Greece x Kosovo

[Amorgos]

Come on, what’s with the Retsos obsession, good player but not a RB, he is not who we should be talking bout. Rota is picked as a RB, play him!!

Very disappointing stuff from players and coach, same line up that struggled against Moldova, are you kidding me!
It was clear as day we were not gonna score so make subs earlier!

A lot of Skibbe tactics which is very scary, sick of seen players out of position with no pace when we need it.

On the players... got ourselves in great positions for goals but no one could pass to someone in front of goal! So frustrating!!

Now we are second and have a derby with Slovenia

[Dean97]

I knew we were going to have a poor performance and luckily I didn’t waste my sleep and watch. As I always watch every Ethniki match. I haven’t missed a game since Euro 2012. Since then I’ve watched every game live.

I just knew we were going to be poor. I will watch later when I have time but from watching the highlights, finishing is our biggest issue as usual. After reading so many comments today I feel like we are going backwards. I also feel we are not playing the way were at the end of last year.

Van’t Schip is showing signs of Skibbe which is making me feel a little uneasy. But he has at least made Greece look like a modern side at least. From defending and scraping 1-0 victories against the likes of Malta, we are now dominating with the ball. Still though our final pass and finishing hasn’t improved. When your struggling to put teams like Kosovo and Moldova away there are still obvious problems that haven’t been addressed. I couldn’t believe he started the same team from the Moldova game.

[Kojak]

JVS has had less success in football management than Skibbe, with limited success in his stints in Australia, and unsuccessful stints everywhere else. The guy is performing to the best of his abilities, this is all we will get. If at minimum he can instill some stability to the squad the he has succeeded, we then need someone else to take us forward.

He was handed a disjointed rabble, which he seems to have put into some order, but he is definitely not the guy to take us that next step.

[aek66]

when limnios needs to tell the RB where and when to make a run - do you blame the CB playing RB? does this give an idea what will happen to limnios if greece goes to 3 in the back and only 1 wide player in a 3-5-2?

i'm a staunch 4-3-3 man, with the inverted CM, opposed to the garbage 4-2-1-3; which we can't play because our 1 attacking CM is not a world-class acm and the left fwd is...? is it really someone who can play the wing?

i watched the algeria-mexico friendly and the algerian CM bennacer, scored from 20 yards out, because he was 20 yards from goal, not 55 yards from goal. our CMs are hideous and the 4-2-1-3 forces them to play too deep. algeria was playing mexico, not kosovo, and the algerian CMs were in realistic positions to score, not shake hands with their terrible CBs.

i'll give jvs the benefit of the doubt - a work in progress.

[Dean97]

Good points aek66.

I watched the replay of the game and I remember to what you were alluding to with Limnios. I remember him telling other players to make runs to the right. I remember he was mostly speaking to Kourbelis. I feel sorry for us that we don’t have proper CMs.

I remember at least 3 times where Bakasetas ruined our attacks mostly because of his poor touch. We can’t have this happening all the time. Pelkas and Fortounis ball control and touches made Bakasetas look inferior. Fountas is a good player and so is Pavlidis. It’s not entirely their fault they couldn’t score in my opinion. I would have Zeca there still I think but not with Kourbelis. Zeca can steal the ball without expecting it and start our attacks immediately. It just depends how consistent he can be. Bouchalakis looked like he had a bad game but I don’t blame him. There wasn’t enough clever movement mostly because Kosovo defended really tightly. We also lacked proper imagination with the ball.

I also don’t know why we don’t play a proper left winger. Lamprou, Chatzigiovannis and Fetfatzidis can all play there. I don’t know if Tzolis is a winger but I know he can score goals. I think he should be more in the box as a false 9 or out and out striker. I’m keen on hearing anyone else’s opinion on this...

[aek66]

yeah, from what i remember from the kosovo match, bakaseta was a move-killer. kosovo helped us out by playing at a quick pace - when kosovo would lose possession, greece looked dangerous for 2 seconds and then bakaseta would spoil the move. when greece slowed the ball down, did nothing but sideways passes. why get angry with bakaseta?? this is who he is and we know who he is. the manager plays him.

donis is hardly mentioned anymore - he did play yesterday and got sent off. i know donis is a very selfish player, but, i believe the greece side overall, is better with him in the 11.

[aek66]

bouxalaki is not intl. quality..ridiculous attempt at goal after not knowing what to do with the ball earlier on.

never developed, almost zero technique. having no technique, he needs time instead - to collect/gather/think/execute pass or shoot. no time given to you in the CL and against motivated opponents in greece intl. matches. he couldn't handle a soft pass with a 'touch' on his strongest left foot today - ball clangs 10 yards away - ball ends up in osfp goal 4 seconds later. killer goal to concede. no surprise to me that 2nd division (old category) forest dumped him.

i hate to pick on him or others, but it's very obvious. it's not his fault. his managers at all levels start him.

the old bug-a-boo. greek players with rotten technique and low levels of concentration. you're 25 yards from your goal. you need to concentrate as your opponent is pressing.