Giorgos Merkis

[PES Stats Database]

[VUKDS]

Wow, guy is all career in Apollon, from 2000. 13 years !

[John]

Yep, he's also the team captain

[petreleo]

Defence: 78(+1): This guy is really hitting his prime right now in terms of defending.
Short Pass Accuracy: 71(+1): he is not awful at passing, he deserves a very small upgrade here I think.
Top Speed: 75(-2): No way he is at 77 Top Speed. It isn't that he feels slow, because of his high response(you got that one right), but in situations where Top Speed matters mosts, it is fair to say that he normally is the loser of the duel.
Teamwork: 78(+2): He is Apollon's captain for years now, he is genuinely a fan of the team, he has has very good leadership abilities.

[John]

I'm not so sure about defence. The rest i can agree with, also explosive power needs a drop to 70, the value he currently has is outdated from 2011.

[petreleo]

I'm not so sure about defence. The rest i can agree with, also explosive power needs a drop to 70, the value he currently has is outdated from 2011.

He has improved dramatically defensively. In his early years he was a joke, now he is one of the best, if not the best, Cypriot center-back.
Agree with EP, maybe not 70, but 71.

Does he still need DMF? He does not play there nowdays...

[John]

Fair enough. EP can be 71 yes and i'm not sure about DM, when i made him he had already played about 5 times that season replacing Quinteros while he was injured.

[petreleo]

Fair enough. EP can be 71 yes and i'm not sure about DM, when i made him he had already played about 5 times that season replacing Quinteros while he was injured.

OK let's keep DMF for now.

[John]

Notes: Header should be much, much lower as well as jump and stamina.

[petreleo]

Notes: Header should be much, much lower as well as jump and stamina.

Hmmm.
Header can be 80 I think.
Jump should be 77-78.

However, I am unsure about Stamina. He does actually plays moslty full 90minutes every single game. What is your thinking behind this suggestion?

[John]

Hmmm.
Header can be 80 I think.

In the game again Northern Ireland his header clearances were terrible i don't consider him at a yellow value now, he's more like mid-green level around 77-78, he also doesn't do well in set pieces.

Jump should be 77-78.

Yep, 78 seems good.

However, I am unsure about Stamina. He does actually plays moslty full 90minutes every single game. What is your thinking behind this suggestion?

That he doesn't need such a high value, his game isn't very mobile, he's just good at dispossessing the ball from his opponents using his response and balance.

[petreleo]

Hmmm.
Header can be 80 I think.

In the game again Northern Ireland his header clearances were terrible i don't consider him at a yellow value now, he's more like mid-green level around 77-78, he also doesn't do well in set pieces.

Jump should be 77-78.

Yep, 78 seems good.

However, I am unsure about Stamina. He does actually plays moslty full 90minutes every single game. What is your thinking behind this suggestion?

That he doesn't need such a high value, his game isn't very mobile, he's just good at dispossessing the ball from his opponents using his response and balance.

OK, what do you think about:
Header 78
Jump 78
Stamina 79 ??

[petreleo]

To sum up:

Defence: 78(+1)
Header Accuracy: 78(-4)
Short Pass Accuracy: 71(+1)
Explosive Power: 71(-3)
Top Speed: 75(-2)
Stamina: 79(-3)
Jump: 78(-3)
Teamwork: 78(+2)

Can somebody update him?

[petreleo]

Attack: 60 (+1)
Header Accuracy: 79 (+1)
Swerve: 68 (-1)
Response: 79 (-1)
Body Balance: 82 (-1)

Photo:

Spoiler: show

[petreleo]

http://apoelfc.com.cy/nqcontent.cfm?a_i ... ic&lang=l1

Signed for APOEL Nicosia for the next 1 and a half year, after agreeing not to receive the wages that his former club owed to him, Apollon Limassol, the club that he spent 15 professional years at and being their captain for about a decade!

[petreleo]

http://apoelfc.com.cy/nqcontent.cfm?a_id=14687&tt=graphic&lang=l1

Signed for APOEL Nicosia for the next 1 and a half year, after agreeing not to receive the wages that his former club owed to him, Apollon Limassol, the club that he spent 15 professional years at and being their captain for about a decade!

He is #30.

