Suggested Call Ups/Starting 11

[Dean97]

Don Giovanni Just curious who do you prefer at LB. Surely Koutris made a claim for it with his performance. His speed to come back and then to go forward is very advantageous to the team.

Im not convinced that Bakasetas is done yet. To have 20 caps means something. What did he do in the nations league to warrant another call. What did he do in general in those 20 caps to receive another? I see what your saying in terms of chemistry with Bakakis and Bakasetas in one flank for club and Mavrias and Kolovos in one flank too. Mavrias can overtake Bakakis but I haven’t seen him play at RB to comment. Any other Greek winger would have been better than Bakasetas.

[Dikefale11]

Thing about Bakasetas is he is not a winger, simple as. He does not possess the speed or trickery generally needed to play as a winger. So he is never going to play to his full potential on the flanks and most if not all of his 20 odd caps have been on the wing. His natural position is a second striker playing just behind the striker. Livaja occupies that spot at AEK and when he is not playing its Mandalos there usually. The few times he has played in that position he has excelled and has scored some big goals for us. He excelled there at Panionios too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rOKJupL8SKM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3vL2dhaIRC4


Again, most of if not all of his assists/goals come through the middle.

[Dean97]

I had that in mind aswell. He did play on the wing most of the time for Greece and did nothing. I knew what he was capable of in the middle and that’s his natural position. Still not good enough in my opinion and has regressed massively in my opinion over the year. He’s not the same player in those videos.

[Don Giovanni]

Dean97

I'd prefer Holebas at LB. I really do hope he can be convinced to play for Greece in the next two matches, but I'm not holding out on it. Right now, the LB position belongs to Koutris.

Bakakis has to settle his nerves and improve the quality of his play. He's not at the level Greece needs. His energy is the only asset he has. With that said, he's nowhere near the same level of quality as Torosidis, who is at the level of player we need, but who is getting old and must soon be replaced. We don't have any adequate replacements at RB.

Mavrias may or may not prove to be a better option than Bakakis. Whatever the case he can't be that much worse than Bakakis, who so far has shown that he's not good enough to command the RB position as his own. Also because Kolovos' stock has risen, whereas Bakasetas' stock has fallen, this elevates Mavrias' standing too. Anastasiadis rates players who already have developed chemistry and familiarity from experience they have playing together day in, day out. That kind of chemistry doesn't come easy on the national team level.

To be honest though, I'm thinking like Ethnikos, that if Torosidis is out injured or suspended, we'll turn to either a full-back in the form of someone like Retsos if we still continue to play with four at the back. If we go three at the back, then we might play someone who is more of a winger or midfielder, rather than a true wing-back, in a 5-man midfield. In the end, it's possible that Mavrias and Bakakis might not be suitable to be in the Greek squad in the years to come.

When Torosidis is back in the team, we can only accept one of them into the squad. That one appears to be Mavrias at the moment.

Bakasetas has to prove himself again with AEK. He's been given enough chances with Greece and has nothing to show for it. It's time for someone else to take his place in the squad and be given a chance to prove their worth like he has been given.

[Amorgos]

Great post Don! I whole heatedly agree with all that. Mavrias and Valerianos (plays RB for Aris although preferred foot is left) should get a shot at RB

Bakasetas is nothing, shouldn't be a national team option

[Dean97]

Although Fortounis is better than Bakasetas I am not totally sold on Fortounis either. He shows glimpses of great things than stuffs up an easy chance. Reminds me a bit of Samaras in my opinion. Even though they play different positions they both have times where they are dopey and do the simple things wrong like the first touch or hold the ball too long and lose it instead of releasing it earlier.

I just watched highlights of Benfica wonder kid Joao Felix. The kid has amazing talent. Heaps better than any of our attacking players. The closest we can get to a player like this is Fetfatzidis or someone with impressive technique/vision. I believe we can only go so far with players like Masouras and Kolovos. Even Pelkas and Mantalos.

We also need someone with great intelligence in the midfield to accomodate players like Fortounis and Fetfatzidis. Samaris has hit his ceiling in my opinion and he is reaching 30. He is just a player that can give physical presence in terms of tackling, height and aggression. Also a player that can just play it out from the back with simple passes In keeping possession. Not someone with the brains to play a long unexpected pass to a striker/winger through on goal.

Until we see our youngsters develop properly abroad in countries that put emphasis on growing and improving into a real athlete/professional then we can see our true potential as a international team. I don’t want to be negative in any way but if you want to be realistic and you want to know where we are heading then we need to open our eyes and understand our talent pool. The ability is there in my opinion but it can only go so far when you are playing in the GSL.

I am more optimistic with our defence and keepers and i can see even more improvements happening. I like everyone else want to see the national team in a grand final of a major tournament again and witness success like Euro 2004 but realistically can it be done again?

[Don Giovanni]

Fortounis needs to build stamina and strength. He has all the other qualities needed to succeed at the highest levels. As things stand, he's better from the bench against really quality opposition. We need to play quick players who can press and chase. We can't afford a single player to play in the free role when we play a top team, which will be the case against teams like Spain, Belgium, France, Netherlands, Germany, etc. Italy are perhaps one of the few really strong sides where we can maybe get away with starting Fortounis. I think Tachtsidis will need to start against Italy either way.

