Qatar 2022 Qualifying

[Greekfreak]

What about Athanasiadis? Looks like a emo barman at some new trendy dive bar.. never lifted weights in his life..

I've never been a gym rat and when I was in the ballpark of being one, I knew enough intuitively what parts of my body needed strengthening for what I was doing--the modern Greek player seems to subsist on a steady diet of frappe, Dunhills and semen.

No problem watching kids play football, but have a real problem when kids play at the men's level.

[Reaper]

I've never been a gym rat and when I was in the ballpark of being one, I knew enough intuitively what parts of my body needed strengthening for what I was doing--the modern Greek player seems to subsist on a steady diet of frappe, Dunhills and semen.

No problem watching kids play football, but have a real problem when kids play at the men's level.

[Dean97]

As a passionate fan and as a person who deeply cares about our national team, I’ve been doing some reflecting and figuring out and wanted to bring up the point of Bakasetas and Stafylidis in the team. These 2 players are our captains and I’ve been thinking about it and I finally understand why JVS wants them as captains and starting. These 2 players would propably die for the national team. There attitude and determination is unparalleled. No one has the same drive, determination and passion as they do for the team. That’s why JVS wants them as captains because they lead by example. He wants his players to show the same amount of passion if not more than these 2.

I really appreciate Bakasetas and Stafylidis passion and drive for Greece. One of the main reasons we have failed badly as a team is because we lost our most influential leaders like Karagounis and Katsouranis. Now that JVS has come in, he has said over and over that he wants players to fight for the shirt and Baka and Stafy have stepped up in terms of working the hardest and showing the coach how much they want to play for the shirt.

They both have the right intentions but they massively lack the quality and talent, especially in there positions. But I don’t think they can take Greece to another level. No one trusts Stafylidis at CB and he is far inferior to the other LBs we currently have. As for Bakasetas most people would agree that he should be the 4th choice behind Fortounis, Mantalos and Pelkas.

I understand what JVS is trying to do with setting up the team. He wants ball playing CBs. Hatzidiakos, Svarnas, Tzavellas, Stafylidis, Siovas and Lampropoulos aren’t exactly your typical tough, hard hitting CBs. So he wants the team to play out from the back and start the build up from the back. We have a problem at RB which in my opinion is our weakest position. 2 players have tried there hardest to play there but aren’t fulfilling expectations. At LB he has a good headache. Tsimikas, Giannoulis and Kyriakopoulos are all capable to do the job there.

In midfield, he has heavily relied on Kourbelis to be the defensive midfielder. He has started every game since JVS started. I’m not overly impressed by him (especially on the ball) but he covers a lot of ground and does the defensive shielding needed. Zeca is the same player but does double the work load. As for Bouchalakis, I can’t put my finger on what he actually is or what his best position is. He isn’t a 6 or 8. So what is he? He isn’t fast enough or technically good enough to be a box to box. He also isn’t the greatest tackler or defender so as a 6 he isn’t good enough there. He has better ball skills than Zeca and Kourbelis but isn’t the answer to what we need. These players have been playing nearly every match. Galanopoulos seems to be the only midfielder who can do the job as an 8 and 6. I’ve yet to see Vasiliadis play for Greece to make a judgement. I desperately want to see how he does with us.

To conclude, all I want is the best for this team. If I could be honest, I have been impressed with what JVS has done so far. We have looked like a different team than in the past. More attacking and we’ve been holding onto possession more. We seem like we have a plan. Everyone is expected to follow the coaches instructions and the coach has set up serious rules that everyone must follow. These are all good things. I just hope he gets it right come the qualifiers. Ofcourse improvements need to be made.

What we also must realise is that we haven’t got players that compete at the highest level. PAOK and AEK got eliminated in Europe and Olympiakos have had a disastrous champions league campaign. Most of our experienced players like Sokratis, Samaris and Mitroglou are not there anymore aswell. I just hope JVS knows what he’s doing and gives us a fighting chance for 2nd.

