EPO

[Dean97]

EPO are a disgrace for hiring Van Schipt. So afraid to spend the cash and not bothered with the national team. Van Schipt could be worse than Skibbe and Angelos. Get your act together EPO!

[Reaper]

EPO members call Van Shit a 3rd rate coach and ask Gramnenos where an earth he dug him up. Then these members resign..

http://www.sport-fm.gr/article/podos...rikate/4000134

[Don Giovanni]

Τελικά μετά από τις σχετικές παραινέσεις η πρόσληψη του Φαντ Σιπ επικυρώθηκε με τον εκπρόσωπο του Ολυμπιακού, κ.Αγραφιώτη να τάσσεται κατά της επιλογής αυτής.

It seems Olympiakos has spoken against his hiring.

Οι εξηγήσεις που δόθηκαν;
-Πήραμε έναν προπονητή που είναι εργατικός προκειμένου να βάλει τις νέες βάσεις στην Εθνική μας. Περιμένουμε να φτιάξει το κλίμα και να νοικοκυρέψει τα αποδυτήρια.

That sounds like they want to put Sokratis and Manolas out to pasture, and that there is no real desire to qualify for the Euros or the World Cup, but instead to build something down the road. I hope this is not the case. We should aim to qualify for Euro 2020.

In other news, Van 't Schip was spotted along with his two assistants and Fyssas in the stands during AEK's friendly with Basaksehir:

http://www.sport-fm.gr/article/podos...p-pics/4000057

And Machlas had this to say of Van 't Schip:

http://www.sport-fm.gr/article/podos...an-sip/3999960

Για την Εθνική Ελλάδας και τον Φαν Σιπ:

«Τον γνωρίζω πολύ καλά, είναι φίλος μου. Ο Φαν Σιπ ήταν στο επιτελείο του Άγιαξ που ήμουν και εγώ. Τον γνωρίζω πολύ καλά. Είναι εξαίρετος άνθρωπος και προπονητής. Θα δώσει πολλά. Είναι σίγουρο ότι θα δώσει πολλά στην Εθνική ομάδα. Θεωρώ ότι μπορεί να συμβεί κάτι καλό. Στο αποτέλεσμα δεν ξέρεις ποτέ τι μπορεί να γίνει. Αλλά επειδή τον γνωρίζω, είναι άνθρωπος, γνώστης του ποδοσφαίρου, πανέξυπνος και μπορεί να κάνει καλά πράγματα στην Εθνική. Ο Φαν Σιπ, έχει περάσει πολλά χρόνια στην Αυστραλία, έχει αλλάξει η κουλτούρα. Είναι ένας άνθρωπος που ξέρει να χειριστεί πράγματα και εκτός Ολλανδίας. Δεν μπορείς να παρουσιάσεις το Ολλανδικό μοντέλο στην Ελλάδα, έτσι απλά. Θα έχει χρόνο. Νομίζω ότι επειδή είναι έξυπνος άνθρωποι, είμαι αισιόδοξος για την Εθνική ομάδα, μπορούν να κάνουν όμορφα πράγματα».

He was probably among those consulted before Van 't Schip was hired.

[Reaper]

EPO congratulates AEK on getting past Craiova, but not Olympiacos on getting past Batshitsuker..

https://www.gavros.gr/article/podosf...pleks-ametrhto

[Dean97]

Things have to change!!

EPO are so corrupt that the team have hit rock bottom... Grammenos needs to be out. I can not see this team get any worse. Changes have to be made. It start from the top.

Enough of the sabotaging. Enough of the corruption. The team is falling apart.

[Dean97]

I blame the EPO 100%. For all this...

[Reaper]

x 2

[Don Giovanni]

The EPO is corrupt how? What evidence is there corruption?

They made mistakes, yes, but what good is getting rid of Grammenos if it means someone, less competent and more amenable to outside influence, gets put in charge.

Change, change, and more change will do us no good. We need to work through it.

[Dean97]

The squads picked are not great and we all know that. How can we as fans pick out game after game that Samaris is terrible. Bakakis and Giannoulis are not international level. Why do we know all this? It’s because we know which players are good enough and which aren’t. Samaris shouldn’t have been called up due to countless bad performances. Why was Valerianos and Bakasetas called up back then? Why has Bakasetas had 20 something caps and each game he has played he has failed miserably. It can’t be because of talent.

The EPO picks the squad and we know the coach never has free reign on selections 100%. You’ve said that they don’t know what they are doing which should indicate that they should let the coach handle squad selections and not them. That’s why it’s corrupt because players like Bakasetas and co who are not national team material buy caps to prolong their career. And the EPO are welcoming that.

Majority have said on social media that Fetfatzidis belongs on the team. He is clearly better and more skilled on the ball than any of our attackers and a rare player to have in any side. Yet we have ignored him for Bakasetas and others. That’s very strange.

Id take players who are very good technically and who are talented with a higher football iq playing in 2nd division or bench warmer in the top leagues over a player who plays week in week out that cant pass the ball properly eg. Samaris.

