How Will Gus Poyet Benefit the Greek International Football Team?

Greece will not be in attendance when the World Cup comes to Qatar in 2022 after failing to qualify from their UEFA Qualifying Group. The top spot in group B went to favourites Spain, who finished on 19 points and advances automatically to the World Cup. Second place was taken by Sweden with 15 points, five ahead of third place Greece.

In their eight group games, Greece could only come away with two wins, beating Sweden and Georgia. Unfortunately, too many draws, four in total, meant they were too far off Sweden to reach the play off stages. 

This failure to qualify left the John Van’t Schip to resign for his role after 26 games in charge. He only lost six games in his time, with 11 wins and nine draws, though it seemed the people above have decided a new direction is needed.

Gus Poyet has taken over the reins now and will look to transform the national side into a stronger and more clinical outfit going into the European Championships in 2024. 

Poyet takes control of the side on a contract running to the end of 2023 with a 12-month extension option. 

The right man for the job?

Concerns were raised about his style of play, which was often too slow of defensively, considering he was managing one of the strongest sides in the league. They went on to win their 16th title, and fourth in a row, though with the players at his disposal, that was expected.

Poyet took the role in Chile after some time out of the game and with short stints with mixed success prior to that. It was his first role in three years after leaving Bordeaux in 2018 where he was suspended by the club for criticising the sale of Gaetan Laborde to Montpellier, and he was subsequently fired from his position due to this issue. 

Prior to this he had managed Shanghai Shenhua where he again faced criticism after spending a lot of money and being 32 points off the leaders when he resigned.  With Real Betis, where after signing a two-year contract, he was fired after just six months in charge.

It is not his first spell in Greece, as he achieved success with AEK Athens where he finished third in the league. This stint, while finishing in a successful position was once again tainted by issues with the board. AEK Athens owner, Dimitris Melissanidis labelled the Uruguayan immoral after he spoke with media about leaving the club at the end of the season and speaking of details from private meetings.  

Prior to these roles, Poyet had begun his managerial career in England, firstly with Brighton and Hove Albion, before taking on the role of manager at Sunderland. 

Starting at Brighton he had his longest period as a manager with one club, managing from 2009 to 2013. After years of good work, Poyet was suspended three days after losing in the Championship playoff final in 2013 to Crystal Palace. He, his assistant manager and first-team coach all received suspensions and Poyet said he was unhappy with the situation the club was in and it was preparing for, claiming the lack of investment for the board was holding him back. He ultimately was sacked from his role in which many fans will say his ego got the better of him, which ruined a managerial period where he had previously been able to do no wrong. 

At Sunderland, times were hard, and the club is still going through issues on and off the pitch. It started well, saving them from relegation in his first season, though ended up being sacked after 18 months in charge. 

Can he rebuild?

Poyet is looking to rebuild a faltering Greek side who have talent playing in leagues around the world. There are Greek players in MLS as well as across Europe in a number of leagues gaining valuable experience.

The latest Greek national side included players from across some of the top leagues in Europe. 

Regular goalkeeper Odysseas Vlachodimos is at Portuguese giants Benfica, Kostas Tsimikas the left back plays for Liverpool in the Premier League and Giorgos Giakoumakis is playing for Celtic in the Scottish Premier League, after being the top scorer in the Eredivisie in the Netherlands last season with VVV Venlo.

Poyet will have plenty of time to organise his squad and monitor his players with Euro 2024 qualifying not beginning until March 2023. He has almost a year to set out his plans for the side and scout potential new call ups to freshen up the Greek squad.

The Uruguayan is a controversial figure, and it could be said the Greek FA are taking a gamble with his appointment. There are obviously successes in his history as manager, though his appointment may suggest Greece continue with a defensive approach and his side could again be quite hard to watch.

Image source