Santos

[Faliro]

[josantiago]

Well, he did put you in the World Cup...so he's still SuperMan? 

[Faliro]

Greeks are truely in love with him now...all the terrible boring games our NT plays are forgotten.. he is seen as great...? He has won over 60% of all games for the NT... He evens speaks in greek sometimes now...from 00:30 seconds..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mWvV3scKUwY

[J_slb]

Your team is not that good, lets face it, so why on earth would you be expecting attacking football?
I really dont get the animosity you have towards Santos, i think he´s been doing a great so far, bearing in mind the players he has to work with.

[Faliro]

Well the problem is that Santos likes to play with 3 pure defensive midfielders, each a worse passer than the other... Add to this Samaras can barely pass, that makes us rely on set pieces.. I mean we played Lichtenstein with a wall of 3 defensive midfielders.

Now the reason Santos has got criticism is because Greece has one or two players who have succeeded internationally when used (scored and played well) and then been pretty much left out. These players are Ninis - PAOK (former Parma) and Fetfatzidis - Genoa. Both are sublime passers and top rate players. However, they have been ignored, even in games where we need to score. These players unlike Tziolis, Katsouranis, Maniatis, Samaras etc can keep the ball, find a through ball at ease and also pass players as well as score.. when they have been on the pitch we have looked very nice.

Santos prefers to play it safe and that is why most the media respects him, even if he plans to play on the counter attack against Lichtenstein..  since he took over he has won 24, drawn 13 and only lost 4 games...

[Covenant]

Ninis and Fet are fucking flops.

[Faliro]

I dont think so although some Greeks may agree with you, they have made extremely poor choices career wise - both turning down transfers to clubs such as Real Betis, Zaragoza and Sevilla..in favour of Parma and Genoa...

Ninis got absolutely no time as Parma and left.
Fetfa is doing a bit better at Genoa.

[josantiago]

How was Rehhagel portrayed by the greek media and by the fans, in comparison with Santos?

By your words, it seems that Santos has a prefered system and a group of players in which he relys on. Some national coaches tend to be that way. And if the results are positive in general, there is no visible disagreement. Here is the same thing, as we don't understand some of Paulo Bento's choices for the Portugal national team.

[Faliro]

Otto was hugely respected, even when he made mistakes. The media did tire of him slightly towards the end when he seemed to put our some very bizarre selections of players way past their best days, but all in all, they liked him a lot.

Santos is now hugely loved in Greece. Many fans think perhaps correctly, he is a bastion of stability and gets results. Santos has his favorites: katsouranis, Sokratis, karagounis, Tziolis, Vyntra, Torosidis etc He is not keen on Fetfa or Ninis. He only plays a 4-3-3. He explained why he chose to keep Greece defensive in this interview although I remember at PAOm he was equally defensive.

http://fr.fifa.com/worldcup/video/video=2223149/

[Godescalco]

Santos is an average coach in my opinion but, all things considered, he's doing a great job at the helm of the Greek NT. It seems to me that it's a job that suits him well.

I mean, Greece qualified for the World Cup in Brazil which is never an easy job. Before that, you did a pretty decent European Championship in 2012. Unlike the 70's, 80's and 90's, there's stability and consistent results now, undoubtedly due in part to Rehhagel's legacy as well.

[Faliro]

100% correct. The most talented Greek sides were in the 1980s and 1990s and they did anything internationally because they had 0 motivation, 0 moral, 0 respect for the coaches. Otto changed all that and took an average 2004 team and won the Euro and that legacy is still there. As a coach I dont rate Santos at all, but Greeks are more comfortable with a foreign coach, Greeks coaches they dont listen to or respect.

[Godescalco]

Lemonis was okay, though.

He did a very decent job at Olympiakos.

[Faliro]

Lemonis is a good coach. There are a few, but they never or rarely leave Greece.
Tsiolis who was in charge of Asteras is a good coach. Paraschos is another. Ioakim Chavos is quite clever. But these guys rarely leave Greece and just whore themselves out to as many Greek clubs as they can. Here is an example, good coach - no ambition to leave Greece:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgios_Paraschos

[Godescalco]

What happened to Bajevic? Does he still coach?

He was pretty good at AEK and Olympiakos.

[Faliro]

Dusan Bajevic aka Dusko, lol is now the chief director for AEK. They will move out the 3rd division and go to the second division. He is quite a good coach and has a lot of history in Greece.