Dusan Bajevic gave his first indications of what AEK’S starting could be at the clubs pre-season training in Austria.Prefering a 4-2-3-1 formation,Saja
Koutromanos-Kyriakos-majstorovic-Karambelas
Mackos Kafes
Djebouur Scocco Iordache
Blanco
Of course this was only 4 a training game amongst”each other” but early indications none the less.From the training ground the talk is Iordache is braining them with his ball controll and speed,Yiahayia,a free transfer from 2nd division Karditsa(coached by ex AEK fullback Karayiannis) was the mvp of the game,ironically playing for our “2nd’s”.Still waiting on wether Seitaridis will join us,apparently the Aek offer is the best he has so fingers crossed,as well the ongoing drama with Leonardo,attacking midfielder frrom Levadiakos,who looks set to sign any day now.

Sorry for posting this a little late but pics of our new shirts for next year are now out. Once again, we are with Puma and it is a Puma template which will also be used by team such as Lazio and others.

This link has some picture.

Its an interesting design, although not “too” creative. I guess a little more imaginative than last years design. Im sure everyone will get used to it by the second week of matches.

Yep, you guessed it, another derby on the first matchday of the season. And AEK will once again be one of the teams playing in the derby, just like last year. And who will our opponent be? Yep, its Olympiakos!

The game is still a while away but Im sure the likes of Bajevic, Blanco, Scocco, and Kyrgiakos are waiting for their revenge after our unfortunate loss in the Greek Cup Final of 2009. This should be an exciting game, as this fixture always proves to be.

The schedule for next season is up on Superleague Greece’s site. Our first fifteen games are as follows:

Match Round 1 AEK-Olympiakos

Match Round 2 Atromitos-AEK

Match Round 3 AEK-Iraklis

Match Round 4 Pas Giannina-AEK

Match Round 5 AEK-PAO

Match Round 6 Skoda Xanthi-AEK

Match Round 7 AEK-Panthrakikos

Match Round 8 Aris-AEK

Match Round 9 Ergotelis-AEK

Match Round 10 AEK-Larissa

Match Round 11 Kavala-AEK

Match Round 12 AEK-PAOK

Match Round 13 Panionios-AEK

Match Round 14 AEK-Levadeiakos

Match Round 15 Asteras Tripolis-AEK

The team written first is home, while the team written second is away. The matches for rounds 16-30 are in the same order but the home team will be away and the opposite way around.

All of our first three derbies (Oly,PAO,PAOK) are at home for the first round, so this should benefit us a little.

Link with information and the other first round fixtures here.

The new teams this year are Atromitos, Pas Giannina, and Kavala.

The only dates released so far are that the first games will be played on the 22nd and 23rd of August.

In other AEK news, Leonardo has been saying that he will quite possibly be playing at AEK next season. Lets just wait and hope that this is in fact true.

Well, its finally been confirmed: Katsouranis has singed for Panathinaikos. Its a hrard thing for me as an AEK Supporter to believe and accept but if that is what he truly wants then I guess nothing and nobody can stop him; money does have a way of speaking to people. Im sure, however, that he must be ready for the hostile greeting he will recieve at OAKA this upcoming season.

This is the second trasnfer, by the way, that our Athenian rivals have made of a player from a rival club. They have also singed Sebastien Leto, who was on loan at Olympiakos last season.

The Mediterranean games have begun in Italy and the Greek Team has played two games already with one being a 4-0 victory over Syria and the other being a 3-1 loss to Italy. AEK Striker Michalis Pavlis has scored three goals so far, two at the Syria match and the lone goal for Greece at the Italy game.

Vassilis Pliatsikas, who received some play time with Donis but little with Bajevic is no longer with AEK. Schalke have signed him for a price within the range of 300,000-400,000 euros. Its a good move for him, assuming he manages to impress and therefore earn some playing time. Greeks often seem to play quite well in Germany (Gekas, Liberopoulos, and many others) so hopefully he will play well there as well. He played some decent games with AEK but we never really got to see very much of him. I thought he might have improved well with Bajevic as coach but I guess Bajevic didn’t see him as part of his immediate plans. We do, afterall, have quite a few good players in his position (at least the position he was playing AEK) such as Makos, Kafes, Nsaliwa, and others. It would have been quite hard for him to get much playing time and I doubt he would want to spend a season as a backup in Grece rather than go to Germany, where he would have a chance of playing, or at least being a backup in a world class league. Im sure all of us at AEKArchives, including all the readers, wish him the best of luck for the rest of his career.

Serbian Goalkeeper Milan Lukac has singed officially with AEK. I believe this is a good move for us, with Macho leaving, and he being considered one of the best keepers in Serbia. Hopefully he will prove to a reliable keeper similar to Saja, rather than the unreliable keepers we have seen in the past (Sorrentino, Morreto).

Speaking of Sorrentino, Roma and Genoa (if I remember correctly) are interested in him which would mean that we would recieve 600,000 euros if he were to sign with one of the two because of a clause in his contract.

Preseason training has begun in Athens with numerous health tests taking place. Some pictures can be seen at AEK’s site.

The singing of talented Greek Midfielder Makos has finaly been confirmed by AEK. The player is regarded as a huge prospect in greece and should provide alot to the team. He was captain of Panionios from an early age and has also represented the Greek National Team on a number of occassions.

