Gus Poyet leads goal-shy Greece – a closer look at Northern Ireland’s opponents

Gus Poyet will take charge of his first competitive game as Greece boss when they face Northern Ireland in the Nations League in Belfast on Thursday night.

Poyet took over in February and is still getting to grips with a young squad which has been overhauled following recent disappointments.

Here, the PA news agency looks at Northern Ireland’s opponents.

Poyet’s predecessor John van ‘t Schip resigned as Greece boss in November after their failure to qualify for the World Cup, having finished third in their group behind Spain and Sweden. It was the fourth consecutive major tournament the 2004 European champions had failed to reach, a run which started when they lost twice to Northern Ireland during Euro 2016 qualifying. In the Nations League, they are yet to find a way to escape League C, the obvious first mission now for Poyet. The Uruguayan started his reign with a 1-0 away win over Romania in March, but followed that with a 1-0 loss to Montenegro.

Poyet will need little introduction to football fans of a certain generation, having starred for both Chelsea and Tottenham as a player before going on to manage Brighton and Sunderland among others. The 54-year-old was also well known to Greek fans, having been coach of AEK Athens in 2015-16. But his experience in the Greek capital made him a controversial choice for the national job. Though he had beaten Olympiacos and Panathinaikos on his way to a third-place finish in the league, he was sacked ahead of the Greek Cup semi-final after angering club owner Dimitris Melissanidis with public comments about the club’s board and operations. His last managerial role before Greece was in Chile with Universidad Catolica, where he won a league title but attracted criticism for