Nations League: Greece-Finland(7 September 2024, Stadio Giorgos Karaiskakis, Piraeus)

[Omonoia9]

The 2024-2025 UEFA Nations League begins for the ethniki. The ethniki returns to Piraeus for the first time in 7 years, first game in League B, and the first match under Ivan Jovanovic.

[J1078]

Curios to see who Jovanovic calls up and what style he prefers to play. Is he going to play it safe and have a very similar line up we've seen under Poyet the first couple of games. Most important here is we take 2nd in the nations League as England will most likely advance directly through the world cup qualifiers. We need this 2nd chance as our current FIFA rankings will most likely not give us a favorable draw in the qualifiers. 

[paokarag4]

Jovanovic's first squad has been announced for this match and the game vs Ireland a few days later. I like the call-ups, our attack looks exciting. As ever, our central midfield options leave something to be desired. 

 

 

[PaokCT]

Supposedly Zafeiris chose Greece over Norway. Just waiting on the paperwork.

[Blackhawk]

I thought this was supposed to be the new beginning for the NT. WTF are Mantalos and Bouchalakis doing on this list?

[Ellada2004]

On 8/25/2024 at 8:34 AM, J1078 said:

Curios to see who Jovanovic calls up and what style he prefers to play. Is he going to play it safe and have a very similar line up we've seen under Poyet the first couple of games. Most important here is we take 2nd in the nations League as England will most likely advance directly through the world cup qualifiers. We need this 2nd chance as our current FIFA rankings will most likely not give us a favorable draw in the qualifiers. 

Yes we must get minimum 2nd place to get a Nations League playoff spot but I am hoping for a miraculous World Cup qualification draw. 

[Ellada2004]

On 8/26/2024 at 9:17 AM, PaokCT said:

Supposedly Zafeiris chose Greece over Norway. Just waiting on the paperwork.

Ya saw that on sport24. That is great news!

[paokarag4]

He has officially been called up for these matches. We need a good CM so fingers crossed Zafeiris can help us in that regard. He scored midweek against Lille in the UCL qualifiers and hit the woodwork twice! 

Ο Χρήστος Ζαφείρης θα βρίσκεται κανονικά στη διάθεση του Ιβάν Γιοβάνοβιτς για τα παιχνίδια της Εθνικής Ελλάδας απέναντι σε Φινλανδία (7/9) και Ιρλανδία (10/9).

https://www.sport24.gr/football/ethniki-mesa-gia-ta-paichnidia-me-finlandia-kai-irlandia-o-christos-zafeiris.10371748.html

[Brklyngrk]

Isn't there another young kid that the Ethniki is trying to cap as well? Remember reading it was Zafeiris and one more.

[Soprano76]

Konstantinos Karetsas of Genk, a 16 year old midfielder. 

[HellasLEAF]

15 hours ago, paokarag4 said:

He has officially been called up for these matches. We need a good CM so fingers crossed Zafeiris can help us in that regard. He scored midweek against Lille in the UCL qualifiers and hit the woodwork twice! 

Ο Χρήστος Ζαφείρης θα βρίσκεται κανονικά στη διάθεση του Ιβάν Γιοβάνοβιτς για τα παιχνίδια της Εθνικής Ελλάδας απέναντι σε Φινλανδία (7/9) και Ιρλανδία (10/9).

https://www.sport24.gr/football/ethniki-mesa-gia-ta-paichnidia-me-finlandia-kai-irlandia-o-christos-zafeiris.10371748.html

Finally some good news coming our way!  And in midfield so important to have better options there.  Bravo Zafeiris who has shown to be a true Hellene to coming to the NT.  These upcoming matches are huge before we draw the English.  

[Brklyngrk]

On 8/31/2024 at 7:14 AM, Soprano76 said:

Konstantinos Karetsas of Genk, a 16 year old midfielder. 

Thanks - I couldn't remember who it was.

[Ellada2004]

Zaferis is a huge addition to bolster our midfield! Hopefully Karetsas joins Greece too instead of Belgium and our attacking options will look very promising. 

[Dean97]

Zafeiris looks like the type of 8 we’ve been hoping to have all these years. Skilful player that can help the attack. I’m hoping for the best with him. All these years we’ve should’ve tried Pelkas or Mantalos as an 8 to help with the fluidity in midfield and attack. Pelkas isn’t a winger he’s a midfielder. Same as Mantalos.

