JVS – Make the Change

JVS – Make the Change

By Greg Gavalas



Greece took on the number one seed in the world today, as Belgium looked to prepare for the European Championships which start soon.

The Ethniki as we know, had a fair bit riding on this game even though it was a friendly and we have not qualified for the Euro’s which are being held this year after the Covid-19 issues Europe faced in 2020 (and still has issues within 2021).


For John Van Ship (JVS) and staff it was a chance to test ourselves against another world class team but also look to improve our team who, despite a respectable draw with Spain in Malaga for the opening game towards World Cup 2022 qualification, threw that all away with a horrible performance at home to Georgia, the Ethniki was lucky to come away with a 1-1 daw as Georgia proved the more threatening team, like the Spain game, our attack was non-existent for most of the game and that’s inexcusable.


The match with Belgium is followed by Norway only a few days later, we have seen the Ethniki come away with respectable results against the big teams but we have also seen the team struggle in the games we expect to win or control the game, this is generally due to a lack of execution towards goal but we create chances, of late though, and despite JVS starting his Greek path on fire with a team that created many chances per game, this has winded away, match by match through the League of Nations were Greece failed to land first spot to Slovenia.


What has become evident is two key players that made our fiery start with JVS work so well are now not firing at all, the two players I am referring to are Dimitris Limnios and Tassos Bakasetas.


Limnios moved to Germany and signed with FC Koln, however season 1 would prove unsuccessful, a case of Covid would set back the former PAOK winger and he has not been able to land a starting spot with the Bundesliga club, his form was so poor it showed for the Ethniki and he has since been dropped.


Bakasetas though has remained an instrumental part of the Ethiniki and is even the team captain, he plays a Central Attacking role in the midfield, and this has hampered our attack considerably.


The fact of the matter is Baka is simply not fast, technical nor has the vision to take our game in the direction we need it too, the funny thing is, this can be hidden against the likes of Spain and Belgium, simply because we have proven to get the goal to keep it even, in saying that though our attack is not as strong as what it can be when most counter attacks by our faster players like Giorgos Masouras or our wing backs, lack the option in the middle to have the flow carry on.


In all matches with Spain, Georgia and now Belgium we saw counter attacks by the Ethniki come to nothing because of a slow Bakasetas not in the middle of the field as an option, or when he is there it’s a pass backwards or sideways, with no forward looking run, we then pass the ball back to our defence and have to start our attack again, giving the opposition time to set their formation on us and this makes our attacking and attempted penetration difficult.


In essence we are almost playing a man down, we saw in the Belgium game, when Dimitris Pelkas and Petros Mantalos entered the field, the Ethniki was able to push forward much easier and challenge the Belgian defence which leads to mistakes on their part and opportunities for the Greek team, now imagine Kostas Fortounis at CAM.


The obvious is there, JVS needs to give our other 3 CAM’s a chance and less time to Bakasetas, if not we risk the proposal of dropping more points to Sweden and Kosovo who we play in September for games 3 and 4 in World Cup 2022 Qualification, if we drop points, Project Qatar as JVS and co have hailed it, will be a tremendous failure, however they need to see the team has much potential with the likes of Masouras, Pelkas, Mantalos, Tsimikas, Giannoulis, Giakoumakis, Pavlidis (when provided service) and look at the best midfield options behind them in Manolis Siopis, Kostas Galanopoulos and integrate Sotirios Alexandropoulos there also who has good technique and vision.


Likewise, Christos Tzolis can help the team out, that’s two quality young guns, whilst I believe the likes of Yiannis Fetfazidis and Sotiris Ninis can offer more than Bakasetas does in attack.


The Norway match will be interesting to see what tactics Greece goes with in this position.


Hellas Football 


Follow @GregGavalas

 

Comments

  1. Van't Schip has got the team sticking to two basic principles, which has raised the team's game a lot:

    1) Everyone gets really wide when Greece has the ball. That width creates space because it forces the opposition to close down wide areas, leaving more room for Greece to penetrate the middle. When Greece loses the ball, everyone presses to win back possession and the team gets compact again. Obviously there's more to it, like are passing patterns van't Schip has drilled into the team, but that is the basic idea at play here.

    2) They try to the play more passes in behind the opposition defense. Usually these balls come from Greece's defenders who are under less pressure to play these long, direct passes through the middle. If Greece loses the ball, doesn't matter because Greece press high and usually force an error deep inside the opposition's half, usually the opponent's final third. Such an error occurred against Spain. Greece couldn't even string any passes together that game, but by pressing Spain high Greece forced the Spanish defense into an error that led to the lucky penalty.

    Right now Greece lacks quality players. Bakasetas isn't half bad. He has a good eye for goal and get his shots on target. He reminds me a bit of Eric Cantona. He didn't always play well, much like Bakasetas, but he would usually get the one goal that won the game for United. The only difference is Cantona was a bigger man and had a lot more skill. He was better at getting into the area and making his presence count for something. Greece can probably find better in Fortounis or Pelkas as far as CAMs go. Fortounis is the most gifted footballer in Greece ATM. Pelkas has a lot of skill and works really hard. He's the most balanced player of the bunch. Fortounis can't defend or press, Bakasetas is too slow, but Pelkas has the qualities those two lack and he has real ability from set-pieces as well as a great eye for the pass.

    Androutsos, Pelkas, and Masouras are making strong cases to continue in the eleven. Bakasetas, Limnios, and Bakakis seem to be the ones making way. Ninis I feel needs to get into the squad and van't Schip will need to assess him from there.

    Manolas needs to come back. Tzavellas has done well, but he's not a good enough solution. Mavropanos, Hatzidiakos, Kyriakos, and Retsos are all prone to recurring injuries. Manolas is not and he's the only Greek player, never mind defender, playing regularly at an elite level. Van't Schip can't keep leaving him out.

    There are things Manolas does as a defender that no other Greek player can do. His pace and athleticism gives Greece an option to man mark someone like Mbappe. He goes in very hard with his challenges. I saw him fly in from behind an opponent with surgical precision to tackle the ball before it reached his opponent's feet. That opponent was probably shitting bricks after that clearance. And he did it inside the penalty area. He's a different class from our current stock of defenders. No one would go flying in for the ball inside the area like he did. Players like Mbappe or Haaland won't have room to breath playing against someone like Manolas who trains regularly against Osimhen, a player almost identical to Mbappe and Haaland. He's the kind of quality Greece needs in the team to be truly competitive for major finals.

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