AEK 2-1 Pas Gianenna

Another three points, AND we’re no longer last in the league! Kind of disappointing that it took so long to get off the bottom of the tables, but it is what it is. Hopefully we keep climbing up now.

From what I heard, it wasn’t our best game. Sounds like some players played alright, sounds like some others weren’t too impressive. But as Linen said, it’s the three points that counts at the moment.

Hopefully some others who watched or listened to the match could comment more specifically about how we played. Thankfully, I should be able to watch the next two matches (the final two before Christmas).

PAOK-AEK Live Updates

I’ll try to keep some live updates of the match here for those without a way to watch it. From what I know, the three links below will show a stream of the match:

-http://aektv.weebly.com/

-http://aektv.weebly.com/aektv2.html

-http://aektv.weebly.com/aektv1.html

I’ll add more streams if I come across any.

PAO is currently beating Oly Volou 2-0 with about twenty minutes to go. I was hoping PAO would lose this one or it would end up in a draw but our fate is still entirely in our hands (the match has now ended with a 3-0 victory for PAO). Either way, tonight will be a huge game.

Our starting XI for the match includes Saja, Georgeas, Manolas, Dellas, Karabellas, Makos, Michel, Diop, Lagos, Scocco, and Blanco. Arabatzis, Nasuti, Mateos, Roger, Leonardo, Dadomo, and Baha are the substitutes.

Game has started. PAOK came close off a free kick about three minutes in.

PAOK seem to have much more control of the game than they did over the weekend so far (only six minutes in).

Great chance for AEK after a defensive error by PAOK but Scocco couldn’t get a good delivery into the box.

GOOOAL! Scocco! 13th minute!! Long rage free kick, tricky bounce in front of Chalkias.

Saja playing risky at the back so far. I hope he tightens up.

Huge chance for PAOK with a critical save by Saja. And another huge chance for AEK in the 22nd. Blanco is in the mood for scoring it seems, hopefully he’ll keep up his good record in Toumba.

Freekick for PAOK in a very dangerous location. 1-1, 28th minute after Garcia’s freekick finds it way under our wall and into the bottom corner of the net.

Flares on the pitch at the 31st minute so the ref has temporarily paused the match. It seems it will continue again.

Good header from Dellas off of a corner in the 33rd, save from Chalkias.

Penalty for PAOK, and goal. 2-1.

Very close chance for AEK off a Blanco header in the 38th minute, ball wasn’t directed well enough.

We are very shaky at the back so far.

Half time, 2-1 for PAOK. Not nearly good enough from us, far too many mistakes. We’ve still managed to create chances, but we must tighten up for the second half.

Nice shot from Michel after being set up by Blanco, just out.

Close for PAOK after a Vierinha shot rebounded off of Georgeas’ foot.

First substitution of the match, Baha on for Lagos. And now Leonardo on for Blanco. And I must say, the diving by the paok players is really getting quite ridiculous.

Red card for Makos.

Third change, Roger on for Scocco. Can’t say Im too happy about this choice.

Red card for Garcia. Disgusting behaviour from him as usual, but this is the worst Ive seen yet from that animal.

2-1, fulltime.

Panathinaikos 0-2 AEK!

What a sweet, sweet victory for all of us AEK fans today! A 2-0 victory over PAO in their own stadium, with both goals being scored by Libe.

 

The match was a fairly even affair throughout with neither side absolutely dominating possession. The match started with a very low pace with neither team looking to risk too much offensively too early in the game. Things started going PAO’s way the final 15 minutes or so of the first however, when they started playing much more effective football inside our box forcing Saja to be on his toes for a while.

The balance of the match changed however soon after Libe scored in the second half. It seemed all life was taken out of PAO as soon as they went down and while they failed to show any attacking intent we were seeming to venture forward with more comfort. Libe’s second goal to put the result of the match almost beyond doubt came after his free kick rebounded off the back of Leto leaving PAO’s keeper helpless.

Despite PAO controlling things for part of the game they failed to create many clear cut chances and while the same could be said for us, we didn’t manage to capitalize when it counted most.

Saja had a fantastic game (though I can’t think of many recent matches where he didn’t) and did exactly what was needed of him. He was confident in net and didn’t risk much.

Our defense also did it’s job today though played much riskier football than Saja. Fortunately playing it risky rather than safe payed off for us as it meant cutting many PAO chances off before they could develop into anything dangerous. I was quite satisfied with Nasuti really and hes pleased me his past few performances. Dellas also had a pretty solid game and, together with the rest of our defense, made sure PAO had a hard time in front of our net. They did look slightly vulnerable at times however.

