General Chat

[Dean97]

Spain.. that is where he needs to go.

Your probably right. He would get more game time there. His style would suit their style that’s why. I just want him to progress and be a star because the talent is already I just want him to grow prove himself on a bigger stage.

[Reaper]

Your probably right. He would get more game time there. His style would suit their style that’s why. I just want him to progress and be a star because the talent is already I just want him to grow prove himself on a bigger stage.

In general terms, Italy is a Greek footballer's graveyard. There have been success stories, but in general, I think Spain is more suited.

[Amorgos]

Hmmm don’t know about that Reaper, many Greeks have had success in Italy as appose to Spain were fewer have gone

[Dean97]

I remember Tsiartas did very well with Sevilla and Seitaridis at Atletico M. Karabelas did ok with Levante and so did Vyntra. At the moment Siovas is doing very well.

Kone and Tachtsidis did well in Italy especially Kone. Lazaros not so much. Torosidis had his moments too. Hopefully Bouzoukis has a great career because he has that special something.

[Amorgos]

Kone and Tachtsidis did well in Italy especially Kone. Lazaros not so much. Torosidis had his moments too. Hopefully Bouzoukis has a great career because he has that special something.

Torosidis, Holebas, Manolas, Kone, Tachtsidis, Vryzas, Georgatos, Moras, Dellas, Karnezis, Lykogiannis, Oikonomou, Papastathopoulos, Vakouftsis.... all did well in Italy

[RED SHERIFF]

not sure if we can put Vakouftsis or Lykogiannis in the same category...some of those were very good..

[Reaper]

Curious how shit players form networks with each other..

http://www.sport-fm.gr/article/podos...abella/3989925

[Dean97]

^ hopefully this means he doesn’t get called up. Probably still would...

Have a read of these articles...
Talks about what actually happened and what the actual plan is for the team...

https://www.agonasport.com/agonaspor...ry-part-1-of-3


https://www.agonasport.com/agonaspor...m-ethniki-camp

[Don Giovanni]

Bad news.

First, Greece will play the remaining Euro 2020 qualifiers at OAKA! They should have decided on Pankritio as a home stadium years ago and they should have stayed at Karaiskaki for this campaign, at least until Pankritio was ready. Clearly the EPO is run by people who haven't a clue about football.

Second, there are voices pushing to have Sokratis and Manolas removed from the NT:

http://www.novasports.gr/bloggers/dp...is-kai-kostas/

Και εξηγούμαι: Ο Βαγγέλης Γραμμένος έχει μόνο μία επιλογή, αν θέλει να ξαναδεί την ομάδα στον ίσιο δρόμο.

Μαζί με τον Άγγελο να «κόψει» από την Εθνική και τους Παπασταθόπουλο - Μανωλά!

[....]

Ναι, ο Παπασταθόπουλος και ο Μανωλάς είναι στόπερ διεθνούς επιπέδου και απαραίτητοι για την Εθνική ομάδα. Αλλά όχι ΠΑΝΩ από την Εθνική.

Ναι, ο Παπασταθόπουλος υποκατέστησε –κατά κάποιο τρόπο- την ανύπαρκτη διοίκηση της ΕΠΟ βγαίνοντας να πει όσα είπε μετά το ματς την Αρμενία.

Αλλά συνέχεια, συνέπεια και ομαλή πορεία στην Εθνική ομάδα με τα πρόσωπα που τάραξαν τα νερά και διέλυσαν τα όποια στεγανά των αποδυτηρίων της ΔΕΝ μπορεί να ΥΠΑΡΞΕΙ.

Τον Βαγγέλη Γραμμένο δεν τον γνωρίζω προσωπικά. Όσοι τον ξέρουν, κάνουν λόγο για έναν έντιμο άνθρωπο. Ίσως γι αυτό να μη μπορεί να σταθεί στην ηγεσία ενός χώρου που χρειάζεται πιο… χοντρόπετσους παράγοντες.

