Official Squads

[Reaper]

True. ^^

You want players who will die for the shirt. The most passion I have seen from Sokratis is him telling the cameras after our last qual campaign failure that Skibbe has to stay.. and Toro - saying that we are just not good at football and have to accept it.. Don't want people like that anywhere near the NT. Want people with hunger. Remember Gianniotas' debut? Running like a made man - scratching, fighting for the ball, pushing forward. Those are the types you want.

[Greekfreak]

I wrote similar on FB; I've followed Sokratis his entire career since he joined AEK, and from a coach's perspective you can't have senior players pooh-poohing your decisions or lack thereof and expect to be respected. I would have axed him from the squad as well. I give Van Schip credit for making a tough call. Not sure axing Manolas was such a great decision, but we'll see.

People forget that when we won Euro 2004, our core team was younger than he is now by far. And as another poster has already said, the first things Otto did was get rid of the big egos and prima donnas and thus he could focus on a group that was more cohesive.

The youth movement in football is not a little thing--players are getting faster, and typically faster means younger. If he wants a more high-tempo style, I'm all for it.

[Don Giovanni]

Italy have Chiellini who is 36 come Euro 2020 and here they are calling up De Rossi because Chiellini is injured.

We need Sokratis.

I thought we've been through this before, bringing in young players. Remember? Karagounis and Katsouranis were out, Tachtsidis and Samaris were in. Did you guys see Vrousai against Liechtenstein? Tsimikas? How do you think they will fare against Italy in Rome?

The coach is an idiot. I said before and I'll say it again, he should be coaching the u21 team, not the senior team. This coach will be gone after these two games.

[Reaper]

This coach will be gone after these two games.

The EPO does not move fast in these matters.

[Greekfreak]

Italy have Chiellini who is 36 come Euro 2020 and here they are calling up De Rossi because Chiellini is injured.

We need Sokratis.

I thought we've been through this before, bringing in young players. Remember? Karagounis and Katsouranis were out, Tachtsidis and Samaris were in. Did you guys see Vrousai against Liechtenstein? Tsimikas? How do you think they will fare against Italy in Rome?

The coach is an idiot. I said before and I'll say it again, he should be coaching the u21 team, not the senior team. This coach will be gone after these two games.

No he won't. They sacked Athanasiadis on the pressure given by Sokratis and Manolas, and if Van Schip has the temerity to axe the two of them, then the EPO has determined they're fed up with players deciding to close ranks on coaches they don't like.

Chiellini at 36 is still reams better than Sokratis. There's a quantum level of difference between the two in terms of football intelligence and tactical nous, not to mention sheer footballing history.

Our reservoir of talent has never been as deep as that of Italian football, so it's a moot point. By the time we got rid of Karagounis, he was running for five paces then diving hoping to draw a foul. We never replaced him properly, but who's fault is that? You don't keep a player until he's 40 because you don't have a replacement. You have to make do.

Katsouranis was less than useless by the end--FFS Charisteas scored one goal in a qualifier and we had retards on the other forum clamouring for his return. This campaign is well lost unless a bunch of results go our way in addition to winning every one we have left. With the oversized version of the Euro (twice in a row now) the fact that we can't qualify outright means we really don't deserve to be there. We have no excuses left.

[Reaper]

I hope if Manolas shows humility, he is allowed to return - just for his speed. The others I will not miss.

These next few games are a golden opportunity to test new players and expose them to international football. We should not waste this chance on players that have failed for the last three successive qualifying tournaments.

We need players that are hungry. Like this:



Not these types:

[Don Giovanni]

Anastasiadis had to go. You can't call up players like Valerianos. This coach is doing the same now. Triantafyllopoulos? These are joke players. There's a reason Triantafyllopoulos is in Poland and it's because he's not good enough to play club football in Greece.

Look at all the players he's calling up with no experience. Strikers who still have no goals for Greece and 10 caps or less. Midfielders and defenders who have never played for us. He's openly suggesting we should call-up a Dutchman whose only connection to Greece is the fact he was born in Athens when his father was a point man for a Dutch investment firm. If you're Koulouris or Donis, how do you interpret that? Van't Schip is pulling at straws and turning his back on the only players who bleed for this country.

