Fear of failure which will ultimately bring failure

Fear of failure which will ultimately bring failure

By George

A undeserving or deserving (whichever way you fill your cup) draw with Spain was supposed to be the catalyst for good things to come for us Ethniki Omada fans. 

The players celebrated like rock stars in the locker room after having 23% of the ball with absolutely zero attack or ability to move the ball up field. Alas, we got a point when no one expected us to! 

Sweden got the expected win over Georgia but it was a very meek 1-0 win. Game on! Advantage Greece. 

Off we go to play a friendly with Honduras. A 2-1 win came our way. That game now highlighted everything that is wrong with the Ethniki Omada under the current coaching setup.   

Our inability to finish off chances was on show and the inability to sustain any kind of pressure from lesser teams showed too with their goal. Weird selections from the two matches had everyone thinking who are we gonna play against Georgia. 

Siopis who played like a man possessed for 45 minutes against Spain played the full match here so we knew his card was marked. 

Tsimikas was another who played like a star against Spain and didn't feature in this one so most assumed he would start right? Wrong. 

So many more but lets leave it at that for now.

Georgia at home. They've also played two matches but both were competitive matches and they lost them both so going into Game 3 we'd have an advantage of sorts having the fresher playing group, getting the big point against Spain, the 2-1 win over Honduras right?....... Tipota.

It's about building up for these qualifiers so lets not get wound up about Bakakis starting, Bakasetas starting, Fortounis being played a winger, Giannoulis starting over Tsimikas who killed it. 

We reverted back to shocking. First we see a lineup that pretty much upsets everyone but we've come to expect it and in JVS we trust because we got a point from Spain right! 

It's all good boys. Relax. No its not. It's xalia!

By half time most fans knew this was gonna be one of those nights. 

We had nothing, we looked limp in attack, we went backwards faster than we went forward, Mavrias who no one, not even fans of his Cypriot club remembers when he last played a competitive club match came on for an injured Bakakis who in turn is at fault for the visitors goal later in the match. 

We had two holding midfielders and a centre mid in Bakasetas who were all in sixes and sevens trying to figure out how to go forward against a minnow! Yes! I said it, a minnow in Georgia whilst wasting what we had out wide in Fortounis and Tzolis. 

Lets not even start on why Fortounis is seen as a winger, or if you wanna look at in in another way, why Bakasetas is seen as a better central option. 

All the while, Georgia were growing in confidence. A false confidence given to them by us.

Second half starts and much the same but the gods shone on us once again and we end up taking the lead from on own goal. 

It was gonna be one of those games we all thought it would be, but we all thought wrong because whilst still in disbelief that we took the lead we conceded a goal minutes later, and from that moment till the end, we are lucky we didn't lose the match. 

So... I ask. What vision are we being sold? 

A coach that says one thing then does another is a coach that is destined to fail because he doesn't believe in his own words. 

His own words were I will play the players who show form at club level on a weekly basis and regenerate the aging squad.

He has done neither at a level we'd expect him to do so and has ostracised many players for daring to question things.

Most fans wanted action post Skibbe and Anastasiadis as it had gone too far with the players running the show but from the way I see it now, JVS has taken it too far with the way he's gone about business.

And speaking of that. Who does the coach report to? Who does the coach have to justify the selections, the tactics, the line ups etc? Is there a proper football person above the coaching set up or has van't Schip been given free reign to do as he pleases? 

Do we blame players? Right now, no we don't. 

How can anyone point the finger at Mavrias for being chosen to play? How can anyone blame Bakasetas for being chosen to be the centre point of our whole attack?

How can we hate Tzavella when the coach removes all competition for his position from the squad leaving him and Papadopoulos as our only viable experienced defenders? 

These guys don't chose themselves. 

His inability to deal with ego's is slowly destroying this team. I challenge anyone to tell me we are a better side without Sokratis, Manolas, Fetfatzidis or Siovas. 

And I'm not asking for them to be put back in, that ship has sailed but there's a bigger picture here. 

So many rumours have been peddled for so long and JVS wont come out and openly clarify this situation for us.

It seems he has created an environment of fear among grown men and has rewarded the weak who dare not speak. 

This is not what we expect from a Greek side!

As it stands, we are two games in and we have scored a penalty and an own goal. We have 2 points and play Kosovo away before hosting Sweden who have 6 points and a +4 goal difference. 

Beating Georgia would of guaranteed us nothing, but not getting maximum points sure made things harder. 

The next two WC matches, Kosovo away and Sweden at home, are crucial for all involved. 

All is not lost, but a lot have lost faith. 

Hellas Football

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