The Greek football thread

[Jatz]

Hi all,

I noticed throughout the World Cup that there was constant discussion of all things Greek football, even after they were eliminated.

Obviously with the WC over, the thread will die down a little bit. We thought we'd give you somewhere that you can continue to talk all things Greek football. Domestic League, Greek players abroad, National team etc etc.

Hopefully this proves useful, let me know if you have any suggestions etc

 

[Jatz]

Crows_United_FC
GreekLunatic
centurion
Barry Zuckercorn
Prince St
Mighty P

 

[Barry Zuckercorn]

I like it Jatz. I'm most interested in keeping up to date with transfers/transfer rumours of players from the ethniki.

 

[Jatz]

I like it Jatz. I'm most interested in keeping up to date with transfers/transfer rumours of players from the ethniki.

Glad to hear mate. Hopefully it gets some use

 

[Mighty P]

I think it should. Anyone have any news on transfers? I heard a few rumours about Greek players going to Italy and possibly England after the World Cup, any updates?

 

[simba_]

Arsenal signed a couple of Greek youngsters I think.. one was Georgios Spanoudakis, a 15 year old from Barca. Apparently my bro actually met this kid when we were in Barcelona a couple of years ago. No idea where I was that day...

 

[Mighty P]

Not really Greek football, although maybe technically, anybody been into the FFA Cup? What do you guys (if you still exist!) think of the Greek clubs in the Cup, like South Springvale Aris, Bentleigh Greens, etc?

I for one am proud of South Springy, I played for them once upon a time, we had a great team, and now wonder if I stayed there maybe I'd be a chance of retiring with some glory in the FFA Cup.

 

[Barry Zuckercorn]

Arsenal signed a couple of Greek youngsters I think.. one was Georgios Spanoudakis, a 15 year old from Barca. Apparently my bro actually met this kid when we were in Barcelona a couple of years ago. No idea where I was that day...

They've missed out on Manolas though who would have been perfect for them. Just signed with Roma.

 

[Prince St]

Two gameweek's into the GSL season, as a PAOKtzi i pretty much conceded the league race over once Olympiakos got +2 after both we and Panathinaikos were held up with draws. However I did not see Olympiakos dropping points against Panetolikos, a lot of new signings they might take a little while to settle. So PAOK, Olympiakos and Panathinaikos now all on 4 points, honestly though I don't give either PAOK or PAO are a title chance, squad's just aren't strong/deep enough but hopefully both push Olympiakos till the end

 

[Mighty P]

I saw Ranieri wants to begin bringing new and younger blood in to the national team, which is good to hear. Although he did say the Euro qualifiers will be a mix of new and old, I feel he is gonna bring in a lot more youngsters than in the previous decade. Also great to hear him say he wants to have close contact with young players from the Greek league, like 2-3 times a week contact, which I believe has not been done by a national team coach in Greece before. Looks like he wants to bring another level of professionalism, but it remains to be seen if the clubs will be co-operative to the extent Ranieri wants them to be.

 

[DontArgue4]

Im Greek tooooo

 

[Prince St]

Ranieri's introduced some new faces into the national team setup like Diamantakos from Olympiakos and after injury to Maniatis, Mantalos from AEK. Kyriakos Papadopoulos also makes a return after a horrible year with injury. This is the squad he will use in our first European qualifier against Romania.

Karnezis, Kapino, Glykos - Torosidis, Vyntra, Manolas, Siovas, Moras, K.Papadopoulos, Sokratis, Avraam, Holebas, Karampelas inj (now Tzavellas) - Maniatis inj (now Mantalos), Samaris, Tachtsidis, Kone, Lazaros, Fortounis - Samaras, Salpingidis, Diamantakos, Mitroglou, Klaus Athanasiadis.

 

[Prince St]

Ranieri expressed his interest in calling up youngster's Stafylidis, Kitsiou, Bouchalakis, Kolovos, Karelis, Lagos & Triantafyllopoulos. I think we'll be seeing them enter the fold over the qualifying campaign

 

[tige19]

Konstantinos Mitroglou.... C'mon man, he could have been the difference for us in the WC!!

 

[tige19]

Do we think Ranieri will finally show us the football we want to see? Some directive to keep possession and play the ball along the carpet?

