Hajduk Split v AEK ……preview

AEK has left Athens bound for Croatia to take in Hajduk Split in the 5th match of the Europa Cup Group Stage.The team should be on a ‘high’ after that tremendous victory over our rivals on Saturday night.Nothing less than a draw is needed heading into the last game against Zenit.
Jimenez has announced a 20 man sqaud to choose from:-Saja,Arambatzis,Nasuti,Manolas,Jahic,Leonardo,Dadomo,
Makos,Karabelas,Argyriou,Blanco,Lagos,Papa Boupa,Burns,Georgeas,Scocco,Liberopoulos,Dellas,Gentzoglou,and youngster Froxilias.
Kafes and Djebbour did not make the trip due to injury.
AEK has decided not too accept any tickets for the ‘away’ section,fearing trouble after the drama caused by the Hajduk fans at the OAKA during AEK’S 3-1 victory in game.This should not affect the team as we have ‘been there and done that’ before,Oly last year and Aris this year spring to mind.
The game kicks off at 8 pm on Wednesday night.

AEK 1 Olympiakos 0

How sweet it feels once again.An Ismael Blanco tap in from 2 yds out in stoppage time after brilliant lead up work by Papa Boupa Diop,both late substitutes,was enough for the Enosi to earn maximum points at the Oaka on Saturday night.
Jimenez,who is now 2 from 2 in the major derbies,chose to again change the lineup,and for the first 45 minutes,it was mainly AEK applying most of the pressure.
We started with Arambatzis in goals,Jahic at right back,Karabelas at left back(making his first start under Jimenez in the league).Dellas and Manolas were our “Rocks” at the back.
Makos and Gentzoglou were the holding midfielders,Burns wide right,Scocco wide left and Leonardo tucked in behind a returning Liberopoulos up front.
The first half was scrappy,alot of errors on both sides,but it was AEK,creating the chances.Burns was ruled offside when we scored early on,correctly so and Gentzoglou missed a golden chance to open the scoring.The visitors were sitting back,hoping for counter attacks.
2nd half was fairly even,we did drop our intesity atstages and an alert Arambatzis was on hand to deny them on a couple of occasions.Oly got a penalty when Leonardo,who really should have been subbed at half time,he had a bad game,pulled the shirt of his opponent in the box.Dudu hit the crossbar with his effort and we were still alive.Jimenez then introduced Blanco for Burns and he had some impact,holding the ball up well when we needed it.Papa came on and settled things down in the middle,also his tackling is fearless,something i love.
As the game was fading away looking more and more like nil nil,we pressured in their final third and won a couple of corners.One of them fell to Gentzoglou on the edge of the box whose touch took him inside the box where he was clearly fouled.No penalty,play on said the ref,and this time to our advantage.Papa picked up the ball,took on a couple of defenders down the left with a strong run,cut the ball back to a waiting Blanco who couldn’t believe his luck and could not miss.
The 4th official had put a the time remaining sign with 4 minutes on it.Taking Blanco’s goal which adds 30 seconds,is it any winder that there was 7 minutes played,hoping they could give the Gavroi enough time to equalise.But it wasn’t to be,AEK had too much spirit tonight and we can never be beat when we play with that passion.Man of the Match was Makos who was outstanding and probably our most consistent so far this year.He’s definately improved 200 % on last year.All in all everyone played ok,apart from Leonardo,who i have nothing against,just had a really bad day.
Past fan favourite and AEK great Thomas Mavros,was honored in front of the 40,000 faithfull before the game.Great to see him looking good,could almost probably still weave his magic,

Scocco until 2013!!!

That’s right, Scocco is ours until 2013 as of today, effectively putting an end to any transfers to either PAO or Oly! His contract was by no means cheap, the most expensive ever for an AEK player from what I heard, but it’s worth it in my opinion. Hopefully, his nice comfy contract now however gets some solid performances from him, and some consistency!
Yet another step in the right direction by Adamidis and co.

Kavala 2-1 AEK

Exactly the kind of result I was expecting. Disappointing to say the least, almost repulsive at times. Our team showed very little will to win, no hunger for any from of result. It is clear that everyone out their needs to wake up, and soon. We have a great coach leading us but with the way things are not even Mourinho could get much out of these guys if they don’t put in the effort required.

