The First Three Goals

In his post-match review yesterday, Alex correctly pointed out that AEK’s halftime lead of 0-3 did not accurately reflect how the game was being played.  AEK seemed to be trying to play a possession-style passing game, but our possession was short-lived, our passing inconsistent, our runs off the ball half-hearted or non-existent.  It was a performance so lacking in vitality, one was left wondering what on earth was going on.  Last year, we spent countless hours debating the relative merits of having so many highly skilled, though aging, players on our squad.  But the fact is that we played better with Rivlado, Zikos and Dellas than we’ve been playing with the likes of Djebbour, Blanco and Pelletieri.

There is too much to cover in one post.  I’ll have posts up later in the week about squad selection, defense, et cetera.  For now, it’s worth taking a closer look at how AEK could throw away such a commanding half-time lead.  The answer, as we’ve already stated, is that we never really had such a commanding lead.

Our first goal came in the tenth minute, and it was just plain dumb luck.  Scocco, unmarked five or so feet from the top of the 18-yard box, found himself with loads of space, so he took a touch and tested the keeper from distance.  In a bit of bad luck for Thrasyvoulos, their keeper was caught flat footed, the ball took a hard bounce at the goal line and found the net.

In the 31st minute, Djebbour got fouled in the box.  I’m pretty sure it was a foul though reasonable minds could quibble.  Arguably, Djebbour had not established possession, and he certainly was not pulled down from behind.  Rather, a defender collided with him from the back.  Djebbour was closer to the ball and was moments from taking a shot, so probably the right call.  In fact, Djebbour managed to stay on his feet and have his shot, which beat the keeper but was cleared off the line by a defender, so the penalty award was a bit more bad luck for our hosts.  Thrasyvoulos’s keeper did well to block Blanco’s initial penalty kick but Blanco easily slotted home the rebound.

In the 42nd minute, some good build-up play by AEK resulted in a scramble and a loose ball in front of Thrasyvoulos’s goal.  Scocco was able to poach a goal off defender’s deflection.  Not the prettiest goal, but clearly deserved for a change.  So, perhaps a more accurate score line for the half would have been 0-1. Surely, such a score would have more accurately reflected the game we were watching.  There is no question Thrasyvoulos suffered some bad luck.  AEK was making just as many errors, and Thrasyvoulos was threatening almost as much as AEK.  And, as AEK were about to find out, luck only wins football matches some of the time, and, even worse, luck is a fickle friend.  Things were about to change after the half. More on that later…