Giannoulis

[Tired 112]

How do we think he's doing so far?

I haven't watched every game, but from what I've seen he looks like exactly what we needed. With each game he looks more dangerous going forward and more effective at the back - bar the rare occasion that he's let an opponent passed him too easily. Obviously the big test for him is how he handles the step up next season, facing off against elite players (if we go up 😉), but right now he looks a clear upgrade on Jamal. Another impressive addition from Webber and the scouting/analytics team.

[Thirsty Lizard 3,215]

He's done pretty well so far and has clearly got better the more he has played (unsurprisingly). I certainly wouldn't describe him as an 'upgrade on Jamal' at this point - although I hope he will prove to be so in time. 

[WD40 726]

51 minutes ago, Thirsty Lizard said:

He's done pretty well so far and has clearly got better the more he has played (unsurprisingly). I certainly wouldn't describe him as an 'upgrade on Jamal' at this point - although I hope he will prove to be so in time. 

I would say he is better defensively than Jamal already, much more physical and aggressive in that way. In the attacking sense it’s too early to say as with Jamal it became 2nd nature to know where he would be on the left flank but he had a tendency to stop progressing the ball and look for a short pass option. With time I hope we see Giannoullis bring that aggression to his attacking game. 

[Jersey Canary 180]

19 minutes ago, WD40 said:

I would say he is better defensively than Jamal already, much more physical and aggressive in that way. In the attacking sense it’s too early to say as with Jamal it became 2nd nature to know where he would be on the left flank but he had a tendency to stop progressing the ball and look for a short pass option. With time I hope we see Giannoullis bring that aggression to his attacking game. 

He’s getting better by the game and doesn’t look out of place in this city side.

[AJ 1,359]

I'd probably suggest it's actually quite hard to slip into a title contending team and not look out of place. He's definitely improving each week and the clean sheets speak for themselves. Still gets caught out a little bit, like losing Collins for their early chance, but overall he's getting more solid. Definitely looking the best player for left back in our ranks

[The Bristol Nest 597]

I think that we have brought in a Premier League left back. The week by week improvement is really impressive.

[BroadstairsR 2,273]

He's a no nonsense footballer, confident in his craft and good to have in the side.

He has slotted in seamlessly and just looks the part.

[cambridgeshire canary 7,798]

Getting better and better. Was described by the Sky commenter the other week as 'looking like a Premier Leauge ready player' and i fully agree 

[Michael Starr 571]

Better than Jamal already. Looks solid. I think there's more to come from him too.

[Ramrod 258]

He reminds me of Ian Culverhouse. 

[horsefly 5,301]

I would say he's a definite upgrade on jamal (and I loved Jamal). His passing, particularly when in a tight spot, is exceptionally good and definitely better than JL. He displays more technical skill than JL, and seems to make more interceptions than JL (from my admittedly anecdotal perspective). I think we also need to remember that when you play your backs as wing-backs the defensive duties of a traditional full back have to be shared out with the defensive midfielders and centre backs. Thus Dimi can't be expected to be bombing into the opposing half  one minute and covering all the attacks down the left the next. I think it's remarkable how quickly he has forged an understanding with his team mates, and it's no coincidence at all that we have let in so few goals since he's been in the team. He's played a big part in the recent run of 7 wins on the trot. Farke's judgement has been shown to be spot on yet again. And applause for Webber too; we've got a better left-back and made about an £7-8m profit in the process.

Edited March 7, 2021 by horsefly

[wcorkcanary 4,784]

18 minutes ago, horsefly said:

I would say he's a definite upgrade on jamal (and I loved Jamal). His passing, particularly when in a tight spot, is exceptionally good and definitely better than JL. He displays more technical skill than JL, and seems to make more interceptions than JL (from my admittedly anecdotal perspective). I think we also need to remember that when you play your backs as wing-backs the defensive duties of a traditional full back have to be shared out with the defensive midfielders and centre backs. Thus Dimi can't be expected to be bombing into the opposing half  one minute and covering all the attacks down the left the next. I think it's remarkable how quickly he has forged an understanding with his team mates, and it's no coincidence at all that we have let in so few goals since he's been in the team. He's played a big part in the recent run of 7 wins on the trot. Farke's judgement has been shown to be spot on yet again. And applause for Webber too; we've got a better left-back and made about an £7-8m profit in the process.

Totally agree Flyo, Jamals progress with us was exceptional,  but Giannoulis looks to be a cut above Jamal in quality with an equally strong engine. Excellent piece of business.

[TheGunnShow 7,377]

I'd argue Giannoulis might have a better engine than Jamal. Jamal's got a bit more top speed in full flow, Giannoulis looks a bit more explosive late on in games.

[canarydan23 4,762]

Looks great and as has been said, seems to be getting better each game. If McCallum is deemed appropriate backup, it's nice to have a position sorted as EPL ready already.

[cambridgeshire canary 7,798]

40 minutes ago, Michael Starr said:

Better than Jamal already. Looks solid. I think there's more to come from him too.

Honestly a part of me wonders if Jamal would be a better winger than defender

[lake district canary 4,830]

To me the comparison should not be with Jamal, but with Sorensen,  who was growing into an excellent left back by the time Giannoulis arrived.  Makeshift/stand in, call him what you like, but he was simply excellent in the left back role.   So comparing Sorensen and Giannoulis, I would say they are about the same and would have been quite happy if Sorenesen had kept the left back position for the rest of the season.   Giannoulis has arrived and is very good, but Sorensen was superb too. Bodes well for next season!