Merkis' set needs a couple of changes according to his performances in the last year at Apollon(he has also been injured for a little while):

Height: 188 cm (+1)
Transfermarkt has him at 188 cm, but Wikipedia on just 183 cm. I would definitely go with the first, as he is clearly much taller than 183 cm...

REMOVE- DMF Position
As stated earlier on this topic, Merkis used to play a bit as a Defensive-Midfielder in his early years, as a back-up to Daniel Quinteros. However, that was at least 5 or 6 years ago, and hasn't played there in ages.

Defence: 78 (-1)
A couple of years ago, he was one of the top tacklers and markers in the Cypriot League, despite having a bad reputation for these in his early years. Age, and a couple of lengthy injuries didn't help him improve further and maybe even caused a little bit of decline in his defending. Currently, I am seeing his Defending about Astiz's-Carlao's level.

Response: 78 (-1)
- Same with Defence-

Explosive Power: 72 (+1)
Dribble Speed: 73 (+2)
Not the quickest Center-Back around, certainly much slower than Carlao and Amorin, but almost certainly at least as quick as Astiz.

Jump: 81 (+3)
Regardless of his height, this guy has really impressive jumping, almost never missing a header, despite not having the best accuracy.

Form: 5 (-1)
One or two years ago he was hands down on Form 6, but injuries and suspensions in the last year would suggest that he should no longer be on these high levels.



New Photo:

[petreleo]

He has been immense in the majority of times when he played for APOEL Nicosia since signing for them in January 2016 from Apollon Limassol.
In the last six months of Last Season, in my opinion, he was one of the main reasons why APOEL won the League with a huge come-back in the League Table. His signing was a real boost to APOEL's title chances, as he has been solid at defending for the majority of times(much better than his last months at Apollon when he had struggled a bit in comparison to his great prime years 2012-14), and he even scored a last-minute equalizer against his former club in the League's Play-Offs.
However, unexpectedly this Season he started as APOEL's third-choice Center-Back, behind the two starting Center-Backs, Carlão and surprisingly Astiz, and this was the case for the majority of the first six months of the Season until January. When Merkis was given the chance to play in those first six months of the Season, he was still really good, and really solid defensively, for example in the two wins Vs Olympiacos Piraeus in the Europa League.
When Carlão was sold in January 2017 to Torino, Merkis was once again reinstated as one of the two APOEL's starting Center-Backs for the second-half of the Season alongside either Astiz or new signing Yambere, and he became once again one of the team's top players, having also recently extended his contract for another two Seasons despite his age.
Not only he has been really solid defensively since then, unbeatable in the air and able of making some really brave and difficult tackles(for examples in the two round of 32 Europa League matches vs Athletic Bilbao), but he has also been given a "central" role in his team's build-up, as his good Long-Passes from the back have recently been one of his team's biggest sources of attacking creativity, the same with Left-Back Nicholas Ioannou. He may not have given many assists this Season, but he has been good in providing the pass before the assist, i.e. providing good Long-Balls forward that create danger in the box that will eventually lead into goals.
About his Speed, I think it is fine currently as it stands as he is definitely not slow for a big guy. Decent at moving with the ball, and generally not slow when gets-going, so I was right in suggesting Speed Upgrades about a year ago.

Suggested Upgrades:
Long Pass Accuracy: 73 (+2)
Long Pass Speed: 75 (+5)
ADD- Pinpoint Pass Card

[petreleo]

This Season hasn't started so well for him. He started in the 1st-eleven in APOEL's first match of the Season, an away loss Vs Suduva in the UCL qualifiers, in which he didn't play so well, and he didn't play after that until this Wednesday, in a 2-3 win Vs Nea Salamina in the League, when he was subbed-in the place of 1st-choice Carlao, who was taken off because of an injury.
Last Season was also not so good for him either, especially in the 2nd-half of the Season when the whole of APOEL's back-line was struggling a bit as a whole unit, mainly because of injuries. Not as good a Season as the one before that, the 2016-17 which had been great for him, that's for sure! Same for the Cyprus National Team, where he was a starter this Season in an away loss Vs Norway, and like the vast majority of the team, he had been mediocre, and dropped from the starting-eleven for the next match Vs Slovenia. Some downgrades are needed:

