FWC-Greece
Greece:-
“Piratiko” have been a work in the making over the last 4 years almost and they hope to provide their people the joy they have been missing!
In defense, coach Santos has established a properly functioning line-up and the players seem to come together wonderfully when they play. Individually speaking, Sokratis has enjoyed a breakthrough season at Borussia Dortmund and while he has shown that he can be error-prone, he is a very important player for coach Santos. His most-likely partner in CB, namely Manolas, has certainly shown flashes of brilliance but his inexperience at major international competitions might be his undoing.
Coach Santos prides himself on playing a very organized and structured form of football and his defensive strategy is the most important aspect within his formation. Either side of his CBs, he has very talented and experienced SBs in the form of Torosidis and Holebas; which is why Greece will prove to be a very stubborn opposition to most teams they’ll face.
Another positive element of Greece’s set-up is their midfield. Their most-probable midfield-trio all have a great amount of experience under their belts and have proven, domestically and internationally, that they are more than capable of handling the big pressures of a huge tournament like the WC.
Their midfield players will have a big say in how Greece compose themselves going forward; as Greece’s tend to play long balls forward and disperse play out wide starts mainly from those 3 midfielders. In between each other, coach Santos will look to allow them to play freely and position themselves according to the tempo and flow of the match at hand.
Further forward, Salpingidis and Samaras have enough experience and wherewithal to challenge opposition defenders and cause them all sorts of problems out wide; however, their lack of pace might be a problem whenever Greece would want to counter-attack.
The true nature of Greece’s problems in attack lies within their main striker options. Mitroglou has clearly shown that he can be a very, very deadly striker; but the timing of his 4-moth lay-off due to injury did not aid him in slowly integrating himself into top-level matches at Fulham.
Whether he can be 100% fit and in-form for the start of the WC campaign remains to be seen and coach Santos might opt to deploy Salpingidis at the spearhead of attack with the exceptional Panagiotis Kone featuring on the right side instead of him.
From a tactical point of view, as mentioned above, Greece rely on deep defending, playing long balls and launching quick counter-attacks. They also rely heavily on shots from distance and certainly have players who can score from odd yards out!
Main men: The Konstantinos pair (Katsouranis and Mitroglou): Katsouranis’ commanding role in midfield, alongside his vision and technique will be Greece’s special weapon going forward. Mitroglou is a lean, mean goal-scoring machine, whose tactical awareness and ability to “be in the right place at the right time”, every time, might help Greece produce good results this year!
Odds (average from top 24 betting firms): 285.65217
“Piratiko” have been a work in the making over the last 4 years almost and they hope to provide their people the joy they have been missing!
In defense, coach Santos has established a properly functioning line-up and the players seem to come together wonderfully when they play. Individually speaking, Sokratis has enjoyed a breakthrough season at Borussia Dortmund and while he has shown that he can be error-prone, he is a very important player for coach Santos. His most-likely partner in CB, namely Manolas, has certainly shown flashes of brilliance but his inexperience at major international competitions might be his undoing.
Coach Santos prides himself on playing a very organized and structured form of football and his defensive strategy is the most important aspect within his formation. Either side of his CBs, he has very talented and experienced SBs in the form of Torosidis and Holebas; which is why Greece will prove to be a very stubborn opposition to most teams they’ll face.
Another positive element of Greece’s set-up is their midfield. Their most-probable midfield-trio all have a great amount of experience under their belts and have proven, domestically and internationally, that they are more than capable of handling the big pressures of a huge tournament like the WC.
Their midfield players will have a big say in how Greece compose themselves going forward; as Greece’s tend to play long balls forward and disperse play out wide starts mainly from those 3 midfielders. In between each other, coach Santos will look to allow them to play freely and position themselves according to the tempo and flow of the match at hand.
Further forward, Salpingidis and Samaras have enough experience and wherewithal to challenge opposition defenders and cause them all sorts of problems out wide; however, their lack of pace might be a problem whenever Greece would want to counter-attack.
The true nature of Greece’s problems in attack lies within their main striker options. Mitroglou has clearly shown that he can be a very, very deadly striker; but the timing of his 4-moth lay-off due to injury did not aid him in slowly integrating himself into top-level matches at Fulham.
Whether he can be 100% fit and in-form for the start of the WC campaign remains to be seen and coach Santos might opt to deploy Salpingidis at the spearhead of attack with the exceptional Panagiotis Kone featuring on the right side instead of him.
From a tactical point of view, as mentioned above, Greece rely on deep defending, playing long balls and launching quick counter-attacks. They also rely heavily on shots from distance and certainly have players who can score from odd yards out!
Main men: The Konstantinos pair (Katsouranis and Mitroglou): Katsouranis’ commanding role in midfield, alongside his vision and technique will be Greece’s special weapon going forward. Mitroglou is a lean, mean goal-scoring machine, whose tactical awareness and ability to “be in the right place at the right time”, every time, might help Greece produce good results this year!
Odds (average from top 24 betting firms): 285.65217
Ahmad Al-Omar - 27. May, 06:57