We threw Holebas under the bus and look how that worked out. Now Sokratis? A good coach would have convinced these players to represent Greece and give them real belief. That's what Rehhagel did with Kasapis and Nikolaidis. Sure we dropped Georgatos, but we had options. Kasapis would have signed for Monaco had it not been for his suspension which led to his exile from the NT. And the fact remains that when Greece failed to qualify for the 2006 World Cup, it's hard to ignore that Georgatos' creativity was noticeably absent. You can't turn your back on players. It's always a mistake.

With respect to what's happening, we are not talking about a 38 year old Mitropoulos taking the place of Karapialis like in 1993. We're talking about Sokratis, still in his prime at 31, being knocked off for players like Triantafyllopoulos and Hatzidiakos.

Van't Schip is totally unprepared for this job. He's a youth team coach, not men's team coach. That's why Ajax wanted to sign him before he came to us.

[Reaper]

Thing is - if you remove Van Shit from the equation - lets just pause and take this in.

Greece has failed 3 successive qualifying campaigns with Sokratis and Manolas at the back - the culmination of which was Lichtenstein carving them up at home. Besides this - Sokratis made sure Hellas had to endure more Skibbe. This is unacceptable.

It is important all Greek players are aware that failure is not rewarded - that politics is not rewarded and that lack of effort is not rewarded.

I don't like Van Shit, never wanted him. However - if indeed these players have been dropped, I agree with him.

Finally, in Greece, there is a pretence that call ups are just that. A call up to the national team. In reality, an international call up is massive for a footballer's financial career - massive. The minute he is called up - agents start calling clubs.. 'I got a player on my books who has just been called up to the Greek men's squad..' There is a buzz suddenly around a player. This player will start receiving offers from other clubs - just on this call up. So - calling up new players helps Greeks with genuine talent further their career. Secondly, a lot of football is luck. There have been many players not make it who were good enough to make it. What went wrong? They missed a key goal, they never got an NT call up to put them on the map, they had a bad manager etc... When a youth player is called up - his confidence goes through the roof. It gives a boost. The amount of call ups wasted on failed players in Hellas has damaged the country badly. Of course I am not saying call up every player - but if Samaris for example is taking the spot of a young inform midfielder - it is a broken system. We have had many young players who have strung two or three excellent games together and deserved a call up but never got one. That call up could have helped them get to the next level.

[Amorgos]

Very interesting reactions to this... Some fantastic points here too I must say and quality posting fellas!

We are at our lowest point ever so I don’t see anything wrong with a big boot up the ass to a core group that has let us down for some time, in saying that I do feel uncomfortable going into these two games, against quality opponents and not including our two most experienced CB’s - Manolas & Sokratis.

Manolas knows the Italians better than anyone, who else has the week in week out experience of Sok? These two play at a very high level each week, only Siovas is with them.

Whilst I have not been a fan of Sokratis’s comments over the years, I think people forget what it’s like playing in a team with a hopeless midfield and this IMO is where the core of the problem is, no CB’s.

Im super glad Samaris & Torosidis get the chop, Toro is a 3rd string choice at OSFP, shouldn’t be anywhere near the Ethniki, Samaris... I’m stunned at how bad he has been and it’s his fault with Liechtenstein not the other two.

Zeca is needed, dropping him is madness, but I’m keen to see what Schip has in mind, I just don’t think, against Italy in Rome is the time to do this, if we get humiliated, it’s not doing anyone any favours

[Don Giovanni]

I think we have a manager who doesn't understand the level of outside influence and incompetence emblematic of the team's current struggles. Our country is blighted by Grammenos types who are clueless and who are then relegated to being pawns to smarter, more qualified hands that operate better from the shadows, like Beos and Savvidis. Just look at Tsipras and the EU. This coach has no clue how things work in Greece. He's a Raymond Domenech, he's too used to coaching boys, not established players with egos.

What I see is a coach who doesn't know our players well and who is no doubt being advised to pick this or that player for reasons that have little to no sporting merit. Does anyone believe for a moment that Triantafyllopoulos was his pick? Or another call-up that has been mooted, Bakasetas?

I think this decision to kick Samaris, Zeca, Mitroglou, Manolas, Sokratis and Torosidis out of the team is the single worst decision I've ever seen made in the history of the Greek NT. This to me sounds like an EPO decision, reflecting the thoughts of Basinas and Giannakopoulos types who still can't figure out what imbeciles they were for letting Anastasiadis' loose approach define the team's preparations.