Alexandropoulos I think is capable for that role at the moment. He can be a 6 and an 8. We’ve had Bouchalakis Kourbelis and Zeca all these years and it hasn’t worked. They are all DMs and all very slow. We should have always played a 6 and someone a bit more attacking next to him. Instead of just having two DMs holding and not contributing going forward. 

We have Konstantelias. Who is very talented. Especially on the ball. I hope he and Zafeiris work together well and if they do our strikers will get the proper service that is needed. 

It’s time to move on from Bakasetas. I’m sorry if it offends anyone but he was never good enough. He’s too slow and isn’t technically good enough on the ball. His decision making is not there either. He has a powerful shot that’s it. He’s been dropped to the bench for PAO. Fortounis should come back and take his place. Also happy to have Konstantelias as a 10 or wing depending on the formation.

We have great strikers so we should be grateful for that. Tzolakis and Mandas are coming through in the keepers position which is helpful. Time to give Vlachodimos some competition.

If we can get Karetsas aswell then we are cooking. I’m optimistic with the new coach I just hope he knows that Bakasetas needs to start on the bench from now on. Bouchalakis doesn’t deserve to play either so I hope Zafeiris and Alexandropoulos step up and perform like I know they can. 

Thought I give my view about the team. It’s been a while. I just want the best for the national team and Greek football as a whole. 

Thanks 🙏 

[Ellada2004]

On 9/2/2024 at 5:46 AM, Dean97 said:

Zafeiris looks like the type of 8 we’ve been hoping to have all these years. Skilful player that can help the attack. I’m hoping for the best with him. All these years we’ve should’ve tried Pelkas or Mantalos as an 8 to help with the fluidity in midfield and attack. Pelkas isn’t a winger he’s a midfielder. Same as Mantalos.

Alexandropoulos I think is capable for that role at the moment. He can be a 6 and an 8. We’ve had Bouchalakis Kourbelis and Zeca all these years and it hasn’t worked. They are all DMs and all very slow. We should have always played a 6 and someone a bit more attacking next to him. Instead of just having two DMs holding and not contributing going forward. 

We have Konstantelias. Who is very talented. Especially on the ball. I hope he and Zafeiris work together well and if they do our strikers will get the proper service that is needed. 

It’s time to move on from Bakasetas. I’m sorry if it offends anyone but he was never good enough. He’s too slow and isn’t technically good enough on the ball. His decision making is not there either. He has a powerful shot that’s it. He’s been dropped to the bench for PAO. Fortounis should come back and take his place. Also happy to have Konstantelias as a 10 or wing depending on the formation.

We have great strikers so we should be grateful for that. Tzolakis and Mandas are coming through in the keepers position which is helpful. Time to give Vlachodimos some competition.

If we can get Karetsas aswell then we are cooking. I’m optimistic with the new coach I just hope he knows that Bakasetas needs to start on the bench from now on. Bouchalakis doesn’t deserve to play either so I hope Zafeiris and Alexandropoulos step up and perform like I know they can. 

Thought I give my view about the team. It’s been a while. I just want the best for the national team and Greek football as a whole. 

Thanks 🙏 

Great points. Bakasetas should be utilized as a sub going forward. I admire his dedication to the NT but he isn’t in good form. He had a very good Euro qualifying campaign with some nice goals and good link up play but his performance in the match with Georgia was very disappointing. He made way too many errors and sloppy passes and he did not even break a sweat. Also he missed his penalty which is a rarity. 
Mantalos should not be getting anymore call ups. 
With all these talented young mids we have the future looks bright especially given the plethora of strikers we know have. Greece went years without having an option at the #9 when Mitroglou left. I am really looking forward to see how we play under Ivanovich. He has even opened the door for Fortounis to come back in the October window.

[J1078]

Looking forward to seeing a fresh start and some new faces in the line up. I have to agree with so many on here i personally think our lack of making it to tournaments has been our midfield which has been our weakest position ever since our last world cup appearance. Finally having someone that has some pace and skill in the midfield will be huge for this team. 

In regards to Backseats i went from not being able to stand the guy to admiring him for his passion for the Ethniki you can see it in him. Although he has produced many important goals he still can't be the starter on this team, for what he makes up with his powerful shot he lacks in speed, passing ability and overall creativity. i don't mind him coming off the bench i think he's at least earned that right to have a spot on the team but that's as far as it should go with him.