 

[Prince St]

I hope so, I also really hope he takes advantage of the depth we have at CB and plays a 3-5-2

 

[Prince St]

Having just read an post from above I'll also give an update of notable Greek football transfers from the last window. These are all players who either have played for the Ethniki or in my opinion have a potential future with the Ethniki.

Kostas Fortounis. Kaiserslautern to Olympiakos
Giorgios Katidis. Novara to Veria
Stefanos Kapino. Panathinaikos to Mainz
Kyriakos Papadopoulos. Schalke 04 to Bayer Leverkusen (loan)
Giannis Gianniotas. Fortuna Dusseldorf to Asteras Tripolis (loan)
Kostas Stafylidis. Bayern Leverkusen to Fulham (loan)
Georgios Samaras. Celtic to West Bromwich Albion
Apostolos Vellios. Everton to Lierse SK
Savvas Gentsoglou. Sampdoria to Ergotelis
Panagiotis Tachtsidis. Genoa to Hellas Verona (loan)
Lazaros Christodoulopoulos. Bologna to Hellas Verona
Pangiotis Kone. Bologna to Udinese
Kostas Mitroglou. Fulham to Olympiakos (loan)
Sotiris Ninis. Released by Parma (free agent)
Orestis Karnezis. Granada to Udinese (loan return)
Andreas Samaris. Olympiakos to Benfica
Jose Holebas. Olympiakos to Roma
Kostas Manolas. Olympiakos to Roma
Avraam Papadopoulos. Olympiakos to Trabzonspor
Marios Ikonomou. Cagliari to Bologna
Taxiarxis Fountas. RB Salzburg to Panionios (loan)
Panos Armenakas. Watford to Udinese
Sokratis Dioudis. Aris to Club Brugge
Mavroudis Bougaidis. Granada to Lechia Gdansk (loan)
Andreas Bouchalakis. Ergotelis to Olympiakos (loan return)

 

[Barry Zuckercorn]

Great work Prince St!
And what the * is Papadopoulos thinking

 

[Mighty P]

Great work Prince St!
And what the * is Papadopoulos thinking

I found that interesting that he went to Turkey, and not even one of the better teams in their league. He's a good player and I'm sure he could've gone to another club in Europe?

 

[Prince St]

That injury couple years back killed him. He didn't return the same player, wouldn't start at Olympiakos either, turkish clubs have a big bankroll these days, would've put in an attractive offer. Think his days with the Ethniki will be pretty much done soon.

 

[simba_]

wtf, just saw papadopoulos went on loan from schalke to leverkusen, how does something like that happen? was it late in the window? couldn't find a buyer? or just can't guarantee the football?

 

[Mighty P]

wtf, just saw papadopoulos went on loan from schalke to leverkusen, how does something like that happen? was it late in the window? couldn't find a buyer? or just can't guarantee the football?

Yeah, I heard that a couple days ago. Not sure, haven't read any articles about it yet, but Leverkusen is currently 1st (only after a few matches) so it might turn out ok. I didn't realise they had so many Turks playing for them, there's about 4-5 of them. Also, Robbie Kruse is there.

 

[Prince St]

Happened a while before deadline day. His last two seasons at Schalke have been injury ridden, think he had a knee reconstruction and then dislocated his shoulder. Was making substitute appearances for them late last season as he came back, wasn't convincing enough to break into the team that was travelling along nicely. Leverkusen is a weird one because it's usually Schalke who are their direct competition for a top 4 spot. However if it was made clear to Kyrkiako that he'll play more at Leverkusen than Schalke as he makes his way back after missing one and a half seasons of football then it's a good move. Hopefully he comes back strong, he's been selected for our game against Romania tomorrow morning, wish him luck.

 

[Barry Zuckercorn]

Not a good start to Euro qualifiers this morning... Have been slow starters in qualifying in the past so lets hope thats a sign of things to come.

 

[Prince St]

Yeah a disappointing start, loss at home to a 10 men Romania in front of an empty stadium mind you, some below average performances from a handful of players. Although we're fortunate that now 2 from each group progress and ours seems rather easy, Finland away next, sometime in October.

Starting XI

Karnezis
Toro Manolas Sokratis Holebas
Tachtsidis Mandalos Samaris
Salpi Mitroglou Samaras

Subs:
46' Diamantakos on for Samaras
65' Kone on for Samaris
65' Lazaros on for Mandalos

Best: Sokratis, Manolas, Samaris
Worst: Holebas, Mitroglou, Samaras