There are suggestions that this may not be a permanent decision and that the idea is to let these players focus on their clubs since the remainder of qualification is pointless, but I can't see how that's not going to be the case if the players themselves are likely to consider this decision as the door being slammed on their faces. What's to stop them from continuing to sit out until more changes are made at the EPO? They just need to look at what happened to Holebas to understand what's being done to them.

[Dean97]

All i can say is that I’m happy about this decision. I’ve been wanting youth to be given more chances since forever as I believe they can do the basics some of our core can’t eg. Pass, control...

We need changes. In fact to tell you the truth I was hoping this would be a permanent decision to let all these guys off the team. We’ve been really poor for the last 5 years. Never expected this after the 2014 WC. Vant Schipt is doing the right by calling up players who are playing and playing well, eg. Hatzidiakos. Personally I wouldn’t drop Manolas. The others I can accept.

But dropping Manolas could be a good thing. If somehow, someway we beat Italy and Bosnia and play good football I can’t see them coming back. That’s a big if but.

Weve used these veterans and expirienced players and haven’t made progress. They could all be the reason the dressing room has been toxic. After Euro 2004 we should’ve started slowly to implement the youth. We didn’t do this instead we still were relying on Basinas, Katsouranis, Karagounis etc.

I was really hoping Van’t Schip would overhaul the team and start from scratch. We need to start building a team for the next tournament. We need to also find a new core as most of core will be in their mid 30s. It truly is time for the likes of Bouzoukis and Hatzidiakos to step up and take this opportunity. I feel so optimistic and excited for what’s to come. We have got a talented group of youngsters and these call ups will enhance their careers and benefit the NT in years to come.

[Amorgos]

I think we have a manager who doesn't understand the level of outside influence and incompetence emblematic of the team's current struggles. Our country is blighted by Grammenos types who are clueless and who are then relegated to being pawns to smarter, more qualified hands that operate better from the shadows, like Beos and Savvidis. Just look at Tsipras and the EU. This coach has no clue how things work in Greece. He's a Raymond Domenech, he's too used to coaching boys, not established players with egos.

My friend, some times, in order to succeed, you have to break all the rules, in this case, it’s exactly what we need to do!
Fuck the outside influences, the Grammenos types and co. We needed someone to come in with some brains and pull this shit apart.

I want to remind everyone reading this, member or not member, we don’t know what happens in the dressing rooms, we don’t know how bad or good some guys really are. I see people taking about players attitudes and how the “don’t care” etc... we/no one knows - the coach knows, the person there and dealing with the matters head on.

Van Schip has made much noise about egos and priorities so I think there is certainly credibility to what he’s doing.

You say he’s used to coaching boys and not ego’s. I don’t think someone making this many big moves is a puppet who only works with kids.

Like I said before, dunno if this is the right time to do this against Italy & Bosnia, Manolas at the very least should be in there but on the other hand - we don’t have much to lose and we might see spirit and football that we haven’t seen in a long time

[Don Giovanni]

None of the players on the team are seniors anymore except for maybe Siovas, who was always more of a back-up. Van't Schip has turned the men's team into the U21 team. He relies on mediocre players desperate for relevance who aren't even good enough to play club football in Greece, like Triantafyllopoulos. This is a weakened team and unless Italy choose to play a weakened side of their own, maybe in a bid to rest some legs and try a few different things, then were going to be in a for very rough match. Against a competitive Italy, these players will look like Liechtenstein, losing 6-0 easy. And then what for Van't Schip? If he loses to Armenia too, how can he justify remaining on as manager when Anastasiadis couldn't?

I think the intention is to build a team for Euro 2028, when Greece looks set to host the finals, and this is the beginning of that transition. If we give players like Sokratis and Samaris the Holebas treatment, then we'll only hurt ourselves in the intervening years.

I do agree to a certain extent that Sokratis needs a break from Greece duties because he looks stressed out and cynical to me, but we can't throw him under the bus and lay the blame on him. He's a rock for us and we will be hard pressed to find another defender as tough as him. Yesterday against Maguire it was Sokratis who looked favorite to win on the set-pieces. England's best defender doesn't compare to him for strength and determination. And when you look back at the goal against Costa Rica at the death or the goal against Croatia to halve the game to 2-1 which potentially would have kept Greece in the play-offs if not for Tzavellas and Stafylidis' failings, which other Greek player could have stepped up like that to make the difference? That's a testament to his determination, his doggedness. Who else could have kept Messi quiet for 80 minutes? Just look at what Maradona did to 1994 team and it's easy to see just how good he was by comparison to other Greek defenders at just the age of 20. He does not get the credit he deserves and it's easy to overlook how important he has been for Greece over the years.

