FIFA World Ranking

[Rockafeller Skank]

13 hours ago, Amorgos said:

Ummm, how about calling up better players and Skibbe stops making the same mistakes over and over again

problem is who do u call instead of Oikonomou? Young, in the NTe from the beginning of his career, in a good serie a team mostly starter.

Diamantakos a striker good enough for Bundesliga 2, young enough to give room for development. Vellios also decent in Championship. Tziolis no reason. I hope Siopis and Zeca become valid mifield for the rest of this campaign, coz clearly the Samaris/Maniatis aint working. Otherwise just kick Maniatis i d be happy with that as well. I respect maniatis and i like him as a player. But he just cant anymore. He is unfit for matches. If he gets a signing at a decent team in January good, but otherwise we ve lost the midfield vs almost every team we ve played.

Edited December 3, 2016 by Rockafeller Skank

[Dean97]

Why is it that Greek players become good players and stars at the age of 25-27. I can't remember having superstars below that age. Only one I can remember is Ninis. K.Papadopoulos is another. Sokratis started playing well when he moved to Dortmund. 

Right now Retsos is a good up and coming player that is playing regularly for Olympiakos. Fortounis from 2 years ago to now has improved drastically and never have thought he would be the player he is today. Manolas has shocked me even more. The players that bringing positiveness in Greek football are Fortounis, Sokratis, Manolas and Mitroglou. Without these players the national team is going no where. 

I rate Samaris highly as brings intelligence and some sense to the midfield, plus he is tall. Other players like Tachtsidis and Karelis bring me hope. The rest are either hopeless(Tziolis) disappointing (Ninis, Fetfatzidis), very average (Diamantakos, Gianniotas and Bakasetas) and on the decline (Torosidis). 

Also Vellios and Stafylidis are on the right track of development but then again they will become stars late in their careers.

I forgot to mention Mantalos. He is a very good footballer. He is very unique as he can tackle, pass the ball well and work off the ball well. He is a good addition to the team but I don't want to see him at RW. He would do for now there as there is no one.

[Dean97]

I want to also add that players like Bouchalakis and Pelkas should be killing it either in the Greek League or abroad because of their age.

[georgelaz]

most players soccer prime is 25-28. The male body and brain in general doesn't full mature until 25, actually.

CB A bit later 28-31. GK a bit more 30-33. IMO

[Rockafeller Skank]

GK is a matter of instinct and reaction time. So no, although goalkeepers at 30 have more experience and are trained to react fast, their good age ,according to human capabilities, is also a bit younger. But experience plays a big role so they can keep up performing top level after 35.

CB is also about experience, expecting what the opponent is gonna try, and also learning to be as annoying as possible without the ref noticing. But I guess the 2nd part is taught at the academies.

[Argy]

On 03/12/2016 at 6:30 PM, Dean97 said:

Why is it that Greek players become good players and stars at the age of 25-27. I can't remember having superstars below that age. Only one I can remember is Ninis. K.Papadopoulos is another. Sokratis started playing well when he moved to Dortmund. 

Sokratis was good before Dortmund, which is why he was signed by Genoa, Milan and Bremen, but he took it to the next level at Dortmund, because of setting, age and experience. He stood out at WC 2010 when he was 22. which is like standing out as a teenager for a striker. 

K Papadopoulos was a phenom at 18 and if it wasn`t for his injuries, he would be in the same category as Sok and Manolas atm. 

Manolas moved to Roma at 23 and he was good even before then. 

Aside from the aforementioned CBs, and for Ninis and Fetfa that did not pan out as we expected, Greece has not had any stand out youngsters that have delivered consistent quality. That, although, may have a lot to do with the league that develops them. The Greek superleague is not where you want to nurture your talent. The lucky ones garnered enough attention to merit a transfer to a better league where they can develop properly and reach their potential by 25-27. 

[Dean97]

Sokratis is now 28. Manolas is 25. There is no arguing that Manolas is developing and becoming better than Sokratis was at 25. Also they are both rated 84 on FIFA 17. In my opinion Sokratis is slightly better, but not much. Sokratis is better in terms of composure on the ball. Everything else is the same. They are both good in the air, strong, and fast. I also believe that K.Papadopoulos would be better than both of them right now if it wasn't for his injuries. 

Now with Ninis and Fetfatzidis. They both were really talented at 18. Actually Ninis at 16 was very promising. They both should have left Greece at 20. 

I just can't understand why other countries have more depth than us. Italy, Spain, Portugal, Germany, France,Croatia, Brazil and Argentina. 

They all have a big talent pool to choose from. 

[Argy]

15 hours ago, Dean97 said:

Sokratis is now 28. Manolas is 25. There is no arguing that Manolas is developing and becoming better than Sokratis was at 25. Also they are both rated 84 on FIFA 17. In my opinion Sokratis is slightly better, but not much. Sokratis is better in terms of composure on the ball. Everything else is the same. They are both good in the air, strong, and fast. I also believe that K.Papadopoulos would be better than both of them right now if it wasn't for his injuries. 

Now with Ninis and Fetfatzidis. They both were really talented at 18. Actually Ninis at 16 was very promising. They both should have left Greece at 20. 

I just can't understand why other countries have more depth than us. Italy, Spain, Portugal, Germany, France,Croatia, Brazil and Argentina. 

They all have a big talent pool to choose from. 

Mainly because their development programs are light-years ahead of Greece`s. 