[Ken Hairy 4,272]

I think he's getting better with every game. Looking forward to seeing if he's good enough for the Premier League next season 

[TheGunnShow 7,377]

1 minute ago, lake district canary said:

To me the comparison should not be with Jamal, but with Sorensen,  who was growing into an excellent left back by the time Giannoulis arrived.  Makeshift/stand in, call him what you like, but he was simply excellent in the left back role.   So comparing Sorensen and Giannoulis, I would say they are about the same and would have been quite happy if Sorenesen had kept the left back position for the rest of the season.   Giannoulis has arrived and is very good, but Sorensen was superb too. Bodes well for next season!

Have to respectfully disagree here, at least with regard to the comparison. Totally agree that Sorensen was doing very well indeed there and can easily see him being seen as a back-up option there next season, but that wasn't why he was bought. Finding out that Sorensen had that in his locker was good luck rather than management, but it also raises the anticipation of what we're going to see when Sorensen finally starts getting a run of games in the position originally earmarked for him.

It's not usually too good for a youngster's development if they're consistently playing out of position, so I'd really like to see Sorensen get more time in the middle now. Farke does seem to be bringing him on a fair bit now for a few minutes, feeding him small doses of positive experience in there and letting him get used to it.

[Bradwell canary 112]

Seems to me he is far better than JL.

why? He’s not always as his first option looking for a back or sideways pass. JL had a great deal of speed going forward, sadly hardly ever used it. Always played safely, hence sideway and back passes.

Seems to me that Newcastle paid over the odds for him. Now I don’t think Bruce rate hime that highly, even gave him some criticism last week.

[Rich T The Biscuit 676]

On 07/03/2021 at 11:22, Ramrod said:

He reminds me of Ian Culverhouse. 

Hope you mean to look at as Culverhouse was a RB 😬

[Move Klose 303]

On 07/03/2021 at 11:19, Michael Starr said:

Better than Jamal already. Looks solid. I think there's more to come from him too.

Not sure that takes too much.

[TeemuVanBasten 3,328]

Upgrade on Jamal Lewis, without a doubt.

Going to be a huge player for us, clearly Premier League level, happy with this signing. 

[Crabbycanary3 994]

I am not saying that Jamal will be as good as Dimitris (he may be) but there is over 2 years difference in their ages, and DG wasn't exactly tearing up top level leagues 2 and a half years ago, whereas JL has played 50 games in the Prem at the same age. 

They are at different times of their careers, so a proper comparison is harsh on JL. 

I very much like the look of DG though 👍

 

[HazzaJet 267]

Was a bit disappointing at first but then of course he’d never played English football before and you have to give new signings time to settle in. The mistake he made v Stoke was solely down to him not knowing that style of play isn’t in Farke’s - Farke mentioned it in a post-match interview. However, Giannoulis still made amends for his mistake that gave Stoke the equaliser by setting up Emi to restore the lead just a few minutes later.
 

Since then I think he has improved fast and like others have said, if we go up I think he will turn out better for us than Lewis did last season - also more experienced, including a bit of Champions/Europa League. The advantage of signing him this season is that we can give him a trial and he should be well settled in to the club and playing in England prior to next season. Would be a similar case with Gibson and if by chance we do manage to get Skipp on loan again next season - done great for us this season and well settled in to the club. Although he’s hardly played for Burnley Gibson’s career statistics also state him as making 38 PL apps in ‘Boros last season in the top flight - ever present.

Edited March 8, 2021 by HazzaJet

[Ward 3 484]

I think he's doing very well considering he's been here a short while. When he's been here for a whole pre season I expect to see a different beast.

[chicken 3,086]

I've said it before but Webber and Farke seem to like bringing in players in January with the idea of getting them up to speed for the following season.

We've seen that with the likes of Leitner, Hernandez, Rupp, and now Giannoulis. Quietly behind the scenes this also seems to be happening with Soto and Sitti who were both out on loan for the first half of the season.

The main reason I say this is that the players that went on to be heavily involved in the first team and quite an influence also got a fair bit of football, even if mainly from the bench, in the remainder of the season and it worked wonders. I even think Duda would have turned out ok considering he was only 25 and had been thrown into the thick of it like Rupp. I think Giannoulis is cutting his teeth at the right level at the moment.

[TheGunnShow 7,377]

I said after the Stoke game that we found out a lot about Giannoulis after his mistake. Most defenders in that situation would have simply looked to keep it tight and simple and just see out a 2-1. His response a couple of minutes later was to barrel down the wing, past a man and stick in an inch-perfect ball that landed right at the feet of either Vrancic or Buendia - who could both have had a cup of coffee before slotting it in - and indeed Buendia did knock it in.

Learned everything you needed to know about his mentality at that point.

[AJ 1,359]

He has improved a lot with every game, and adjusted to the game well seeing as he was thrown in fairly swiftly. It speaks volumes that we've only conceded 2 goals since his integration into the back 4, and 1 of those was due to his mistake against Stoke. I wouldn't say he adds as much as Jamal was when he left, but given he's only played a handful of games his passing and movement in tight spaces is clearly very good which means he should fit in very well in the long term with Cantwell down that left hand side. 

He's certainly better than Quintilla, and more natural than Sorensen. I think he will grow to be a good signing, we certainly seem a lot better balanced in recent games with him down the left. In fact, against Luton, didn't I read he had the most touches of the ball out of any city player?

[GJP 79]

Looks a good player. Possibly needs to do a bit better in one on one defending.

[jaberry2 769]

Credit to him he has settled pretty quickly, which is the hardest thing to do with any new player when arriving in January. Seems to be finding his feet now and can really kick on with a pre season under his belt.