The Skibbe Sacking Thread

[Don Giovanni]

Tzavellas is done. He had problems with Anastasiadis.

Anastasiadis won't last after two games. Someone else will take over, but it will need to be a manager that gets player approved by Sokratis, Manolas, Mitroglou, Fortounis, and possibly Holebas.

[Dean97]

Apparently he will sign for a year...

[Reaper]

Yip. 14 months.. until Dec 2019..

[Dean97]

http://www.agonasport.com/agonasport...ki-part-1-of-3
An interesting read... This it has been saying Tziolis was not the only problem. Skibbe was number 1 at fault for his player selections and tactics. It’s funny how he says that the national team miss having leaders. Sokratis, Torosidis, Mitroglou and Fortounis can be the leaders. Most of these players are irreplaceable at the moment and always play. Overall it’s a good article if anyone has time to read. Especially when he talks about our midfield.

[NickTheGreek]

Disgraceful, utterly embarrassing stuff. It was always going to be an underwhelming one if Skibbe was sacked. He was probably the worst option out of all the Greeks available. Could be as bad as Skibbe.

[Reaper]

Disgraceful, utterly embarrassing stuff. It was always going to be an underwhelming one if Skibbe was sacked. He was probably the worst option out of all the Greeks available. Could be as bad as Skibbe.

Pretty much.

Greek media seem to be happy about it. Very few articles questioning the EPO and Grammenos. But then again, the Greek media is heavily unionised. They could write pretty much anything and their jobs will be secure.. no need to question anything or even be interested in football. They defended Skibbe right to the end and will do the same with this new PAOK man.

[Don Giovanni]

I can't believe Anastasiadis is overlooking Euro 2020 qualifying. What a joke.

[Amorgos]

http://www.agonasport.com/agonasport...ki-part-1-of-3
An interesting read... This it has been saying Tziolis was not the only problem. Skibbe was number 1 at fault for his player selections and tactics. It’s funny how he says that the national team miss having leaders. Sokratis, Torosidis, Mitroglou and Fortounis can be the leaders. Most of these players are irreplaceable at the moment and always play. Overall it’s a good article if anyone has time to read. Especially when he talks about our midfield.

There is parts I agree with and parts I do not. The article is pro Tziolis... the experience factor... so what did the experience factor do for us on or off the field? Experience has always taken president to form with Greece, Tziolis was ok on a very poor team the last two games, do we really need Tziolis to keep things together off the field? Or do we need a more active and involved technical director like Fyssas was as appose to Vryzas who looks to have been very poor.

I know there is no great Bouchalakis fans but I know what I saw and I saw Greece place much better and direct football with him in the middle despite his club form. Galanopoulos should be intergrated into the team once the u21 commitments are done.

EPO and Grammenos as a major issue and the number 1 factor to our continued demise, I look forward to that part of the story, in my booked Grammenos has created the worst football federation we have had in my years of following greek football

[Dean97]

I agree about your Bouchalakis comment. By no means will he save us but he should be ahead of Tziolis just like everyone else. Tziolis time is up and it has been for 2 years now. Tzavellas is now proving his time is up as well.

I just hope Angelos can inspire this team. Also I hope he plays players with talent and players that deserve to play for the national team.

[Don Giovanni]

Tziolis has no place on the national team. One of Mandalos, Lazaros, Fortounis, and Tachtsidis could easily have played alongside Zeca, Kourbelis, Galanopoulos, or Samaris in this current setup; however, n my opinion this setup is all wrong and it is where the real problems lie. We need to stop playing like we did when we had Katsouranis on the team. That era is over. Tziolis should never have been the squad after the 2014 World Cup, let alone now. What Tziolis does is force Greece to concede 20-40 yards of space, regardless of the quality of the opponent. Our possession of the ball does not improve one iota.

