The Cyprus Tournament

[loup]

otto had two years to plan some sort of defense without his golden child dellas. he failed to do so miserably. without dellas our defense isnt a strong as it was in the euro and pre euro days. it is no surprise we didnt qualify for the world cup. without dellas we have no defense.

this shouldnt be. antzas is a good defender. tavlaridis seems to be great in france. kiriakos is very good too.

from what i remember kiriakos and tavlaridis were the central defense in the greek u-21 side some time ago. given that and guys like antzas, goumas as other options i believe we may have one of the best central defensive lineups in europe. we should have problems everywhere but not in the central defense.

unfortunately otto likes to make things complicated and tavlaridis seems not to be in his plans. good knows why. as of now everybody and his brother have been nominated in the rebuild phase, except for tavlaridis, who is a starter in the french league on a good team.

i believe if tavlaridis would be a german, he would play in germanys nt, in france too, england maybe, netherlands...but not in greece. ridiculous!

also sooner or later we have to find out wherher kafes has the potential to start in midfield or whether he is just a sub. and will remain one...

good memory - vs Belgium

1-S.Kotsolis; 13-E.Nastos (18-D.Salpingidis 58), 6-S.Kyrgiakos (17-X.Gitas 78),

5-E.Tavlaridis, 3-K.Loumpoutis, 7-I.Amanatidis (11-G.Theodoridis 46), 2-C.Patsatzoglou,

4-G.Kyriazis, 14-K.Katsouranis, 16-A.Charisteas, 9-D.Papadopoulos

[DUDE]

to be honest, i think otto should have spent much more time on developing an offense...anything to get rid of stelios playing on the left.

Stelios plays on either flank for Bolton and drifts so why not for Greece? The difference is that Greece are a defensive side, because of that Otto believes that he can't afford to allow Stelios to roam in a free role. I disagree with Otto. Let Stelios move with his instincts, he gets into great positions and GETS GOALS! The best I've seen Stelios play for Greece in a while was against Turkey away where he roamed! So the problem is not so much that he starts on the left, but more the fact that he is stuck there, no freedom!

as far as kafes, sure...why not? if karagounis plays as bad as he did during the w.c. qualifiers, i would give kafes a chance. as long as otto doesn't stick kafes in a semi-defensive role, then kafes will be wasted.

Totally agree Aek66. Kafes has flair and great passing ability, if Karagounis isn't pulling his weight he should be given a shot.

our central midfield is one of the most negative in europe, otto usually allows 1 (karagounis) out of the 3 to constantly play up.

You have to look at the balance of the team to understand that Otto has to play this central midfield. You have said Dellas is slow, and Kapsis isn't quick either. Neither are Tavlaridis, Goumas, or Kyriakos. Without the protection of 2 defensive midfielders our defense would be exposed to pace and movement, in short, against a good side we'd be torn apart! The other option would be to play Seitaridi as a centre-back then you could afford to play an extra attacking midfielder, but then we lose his excellent runs down the flank. Seitaridis, on his day, is the best right-back in EUROPE, we can't afford to lose what he offers. Our only hope for qualification is to get Dellas fit again, and pray that Samaras can develop quickly enough to provide directness to frontline. Otto has to get Basinas more involved in general play too. The man is a consumate player when on form, he protects and creates. We can qualify but not as simply as everyone thinks.

:gr: :gr: :gr:

[aekrossoponti]

well otto has to give kafes a chance to prove his worth soon. it may well be that he wont live up to the expectations. but we need to know.

i see a 4-5-1 probably the most realistic option.

...niko..

giourkas..tav(antzas)..soto..fyssas

........kats.....basinas...

.......karagounis(kafes).....

stelios...................lagos

.........samaras............

although i strongly dislike the prospect of a lone striker. but every player except for maybe karagounis has to play. which leaves us with the decision karagounis or one extra striker (charisteas/pap).

i would prefer a 4-4-2 but dont see it as strong given that we need two def mids. its gonna be even harder if zagorakis wont retire. because hes a given for otto.