I still would have loved to see Fortounis on this team as we are still lacking someone with his talent to be able to create space and thread passes.

Now its up to the new coach to find a style of play that fits these players. I still have a feeling in this first game he will start some of the guys like Bakasetas and so on, so we may need to give him some slack the first few games.

Overall I'm pretty excited but again we NEED to finish 2nd in the Nations League we have to assume we will have a very difficult WC qualifiers draw based on our FIFA rankings.  I'm at the point where i don't think i can handle another missed tournament especially when i believe we have enough talented players to at least make tournaments.

 

 

[J1078]

 

[Dean97]

@Ellada2004 and @J1078

Well said. 
 

We should give Ivan some time. I think this new regime at EPO are genuinely aiming to make Greek football and the national team improve as a whole. 

I actually think these selections seem the most logical and make more sense than previous times. For example 2 RBs and 2LBs..

I agree Bakasetas should be on the bench at least. I’m hoping if Fortounis comes back then he starts instead. We also have young inform players at the moment like Tzolis, Koulierakis, ioannidis and Konstantelias so I hope they are involved in the starting 11. I want to see Alexandropoulos start. I think he has something to give. Give him a full 90 and see where it takes us. Most of our midfielders if not all haven’t had much playing time so we need to start using different players to see what works. 

I’m expecting a 2-0 win against Finland. Pavlidis is in good form. I’m hoping he starts scoring like he does for club. I’m giving this new era a chance.

what I want to see is this 

Tzolakis

Vagiannidis Mavropanos Koulierakis Tsimikas

Alexandropoulos Siopis

Masouras Telias Tzolis

Pavlidis

I know Bakasetas is probably starting. But this is what I think the team should mostly look like. Zafeiris should make an appearance. We need him capped as soon as possible. 

[ausgreek]

Baka's the skipper re maik..who's next skipper,  Mavro?

Edited September 7 by ausgreek

[HellasLEAF]

I like a lot of the suggestions Dean yes but I must agree a transition period would need to play out to see Bakasetas on the bench right now I feel.  Especially if we want all these young players in we don't have too many quality veterans.  

They will give him the same role to start.  For me I would use these two games and assess but be quick to make a change depending on how the game is playing out.  We can't waste these games and must play our most in form players.

The truth is Ivan has had almost no time to bed in his system or players and we are right into 2 important Nations League matches.  These matches are more important than our qualifying if I were to guess which will be an extremely difficult path regardless. 

Also not holding out any hope of Fortounis return anytime soon but would be a nice addition.  Maybe if we are looking close to qualifying for WC he sees the opportunity and jumps in.  

[PaokCT]

Hey look, your savior is playing the same players as the previous 3 head coaches!

[J1078]

Oh boy what a terrible line up. This guy is suppose to be very familiar with the Greek players??? Not a good first impression.

Bakestas, Mantolas, Bouchalakis, Pelkas all starting..

with the exception of a couple players  this might be one of the worst lineups I've seen in the last few years.

Edited September 7 by J1078

[kolokotronis99tripoli]

Welp … at least some youngsters are playing 🥹

[HellasLEAF]

Mantolas really.  Why do we persist with this player?   What do they see in him honestly.  Bouchalakis too.  

It's clear they are afraid to turnover the team too quickly and are playing it safe.  

I really hope Ivan is quick to sub.  And to be honest I know the praise is almost universal for him and what he did at PAO etc...  but is this guy really a General/Leader we need to take us forward in this new era? We will see..

Edited September 7 by HellasLEAF

[Omonoia9]

GREECE

 

1 Vlachodimos(GK)

15 Rota

4 Mavropanos

3 Koulierakis

21 Tsimikas

20 Mantalos

5 Bouchalakis

11 Bakasetas(Captain)

16 Chatzigiovanis

10 Pelkas

8 Ioannidis

 

BENCH

 

12 Tzolakis(GK)

13 Mandas(GK)

2 Vagiannidis

6 Galanopoulos

7 Tzolis

9 Douvikas

14 Pavlidis

17 Hatzidiakos

18 Konstantelias

19 Zafeiris

22 Giannoulis

23 Siopis

 

Manager: Ivan Jovanovic(SRB)