we are mathematically even and that's when the goal factors kicks in. 

Problem is that, if they win Belgium and we lose to it, it means they wont have many goals conceded to Belgium, while in the meanwhile we ll have conceded a few, so it''s a done deal. I would be happy with this NT after so many of its failures to finish 2nd , no matter if we qualify via play-offs or not, considering the possible opponents, but finishing 3rd equal points with the second is not a bad result either, considering how hard this group was (best Pot 5 team by far in Cyprus, One of the best Pot 1 teams and we still managed a draw with them , undefeated by 2nd pot good attacking team Bosnia.

Sadly, if we won on Thursday we would be talking about success only, with a locked play off spot. Right now, we have to consider the possibility of failure.




 

As for Skibbe. In my opinion he is doing a good work. The fact that one bad match (which we didnt even lose)might cost us a top 2 finishing shows the difficulty level of the Group.Tziolis needs to be called up. Our only experiecned player 10+ years with NT. Doesnt have to be fielded though. 

In my opinion to the strikers, as people ask why he is calling Diamantakos and Vellios. Vellios is a good striker. Just off form not played for a month and didnt play for over 4 months a competitive match, just friendlies. He wasnt in sync with the AMFs on thursday. He doesnt know how to play with them, which begs the qustion what the hell is happening during training? He is always putting his first line up against the back ups? They couldnt find Vellios anywhere with their crosses. Diamantakos. I am pretty sure once a familiar yet forgotten face comes back will become a nobody, until he decides to step up his career and try harder. Everyone has forgotten that our second striker in the que is injued for almost a year, Karelis. I am pretty sure that when we were counting the losses for last match we forgot to count him in. It's another thing to miss your first striker, but having a decent enough striker (not as good yet but still - decent for a decent Europa League team) to replace him, and another thing to miss both of them.

And As I posted earlier a couple of days. Most of the matches in early september this team can't play. Draws with Georgia, barely winning liechtenstein at 80 and such. They didnt happen under Skibbe, but Rehaggel and Santos. A re we gonna call these coaches flops as well? I honestly dare you.

The only mistake that in my opinion did in Thursday was taking the match lightly. In every interview he said that he is not even thinking about Belgium yet. First we gota do what we gotta do against Estonia. Yet it seemed to me, apart from our injured players Mitroglou, Karelis , Torosidis and suspended Sokratis, he rested Samaris, Tachtsidis, Stafylidis for Belgium match. Excluding (the striker of aek who i forgot his name and he plays as a LW for the ethniki-insert name here- lol i literally forgot i swear and not bothered to look it up, thats how bad he is) from the Belgium line up we were missing a total of 6 key players. I believe he rested them for Belgium because they re not in form and 2 matches in 4 days would probably tire them too much to product against Belgium.I kinda understood it when he brought Stafylidis in after 60. One of our key players  in the campaign was benched. We ve seen him in 3 positions so far in this campaign, but not a starter only when Holebas was here.

 On the one hand, this was unacceptable. Because as he was saying in his interviews he should only focus on THAT match. But who tells us that in such a high pressure defense we would score with them as well? Most possibly yes, but Im not sure anyone could deliver in this period. On the other hand. consider the fact that we fielded an all attack scheme, with our best players and still didnt take the 3point. Skibbe relieves the pressure from him since he did nothing wrong, then Belgium match comes. Key players already tired since they had a 90' match a few days ago, and the previous full match they had was 81 days ago. We d literally go against Belgium with our hands down. 

Is this possibility possible?(pun intended) I cant be sure. I am not a coach, I am not a physio, I have never attended professional trainings after summer breaks. But, how the f*ck can you be so sure it is not? According to this theory however, a Gianniotas would be more useful than Mantalos on the wing vs Estonia, since he is a bench player either way, but again Skibbe preffered a player with matches before, and crucial ones for CL/EL.

My last words for Skibbe, so far in this campaign are: Undefeated and 2 points safe for 2nd place, first bad result the team takes, how fast are we to judge him, when he was praised after Belgium, only a few months ago. The only match the team seemed lost was vs Bosnia at home.

Thats the beauty of a campaign how its always balanced on the proverbial razors edge. He blew a chance at solidifying chances. HE BETTER take this game seriously a rout and the psyche of our Ethniki is frail at best...see last campaign.

PAMAI GERA AVRIO

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3 hours ago, Rockafeller Skank said:

Bakasetas - Stafylidis - Mantalos - Holebas

from all these players used on the Left Wing, the only one who actually made some sense and has some man-to-man skills is Donis. I believe we ll just miss another flank from thousands of mistakes of anyone who we put there if we remove him. He is an atomist when it comes to shots etc, but he barely loses the ball. Donis is gonna be on the wings.

As for Bakasetas, how better is he from Diamantakos and Vellios mate.

Bakasetas is more of a hungry player. That's my opinion. Vellios tried his best but couldn't do anything. Diamantakos got 10 minutes and he is nothing better than Vellios. Bakasetas also can shoot very well.

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Papastathopoulos & Samaris were quoted at some point after the last game versus Belgium that this team was trying to foster a "family" unity that the Ethniki had lost. Papastathopoulos  went on to say that given the nature of  the make up of the personal on the Greek squad....Greece can play solid defensively, then must look for an opportunity be it as set play or on the counter.

 

So as much as it would be a gift and luxury to be ladened with a stronger midfield and multiple snipers up front. The reality we are not this team. Defense, gritty performances, solid collective team efforts are the only way we can look to get points and results. 

Greece, like I have said before have never had many campaigns where success came easily. Many many matches and campaigns I, like many of you been on the edge of my seat.

So here Greece is, and tomorrow we face a titan. On paper and according to the experts and betting line Belgium should win handily. However, often time the national team has had some memorable strong performances with it's back against the wall. 

It should be an interesting match, I want to see a smart street fight. Should I ask the Ethniki for 2 things tomorrow...1 would be to give the same effort as it did in the match in Belgium. Secondly is to play with heart and empty the tank on the field. I think any thing anything is possible and I hope a win for Greece over an overconfident Belgium. Why not 

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best realistic scenario I see here is a 0-0. Cyprus is shitting the bed against Estonia as we speak as well.

Estonia pretty much parking the bus against everyone and they DO actually have a decent D unlike Gilbratar who are human pilons.

Edited by georgelaz
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Ya Mitro is out for sure.... I agree Donis is a play maker not a finisher... Looks like Skibbe is not even thinking of trying to win this game as he has chosen to park the bus and play for the tie. The problem with this method is Belgium will have 90% possession and I fear they will be able to sneak a couple in.  

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