Panionios 1-0 AEK

You gotta love AEK. The minute a golden opportunity comes around to put us within two points of first place, what do we do? We waste it!

Panionios hasn’t been our luckiest team to play against recently, and today proved to be no different. However, very little, not even luck, could have assisted us today with the way our players played (as was evident considering the fact that Saja saved a penalty). There was no will evident in the majority of the players, no team chemistry, a stupid red which could have easily been avoided by Dadomo… just a poor performance all around.

To be honest, I would have loved to see us beat Panionios, but I had a feeling this would happen. Regardless, the team has proven they can play nice football against tougher opponents, and I’m sure they can bounce back, but there was no excuse for today’s performance.

To make matters worse, both Dellas and Diop picked up injuries.

Our starting lineup had Saja in net (who had a good game, including saving a penalty who’s rebound could have ended up in the net), but a defense which really wasn’t good enough. Argyriou has shown some good things but his performances have been far from flawless (it was his clumsy tackle which led to the penalty). I can’t go into much more detail since the ANT1 quality in Canada was just terrible and I missed part of the second half, but they will need to improve greatly for our game with Anderlecht, one which I still feel they can win if they show up and play football.

Djebbour had a brilliant chance to put AEK up by one after getting onto the receiving end of a Leonardo freekick but his finish wasn’t good enough.

Makos received verbal abuse throughout the match which led to our players being attacked by the Panionios fans as they were boarding the bus. Panionios fans,  living up to their name the Paninios kittens (sorry, is that supposed to be Panthers?) How pathetic can you get, to the point where you would attack unexpected and unprotected players? Police were nowhere to be found and the players were forced to defend themselves. Additional support came from Lagos, Arabatzis and Manolas who went to the aid of Libe, Dellas, and Djebbour. Pathetic… more reason to see Paninios and their kittens sink down to second division.

Kittens… always running.

 

 

Hopefully we can put these events and this match behind us. We have a good team, an experienced and passionate coach, a new training ground ready soon, this is a prime opportunity for us to win some silverware, even if its only a cup. Hopefully the players regroup and focus on the task at hand.

 

Panthrakikos 1-5 AEK!

If you remember from past year’s, we’ve never been extremely impressive in the cup. Narrow wins against teams like Xanthi, Panserraikos, and even smaller clubs had over time become the norm for us (aside from that eventful cup final two years ago).

Well, all that changed today! To be honest, after hearing Panthrakikos go up 1-0 I thought we were gonna be in for another long match. Never for a second did I think we would lose this match, but I never imagined the turnaround that eventually happened. Ismael Blanco (it’s been a while since we’ve seen him on the scoresheet) scored his first goal, and one which surprisingly wasn’t fed to him but actually required some footwork. Good, 1-1, still plenty of time left. Next, we get a penalty, one which Blanco converts with ease. 2-1 up, but still plenty of time left. I was thinking to myself at this point all we need is one more goal and we’re good.

Seems as though Blanco and co had other plans. Zorro (he’s back!) scored his third of the night, an easy one set up perfectly by Roger (who, from what I heard had yet another fantastic performance!). Then, Karabelas of all people scores to make it 4-1. Somewhere in between the third and fifth goal we hit a post with Leonardo and narrowly missed on more than one occasion, but Leonardo finally got one in, another perfectly set up goal, this time with the assist coming from Rafik Djebbour. That’s three goals coming from assists placed at the scorer’s feet. Something tells me this team is working on efficiency up front with the ball movement, assists, and positioning all very well done.

 

5-1, a score to thrill every already delighted AEK fan, despite the rain and cold up north. Bearing in mind that Panthrakikos’ goal was scored from a penalty (and ignoring the stumble in Belgium), that’s 10 goals scored in Greece (two league and one cup game) in three games! Guys, I think AEK is back!

Also, considering Blanco’s hat trick today and Roger’s great performances lately, I can’t help but feel we have a team in a great position. We have three great strikers (assuming Blanco keeps this up) and chances are at one given moment at least one of them will be on a patch of good form. In addition, with Roger performing so well, we are set in attacking mid (that is, if we can hold on to Scocco), and with Diop and Makos’ solid performances the past two or three games, our defensive mid is also set. Now, hopefully we can deal with injuries, though Manolo seems like the kind of guy that can almost always work out a solution with what he has.

