Tachtsidis

[Dean97]

Tachtsidis teams leece won their last match and are in the Seria A. Congratulations to Leece and Tachtsidis. I wonder if he will stay or leave. He is on loan their from Nottingham Forest so we will see what happens.

[Don Giovanni]

I think he stays. No way Nottingham take him back.

Lecce are minnows and will struggle to stay afloat next season. I'd be surprised if Lecce avoid the drop. If he shows enough quality next season, he might be able to earn a move elsewhere as I'm sure there are teams in the Series A who will be keeping tabs of him.

In the meantime, fiesta!

[Don Giovanni]

Tachtsidis will soon be on a permanent with Lecce.

https://www.nottinghampost.com/sport...forest-2864851

[Don Giovanni]

Tachtsidis is all but officially a Lecce player next season. He's moving for half a million euros, an absolute steal. Lecce will likely go on to sell him for more than 10-20x times that in the near future.

Panagiotis Tachtsidis left opponents 'in awe' - will Nottingham Forest regret not giving him a chance?

In an article for Lecce Prima, with the headline ‘From the mists of Nottingham the return of a skilled strategist: Panagiotis the Great’, journalist Gabriele De Giorgi looks at the impact the Forest loanee has made.

Reflecting on Tachtsidis’ arrival, he wrote: “In the superb ride of Lecce towards the Serie A, there is a first and there is an after, a turning point and acceleration that coincides with the debut in the yellow jersey of Panagiotis Tachtsidis.”

He adds: “Lecce’s sporting director, Mauro Meluso, took a plane and flew to convince him of the soundness of the Salento club’s technical project.

“He did it and a few weeks later Fabio Liverani (Lecce manager) handed him the keys to a car that was already surprising in performance, but that he, the Greek midfielder, led with the elegance with which he drives a sedan.”

Tachtsidis has been a regular for Lecce during the second half of the season, since making his debut in January.

The report discusses how the Greek needed time to work on his fitness, having not played competitively while at the City Ground.

But De Giorgi says he more than made up for that lack of match sharpness with his understanding of the game and ability to dictate play.

He wrote: “Coming from months of substantial competitive abstinence, the Greek needed some time to improve his physical condition, but he always had that tactical intelligence that made him a sort of Martian in the Serie B championship.

“He will have missed a dozen passes in all and will have lost the ball four, five times.

“His authority, which is reflected in the awe shown by his opponents, gave security to his teammates, starting with those around him.”

“He missed the goal, but it is also true that in his career he has scored little,” the report adds. “Looking at him well, he does not even seem worried about this, on the contrary, perhaps he doesn’t really care.

“His task is to build, not to finalize, to find a passage line where others see only obstacles, to increase the intensity of the game with touches that are as fast as they are elegant, while others still think about what to do, how to move.”

(emphasis mine)

I think he would actually excel playing higher up if afforded to and he would score more. He should do so for Greece, acting as fourth midfielder and third attacker, thus allowing Samaris the deeper role; however, in Italy he will need to continue improving as a regista where he will eventually mature into the role and reach the level needed of him. I think he will be OK in the Series A if he tightens up his adventurous passing and focuses more on getting things done on the defensive end, winning the ball in the air and ground, then converting that instantaneously to quick counters. He will see much less of the ball and he will be under more pressure than he had been in the Series B, but I believe he has enough quality to prove his worth and that he will earn a big move soon--a top club in Italy will beckon him. For that to materialize he will need to be a bit more selfish and try to score from range against quality opponents.

I'm very much at a loss as to why Anastasiadis hasn't called him up. Maybe Anastasiadis should spend less time scouting in Cyprus and more time scouting in Italy for players like Lykogiannis, Tachtsidis, Nikolaou, and soon Michelis at Milan.

[Dean97]

He is definitely good enough to be in this team but I don’t think he is reliable. Out of 20 something caps he has been effective in 3. The Hungary match that we won 4-3, the red card he got against Belgium and maybe the one against Estonia a few years back. Not something to be impressed about. He dosent step it up for Greece that much for some reason. He has the quality to play great passes and has great vision but that’s all he can give. He is slow and not attentive in difficult situations. He has been tried at CM/CDM. I would give him another chance especially at CAM. His height and strength in the box is an advantage for us. I can see Don, you want to push him to be part of the squad, just like I want to see Fetfatzidis part of the team. I do believe though if we were to play Tachtsidis, Fetfatzidis, Lykogiannis and Lamprou in the same 11 we would see a more fluent and solid team. But we never get to see the players that should be in the team anyways.

[Don Giovanni]

Next season Tachtsidis will get his best chance to shine. He needs to be a little more selfish when opportunities present themselves I think, but overall he has to continue as he has this past season. If he does well next season, a move to AC Milan, Lazio or Sampdoria might be on the cards for him. All three will likely be in the market for a player like Tachtsidis by then as they will be forced to replace the likes of Biglia, Parolo, and Barreto, respectively. I can't see him staying at Lecce should he continue in this form. The club will be very lucky if they manage to remain in the Series A and I think they will be forced to let him go at that point. If he fails to impress or struggles with injuries, I see him staying with the club as they go down. Time will tell.