Samaris plays with heart and at Benfica, he's playing at the highest level of any Greek midfielder. The one glaring problem is that physically he's slowing down. He no longer plays with the energy he once did. Also he still hasn't stepped up to the level we need him at. He has to take charge of games and boss teammates more like Katsouranis and Karagounis did. He needs to organize players better. I'm concerned he's becoming more and more like Tziolis instead. He plays too deep and with little to no influence outside of our half. If wants to play deep, he can play as a third CB and let Kourbelis do the mileage needed in the midfield.

[Dean97]

https://www.agonasport.com/agonaspor...ional-friendly
This is great news. We have set up a friendly with Turkey. Also we are trying to set up more friendlies before the match against Turkey. This will be good preparation for our two important matches in June. This shows we are taking it serious and it’s all thanks to the coach.

[Don Giovanni]

Also Austria and Germany are being discussed.

I think Anastasiadis wants to use the Turkey game as a sort of rematch of our last game to Bosnia. It will be interesting to see if he starts out with the same approach, a 3-4-2-1, but rejigged and better composed so we can settle the ball better because that seemed to be the real issue in that game.

Austria and Turkey are fairly even to us in terms of quality. Germany are undoubtedly a level or two beyond us and ideal for preparation to Italy. These are really good tests for Greece and will get the players properly in shape for the next match to Italy. Anastasiadis is no slouch.

[Amorgos]

Finally back to organizing friendlies! Good to see

[Dean97]

Yeah it sure is... Hopefully the call ups are even better than the last.

[Reaper]

No point in having friendlies like we had before where the 11 for big games was already set in stone and no one wanted to run or make a tackle in case they picked up an injury. Hellas needs a culture of friendlies where the players are told to play for their positions like other countries have.

[Dean97]

No point in having friendlies like we had before where the 11 for big games was already set in stone and no one wanted to run or make a tackle in case they picked up an injury. Hellas needs a culture of friendlies where the players are told to play for their positions like other countries have.

I know that’s happened in the past but aren’t you a bit optimistic? He and EPO are trying to set up matches with Austria and Germany aswell as the game against Turkey in order for us to be ready for our very important matches against Armenia and Italy. There will be no ball watching in the game against Turkey as this is always a huge match against our rivals. There will be a lot of running and tackling in that game aswell as Austria and Germany as they are no walk in the park. I’m very intrigued into what Angelos does in the call ups as we will potentially see 5 games played in the space of 4 weeks! I’m not complaining, the more games the Ethniki play the better.

[Don Giovanni]

The season ends too early in Greece and so Anastasiadis is trying to the players fit, both match-wise and physically.

I wonder if Anastasiadis sticks to what he set out with against Bosnia.

Anastasiadis seemed to recognize the need for a CAM/CM against Bosnia, which is why we saw Bouchalakis get the start over Masouras. Due to organizational issues and are inability to control the flow of the game, we went 2-0 down, and so Anastasiadis had Bouchalakis drop back as a pure CM and had Fortounis take over as CAM/CM. Fortounis took more control over the game (as Bosnia, more specifically Pjanic, began to sit more). Zeca then played higher up as a CAM until the second half when Masouras was introduced. Here Zeca pressed, but had less influence when Greece was in possession (prior to then he was giving away too much of the ball). By the 70th minute, Fortounis was physically too tired to hold any further influence, but with Bosnia now without Pjanic and a man down, Greece was able to keep control of the game (with or without Fortounis for that matter).

If we were to tweak things against Italy, I would bench Bouchalakis (who isn't getting consistent playing time) for Tachtsidis and bench Siovas for Manolas. Other than that, I'd keep the same starting formation against Bosnia. I'd encourage the defenders to interchangeably step out of defense, but mainly encourage Kourbelis to do so, like he ultimately did against Bosnia to very good effect. I think Greece should try something along these lines in the Germany and Turkey matches, games we will need to play more tightly, saving the Austria match to try out things geared for a more open game, like we saw after we adjusted ourselves at the start of the second half against Bosnia with the introduction of Masouras.

The only other big question left, in my mind, is do we play Fortounis and Mitroglou from the bench or do we start them against Italy? If we bring Mitroglou on late and start Fortounis, then Fortounis will be physically too tired during that period. It might make more sense starting Donis and Kolovos, with Kolovos leading the line. I'd bring Fortounis on at the half and then look to bring Mitroglou on in the last 10 minutes. In the match to Germany, I'd start Donis, Fortounis and Mitroglou and see how it goes. However you cut it, if Fortounis doesn't start, then Tachtsidis will need to start in order for Greece to press well and hold possession at all. We won't get that from anyone else other than Samaris, who plays too deep to press high effectively and to play the ball effectively in the opponent's half.

[Amorgos]

Good or bad, Bakakis will not be available for the Turkey or Italy/Armenia games due to surgery