Makos had another impressive game for me and did a great job at getting himself involved whenever possible. Did great defensively and also managed to hold the ball up and distribute when he could. I wasn’t as happy with Diop however as I feel he could have contributed a bit more but he used his strength well when needed.

Lagos had a good game and became more active offensively in the second half though Scocco was fairly quiet in this match. He did try his luck on goal a few times, once after a lovely touch by Roger inside the box, but he failed to find the target. Roger had a good game as well but his touch and free kick’s were very well taken this match.

Oh, and by the way, I never got a report up but we also beat Tripolis away over the weekend with a score of 3-0.

Things are looking better for us now than they initially did after the new year with two good away results in the championship, a great position in the Cup, and a good offensive record despite recently cutting Djebbour’s contract short. Now all we can hope for is that we build on our momentum to get ourselves a good position in the playoffs and a Cup victory! A few transfers to boost our squad where needed and we can achieve something decent before the season ends.

Tripolis 0-3 AEK

PAO 0-2 AEK!

Such a fantastic win! And once again I ask myself where we would be this season had we not gotten Libe when we did. Huge part of our offense this season and has given us a boost on the pitch despite his legs slowing down considerably. Also recieved much applause from many PAO supporters.. only a guy like Libe would ever recieve such appreciation from both sets of fans.

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!!

Hello Everyone!

First of all, it’s been a while since I lasted posted and quite a bit has happened since then.

Well, we beat Tripolis in our last regular season game, 2-0 at home. A rather eventful game in fact so I’ll go through some of it here.

We started with a different line up than what was being predicted by most, the main reason for this being the fact that several players (Scocco, Blanco, Araujo, Arce, Saja, Roger, and others) were out partying two nights before the game until the early morning hours. Naturally, Bajevic found out about this and benched all of them, including Roger who was set to have his first start with the team since December. Unfortunate for him, but I support Bajevic’s decision completely. Only two weeks before the playoffs and the last thing we need is our players partying during the week before important games.

Another thing worth mentioning is that before the game a large gathering which I attended, was held in Nea Filadelfia on the street outside our old stadium. Around 2,000 AEK fans showed up. A decent number, sure, but hopefully we will see far more in the future. Several former players including the great goalkeeper Elias Atmatsidis showed up and gave speeched discussing the team’s past and its current situation.

The general feelings regarding our management were not happy ones since only days before Adamidis gave a press conference in which he stated that Scocco is for sale, including to Greek teams (Panathinaikos, Olympiakos…). Rightfully so, the fans were not happy about this. Afterall, AEK has never sold a player to either PAO or Oly. Unfortunately though, Adamidis was not predicting (or maybe he was…) as large an uprising among the supporters and before we knew it AEK was once again a team surrounded by controversy as we were before the Christmas break.

Back to the game. Things started well for us generally. Tripolis rarely gave us trouble and we were creating chances, but not scoring when we should have been. Eventually though, Djebbour finally broke the deadlock. However, later on in the game Bajevic decided to introduce Scocco as a sub (most people believe he did this on purpose) which immediately led to half the fans booing the player and another half singing his name, trying all they could to support him. Just minutes later, the Originals began rioting and were soon making their way towards the VIP section. Eventually the Riot squad came into the stadium to protect Adamidis and others however, anyone who knows the Originals knows that bringing the Riot police into the mix is only going to make things worse. All of a sudden hundreds of fans started charging the police and many minor fights broke out leading to some injuries. The rioting carried on throughout the game and even for a while after it. The ref was forced to pause the match for approximately ten minutes as the fighting spilled onto the pitch. He did eventually continue the match though and late in extra time Kafes scored another goal for AEK (without many of the fans even realizing the game had started again) making the score 2-0. The game ended that way and Kostas Manolas received the MVP award. Not one player out there deserved the award more than him. Every game he is constantly proving fans and management what he is capable of as he continues to consistently play like a center-back that’s been playing the game professionally for a decade rather than a year or so.

Well, up next is the playoffs and they are approaching rather quickly. In fact, we play our first game this Wednesday against PAOK in OAKA. I personally believe we will take this one if the players and fans can focus on the match for ninety minutes rather than whats happening behind the scenes. PAOK are no longer anything special (though they did win their last game 4-1 against Ergotelis) and while we mustn’t underestimate them, if we play the best we can we should be able to leave OAKA with a positive result.

Now I would like to take a minute to apologize to any readers who use this site frequently. Over the next three weeks I will be taking my end of year exams. These will be my final high school exams since I will be going to University next year and it is these exams that the Universities focus on most when making a decision, so I will not have as time as will like to update the site. I will still be going to the games so I will try to update as frequently as possible, but I can’t guarantee anything for these next three weeks. However, after the 24th of May, I will be more free than ever and I promise to update the site then as soon as something worthwhile pops up in the news or something regarding the transfers. I will be away at times during the summer however even then I will try and update as often as possible to make up for these past few weeks and the upcoming weeks.

