Qatar 2022 Qualifying

[Reaper]

So, JVS and captain Bakasetas' potential opponents :

Pot 1: Belgium, France, England, Portugal, Spain, Italy, Croatia, Denmark, Germany, Netherlands

Pot 2: Switzerland, Wales, Poland, Sweden, Austria, Ukraine, Serbia, Turkey, Slovakia, Romania

Pot 3: Russia, , Ireland, Czech Republic, Norway, Northern Ireland, Iceland, Scotland, Greece, Finland

Pot 4: Bosnia, Slovenia, Montenegro, Northern Macedonia, Albania, Bulgaria, Israel, Belarus, Georgia, Georgia, Luxembourg,

Pot 5: Luxembourg , Azerbaijan, Estonia, Kosovo, Kazakhstan, Lithuania, Latvia, Andorra

Pot 6: Malta, Moldova, Liechtenstein, Gibraltar, San Marino

Best case imo:

1: Denmark
2: Slovakia
4: Luxembourg
5: Andorra
6: San Marino

[Dean97]

Imagine if we get Turkey...

I having a feeling we will get Portugal or France from pot 1. In any case we should being aiming for top 2. It’s definitely doable. I feel Denmark could be tricky like Austria. We can’t take anyone for granted, also our team is made up of players that shouldn’t be there and Greece always makes it harder for themselves because of this.

JVS better start thinking about giving Manolas and Siovas a call.

[Reaper]

Imagine if we get Turkey...

I having a feeling we will get Portugal or France from pot 1. In any case we should being aiming for top 2. It’s definitely doable. I feel Denmark could be tricky like Austria. We can’t take anyone for granted, also our team is made up of players that shouldn’t be there and Greece always makes it harder for themselves because of this.

JVS better start thinking about giving Manolas and Siovas a call.

Not only that. Out of Mantalos, Fortounis and Bakasetas - VS has picked the worst one to be 10.

[Jsoul]

Φαν Σιπ: 'Θα κριθούμε από την προκριματική φάση του Μουντιάλ' | SPORT 24

[Jsoul]

For us it doesn't really matter who we get out of pot 1, Who comes out of Pot 2 will be the key team for us, Also avoiding Bosnia out of pot 4 is a must. I think this is the only way we get into a playoffs for a chance to make it world cup. maybe having a strong pot 1 opponent that wont drop points to any other team in our group with a weaker pot 2 team might be our best chance.

[aek66]

the manager has to have an epiphany and change the CM. i saw bouxa (2 goals) and kourbelis' goal against aek. i thought it was great that bouxa and kourbelis were in positions to score their 2nd goal against aris and goal against aek, respectively - unfortunately, they would rarely be in similar situations with the NT.

similar to the painful miss against slovakia, kourbelis basically did a tsaff on his goal. what was crucial giving kourbelis time in get into the box was the dribbling by pao's zagaritis. for years, we never saw this on the NT because of strikers playing wide. strikers who can't dribble and win time - no time on the ball, no runs into the box from a CM could be capitalized on.

if JVS is going to stick with the depressing, cookie-cutter, result-based scheme of 4-2-3-1...i'd play taxi and zeca as the double pivot and fortounis on top of them.

[aek66]

well, it looks like we're in group B:

spain-sweden-greece-georgia-kosovo

spain and sweden are also in the same 2020 euro final group.

[Jsoul]

its a tough group for us. Even the 4th and 5th pot teams are capable to take some points from us. Spain should go undefeated.

[Reaper]

Cant see a way out that group with Bakasetas, Mavrias/ Bakakis, Kourbelis etc..

[Dean97]

Cant see a way out that group with Bakasetas, Mavrias/ Bakakis, Kourbelis etc..

I agree with this. We need to upgrade in these positions.

[Amorgos]

Group was gona be tough no matter what.

JVS needs to learn from what happened in the UNL and build on our strengths.

Unless Bakakis picks up from, he cannot be playing for the Ethniki. We need to move on from Bakasetas, make better of the CM positions, I’m not a fan of Zeca-Kourbelis combo in games we need to win.

Stafylidis can not be part of this, need a good partner next to Hatzidiakos, this is where Manolas or Siovas would have been great.

I wouldn’t mind seen two strikers at some point. Tzolis needs to feature, as does Fortounis

[Amorgos]

Plenty of talk about this on our latest podcast

https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcas...=1000501706880

[Dean97]

As it seems JVS propably still wants Stafylidis and Bakasetas as captains. This is truly sabotaging any success we want to have. Even though JVS is ignoring Siovas and Manolas, we are truly stacked at CB and LB.

At CAM we have Mantalos and Fortounis who are 2nd and 3rd behind Bakasetas. If all of a sudden Bakasetas becomes faster and more skilful and starts scoring goals nearly every week for his club then he might be deserving to start for Greece. But realistically I don’t see that happening.

I don’t know if the 4-2-3-1 is the way to go. Our DMs never like making forward runs. Maybe in a 4-3-3 with anyone we put in midfield it can help make players make forward runs.

I really want to be optimistic but I find it hard to be when it seems like Stafylidis and Bakasetas are automatic starters and captain. We can’t carry players, everyone needs to play a role and certain players can’t be carrying other players. For example the way Fortounis has carried Bakasetas. We can only hope that changes happen.

[Amorgos]

We’re truly stacked at CB with mediocre options...

Seriously, who partners Hatzidiakos? I would love to see Mavropanos stay healthy but as the first game we prob need to see Tzavellas, Svarnas, if people have not seen is not for this level, Stafylidis would be suicidal.
Mihailidis possibly but hasn’t had many games under his belt

I would feel so much more comfortable with our best guys but they won’t be there which really sucks

[Dean97]

We’re truly stacked at CB with mediocre options...

Seriously, who partners Hatzidiakos? I would love to see Mavropanos stay healthy but as the first game we prob need to see Tzavellas, Svarnas, if people have not seen is not for this level, Stafylidis would be suicidal.
Mihailidis possibly but hasn’t had many games under his belt

I would feel so much more comfortable with our best guys but they won’t be there which really sucks

We just have to hope Mavropanos and Retsos are healthy and playing. We can all agree that Tzavellas, Stafylidis and Svarnas would get eaten alive against Spain and Sweden.