[Don Giovanni]

Fetfatzidis has himself to blame too. He went to Saudi Arabia and has been in poor physical condition ever since his car accident in 2015. At least he's trying to get it together again, but he isn't as sharp as he needs to be, which is why he couldn't put away his chances today. He had to be subbed out at the 70th minute mark because he was getting tired, as evidenced by the pass he put needlessly out of bounds. It's going to take time before he's back to his best, but yet he's exactly what we've been missing now that Fortounis is injured. Someone who can dribble past players, turn defenders on a dime, and score on his own.

The changes Van't Schip made killed us. He had the team playing 4-2-4 when he subbed on Pavlidis for Fetfatzidis. Masouras, who is teammates with Tsimikas at OSFP, suddenly started to play on the opposite wing. Vrousai took Masouras' old position on the left wing. This move mangled the team. Not only that, he subs out Bouchalakis for Zeca, a player who is far worse in possession of the ball. Suddenly we were outnumbered in the midfield (Liechtenstein had four midfielders to our two) and had no chemistry whatsoever. Samaris, who is tiring and nursing an injury he picked up against Porto, gives away possession cheaply. We can't blame Manolas and Sokratis for failing to defend 3/4ths of the wide open pitch.

This manager doesn't know how to handle personalities like Sokratis and Manolas. That's why in the press conferences he's talking about egos and passion. And that's why Manolas is screaming like a maniac during the anthems. The manager plays Kolovos and Vrousaj in place of Fortounis! Donis and Mitroglou are left off the team. Tachtsidis is another player we are in desperate need for our midfield that struggles to play passes. Instead we have Siopis who now plays in Turkey on the squad. The coach made lots of mistakes with his selections and tactics.

On top of all that, there is no one attending the game. It's empty stadium practically. Compare this to the atmosphere Finland created when we visited them. We can't win at home with this kind of atmosphere. People can complain about how the players play all they want, but where are the fans to cheer the team on? The EPO has not given the NT a proper home for too long. Even the Karaiskakis isn't good enough for this team. We need fans creating noise at the games.

[Reaper]

They made mistakes, yes, but what good is getting rid of Grammenos if it means someone, less competent and more amenable to outside influence

You actually think someone exists in Greece who is less competent and more corruptible than Grammenos? I find that concept as hard to picture as infinite space.

Anyway, I am with Dean on this, everything in life is top down. Grammenos era is a disaster, he has damaged the country massively. He has picked terrible coaches, the EPO's accounts are still not transparent and their structures are clearly broken and clandestine.

https://www.gavros.gr/article/podosf...ia-thn-ethnikh

However, Greeks will protect him and he will continue to get well paid and keep his job, no matter who on earth beats us.

[Don Giovanni]

The clubs are doing a lot of damage to how the football is administered in Greece. The blame is not all on Grammenos who relies on political support from PAOK, mainly, and AEK to stay in charge. At some point the clubs have to put their differences aside and do what's right for Greece. They cannot run the NT to serve their self-interests at the expense of the everything else.

Right now the best thing we can do is aim for improvements in how we play and attempt to beat Italy. We have enough quality on our books to do it. We need to raise our ranking and hope we can get into pot three. So long as we avoid two powerhouse nations, we stand a chance to qualify for the World Cup. That's the aim now and it's possible with this coach so long as he attempts to build a proper side out of experienced players competing at the highest levels.

[Dean97]

Unsurprisingly EPO finds itself in an economically precarious position, given all their failures in the last 5 years.

From paying out coaches to missing out on major tournaments, losing sponsors & poor leadership.

The UEFA EURO 2020 failure alone, has cost EPO at least €12 Million.

[Nikod]

The clubs are doing a lot of damage to how the football is administered in Greece. The blame is not all on Grammenos who relies on political support from PAOK, mainly, and AEK to stay in charge. At some point the clubs have to put their differences aside and do what's right for Greece. They cannot run the NT to serve their self-interests at the expense of the everything else.

Right now the best thing we can do is aim for improvements in how we play and attempt to beat Italy. We have enough quality on our books to do it. We need to raise our ranking and hope we can get into pot three. So long as we avoid two powerhouse nations, we stand a chance to qualify for the World Cup. That's the aim now and it's possible with this coach so long as he attempts to build a proper side out of experienced players competing at the highest levels.

What in the world leads you to believe we have the quality to beat Italy? This is the weakest player pool we have had in my living memory...aside from the center backs and goalkeeper, and a couple standouts like fortounis and mantalos, I have never seen a team so low on international quality and mental fortitude

[Don Giovanni]

If Armenia can hold Italy for 80 minutes 1-1 and at a man down, then I think Greece can do one better. It wasn't too long ago we nearly beat Belgium away from home, thanks to Mitroglou and Tachtsidis, two players we need back in the team. It comes down to motivation and playing the kind of players who compete at the highest levels still.

I also think Italy's players also consider their job done, that's this game is dead rubber, and that they'll underestimate us after winning so easily in Greece. Their recent form suggests this much, hence the reason for the labored wins against Armenia and Finland. They're also without their talisman, Chiellini, whose experience and leadership is already missed. And then there's history. We lost 5-1 to Finland only to hold an England side that beat Germany 5-1 in Munich to a draw.