AEK 1-1 Panionios

Well, obviously not a favorable result for us yesterday. Sure, we aren’t exactly desperate for points right now (though they would help since Aris is only three behind us) but it’s still painful to see us drop two points at home to this Panionios team.

To be honest, this wasn’t our worst performance yet. We were all over Panionios for the first ten minutes and we had numerous chances throughout the match to put the ball in the net.

Arabatzis started this one and he did a fairly good job. He can’t really be blamed for the first goal, few keepers would have done anything there.

Jahic played right back since Araujo was out and he did a decent job. He certainly wasn’t the weakest link in our defense yesterday, that honor would have to go to Majstorovic. The Swede was sloppy throughout. I don’t know what it was, perhaps he was feeling a little too comfortable since the team had finally seen some good form, but he was slacking off far too much. Fortunately, Manolas was considerably tighter and more secure (he got the MVP award once again) and for the third game in a row the rookie showed what he is capable of. Honestly, I think Majstorovic should start following Manolas’ example and not the other way around.

Karabelas played left back and did a fairly good job at it. He was clearly giving it 100% out there (the same could not be said about other players) and marked well at times, but he had some trouble defending 1-on-1′s.

Our defense overall was very weak when it came to defending the counter attacks. We were caught off guard plenty of times and were rarely organized enough to halt Panionios’ attack. Hopefully this will be addressed though to be honest this hadn’t been our problem in a while as far as I can tell.

Our midfield was weak. Aside from Gentsoglou (who started off weak but eventually managed to pick things up a bit) we weren’t doing anything. Leonardo had a poor game and he gave away far too many balls. Kafes tried as far as I can tell but didn’t too much. However, there is only so much he can do when the others around him aren’t doing what they should be doing.

Scocco…. he was USELESS. Totally useless. I want him sitting on the bench until the season is over. Manduca could easily take his place, at least he has been contributing to the team whenever he plays. Either way I’m getting very tired of Scocco’s four year old mentality. He sits around the entire match, gives a couple of useless passes, doesn’t even bother trying to get the target on his free kicks, and yet still wants to move to a bigger club. Sure, he scored our only goal for us late in the match, but we would have been better off without him in the first place.

Djebbour and Blanco deserve some credit. They both had some great chances and both were clearly trying out there. I’m not going to be too critical of Blanco. He could have scored, but didn’t, however other than that he didn’t do too much wrong out there.

Djebbour also came close to scoring but he holds on to the ball far too much. Instead of shooting when he gets the chance or passing when he has nowhere to go he simply tries to dribble around as many defenders as possible. Of course, this may work occasionally such as at the Iraklis game or with PAOK but it’s not the way he should be doing things. Blanco is finally having some good form lately. PASS IT TO HIM. Or take a shot! Very simple things, yet he still chooses to go about things the hard way.

Nemeth, Roger, and Hersi were our subs. I didn’t see Hersi contribute too much but he didn’t have too much time to make an impact. Roger had a nice shot which if I remember correctly rebounded out for a corner. Nonetheless, this was Roger’s first game in a couple of months if I’m correct (he had a serious blood infection, or something along those lines) but it was still good to see him back. He is a player capable of good things so hopefully we’ll see more of him now.

Nemeth was fighting out there. He was going for as many goals as possible and there was no doubting that. I really feel the Bajevic should introduce him at half time at our next match (though he may be trying to rest him for the playoffs) but he made a considerable difference when he came on.

Ok, time for some rumours. Obviously, Scocco wants to leave this summer. IF he can bring in five million euros or more I will be more than happy to see him go (yes, I appreciate all that he did for us these past two seasons but clearly is no longer for us unless he matures a bit). Now, assuming he brings in a large sum of money many papers both here and in the UK are reporting that we have been talking with Brazilian star Geovanni (currently playing for Hull). Hull are near relegation and have told their players that if they are relegated they will have to accept significant cuts in their paychecks. Assuming we get the money from Scocco’s transfer, I personally wouldn’t mind seeing Geovanni on our team. Sure, he’s almost 30 now, but he has huge talent and can easily be one of the best, if not THE BEST, players in our league. I say he’s easily got one or two more years left in him and he would be an ideal replacement for Scocco.

Now you wanna hear something funny? PAO are offering us 1.2 million plus Petropoulos (woo hoo!) in exchange for Scocco. Are these guys serious?!