AEK News

Well, alot has been going on with this secret letter which was released earlier this week regarding the financial status of AEK. There is so much to say that it cannot all be discussed in here, and, unfortunately, there are no links in english that I can find relating to the story.

Basically, Melissanidis will have to take over soon or the team might not make it through this. Some people are saying the debt is over 30 million euros (this could be an essageration). If this is the case, AEK is without a doubt in the darkest period of its mostly beautiful history. There are might be some other options other than Melissanidis, but he is the one being discussed most lately. However, he apparently will not take over the club if it is in debt.

Well, we will just have to see and wait. It would help if the fans living in Greece, who say they love the club, actually do come out on the weekends to support the team. This year’s attendances for most games were pathetically low.

Another issue regarding the leaked letter is the question of “who might have released this and why?”, especially four days before the Cup Final. There are so many theories around that it is impossible to decided who, and what their motives were.

Cup news now. Our midfield will most certainly be Kafes, Nsaliwa, and Pelletieri. Ahead of them will be Scocco. Now, what to do with the forwards is what Bajevic is having trouble with at the moment. Blanco will start, but who will start along with him is whats troubling Dusan. Djebbour has not been giving his all at practices lately, so it is not yet sure whether he will start. Personally, I think Edinho should come on as a sub since he always tends to play better then.

The defence is a bit of a trouble spot as well. With Juanfran out, the options are either to let Alves play left and Georgeas right, or Georgeas left, and Gentzoglou right. We will have to wait and see what Bajevic decides on.

The Playoff schedule has also been released.

Ergotelis 1-1 AEK

Well, we got a draw. Not a fantastic result, considering Blanco had a penalty saved (had he scored he would have finished top scorer), but, whether we got a loss, draw, or win would have had no impact on our position in the standings.

With regards to the game, well, it was quite dissapointing, considering the fact that the Cup Final is less than a week away. To be quite honest, I really dont see us having a chance of winning if we play like we did yesterday.

It is important to note however, that we had many starters out of the main lineup including Pelletieri, Scocco, and Kyrgiakos. Thankfully, it seems that we always play better when Kyrgiakos plays, so hopefully his performance will be as good as it was before his injury come the Cup Final.

There is not much to report from this game. I actually didnt manage to watch the game much, but from what I saw it showed little promise.

Edihno came on as a sub and scored, as he often has this season.

AEK scored late in the game, and Ergotelis scored shortly after that.

Oh well, at this point, all we can do is pray and hope for a positive result on Saturday, however unlikely it may seem.

Ergotelis-AEK

The squad has been anounced for tomorrow’s game.

As I was hoping earlier last week, Kyrgiakos will not play at this game. Neither will Alexopoulos due to being suspended (along with Scocco and Pelletieri). Since Juanfran is injured, and neither Alexopoulos or Kyrgiakos will be playing it is possible that we might see N’Siambamfumu, our recently aquired French centre back, play! This will be a good game to test him out since we cannot loose or gain a position in the standings.

The squad will be Saja, Arambatzis, Kafes, Geraldo, Majstorovic, Nsaliwa, Edinho, Manduca, N’Siambamfumu, Koutromanos, Pliatsikas, Blanco, Burns, Georgeas, Tachtsidis, Hetemaj, El Hadji Diouf, Pavlis, and Gentsoglou.

It is quite likely that we will see many of the younger players play including Pavlis.

Kyrgiakos Update

Reports are now saying that centre back Sotiris Kyrgiakos might actually be ready to play as early as next weekend against Ergotelis.

This is definately good news since our defence as been weak lately without him. I personally dont know whether he should wait the next game out instead of risking another injury, or whether he should play so his first game back from injury is not against Olympiakos in the  Cup Final. It will be up to Bajevic to decide, but I think he will most likely play Kyrgiakos next weekend, even though there is nothing to loose or gain from the match, which will be the last of the regular season.

AEK 0-1 Aris

The final home game of the regular season ended in disappointment for AEK after they lost 1-0 to Aris, the first time Aris had gotten an away win against AEK since 1989.

Edinho started the match in the end, along side Blanco. Unfortunately, however, neither he nor Blanco could do much to get the ball in the net. Aris’ defence was solid throughout the game and made it very hard for AEK to penetrate. Many of AEK’s chances came from set pieces, however, none managed to yield anything.

The starting lineup was Saja, Alves, Alexopoulos, Majstorovic, Juanfran, Nsaliwa, Scocco, Kafes, Tachtsidis, Edinho, and Blanco.

Georgeas didnt play due to cards, and Kyrgiakos and Djebbour were injured.

Unfortunately our defence is clearly lacking stability due to the absence of Kyrgiakos, as well as, in today’s case, Georgeas. Alexopoulos is a decent back up however cannot be a long term replacement for Kyrgiakos. However, he was not the main problem with our defence today. We simply left men open in front of the goal on more than one occasions (Aris could have scored another two from men who were left wide open in front of the net), partly due to our defence not being able to get back in time on Aris’ quick counter attacks.