I know this is a long post but I’m sure everyone can understand what this team means to me. I’m grateful I get to share this with people who have the same interests as I do. Along with being patriotic the national team is my favourite team that I follow, more so than Olympiakos and Manchester United because this team has given me many good memories and I’ve also been intrigued with the passion that Greek football offers.

[Reaper]

I think we all want the best for the team and when often faced with unwatchable NT football we all have various theories on how to improve the team. Some believe we lack heart, others we are too weak etc. Others question the coach and federation. For me it is simply terrible selections by mediocre managers of players with little to no technical ability. To top off it off, those poor quality players are often played out of position to hamstring the team further before a ball is even kicked..

However the orb that shields this failure is undoubtedly the Greek media and its low expectations. Same with the Turkish problems, same with almost everything in Greece. Greece`s media is obsessed with pensions, interest rates and covid. With football there is rarely any decent analysis at all.

I do not believe in heart and passion being key to winning games unlike 95% of the Greek media. I believe when a team filled with professionals plays well it gives itself confidence and this confidence evolves. Leaders emerge naturally. I don't think a passionate and die for the shirt Bakasetas or Staf tripping over the ball lifts the team 1%. I think it is the opposite. Someone who can't trap a football wearing the captain`s armband has a negative effect - like having a captain of a ship who is a flat earther.. it doesn't inspire confidence, just depression and frustration.

I would have liked to have seen an intelligent coach with experience in Greece such as a Michel or Valverde. However EPO politics ended that dream. There is not a dearth of talent in Greece - but there is enough with the correct manager to dominate teams like Kosovo and Moldova..

Football has changed. This is not the 80s where a team can have 2 or 3 passengers and still win. Fitness levels - even for average NT sides, are through the roof. A fully fit Slovenia or Slovakia would damage an Italy or Spain if Italy or Spain were stupid enough to include just 2 players like Bakasetas or Bakakis in the 11. Every player Greece selects for the 11 has to be the most reliable available and the strongest possible. For me even a Retsos at RB is preferable to a mistake prone Bakakis.. Bakasetas is the 4th best 10 Greece has if that. Tzolis is better and more consistent than Pelkas/Limnios etc etc.. Tsimikas is miles better than almost all our other LBs.

Football has also changed in that managers for other NT teams are more intelligent. In the old days you could play more than one player out of position and still win a game. That is because that player - although out of position - could dominate weaker teams to cover his inexperience of that particular position. Whether a player was shoehorned into an 11 out of position due to bribery, federation politics, locker room politics etc etc.. it could be made to work just about. A good example was Maniatis. He was a genuinely determined RB but he was converted to a CM and against weaker teams he fitted in fine. Against better teams it was 50/50. Either way, the experiment in the main worked. These days - Stafylidis/Tzavellas/Kyriakopoulos at CB is pure nonsense. It is asking for trouble. Greece is simply not good enough to play players out of position and expect to win like Brazil or Spain do. Other team's managers are smarter than than our own. They know an average RB is better placed to start at RB - than a CM, CB or LB who has 'passion' or whatever Skibbe/JVS thinks their talentless favourites bring to the table.

I think this should be the core:

.........................................Vlaxo..............................

Retsos.................Manolas.........Hadji...........Tsimikas


....Androutsos/Mandalos/Ninis....Bouxa...............


Fetfa/Masouras/Limnios...................................Tzolis

......................................Fortounis.......................


.........................Foundas.........................