Yes, we have problems playing the ball out of the back, but only a moron can actually believe Tziolis is going to fix it. Just put two men in the central midfield to press and harass opponents (Zeca and Kourbelis who between can make up enough ground for one more player), press high up the pitch, play a high line with three CBs, and attack with pace down the wings with wide midfielders. Just push the ball to the wings for Bakakis and Tsimikas to send crosses for Mitroglou to hit. Against quality opponents, convert to a back 5 and defend like hell for 90 minutes. That's it. It's not that complicated.

Bouchalakis isn't good enough. He's in the same camp as Pashalakis and Bakasetas. They're fifth string players at best. Tziolis is behind Bouchalakis in the pecking order. Let Tziolis work as a technical assistant for free if he wants. If there are those that want Greece to lose games 2-0 to Finland, then all I can say is keep playing him.

[Nikod]

When is our next match?

[Don Giovanni]

November 15th

[Dean97]

Tziolis has no place on the national team. One of Mandalos, Lazaros, Fortounis, and Tachtsidis could easily have played alongside Zeca, Kourbelis, Galanopoulos, or Samaris in this current setup; however, n my opinion this setup is all wrong and it is where the real problems lie. We need to stop playing like we did when we had Katsouranis on the team. That era is over. Tziolis should never have been the squad after the 2014 World Cup, let alone now. What Tziolis does is force Greece to concede 20-40 yards of space, regardless of the quality of the opponent. Our possession of the ball does not improve one iota.

Yes, we have problems playing the ball out of the back, but only a moron can actually believe Tziolis is going to fix it. Just put two men in the central midfield to press and harass opponents (Zeca and Kourbelis who between can make up enough ground for one more player), press high up the pitch, play a high line with three CBs, and attack with pace down the wings with wide midfielders. Just push the ball to the wings for Bakakis and Tsimikas to send crosses for Mitroglou to hit. Against quality opponents, convert to a back 5 and defend like hell for 90 minutes. That's it. It's not that complicated.

Bouchalakis isn't good enough. He's in the same camp as Pashalakis and Bakasetas. They're fifth string players at best. Tziolis is behind Bouchalakis in the pecking order. Let Tziolis work as a technical assistant for free if he wants. If there are those that want Greece to lose games 2-0 to Finland, then all I can say is keep playing him.

I think Sokratis has improved at playing it out from the back. Ever since he gone to Arsenal his forward passing has improved in my opinion. Angelos has said that he will give opportunities to more of the young talented players but won’t be called in November due to the play offs they have. Vlachodimos and Koutris should be called up. Lykogiannis and Tsimikas had their chance. Give Koutris a chance now.

Our big problem is the 2 holding midfielders. Kourbelis is not the answer but should be ahead of Tziolis and Bouchalakis. I want Samaris and Tachtsidis back in the team as we have no else good enough. Galanopoulos is still young. I would love to see Androutsos in this team in the near future but who knows if he will get a good amount of games to impress Angelos. Zeca is unpredictable in a both good and badly way. Zeca and Kourbelis run all day but they lack the forward creative spark that is needed to feed the ball to our attackers. Skibbe liked playing tall and strong midfielders who would battle and be physical. Defensively that’s a good thing. Offensively there is no creativity and Fortounis has to do all the work to make things happen. I don’t know what the answer is but all I know is that we need to perform better when we are attacking especially when our midfielders have the ball. We can all say this player should play here and that player over their. But in reality are our players good enough to perform at the same level like they do for their club with the national team. I hope we don’t start blaming a new Tziolis or point fingersvat the coach. Our players need to be criticised more going forward.

[Amorgos]

Tachtsidis has not played this season - over rated here, has not made any appearances for Forest. Samaris has played 30 minutes of football. Come on

[Reaper]

Greece has no middle whoever we play. The opposition usually just breezes past us. That is why i would have trained Ninis wo be a Xavi/Ibagaza type of holding player. Now he has awol I would play Mandalos, Galan or Androutsos there next to Zeca.

[Amorgos]

Mandalos is too fragile to play there. Would love to see Galanopoulos get a run, from what I seen of Androutsos, such a good player, such a shame he is not getting game time

[Reaper]

For months the poor guy has been searching for a job. Someone finally gave him one... Dortmund under 19s...