Greek strikers, who do we start? Options

[ELLADA 04]

in my opinion, our scoring problems are b/c of the midfield not our strikers. We have really talented strikers, and many of them are young and in-form, but we dont' use them right!

Choices:
Samaras: youngest and very talented. i think he should start, he's the future of the NT.
Xari: get him out of the starting 11, but he's only 27 and can still be used as a sub... or even midfield?
Gekas: not the long-term answer but right now he is in his prime. he needs to be getting minutes and starting at least through euro 08, but we don't use him the right way... leading goalscorer of bundesliga btw.
Amanatidis: good and pretty young, but like some people have said he's never had an impact on the NT team.
Salpi: hustle player and i like him as a sub, prob not a starter
paps: i want him to be given a chance as a sub at least
lymber: old out of all of the above but he is in-form this year and should be considered as a starter. he can create and score goals.

tell me w hat you guys think and who should be starting and coming in as a sub.
In my opinion, samaras for years to come, and for now gekas. lymber as a sub or a midfielder/third striker

[Christodoulos]

Samaras Gekas! Best striking pair you could see out there at the moment.

If thereis any striker Otto should use as a winger, its Salpiggidis the speed is staggering!

[driveby187em]

choutos

[Guest_Gakis_*]

Samaras-Gekas or Samaras-Salpigidis IMO..

[biancoverde]

choutos

[Spartan]

samaras should be a fixture for the time being unless he shows nothing. other striker u go with who is hot and that right now is Gekas.........the guy is leading scorer in germany yet XARI the giraffe got the start. lym is a good sub.

[fro]

I agree Sam and Gkekas with Lymbe as no. 3 or first sub. I don't really rate Salp and I think Chari and Sam are trying to do the same things out there.

[StavroFromToront...]

Samaras and Amanaditis for me. I wan't these two players to be given a full match together, before I change my mind.

[Greekaus]

It seems so far that every poster is in agreement and BTW nice analysis Ellada 04.

It all depends what attacking strategy Otto sets during games as so far he loves to have quiet a few play out of position with the most glaring pick of Samaras out as winger which is so unatural for him.
In a 4-4-2 which he never uses Sam and Gekas would be the best choices
4-3-3 which usually ends being a very defensive 4-5-1 then its all up for grabs as the lone central striker needs to be dominant, strong and able to hold the ball up for his teamates the wingers to join the attack and this sadly is where all our strikers are deficient in. Charisteas from a couple of years ago was the man but now just a shadow of that player. Stelios again from a season or two ago was the perfect foil for Charisteas as he could easily switch to either wide attacking position with success.

The recent 3-5-2 vs Malta was just a one time deal as he fell into that lineup because of Giourkas injury and the aftermath of the Turkey debacle which forced him into making rash and uncharacteristic decisions.

Samaras and Gekas in the right formation are the best picks with PAP an alternative due to his versatility.

[g00nis]

Strikers will never fluorish in Otto's kick and hope offense. Maybe they should bring in some of the basketball players so they can reach these horrible long balls.

The fact that Basinas still plays is glaring indictment on Otto's lack of creativity and overall knowledge on how offense should be run. You cant play a 4-3-3 effectively when the central midfielder (and designated top distributor) is the worst player on the pitch.

Back on topic with the strikers: they are average.

-Samaras is more of a withdrawn Lybe type but with shit finishing.
-Papadopoulos is horrible.
-Salpiggidis can only play on the wing and his finishing is erratic. Hes useless in the long ball format.
-Xaristeas is a garbage finisher unless its a header or hes 5 feet from goal. He also sucks at passing and flick on headers (for some unexplainable reason).
-Amanatidis is always injured and hes inconsistent and most importantly doesnt seem to fit the offensive scheme (or lack thereof).
-Gkekas is not that good in a long ball system and hes also got inconsistent finishing.

[kinggeorge]

i think right now we need to have samaras and gkekas and then charisteas and amantidis of the bench and maybe choutos if he ever gets playing time, the more i watch salp play idunno if he is ment for greece internationaly speaking i think he needs to prove himself and do something more then what hes doing, also what happened to papadopoulos from pao i never see him on the squad

[montrealitis]

I agree about Samaras and Gekas with Lymbe as a sub. However I would also like to see Amanatidis & Salpigidis used more often.

[YGG]

Strikers will never fluorish in Otto's kick and hope offense. Maybe they should bring in some of the basketball players so they can reach these horrible long balls.

The fact that Basinas still plays is glaring indictment on Otto's lack of creativity and overall knowledge on how offense should be run. You cant play a 4-3-3 effectively when the central midfielder (and designated top distributor) is the worst player on the pitch.

Back on topic with the strikers: they are average.

-Samaras is more of a withdrawn Lybe type but with shit finishing.
-Papadopoulos is horrible.
-Salpiggidis can only play on the wing and his finishing is erratic. Hes useless in the long ball format.
-Xaristeas is a garbage finisher unless its a header or hes 5 feet from goal. He also sucks at passing and flick on headers (for some unexplainable reason).
-Amanatidis is always injured and hes inconsistent and most importantly doesnt seem to fit the offensive scheme (or lack thereof).
-Gkekas is not that good in a long ball system and hes also got inconsistent finishing.

