Georgios Samaras - Style of Play

Style of Play

Samaras has been described as the "complete forward", he has all the abilities to perform every role when playing up front. His height, 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m), makes him very difficult to handle in the air – and he is also a very good header of the ball. This means he can be used as an effective target man and his team can hit long balls up to him. He can also score from corners and crosses. Samaras is also very strong which further adds to his physical presence and makes him harder for defenders to play against.

Samaras is also a very good dribbler. This is due to his skill, quick feet and agility. He uses this to his advantage as often goes on runs where he beats several opposition players. However, he can sometimes hold onto the ball for too long and get tackled. As well as his dribbling ability, he is very quick which means he can beat players with his pace. He can also use his strength to beat players as well and is also able to use his creativity to set up goals for other players. While he was at Manchester City, Eriksson said that he would only retain him in the side if he stopped dribbling and running out wide. Eriksson said that he believed Samaras to be a very good header of the ball and he had to stop believing he was like Ronaldinho if he was to become a good player.

Although predominantly a striker, Samaras can also play as a left midfielder. During his time at Manchester City, Samaras expressed his disappointment at being used on the left of midfield too often, he publicly said to manager Sven-Göran Eriksson; "I am not a left-midfielder, I am a striker and I like to play there," However, after his move to Celtic, Samaras was more open to playing as a left midfielder. The Daily Mail said that this was because he was happier at Celtic and more willing to be a team player. In addition to being able to play as a target man, Samaras can also be used in several different roles when playing up front. His natural style of play is to drift off the front line and provide a link between the attack and midfield. In doing this he can use his pace and skill to run at the defence, while also creating chances or opening up space for his teammates. He can also run beyond the centre-backs and his pace means he can run on to through balls hit over the defence.