The centre midfield is a disgrace talent wise. Zeca/Kourbelis and Bouxa are not good enough. I only chose Bouxa because of his height, he is exposed to CL football and he is probably the best passer of the 3. Kourbelis is slow and an average passer - fairly poor positionally too. Zeca is all running with little talent. Siopis has failed to evolved. The reason I put an AM as CM is because I believe against weaker teams, two or three slow defensive minded DMs is just stupid. Mandalos for me would make a good 8. He never recovered from his injury properly and is slower than before but he has all the instincts to be a good a good 8. He is not as a good as Fortounis and is wasted on the wings. His passing and aggression could be useful behind a 10. Until a decent RB emerges, Retsos is the safest pair of hands there, he often played RB for Olympiacos at CL level, has a huge engine and he can also get forward well. Bakakis is absolutely useless. Strikers are also fairly useless but out of them all Fountas is the most prolific at club level in a fairly professional league and should be given a run of games.

[Dean97]

Fantastic post Reaper. I agree with everything you’ve said. I would love to see that line up. The coach has to start thinking of putting Mantalos as an 8. We have other wingers like Tzolis and Masouras who are scoring and assisting nearly every week. Also if Ninis or Androutsos get consistent games then they should be considered. That backline is awesome. I doubt we will see Fetfa back in the team. He absolutely killed it when he was playing for Aris. He has finishing problems but imagine if all those other chances he created pulled off. He would’ve had at least like 10 goals with 15 assists last season.

If we are so sure what works for this team than it makes me wonder why coaches are not executing at least 50-60% of what we are talking about? I know we are not professional coaches and we’re just fans but what is it that they see that we don’t. We are not at the training sessions and we don’t know the players personalities but on the field it’s not hard to see how certain players are missing certain attributes to there game.

[Dean97]

Just curious Repaer, you seem to favour the 4-2-3-1 a lot. What other formation do you think would suit us and why?

[Reaper]

Just curious Repaer, you seem to favour the 4-2-3-1 a lot. What other formation do you think would suit us and why?

I like the 4-2-3-1 because it gives to option of dominating possession and playing on the counter. If Greece had some tall strikers with good finishing I would be tempted by a 4-3-1-2 with Fortounis as the 10 and an 8 in place of a winger depending on the strength of opponents. However, i don't like sacrificing symmetry unless needed.

[Dean97]

Fair enough. We have Giakoumakis and Pavlidis scoring in the Netherlands but they do go missing for Greece.

I liked when JVS played a 4-3-3 against Cyprus and played two 10s. It was a breath of fresh air aswell as having 2 wingers and only 1 DM. Don’t know why he didn’t continue that since we looked very good with that formation. A lot people want to see Greece play 3-5-2 because of the depth we have at CB. I wouldn’t mind it but we have to play someone at RWB that’s fast and really good in attack. 2 players come to mind and that’s Giannis Masouras and Vagiannidis. Masouras has been doing well in Poland and apparently there was a statistic that said he is just slightly faster than Mbappe. This tells you how fast he is. He used to be involved in Athletics before football.

Also there have been rumours of Olympiakos wanting him back in January.

[Reaper]

Masouras has been doing well in Poland and apparently there was a statistic that said he is just slightly faster than Mbappe. This tells you how fast he is. He used to be involved in Athletics before football.

Also there have been rumours of Olympiakos wanting him back in January.

No idea he had moved. When he was at Oly he looked more than serviceable.

[Amorgos]

Sweden beat Spain and Kosovo beat Georgia today... these are not good results for us, we must win both games now... Oh boy...

[Dean97]

Sweden beat Spain and Kosovo beat Georgia today... these are not good results for us, we must win both games now... Oh boy...

Yeah no room for error. We also need to score more than 1 goal against Kosovo. 2 wins are a must. Both games won’t be easy.

[Dikefale11]

Bakasetas with the penalty in thr 89th minute!

0-1 away in Georgia

[Dikefale11]

Pelkas 2-0 in thr 95th to seal it.

[Soprano76]

Should have been an easier win. If Greece tied this game I would have been calling for the coach to be fired. He got lucky there...

[Reaper]

He's not lucky, EPO have decided he is untouchable, that is why Zagorakis left. If he fails to qualify.. again... his job is still safe.