[Don Giovanni]

I saw the match between Inter and Lecce. Inter were simply too much for a Lecce side that will be scraping too survive this season. Truth be told, they stand little chance of staying afloat, but Tachtsidis has found a club that can highlight his talent. Every time he's on the ball, Lecce look capable of breaking forward. There's no doubt greener pastures lie ahead of him and he will have a number of suitors in Series A, and La Liga, by the season's end.

He put one foot wrong in the third goal where he miscontrolled the ball, but other than that he played well despite the heavy loss. Other times he allowed himself to beaten to the ball or he failed to win a foul when he should have. His concentration here was very good, but he looked out of breath at times, despite not exerting himself too much. It's still early in the season and he needs to get to better fitness levels. He played a number of passes forward and rarely misplaced his passes. He sent ambitious balls into the area, one of which Lecce nearly bobbled into the net, and he hovered near the top of the opposition's box, producing a number of shots, the first of which forced the keeper to make a fine save, while the other shots at least earned his team corner kicks.

He and Falco were Lecce's two standout performers

[Dean97]

Don do you have a link to the full match?

[Don Giovanni]

He had 91% pass completion. He actually completed only 55 passes, but had 74 touches.

https://www.whoscored.com/Matches/14...20-Inter-Lecce

If you torrent, I can give you an invite to Sportscult. Or you can always find at rojadirecta, but in that case I recommend you buy an account with inclouddrive.com or else it will take a long time to download.

http://forum.rojadirecta.es/showthre...ece-26-08-2019

[Dean97]

Thanks anyways.

[Don Giovanni]

Lecce are winning 1-0 away to Torino. They're being totally outplayed, however. Tachtsidis has seen little of the ball (he has had the fewest touches of any player on the field), but he won the ball in the opposition half which set Lecce into motion to score the goal.

[Don Giovanni]

He's not playing well today. Just sliced an effort. Score now 1-1, but he's getting more involved in the play this half.

[Don Giovanni]

Lecce got away with it and won 2-1. Belotti had a good penalty claim right at the end that the referee turned down. Another referee might not have been so kind to Lecce.

Tachtsidis wasn't involved enough in the first half and put on a disappearing act. He was more involved in the second, but he didn't connect the play well. He had one decent effort at goal which he tried to curl in the far top corner from just outside the box which missed by a good two or three feet; however, he had other chances that were very poorly taken. When I say poor, I mean poor. He attempted a few ambitious passes, but none proved threatening and the most ambitious were tamely dealt with. Some of his passes simply weren't good enough.

Towards the end, he could have stamped his authority to bring the game to a proper close. Instead, things ended nervously for Lecce. He should have done a better job clearing the ball on at least three occasions by my count. The ball he put out for corner was the worst of his poor clearances. He was nowhere near the measure of calm and coolness his team needed, and while his teammates harried and suffered to get a result, he looked lost and aimless playing at pace so leisurely you would think he was a baseball pitcher rather a footballer. The only good he did was dictate his teammates in how to position themselves and where to direct possession of the ball, but he's no De Rossi and he'll have to play a lot better than this.

Other than winning possession of the ball in the lead up to the opening goal for his team, he did next to nothing for his team. He has to play a lot better than this.

[Amorgos]

Ouch... not good at all. Can be very inconsistent

[Don Giovanni]

He got used to taking it easy in Series B, where he didn't have to work as hard. And he didn't look well rested (baby? nightlife?). In Series A he has got to be on every match. Every team will give Lecce hell to get a result.

He got more involved in the second half, but in the first half he was close to non-existent. About 35 of his ~50 touches came in the second half (against Inter he had about 70 touches in total). In the second half, Lecce tried to get him more involved to keep things a little more under control, but he looked off. His pass completion was only ~72% (against Inter it was ~94%).

Towards the end of the game, with Lecce trying to hold for the 2-1 result. Tachtsidis had a chance to clear the ball well out of danger, but instead played it out for a corner for what was basically the last chance of the game. He didn't have to do that and on that corner Torino had a penalty claim fall under VAR review. Lecce got away with it. And that wasn't his only poor clearance towards the end, there were another two who should have cleared better.

The worst of it was he looked aimless. Jogging around without any real purpose on the pitch. He has to see himself on video and understand that he has to work harder on the pitch. He needs to do more running and show more urgency to claim possession of the ball.

I saw some good moments where he won the ball in the lead up to the first goal and he did make an effort to be in positions where he could settle the ball a bit, but his teammates wouldn't play him the ball. Again, he has to desire the ball more, I don't blame his teammates. He also bossed players around and kept the team organized, which is more than I can say of Samaris for Greece (it's Manolas taking on that mantle now). He's someone Greece needs in the middle, but if he plays like this then what's to separate him from Bouchalakis? This is how Bouchalakis plays often when he goes up against tougher opposition (he's used to taking things very easy in Greece).