[Dean97]

This is not good at all. Manolas and Sokratis are the reason to as to why we haven’t been losing 10-0 let alone 3-0. They must stay!

If this happens and they are out then Mavropanos needs to seriously considered and maybe next to Siovas or Retsos. I would like to say that Kyriakos should be our number 1 but he is made of glass unfortunately.

I also think the majority of players are with Manolas and Sokratis. It’s not just them 2 that want changes.

[Don Giovanni]

No kidding. We'll look worse than Lietchtenstein had the next time we go up against Italy. We'll lose 6-0, easily.

Not for the time has the EPO and coach, through their complete mismanagement and arrogance, driven away key players. Greece was guilty of this even during Rehhagel's and Santos' era. According to the author of the article I linked to, he claims those who know Grammenos say he is honorable. Then why does he run and hide every chance he gets? He is a coward. And the author himself is a coward for throwing Sokratis under the bus. Sokratis never acted as if he's above the team, he said the EPO has to do what's right for the team. Nor should any fingers be pointed at him for the leaks. He's tired of the losing and knows the team can do much better. But the EPO have utterly failed this team. We play home games in what feels like an empty stadium. Skibbe was handed an extension he didn't deserve and then Anastasiadis was told he would keep his job, regardless of the result against Armenia. All of this points to lack of competency among the ranks of the EPO. They appear to be well out of their depth.

In the meantime, I hope Sokratis and Manolas make their own efforts to prepare for the Finland match as best they can because they won't get anywhere with this coaching staff; however, if I see Greece in the next set of qualifiers without Sokratis, Manolas, and Torosidis, then we will not stand a chance of qualification until Euro 2028, which Greece may qualify as hosts! If I had to guess, that would be the real reason why they want Sokratis and Manolas out: to build a team for then, ten years from now and both retired!

[Reaper]

Sokratis lost all credibility when he saved Skibbe imo..

[Don Giovanni]

I think Sokratis offers real leadership for Greece, but he's losing the will to carry on I think. He has to try still, despite the EPO and the coach, and help Greece turn the tide. We need his quality and experience. No choice or else Greece will truly show the worst face we've ever seen, I'm talking embarrassing record losses. If people think the loss to Faroes was bad, just imagine an 8-0 defeat to Italy. We almost suffered a result of similar proportions if Italy really had pushed on. We're lucky the Italians weren't over-zealous, that they saved themselves for the Bosnia match once the match looked secured at 3-0. Mancini was also weary of us because of how we got back into the match against Bosnia. He wanted a fourth goal to be extra sure of the result. We were lucky to lose just 3-0.

[Don Giovanni]

The Roma thing I researched at the time. He was actually carrying an injury as he stated and missed the following Roma games as a result. It was the Greek media that decided to invent that story maybe with the help of some Ethniki players.

I agree that Xolevas should have returned to the Greek NT this Nov if it is true he was invited by players.. but I think what hurt Xolevas the most was not the Skibbe wars. I think what made him go rogue was the Greek media's hatred of him. To be honest, I don't blame him. Tzavellas, Stafylidis, Lazarus and Tziolis made a career with the help of the Greek media - that is how powerful they are. I mean heck - they are truly unified. Not one article blaming the police in the AEK vs Ajax game.

I read an article from a writer who was unhappy that Bakasetas was leaving and how AEK are wrong to dismantle their championship winning team, that at this point Mantalos and Bakakis should leave too. The reality is that Bakasetas is friends with this guy and that's why we see these other journalists write these "love letters." Holebas never had friends like that in the media. Tzavellas does and they look out for him. But the media don't make the decisions, the coach does. It was Skibbe who ultimately favored Tzavellas over Holebas.

[Dean97]

https://www.agonasport.com/agonaspor...-ostracization

This is wrong in my opinion. I truly respect Sokratis for saying what he said and it definitely has to be said. It would be a total disaster to exclude one of the best CBs this country has produced and a player who truly cares about the shirt. I do also believe the players are mostly at fault for what has happened. I also believe everything needs to be changed from EPO, to the coach and the players.