If in fact Van't Schip is doing this for the reasons stated, to rest key players and test new ones for the remainder of a pointless campaign, and if there is some sort of agreement in place with Italy to treat this as a friendly, then fine. Maybe he's right. But I think a better coach would have done more to convince players like Sokratis to give more and push themselves. Because remember, this is the sort of match Rehhagel used to galvanize Greece to qualify for Euro 2004, by testing his best group away to England in what was an otherwise meaningless match for Greece who stood no chance of qualifying for the 2002 World Cup.

[Ethnikos]

Looks like a few people don’t like the coach’s idea. You guys act like we’re neglecting world-class midfielders and defenders for the sake of youth. These are the same losers who can’t beat Liechtenstein. Am I missing something? Short term gain or long term sustainability, pick one. A step in the right direction by the coach. Sokratis should be proud to play for Greece and throw on that jersey. Instead he wants to quit because we didn’t make a few tournaments. Wow buddy, guess who’s ass started center defence past 5 years - yours, and we weren’t playing Spain or France. Holding himself to a pretty high standard there. Can’t believe a lot of you are content with this. Stop pointing fingers at the coach, heck we had Claudio Ranieri who couldn’t win a single game, and went on to win the Premier League with relegation candidates Leceister, and lead a mediocre Monaco from Ligue 2 to 2nd in the first division. A lot of you guys need to stop believing Samaris and such players are ‘safe bets’. They’re total duds, and yes, we probably do have better 18 year olds. Don’t know why that’s a bad thing, experience needs to begin somewhere. We don’t have seasoned veterans so we need to create them. Acting like we’re booting Pirlo’s and Ronaldinho’s out of the team. With this logic, we should start Tziolis, Tzavellas, Valerianos... ffs we got Portugal’s scraps - Zeca.

The national team has turned into a joke. Through terrible organization and a general lacklustre generation of Greek players. However, you can always look forward to the future, instead of humming the same tune and expecting a different song.

You’re calling Van’t a U21 manager, but I’d be surprised if our senior team could beat the u21s or u19s for that matter. Get out of this illusion ur in.

dont wanna hear about Tachtsidis this, Samaris that. We’ve all known about these fucks since like 2010. It’s 2019 - almost 2020. They’ve literally had no impact, at club and international level. They’ll go down as Kone’s and Karampelas’, a distant memory in years from now.

as if mitroglou-type players are these mature leaders who will guide the youth and lead the team to success. Vlakies. They’ve had their chances, many for that matter. Thank you, next. This is a guy who’s ‘prime’ lasted a couple months putting a few past Veroia and Levadiakos (xorio teams), before bankrupting Fulham in a record deal that saw him play 20 minutes of premier league football. Had some success at Benfica after but it’s safe to say he’s past his prime. And everybody wants to fiddle with their foreskin because he plays for PSV. We got another Greek who’s just 20 years old in the same league, much shittier team. 6 goals in 6 games. Why do we talk about mitroglou?

[Reaper]

They’ll go down as Kone’s and Karampelas’, a distant memory in years from now.

Kone represented everything wrong with the politics of the NT/EPO. I have seen so many mediocre NTs in Europe and yet none of them - none - could I imagine fielding such one dimensional players such as Tziolis, Kourbelis, Samaris etc

One more point. Manolas and Sokratis - beloved by the Greek media - have been the two starters for the last 3 successive failed qual campaigns. Not just that - they have been shielded by 2-3 DMs on average per game for the NT and we have still conceded from every angle possible and from exceptionally weak teams.

We need to start again. This qual campaign is lost.

I remember for years I used to be so depressed when we would get a Greek starlet and I didn't want him to be called up to the NT just because I did not want him to learn Tziolis's habits in training and during a game - that lack of urgency - that propensity to instantly look backwards instead of forwards on receiving the ball etc. I remember Xolebas first playing for the NT - he could not believe there was no one making runs ahead of him like at Olympiacos. He was yelling for players to move. Van Shit said himself the players are not doing what he instructed them to do in training. This should set off alarm bells. He subsequently talked about egos. Seriously there is a problem. I am sure he asked the EPO first for permission to drop these players. Either way, the minute Sokratis defended and saved Skibbe... it was clear he did not have the NT's best intentions at heart.