With the way things are in the superleague now, there are no easy matches. Ten years ago, five years ago, maybe even two or three years ago, the vast majority of the teams below fourth place would be considered pushovers for AEK. Things are no longer this way. Larissa, Kavala, Tripolis, Iraklis, these are all teams able to knock off points from the big three on a regular basis and unless a team shows up to play football they will not succeed in the 1st division. Unfortunately, it seems our players haven’t realized that 100 percent effort is required 100 percent of the time!

Our defense today will not cut it, not in Greece, and not even in the Uzbekistan 2nd division. If you see some of the goals being scored lately in the league it becomes clear that there are some talented attacking players out there right now, both Greek and from abroad, and if you give them any space you will be punished for it. Our defense needed to be alot tighter today and much less sloppy, generally and with both the goals we let in.

Up front, we really lacked creativity. Scocco didn’t come in until the second half, and Djebbour wasn’t with the team due to injury, and without either of them we were dull. Leonardo tried at times but just wasn’t working, and Burns could have done better. We did miss a few easy chances in front of goal but those chances were quite rare throughout the game.

To be honest, there wasn’t really a time when either team had full control of the match. My stream did cut out at times, and I missed about 10 minutes in the second half, but if AEK had showed up to play some football they could have come out with a more positive result. Having said that, they have a great chance to turn things around next week when we take on Olympiakos at home. Surely the championship hopes for us are passed, but we can still turn our season around and leave our mark on the league. We had perfect opportunities to do so earlier in the season but we blew them, lets make sure we don’t do the same this time!

As always, please leave your feedback. If anyone has specific opinions on players I would love to hear them since after spending half the time switching between streams trying to find one that works, you lose track of such things.

Kavala-AEK

So, not sure if you saw the result of the Ira-PAO match today, but Ira were up 2-0 early in the first only to end up blowing it and losing 2-4.

What does this mean? The pressure really is on now for us to take home all three points and nothing less from our trip to Kavala tomorrow. Certainly easier said than done, but we have no other option now! The next match is a home derby against Olympiakos so six points in the next 2 games could really help us out considering after this we would have completed our derbies until the second half of the season.

Some positive news for the team is that Scocco will finally be returning. Djebbour is still recovering from an injury last I heard, and both Manolas and Dellas will be out due to their ridiculous red cards last match, so we could use all the help we could get.

I can honestly say I have no clue what to expect come tomorrow. This team so far under Manolo has shown us great performances (the 0-4 against Aris and 1-5 against Panserraikos) as well as depressing ones (most recently against PAOK as well as the match with Panionios). Having said that, the team will hopefully be looking to prove a point because if we dont turn things around soon any chances for a championships will be slipping out of reach.

PAOK 2-1 AEK

So, I watched most of the first half and parts of the second, but one thing was obvious today. We didn’t deserve even a point today looking at how we played. PAO tied 1-1 at home against Larissa, yet for the second week in a row we fail to capitalize on a great opportunity and instead of being that much closer to first we now sit in fourth place (with three teams playing tomorrow who could catch up to us).

We had very little organization and could not gain any control of the game. We started with Djebbour and Blanco but many feel that Libe should have gotten the start. I know he only recently returned from injury but I think he could have made a difference. However, to add to our injury problems, Djebbour seems to have injured his shoulder, an injury which has bothered him in the past as well. I’m not sure the details yet, but things are starting to look tough again. Both Manolas (completely undeserved) and Dellas (who was on the bench!) received red cards meaning our options on the pitch are starting to look thin once again.

PAOK today were average at best, and had we showed up and played some football I am confident we could have seen even all three points. It’s a shame really since PAOK has seemed to become that team lately that we can always count on for points. Afterall, the last time they beat us in the league was 2007.

Our shots on net statistic for the match is pretty frightening… only 3 in the entire 90 minutes! And our one goal came from a penalty. Things really aren’t looking good, and we have some critical matches coming up in both the league and Europe… hopefully we can turn things around but it does seem like we’ve been saying that for a while.

Alot happened during and after the game, and I’m still confused around many of the details. Firstly, there were a couple incidents on the bench. One main one involved Dellas and a PAOK fan who threw a 1.5 liter bottle at the players (I am not sure if the bottle was thrown at the bench or Dellas specifically). Dellas threw the bottle back resulting in a red card. I’ve heard that Dellas is looking into taking legal action against the fan, so we’ll see. However, this is not nearly the first time incidents like this have happened at Toumba. You would figure they would look into resolving the the problems, maybe by making moderations to the stadium? I hate to see that happen, but its clear that fans like these cannot be given all the privileges of other fans. I know all teams in Greece has fans who cause trouble, and AEK certainly has many. However, this sort of thing is pretty much your average occurrence for a PAOK game.