Enjoy the goals below. Too bad I can’t find a more in depth highlights vid, because it seems we played some nice football up front at times at a few of those goals.

Great job to the supporters who were there and vocal despite the weather, and great job (though to be honest, I think that’s a bit of an understatement) to Manolo! He’s turned around this team incredibly, got players playing some great football, players who are happy to be training and playing and, most important of all, is getting results. Sure, you may stumble against Anderlecht, especially when it’s your first European game with a new team, but against Panthrakikos, these are games where you can really establish who’s boss in Greece and AEK certainly did that today.

 

VAMOS BIEN!!

Familiar opponent for AEK in the Greek Cup

So, our first opponent, who we will face this Thursday at 4:00 Greek time will be Panthrakikos. We’ve never faced them in the Cup however we have come across them on more than one occasion these past two seasons. The match will be played away however, considering our current form (Anderlecht game excluded) I think we will be more successful this time around than last season (when we were knocked out by Thrasivolous).

I don’t know if Scocco will be ready for this one, I actually haven’t kept on top of the news regarding injuries to be honest, however, after seeing Roger’s performance I think we can all take a sigh of relief knowing that we now have someone else who can be just as effective in the midfield. However, I do think Panthrakikos will put up more of a fight than PAO over the weekend. How effective they will be is another issue, but I don’t see them sitting back on this one.

AEK 1-0 PAO!

I’m downloading the match right now and will watch it when its completed. In the meantime Ill add what I’ve heard being mentioned so far.

First of all, huge win! We needed a positive result to pick ourselves up after stumbling with Anderlecht, and we did it. As AEKMAN74 stated, Manolo made a few unexpected choices, but it sounds as thought they’ve paid off. From what I heard, Dadomo gave a pretty effective performance, which is a relief considering we’ve seen very little of him so far. Either way, things are looking great for Manolo! His first two games against rivals, and six points is the end result! At this point we couldn’t ask for anymore!

Though things don’t look good right now with some injury problems for us, it sounds as though we were all over PAO. After watching the youtube highlights, it is clear only one team deserved the three points, and that team is AEK. Even without Scocco and Libe, we looked very dangerous up front.

On the other hand, it sounds as though PAO were just terrible. Funny how, even with a fraction of their budget, we still show them who’s boss in Athens. Even with “world class” strikers like Cisse, they still can’t score on us (by the way, sounds as though Dellas had a pretty solid game… all I can say is well done to him considering his age and the amount of playing time he’s dealt with).

I’ve read there were around 40,000 supporters, a bit lower than the pre-match estimates. Regardless, it looks like the atmosphere was fantastic and it seems the Originals put on quite a show! BRAVO AEKARA!!!

Half Time……AEK 1 PAO 0

Half Time and so far so good.Leading 1-0 thanks to a Refik Djebour goal in the 4th minute,pretty much a solo effort from the French Algerian,scoring with a left foot half volley from inside the box,which beat Tzorvas at the far post.
Jimenez once again has sprang a couple of shock selections.Dadomo getting his first start at left back,Roger Geriero taking Scocco’s place behind Djebour and he’s been our best player so far,great touches and smart play from the Polish Brazilian.Nasuti also playing,along side Dellas at the back.Burns on the right of midfield and Lagos on the left.
It’s been mainly all AEK in the 1st 45min.Plenty of chances compared to Pao’s 1,which they had to wait until the 40th min when Luis Garcia gave us a scare by hitting the post.Other than that Saja has been a spectator.We are controlling the ball well,Makos and Kafes especially,dictating the pace of the game.Burns has been very lively,giving Vyntra a hard time down our right.Papa Boupa Diop failed to pass a late fitness test and is sitting out.
Another half to mirror the 1st and we should pick up the 3 points.A much needed 3 points as Oly is 1 up at the break against Aris.

Anderlecht-AEK

Big game tomorrow, a chance for us to get some revenge, and a win that never came against Anderlecht. Seems like its been a while since that day we came back from 2-0 down and ended up tying the match 2-2, a score which would have had us through to the Champions League group stage had the result from the Milan-Lille match been more favorable.

That’s all history now and we’re only looking forward. While it won’t be an easy match, I really believe we have a great chance to take all three points here! Hopefully last weekend’s result wont get to our players heads though, there is still alot of work to do!