In other AEK news, the team has confirmed some of its preseason friendlies which will be played in Austria. AEK will be heading to Austria soon to begin pre-season training. Hopefully the team will be well prepared for our first Europa League Qualifiers Match.

We’ve continued our summer transfers after singing Romanian Ilie Iordache (Winger) and Greek Defender Kosta Manola. Manola is the 18 year old nephew of Stelios Manolas. Some are saying that siging of Kostas might conivnce Stelios to stay on board with us, after he clearly stated that he would like to leave. We will have to see, although I believe with Bajevic staying Stelios Manolas will also stay.

I tried looking on youtube for videos of Iordache, who is supposed to have some talent, but could only find two

and

Hopefully, with Bajevic, he can develop into a talented player and can contribute to our team well this upcoming season. As for Manolas, he played at Thrasivoulos the season before but never caught many people’s attention as being phenominal. But, once again, heopfully he can develop into a good player. Only thing is, he is a centre-back, a position which we are alright with for now. I think we should be focusing on right and left backs for the time being.

Makos is expected to sign tomorrow so we will see!

AEK have recently signed left-back Nikolaos Karabelas who currently played at Aris.

This is a decent transfer. The defender is 24 years old. Bajevic is already familiar with him since he coached him while at Aris. This should certainly help since both Karabelas and Bajevic know each other already. Bajevic knows the kid, knows his strengths, and his weaknesses, and this advantage should help us in our pre-season training. I don’t know at this point whether he will be able to compete for a starting 11 spot (currently, left back is occupied by Juanfran) or if he will become a back up. Nonetheless, I believe Bajevic knows what he is doing and I support him.

As for the Makos rumours, nothing has as of yet been confirmed so we will have to just wait and see. Same goes for Leonardo.

Well, we lost to PAO in the final game of the playoffs. AEKMAN74 posted a good review so there isn’t too much to say about it. It was a bit unlucky but I must say that overall, PAO were the more solid team. We started great but that lasted about ten minutes.

This really could be viewed as a good thing. Now, we play in Europa League. At least here, we have a very good chance of making the group stages (only one qualifying round is required), and a fairly good chance of making it quite far in the tournament. This will be good for the team as it brings in needed money (around six million euros if we do fairly good) and it will provide some better and more entertaining football for the fans.

Yesterday, Notias and Thanopoulos had a press conference where they dealt with many issues. Firstly, they dealt with the issue of money. They clearly wanted to reassure the fans and the public that the team’s debt was not 45 million euros like the media had said but a smaller (yet still substantial) 20 million euros (really this isn’t too bad considering teams like Real Madrid have a debt of over 300 million euros). This is a problem which can be dealt with and the presidents also assured the press that as long as they are presidents of the club the dealt will not be getting any larger.

The presidents also told everyone that they will do all they can to satisfy Bajevic and what he thinks the team needs. They will try to secure every player he wants and believes will help the team do well. In fact, weve begun talking with the managers of Makos, Recoba, and Leonardo.

The presidents said they will be paying lower salaries to the players however will offer much higher rewards for god performances. They believe that by doing this we will see the players trying even harder to do their best.

Recoba has said that he likes this idea and will play for a salary if he can get high bonuses. He persoanlly believes that he had two more years left in him and wants to finish them with a competitive club.

It also looks like Bajevic will be staying for at least another year, and we will see what happens after that. The rumors that Manolas quit are still only rumors however the club presidents said that anyone who cannot deal with the pressure is free to leave.

As for Melissanidis we were told that anyone who loves the club and can make a differenc is welcome to join. However, it is now apparantly being confirmed that Melissanidis will not be joining.

Blanco’s point blank hiting of the post on 10 min and a typical dubious penalty given to Pao in the 30th min,care of a classical Karagounis “dive”(how are these referee’s so gullible?)were enough to destroy any beleif our players had of securing that Champions League spot.Yes,Pao scored a second goal soon after but by then the damadge had been done.Apart from the 1st 10 min,we rarely threatened in what once again,looked like a team ready for a vacation.Bajevic sprang a selection surprise by starting the youngster with a huge boom on him,Gentzoglou,but really,the ‘kid’ looked a little overawed by the occasion.Apart from that,Koutromanos and georgeas did as best as could,kyriakos looked short of match fitness and it showed,Majstorovic was once again a liability,Kafes and Scocco were quiet apart from Scocco’s shot blocked by Galinovic in the 9th min,Blanco looked deapaired after his miss and ineffectual from here on,Djebbour,well,i think we need another striker next year.We also need 2 fullbacks,left and right, a centre back with pace to partner Kiriakos,a defensive midfielder similar to a Gilberto from Pao and at least a striker,who is “nippy” around the box.I beleive the team next year should be based around the following,Saja,Kyriakos,Kafes,Scocco Blanco,Gentzoglou,Koutromanos,Tachtzidis,Pliatsikas,Rikka,Lagos,
Burns,Paulis.The youngsters in particular have plenty of promise.I know i have not included some players such as Manducca,Peletierri,Edinho etc,but honestly if we are to compete for anything,the cupboards need cleaning.