It doesn’t end there though! Remember the incidents involving fans AEK players after the Panionios match? Well, 50 PAOK fans were outside the AEK change rooms yelling at Dellas, Dimitriadis, and co… only in Greece does stuff like this happen! How 50 fans can get there in the first place, let alone stay without being forced away immediately, I will never understand.

If anyone watched the match, please leave a comment. I would like to comment more on our actual performance but I was distracted at the time of the game. Thanks!

AEK 3 Ergotelis 1

A much needed victory and three points,was the result of last nights game at the OAKA.In a game that never reached any great heights,AEK were hungrier and ultimately deserved the victory,even if the football played by both sides left alot to be desired.
AEK in the 1st half were just about terrible.Jimenez,whose hands are still tied with all the injuries we have at the moment,chose a 4-2-3-1 line up.Saja in goal,Nasuti and Dellas the central defensive pair,Patsa right back and Lagos returned to left back for the suspended Dadomo.Kafes and Makos were the holding midfielders,Leonardo wide left,Blanco wide right,Geriero tucked in behind a frustrating Djebbour up front.
AEK in the 1st half resembled the AEK under Bajevic for his last couple of games with us.No fluency or rythym in attack,passes constantly going astray,nothing was going right.I think we created 1 chance in that 1st half which Djebbour could not take.2 minutes out from the break,Ergotelis received a very cheep free kick about 28 meters out.Their captain,with a left foot pearler gave Saja no chance,and we were all saying,here we go again.
Within 2 minutes we had equalised,when Blanco’s cross into the area was missed by their keeper with the ball bouncing off the back of Kafes’ head and into an empty net.A lucky goal in a way but a much needed one.
The second half,although not much better was an improvement on the 1st half.On 55 min,we were threatening with some crosses when we got a corner.Gerierro took it,a high curling ball,which once again the Ergotelis keeper totally misjudged and Blanco was on the spot to once again head into an emty net.
The third goal and the sealer arrived in stoppage time,when Djebbour released an unmarked Eder(he replaced an average Leonardo) on the right and he calmly chipped the keeper.
All in all not a great performance but 3 points is what it’s all about while we are depleted with a medical list the length of my arm.Blanco got the MVP with a goal and an assist,not far behing was Dellas and Nasuti.Djebbour was very average tonight and im sure Ismaels performance will give Jimenez plenty of thought.Personally,i’d start Blanco every chance,holds the ball up well when up front on his own and is much more of a team player with a better passing game.Your thoughts are very welcome!!!

AEK 1-1 Anderlecht

Frustrating, disappointing, nerve wrecking… all suitable adjectives for describing today’s the game.

Firstly, we still have hope. Zenit beat Hajduk in Croatia today meaning the race for second place is very, very tight. If we can manage to turn things around, second place is very possible.

We started todays game strong, creating a few excellent chances (sitters, really) but failed each and every time to get the ball in the back of the net. We had fairly good control on the match throughout the first 45 and looked good considering we were missing key players like Roger, Scocco, and Liberopoulos. We were certainly showing much more determination than the match with Panionios, but we were still severely lacking discipline from the midfield up.

Our goal finally came through a penalty in the second half. But the good news ends there. Anderlecht turned the pressure up a notch after conceding while it seemed our guys seemed to drop down considerably and eventually it was the Belgian team’s turn to score after some poor (and I mean POOR!) defending from our guys. Having said that, Manolas had a great game today, though I did get worried when I saw him complaining about injuries.

All things considered, there is still hope in my opinion. Manolo’s second European match only and the players have had to deal with quite a few games in a short period of time (and the number of injuries meant little flexibility with resting certain players). Circumstances clearly aren’t ideal, and we were saved towards the end by some key Saja saves, but all is not lost yet. After all, this is Anderlecht we’re talking about… when was the last time we were lucky while playing them?

 

Some better news as well… our team has finally begun training in Spata! The pitch looks great, such a massive improvement over the sand pit there were training on at Thrakomakedones. This will only help our team in the future and its a great moment in our history. There is still work that needs to be done but the facilities look very nice indeed.