The midfield today was not at its best. Tachtsidis, perhaps due to a lack of confidence, seems to scared to run with the ball and always looks to cross, even when he has time to control. Scocco did the best he could today however the Aris defence kept shutting him down. Kafes, along with Nsaliwa, was forced to hang back and support the defence at times. Kafes did not provide much to the game today, and it certainly was not his best performance. Nsaliwa played a decent game, and came close to scoring a beauty of a goal.

Unfortunately, our defence just couldn’t build any good plays with Aris’ defence cutting us down constantly and then attacking on the counter attack.

Overall, it was not AEK’s best game, and certainly not the best weve seen since Bajevic has taken over. The first half was a terrible display overall by AEK, and the second half was a slight improvement, at least in terms of the offence and midfield. Luck was not on AEK’s side today for the offence, however, we were certainly lucky not to have conceeded more today.

Both Juanfran and Geraldo Alves were injured today and we will know tomorrow how bad their injuries are.

AEK Cup Final News and Greek All-Star Game

EPO has said that AEK will be the home team for this year’s cup final. This is good news for AEK, and hopefully it will mean we get to choose our gates (AEK wants gates 1-35, a significant portion of OAKA, about half), our locker rooms, and whether our fans arrive by train (instead of busses).

A meeting was held between the two participating teams and EPO regarding the Cup Final, however, Olympiakos representatives failed to attend. Another meeting will be held soon regarding safety.

The squads have been announce for the upcoming All-Star game. AEK coach Dousan Bajevic along with former AEK coach Fernando Santos will manage the team with the foreign players, which will include Saja, Majstorovic, and Blanco.

EDIT: It now sounds like Bajevic has quitted for personal reasons, so Santos will be manager.

The Greek squad will include AEK centre back Kyrgiakos.

The game will be this coming Wednesday in Larissa at 6 o’clock Greek Time.

AEK play Aris tonight in the last regular season game at home, a day before AEK’s “birthday”. Hopefully we’ll get the win, even though our form lately hasn’t been great.

Edinho, surpirisingly, has been included in the roster for toight’s game. Maybe we will see him play afterall.

EDIT: I must have read something wrong, because gates 1-35 would have meant the entire stadium. Perhaps it was gates 1 and 35, which are occupied by Original21.

Edinho’s Future at AEK Uncertain

It looks like Edinho has gotten into yet another argument with AEK manager Dusan Bajevic. He will most likely be fined, and will possibly miss the next match. Bad timing for the Portuguese striker, after Djebbour’s injury left the second attacking spot wide open for him.

We will have to wait until Sunday to see who will play along side Blanco, as AEK faces Bajevic’s previous team, Aris.

More info here.

Aek through to cup final 09

Aek drew 0-0 last night in the second leg of the cup semi-final,progressing 3-1 on aggregate.We will play either Olympiakos or Asteras Tripolis who play their second leg tonight.

FK Partizan-AEK

It was ten years ago to the day that AEK travelled to Serbia, which was then being bombed by NATO, as a friendly symbol to the Serbs, and as a protest against the bombings.

This is a page in AEK’s history which will never be forgotten by us AEK fans and supporters.

Bajevic tactics?

It seems like AEK manager Bajevic has placed the Greek Cup at the top of the list of priorities for the season.His tactics for the game against Panthrakikos(1-1)were somewhat strange.AEK started the match playing a 4-3-3,and with a midfield without Kafes and Nsaliwa this just did not work.We were constantly giving away too much room in midfield which allowed the home team to dictate and coupled with our horrific defending in that 1st half,it was no surprise to see us go behind to the most ridiculous goal AEK has EVER conceded.The strange things started in the 2nd half when seeing that a 4-3-3 with these players was not working in the 1st half ,Bajevic persisted.So in the 60th min Blanco makes it 1-1,Bajevic’s response,to sub him???????We then change systems to a 4-4-2 with Djebbour and Ediniho up front.On 70 min Djebbour is replaced,once again changing the system to a 4-2-3-1.I just can’t fathom why if we were chasing 3 points,Bajevic would reduce the strike force by 1 with every system change.The only explanation i can offer is that as we’re defending a 2 goal lead into the 2nd leg of the CUP semi-final in midweek,Bajevic will demand that his players defend high up the pitch,meaning Blanco and Djebbour will have to work hard stopping Panseraikos starting any attacks from the back.On a positive note I am stating here and now that the ‘kid’ Tachtzidis,wll become the midfield general and an AEK legend for years to come(until the big money arrives for him and it will).This is a very special talent,his 1st touch and vision is that of a much older player and his left foot is as sweet as the great Vassilis Tsartas.