i watched the highlites of scotland x cyprus and huge kudos to cyprus. really deserved better...scored off a corner, something that greece didn't even win until the end of a 0-3 match.
i agree with the above posts, i'm very opinionated on most positions being skill-set specific, especially wide attackers and we forge on with players who have absolutely no business on the wings. they can't take on opponents on occasion, which compacts our attacking front...obviously, that helps a defense. the other key is winning time, and greece never has any time. holding the ball for a few seconds on the wing allows the others to make forward runs...forces the opponent to track. the onus is now on the opponent to remain organized and keep a good defensive shape. greece can't do this with crap wingers and we lose those massive attacking benefits. lobbing balls over the top is a pitiful attempt to mask a serious problem. a moody fetfa or gianniotas should be considered, along with a donis or a pelkas...these should be the manager's pleasant headaches; donis at CF or wing?? - not compounding his migraine headaches with players out of position.
as far as CM, a player like taxi is not intimidated by big names and has played killer balls against these big names at club level. whatever his drawbacks are..they do not compare to the drawbacks/non-existence of siovas/kourbelis/samaris and siopis in the CM. siopis played high...we are going to rely on siopis to play those killer balls?
i do believe that all of those players, despite their physical (size for siopis, pace/mobility for siovas) and attacking limitations (all of them), they would have gotten some help by having competent wingers who can spread the pitch and force the opponent to defend them. when i hear that taxi is slow and has no mobility, yet, siovas played in the CM, i wonder if the world turned upside-down...at least taxi can play killer balls and force the opponent to concentrate on marking..either man or zonal. what was siovas doing out there?
as far RB, this is a problem for us. LB, i still like stafylidis, he does have an incredible amount of rust on him. he has followed the footsteps of a basinas, a lazaros, samaras...players that lost time at club level and never really recovered. let's hope he turns it around going forward.
we obviously don't have the talent of 20 years ago, when we didn't qualify for anything. we still had a dabizas, a tsartas, a georgatos, even frantzeskos...players that were bolstered by our 1997 u-20 side. i don't see any relief on the horizon.
i agree with the above posts, i'm very opinionated on most positions being skill-set specific, especially wide attackers and we forge on with players who have absolutely no business on the wings. they can't take on opponents on occasion, which compacts our attacking front...obviously, that helps a defense. the other key is winning time, and greece never has any time. holding the ball for a few seconds on the wing allows the others to make forward runs...forces the opponent to track. the onus is now on the opponent to remain organized and keep a good defensive shape. greece can't do this with crap wingers and we lose those massive attacking benefits. lobbing balls over the top is a pitiful attempt to mask a serious problem. a moody fetfa or gianniotas should be considered, along with a donis or a pelkas...these should be the manager's pleasant headaches; donis at CF or wing?? - not compounding his migraine headaches with players out of position.
as far as CM, a player like taxi is not intimidated by big names and has played killer balls against these big names at club level. whatever his drawbacks are..they do not compare to the drawbacks/non-existence of siovas/kourbelis/samaris and siopis in the CM. siopis played high...we are going to rely on siopis to play those killer balls?
i do believe that all of those players, despite their physical (size for siopis, pace/mobility for siovas) and attacking limitations (all of them), they would have gotten some help by having competent wingers who can spread the pitch and force the opponent to defend them. when i hear that taxi is slow and has no mobility, yet, siovas played in the CM, i wonder if the world turned upside-down...at least taxi can play killer balls and force the opponent to concentrate on marking..either man or zonal. what was siovas doing out there?
as far RB, this is a problem for us. LB, i still like stafylidis, he does have an incredible amount of rust on him. he has followed the footsteps of a basinas, a lazaros, samaras...players that lost time at club level and never really recovered. let's hope he turns it around going forward.
we obviously don't have the talent of 20 years ago, when we didn't qualify for anything. we still had a dabizas, a tsartas, a georgatos, even frantzeskos...players that were bolstered by our 1997 u-20 side. i don't see any relief on the horizon.
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