Money post.

What me and a few others have been screaming for 3 years now. Too bad so many thickheaded people can't understand on here, and are too easily swayed by scorelines in our favour.

A 4-0 win to Bosnia and supposedly we're 'just fine' when in turn we were ATROCIOUS for a large majority of the match.
A 4-1 trouncing by Turkey and 95% of people here are calling for Otto's head and a complete revamp.
A 1-0 dismal win over an EXTREMELY WEAK Malta side, and we are proud of the many chances we created and are already 'back on track'.

The one reason we had so many chances yesterday? One word: MALTA.
Our approach to the game was horrendous, and our build up (if any) en route to goal was poor. As g00nis said, it's been kick and hope offense for the past 3 years, and when we attempt to attack this way against any semi-decent squad, we get burned and see rare glimpses of the opponents goal. Lobbing the ball into the penalty area and hoping the ball bounces your way is not a real form of attack, and more often than not when playing against good teams the ball isn't gonna bounce your way. Luckily yesterday we were playing a Malta team that couldn't find they're head from their ass and at times were more amateur than an Under 18 semi-pro team.

[Areus]

Samaras,Gekas,Salpigidis and Amanatidis are all the strikers the NT needs. Calling up Paps, Lymbe, Xari and even Mantzios are a waste of spots. At most take one of those players like Lybe for insurrance but thats it! Paps warms the bench game in and out, Mantzios is far from beeing ready for NT duties and Xari speaks for himself....
We need more people in mid-field and more depth on the RB/LB positions.

[Amorgos]

Starting Samaras and Gkekas

Personally I would like to see Lymberopoulos put in as a dekari behind them also as I see him for now been a big factor to changing the disgusting football we have been playing for 2 nows, he plays the ball on the ground and can help Karagounis with this. Anyway, dont wanna go to off topic.

Samaras and Gkekas with Lymbe behind them as a dekari, or Lymberopoulos as first sub in.
After Lymbe my choise is Amanatidis, but he is always injured, if he gets better give him a 90min game for god sake! Let him show what he can do, its tuff whem you keep just getting 20mins or so!
Final one would be Mantzios

Samaras
Gkekas
Lymberopoulos
Amanatidis
Mantzios

[Giourkas]

All our strikers have to improve finnishing. In the last 2 years, think of how many dokaria and missed open nets have cost us....

[THRYLOS FANATIC]

u cant improve in finishing.its either ure a natural or not.nobody outside greece has heard of salps.libe,ghekas,paps,.no team fears our strikers and rightly so.we played attacking football and we still won 1-0.dosent that say anything.btw may someone answer this for me.2 years ago otto was subbing karagounis at half cause he said he couldnt play a full 90 minutes with the same stamina.so why is it that 2 years LATER hes playing full games?

[Amorgos]

Looking at the player call ups, he is the only true central attacking midfielder, the other two who are closest to that would have to be Amanatidis and Lymberopoulos... we had 3 defensive mids! and Stelios for midfielders...

[HELLAS59]

Samaras-Gekas or Samaras-Salpigidis IMO..

I like Samaras and Salpigidis combo, but Samaras Gekas can be good too! Salpigidis speed is quite amazing, could he be used as a winger? I would like to see Lyberopoulos right behind those two!

My line up:



..............................Samaras..............................................Salpigidis


........................................................Lyberopoulos


.............Karagounis...............................................................................Stelios

.............................................................Zikos


Georgatos..............................................................................................................Seitaridis

........................................Kyrgiakos...........................???????


........................................................Eleutheropoulos


Subs:

Strikers:
Gekas
Charisteas

Midfielders:
Katsouranis
Ninis


Defence:
Dellas
Tavlaridis



GK.
Nikopolidis


This post has been edited by HELLAS59: Mar 29 2007, 11:12 PM

[HELLAS59]

Sorry, one more thing, I think Papadopoulos sucks, and Amanatidis hasnt shown anything yet! Georgatos and Zikos I understand are never gonna get called up again! And I realize that Georgatos and Zikos are not playing very well, but I believe that they cant be anywhere near as bad as Basinas and Fyssas. I think Eleutheropoulos should get called up and given a try. Salpigidis is fasttttttttttt! And he has some dribbling skills, he reminds me a bit of Nikolaidis. Also Salpigidis FIGHTS hard for the ball and has good strength to fend off bigger guys, hes pretty impressive for his size! For the defender I didnt list, I think we need a mobile 6ft tall defender, someone like Kapsis/Goumas/Amanatidis (oly) at their peaks, to pair up with the taller Kyrgiakos. I think Kyrgiakos is gonna be our next Dellas, except that he is a lot more mobile than Dellas! I think a short/tall combo for the strikers could be good. I think a tall tall combo like Kyrgiakos and Dellas cant work as you need someone more mobile in the back, thus we need to find a partner for Kygiakos. Man do we miss Tsartas and Zagorakis!