[Dean97]

On 06/12/2016 at 9:11 AM, ProudHellene said:

Because our young offensive players tend to get ahead of themselves and not put in the time and effort to focus on developing their endurance, strength, technique etc. 

they get too big-headed for their own good

Good example would be Ninis and Fetfatzidis. Mantalos and Fortounis look like they are improving month by month. I just looked at the highlights the last game AEK played and Mantalos was doing everything. He is the heart of the team. Fortounis although is getting better and is a really talented player, sometimes shows he is a bit lazy in the game. But he is very talented and he must be working very hard in training with Olympiakos and by himself.

Edited December 7, 2016 by Dean97

[georgelaz]

realistically we aren't any worse than top 30 imo

[AEK86]

Not too fussed with our ranking; most of those teams ranked ahead of us would give us a hard time. Not saying we couldn't nick a result, but it would be hard.

Heck, when you're struggling against the Estonias of the world, you probably don't deserve to be top 40, let alone top 25... 

[Argy]

AEK86, one thing to remember is that they would say the same thing about us. Your assessment says less about the state of the Greek NT and more about the parity in international football, especially in Europe. Anybody can beat anyone on any given day.

Just take a look at other groups in WC qualifying, we have one of the best records to date and even if we consider a loss in Belgium next match we would be 3-1-1; better than most those teams ahead of us in the rankings. Did we absolutely dominate Cyprus and Estonia? No. We did not play great, but our football isn`t attractive even when we do. Nevertheless, we got results, while many other teams with better FIFA ranking have been dropping points left and right to ''inferior'' sides. 

Edited December 9, 2016 by Argy

[georgelaz]

I think Turkey is a bit better than us, they're underachievers. We can take them but they have way more flair in attack. Their defense isn't too shabby either, Toprak is solid. Also they have Ozil And Gundogan who play for Germany.

Luckily, in tournaments I think defense wins championships. Yes they have a great attack but they aren't near the level of attack that Spain, or Argentina possess. So if they're fighting fire with fire, they'll lose 9 times out of 10. Whereas we can absorb the attack and just capitilize on a few mistakes.

Also mind you, they have a population of 80 million and we have 11 million.

[Rockafeller Skank]

Good defensive mechanism of a team relies on the forwards as well. Utilizing 2-3 chances you ll create in a whole 90' game was something greece was good at with Samaras Salpigidis and Karagounis. Thats why these players sticked to the NT for longer than most of you would want them to.

[ausgreek]

+

Edited December 13, 2016 by ausgreek

[Nikitas]

dropped 1 spot to #43.

http://www.fifa.com/fifa-world-ranking/ranking-table/men/

[Dean97]

If we beat Belgium I expect us to be in the top 30 for sure.

[Rockafeller Skank]

a decent result in the upcomming 3 matches 2 vs belg and 1 vs bosnia , expecting 2 draws, would mean we have good chances of qualifying, and maybe evengive us a ranking boost

[Dutch Eagle]

Today the new list was released and we dropped 3 spots to #46.

[georgelaz]

realistically, we're no worse than top 30. our euro campaign - however deserving - put a dent in our rankings.

[Brklyngrk]

Can't dispute the rankings, they are based on results over the previous four or five years, anyone can calculate the rankings. The subjectivity that used to prop up certain countries has been removed.  There may be a certain bias towards European countries based on the fact most of the top rated countries are European (you can score more points against better opposition). Numbers don't lie!!!

 

[J1078]

Right now Greece deserves to be in that spot and I don't think we deserve to be any higher at this point.

[kbxk508]

We went from a team that could scrape wins against minnows, 1-0 vs Malta, 1-0 vs Lithuania to a team that loses to FI, Finland, NI and Belarus at home. To get back into top 25, we need to build a new Hellas, one that not only can consistently beat minnows but that can compete and beat Europe's best. Home should be a fortress. We have good players imo, Karnezis, Soc, Manolas, K Pap, Samaris, Toro, Stafylidis, Mantalos, Fortounis and Mitroglou but lack depth and a true leader in the middle of the park. Fortounis and Mantalos need to get out of Greece and find clubs in Europes top leagues, imo. Coach should bring good young talent into the squad to build depth and develop the squad.

2017 will be an important year for Greece. Belgium match and the away match to Bosnia will confirm which direction we are heading with Scibbe.

[J1078]

^ I agree.  And yes we are lacking depth and a true leader eespecialy in our Mid positions but let's be honest there is something a lot more going because the teams we lost to shouldn't have really mattered how much talent we had in our mid position. The teams we lost to don't even come close to the players we have on the field. The teams you mentioned above that we lost to should be proof of that. If Fortounis and Mantalos play in Europe for a decent side I can't see them getting the minutes that they are getting now but if they did then it would benefit them for sure.  I'm one of the few that is still completely disappointed how we've played this campaign and I only think it's a matter of time before we completely get exposed. I still think this team is going to have issues for years and our FIFA rankings will continue to be where we are now. I also don't think Skibbe is the guy who can turn this club around and I'm pretty sure that will show in our nhouse story couple of matches.

[Dean97]

I wonder what this new Hellas is. It can't get any new than what it is. Unless your talking about bringing Retsos and Limnios in the team. They are both 18 and need more time to be considered. Androutsos is another player who looks like the real deal. I didn't mind how we have played lately in this campaign, all I care is that if we are winning. Can we play better, yes but we should be thankful that we are winning and not losing. We beat Cyprus and Estonia 2-0, usually we would be scraping 1-0 wins against these teams. The worst game I've seen us play was against Bosnia. That game was the worst game from us so far. Thank goodness for our defense otherwise we would of lost 3-1. We can't just rely on Fortounis and Mantalos. Mitroglou has to be on fire to have any chance of making it to the world cup.