Spoiler: show

Defence: 77 (-1)
Top Speed: 74 (-1)
Acceleration: 73 (-2)
Response: 76 (-2)
Agility: 71 (-1)
Shot Power: 80 (-2)
Free Kick Accuracy: 63 (-2)
Curling: 66 (-2)
Header: 77 (-2)
Jump: 80 (-1)
Teamwork: 75 (-3)
Condition/Fitness: 4 (-1)
Weak Foot Frequency: 3 (-1)

New Photo:

Spoiler: show

[petreleo]

This Season hasn't started so well for him. He started in the 1st-eleven in APOEL's first match of the Season, an away loss Vs Suduva in the UCL qualifiers, in which he didn't play so well, and he didn't play after that until this Wednesday, in a 2-3 win Vs Nea Salamina in the League, when he was subbed-in the place of 1st-choice Carlao, who was taken off because of an injury.
Last Season was also not so good for him either, especially in the 2nd-half of the Season when the whole of APOEL's back-line was struggling a bit as a whole unit, mainly because of injuries. Not as good a Season as the one before that, the 2016-17 which had been great for him, that's for sure! Same for the Cyprus National Team, where he was a starter this Season in an away loss Vs Norway, and like the vast majority of the team, he had been mediocre, and dropped from the starting-eleven for the next match Vs Slovenia. Some downgrades are needed:

Spoiler: show

Defence: 77 (-1)
Top Speed: 74 (-1)
Acceleration: 73 (-2)
Response: 76 (-2)
Agility: 71 (-1)
Shot Power: 80 (-2)
Free Kick Accuracy: 63 (-2)
Curling: 66 (-2)
Header: 77 (-2)
Jump: 80 (-1)
Teamwork: 75 (-3)
Condition/Fitness: 4 (-1)
Weak Foot Frequency: 3 (-1)

Re-emerged as a starter showing again great form, really surprisingly so in the last 2 or 3 months in a new APOEL's back-three, sometimes as Cental-CB, and sometimes as a Right-CB. APOEL's new coach that came in around October putted a lot of faith in him, and since then he never looked back, leaving behind him his poor form of the start of the Season, as well as his mediocre form of last Season.
Great servant at the club, and especially at Central-CB he has putted some great performances as of late with a lot of passion and leadership, and two of the best were in last week's 0-1 derby win Vs AEL Limassol and yesterday's 0-0 draw Vs Alki Oroklini. Him at Cental-CB, Vouros&Ioannou at Right&Left-CB respectively with pace seems a good enough defensive-structure for APOEL to win the League this Season, but they should really really improve if they want to do anything great again in Europe next Season, most notably replacing Carlao who had not been at his best since returning from Torino.
Too early to suggest anything new for his Set. What I have suggested for him recently, I think reflect him well today as well.

New Photo:

Spoiler: show

[petreleo]

Re-emerged as a starter showing again great form, really surprisingly so in the last 2 or 3 months in a new APOEL's back-three, sometimes as Cental-CB, and sometimes as a Right-CB. APOEL's new coach that came in around October putted a lot of faith in him, and since then he never looked back, leaving behind him his poor form of the start of the Season, as well as his mediocre form of last Season.
Great servant at the club, and especially at Central-CB he has putted some great performances as of late with a lot of passion and leadership, and two of the best were in last week's 0-1 derby win Vs AEL Limassol and yesterday's 0-0 draw Vs Alki Oroklini. Him at Cental-CB, Vouros&Ioannou at Right&Left-CB respectively with pace seems a good enough defensive-structure for APOEL to win the League this Season, but they should really really improve if they want to do anything great again in Europe next Season, most notably replacing Carlao who had not been at his best since returning from Torino.
Too early to suggest anything new for his Set. What I have suggested for him recently, I think reflect him well today as well.

New Photo:

Spoiler: show

APOEL's top-scorer with 9 goals this Season from Center-Back (no penalties bytheway).
He is having such a great Season for APOEL and the national-team, being one of the most important and consistent players for both of them.
Sometimes at APOEL he is being played out of position as a wide/Center-Back in a back-three, but nevertheless the standard of his performance remains relatively high.
Form should be 5-6.