Picking Up Where They Left Off

Many fans of the Ethniki would have been praying for the momentum and togetherness that was built in the last sequence of UEFA EURO 2020 Qualifying matches against Italy and Bosnia and Herzegovina to continue today against Armenia, and that's exactly what happened. 

Greece had Armenia on the back foot for the majority of the first half, and as seven minutes ticked over, the Visitors had their first two meaningful chances to score, with Anastasios Bakasetas and Petros Mantalos going close with long and close range efforts respectively, with the latter hitting the outside of the post. 

At times during the first half, as Dimitris Giannoulis wanted to get forward down the left wing, Kostas Stafylidis would then shift from centre back to left back, with Kostas Galanopoulos covering for him in central defence. Which in hindsight was probably the reason for why Giannoulis was such a threat down the left hand side in the first half for Greece. And that's a big tick for the manager and the players mentioned above for executing a tactic that Armenia found really hard to stop. 

At the twelfth minute mark, The captain Stafylidis went close with a header from a Bakasetas corner, with his attempt flying just over the crossbar, it was wave after wave of Greek attacks, and on fourteen minutes, Mantalos and Pavlidis combined nicely with some neat touches, with the latter bringing the ball down well with his chest, but unfortunately the volley from Mantalos went well over the bar not troubling the Armenian Goalkeeper Aram Ayrapetyan. 

If there was any sort of negative aspect of Giannoulis's game today, it was when he received the first yellow card of the game for what the referee deemed a dive after a promising looking counter attack, replays showed the referee probably got that one right. 

Petros Mantalos was in the thick of things in an attacking sense for Greece in the first half, and on twenty-five minutes, he spurned a great chance just inside the box, after a decent first touch, he dragged his left footed shot well wide of the goal. 

The Greek pressure finally paid off with thirty-four minutes on the clock, as two young PAOK stars of the future combined for the first goal, Dimitris Giannoulis was instrumental in the lead up play with a great drive towards the eighteen yard area and after a crafty one two with Bakasetas, he eventually he found Dimitris Limnios with a neat pass, and the latter made no mistake with the finish with a brilliant right footed shot that gave Aram Ayrapetyan in the Armenian goal zero chance of stopping as it arrowed into the bottom corner.

Captain Kostas Stafylidis was the second player to go into the book after dragging down Armenia's Erik Vardanyan down to thwart what looked like a decent counter attacking opportunity, from that card came Armenia's first chance of the game, which was close to being capitalised on as Alexander Karapetyan's volley flew over the bar from close range following a cross.

As the first half came to a close, Greece held a deserving lead going into the break.

Greece almost made the ideal start to the second half, as the dangerous Dimitris Limnios forced a great save from Aram Ayrapetyan with a low range shot. 

Not long after that Limnios chance, Anastasios Bakasetas was allowed the room to move and then let fly with a fierce left foot shot, however Ayrapetyan was left untroubled by it in the Armenian Goal.

Greece were almost made to pay the price for missing chance after chance to extend their lead as Armenian Substitute Artur Sarkisov thought he had drawn the home side level only for his strike to be ruled out for offside, and correctly so as he drifted sightly ahead of the last defender in an attempt to pounce on a shot from distance that Greek Goalkeeper Odisseas Vlachodimos had parried straight into his path. The player who took that initial shot, Tigran Barseghyan, who was probably Armenia's most dangerous player throughout the game, then tried a left footed long range effort which in the end didn't trouble Vlachodimos at all as it drifted well wide. 

Man of the match in my opinion Dimitris Limnios yet again had a great chance to extend Greece's lead, but again he was thwarted by Ayrapetyan with his near post directed shot being parried behind for a corner, the young PAOK star would probably like to have that first touch again as it forced him to target the near post. 

Greek Substitute Giorgos Masouras had a golden chance to double Greece's lead on seventy-four minutes, but after promising build up play, the Olympiacos winger almost had too much time as his right footed shot swerved well wide of the goal, Masouras is certainly a hard tryer, but the consistent finishing ability still eludes him unfortunately.

Masouras's lack of consistent ability to finish good lead up play was unfortunately on display again as seventy-eight minutes ticked over, as he missed what was nothing short of a tap in after a cross from Dimitris Limnios wasnt cut off by two Armenian players.

Thankfully for the visitors, they weren't made to rue any of their abundance of missed chances as they hung on for a slender one nil victory, it should be recognised as well that opponents Armenia put up a stronger showing in the second half in comparison to the first forty-five minutes, and made Greece work for this victory. All the signs are there now, that John Van 't Schip at the very least has shown great signs of being the right man with right systems in place to take this team forward. Having said that, elements of our game need work, in particular finishing chances that we create, and that's not just a Giorgos Masouras problem, it's a team problem. Nations that have more quality than a Bosnia and Herzegovina or an Armenia with respect to those countries will punish Greece for failing to take as many chances as the ones created in our last two matches. 

In my opinion, the man of the match was undoubtedly Dimitris Limnios, the PAOK winger gave Armenian Left Wing Back of the night Kamo Hovhannisyan a very tough night with his blistering pace and skilful dribbling. Honourable mentions go to the back four of Greece as well and in particular Dimitris Giannoulis, who as well as putting in a solid shift in a defensive sense was Greece's second most damaging player going forward behind Limnios.

Greece conclude a largely disappointing group qualifying campaign against the already Finland in Athens, who themselves should be commended immensely in my opinion for reaching their first ever major tournament, in some style too, their progress under Markku, Kanerva has been nothing short of outstanding, back to Greece now and all the signs are there to hope for another strong performance under John Van't Schip.

By Christian for Hellas Football