Final Score…Aris 0 – AEK 4

The second half turned out better than expected as our new AEKARA put another 3 goals past the Aris keeper,rounding out a great 4 nil win.
Jimenez has tuened things around in a week it seems,much more cohesion and understanding amongst the players,tactical nous and a foundation built on a strong defense.
Scocco made it 2 nil on 68 min when he received a pass from Dellas just inside the Aris half,took 2 steps and unleashed the goal of the season from the best part of 40 meters out.Wonder goal,but we expect these now from Nacho.
Scocco then made it 3 nil,when a beautiful move involving many players,eventually found Lagos down the left flank,whose cross was missed by all with Nacho,once again thundering an unstoppable shot from the edge of the box.
Djebbour made it 4 in injury time by making a tremendous run into the penalty area,drawing the keeper and finding the net with his left foot.high hopes but 4 nil was beyond my wildest immagination.All the players were outstanding today,from Saja who never really had much to do,right through to Djebbour who toiled hard and deservedly got his goal at the end.
The derby against Pao is on next week in what should be a just about FULLHOUSE OAKA,and this win gives us the confidense to go into such an important clash.I did watch Pao’s game with Paok on the Saturday and there were very ordinary in the second half,just holding on to their 1 nil win.If we play with the same passion as today,i’m positive we have their measure.

Aris V AEK Half Time 0-1

Thats right,leading 1 nil at the break thanks to a goal from captain KAFES.It came in the 42nd min,when Djebbour took the ball down the line,crossed it low and hard,the Aris keeper could only parry the ball into the path of Makos whose effort was blocked,the resulting rebound pounced upon by Kafes.
So what have we learnt so far regarding Manolo Jimenez.Firstly,the passion is back,sure we’ve been a little over zealous on some tackles but i’d rather that than sitting back and waiting.Papa Boupa and Makos providing great cover for the back four.It also seems that Jimenex has told them to counter attack at every opportinity and if idt doesn’t present itself,to hold the ball and drag the oppositiom out.So far so good,lets hope the 2nd half can emulate the first.

Big Game Tomorrow

Tomorrow will be Jimenez’ first test, and it comes at a pretty critical time. Playing Aris away is NEVER an easy outing. We need the three points more than anything else right now and, though it’s still early, I hope the team and staff is ready. Libe will miss this one due to injury, and it sounds like Eder may get the start over Burns (I’ve liked what Burns has done for us so far but I wouldn’t mind seeing Eder get some time considering how promising he looked during pre-season friendlies). Diop will probably also start in the middle with Kafes.

Both Oly (Xanthi 0-3 Olympiakos) and PAO (PAO 1-0 PAOK) got wins today which means anything less than three points will not help us at all. Of course, its easier said than done, but I still think we have a chance. Either way, I hope Jimenez has managed to work some of his magic already!

Senor Jimenez in Athens….

Our new manager,who we hope will be the saviour of our AEK,has touched down in Athens.He was greeted at the airport by about 150 jubilant supporters who kept on singing his name,and other songs,regarding our enemies.
He stopped briefly to give an interview to the waiting press,who could barely breath as they were surrounded by AEK fans.He stated that he was thrilled to be at a club as big as AEK,and he will give everything he’s got for the success of this club.He was then whisked off in a waiting car,once again fans shouting his name.
Apparently it was Adamidis who tipped the scale in our favour as he had 2 other offers from la liga teams.Jimenez is quoted as saying that he was impressed Adamidis did alot of research on him,not only noting what he did for Sevilla in La liga,but for Sevilla’s B team and youth system,which Jimenez was in charge for 7 years.Credit must go to Adamidis here and so far,he’s been pro-active and if he’s left to do the job,im sure great things will happen with AEK in the not too distant future.
Jimenez will be presented to the crowd at the OAKA on Monday afternoon but the work starts before then as he will watch our first team play our reserves in training on Sunday.He plans to involve all players in everything the club does,firsts and reserves as he sees the benefit in developing an effective youth system,which was another thing that impressed him about AEK,the fact we are setting up accademies,not only in Greece but Australia and the U.S.
So preparations have started now for the game against ARIS,Sunday week.Jimenez received a dvd of their game against Anderlecht,and plans to study it astutely.The following game is against Pao and then Europa league.The season could well come down to the next three games,lets just hope Manolo can weave some spanish magic as quickly as possible!