AEK-Thyella Highlights

http://aek365.novasports.gr/

AEK 2-1 Thyella

Six points from the first two games of the season for us and I really cant complain. Today’s match was our first home game of the season, with over 20.000 supporters in attendance (it obviously would have been nice to see some more people out, but thats really not bad at all for a third division team).

I was hoping for a slightly more impressive scoreline before the match, though the headlines I read afterwards mostly seemed to agree on one thing: We could have easily scored a few more. So I checked out a highlight video (which will be posted shortly) and were they ever right… A missed penalty, and so many very close chances throughout the match.

Though we were only playing a third division Greek team, the highlights that I saw showed a very impressive AEK in the final third of the pitch. It looks like we completely controlled the game, at least in front of Thyella’s net. Lots of impressive individual efforts, some good movement on and off the ball, and it was nice to see that we weren’t afraid to take some chances. I know we need every point we can get and can’t afford to take too many chances, but on the other hand, you won’t score any goals if you dont take some chances. With just a little more confidence and experience, I have the feeling more of those chances will soon start paying off.

Mandraikos 0-2 AEK

Highlights from our two goals yesterday

Mandraikos 0-2 AEK

Not a bad start to the season, a 2-0 win with two beautiful goals (see the video in the post above for highlights). I must say, both goals really do bring back memories of Scocco. Really can’t complain at all if we see more of this.

Estimates put the number of AEK supporter at the match (dont forget, this was an away match) at between 2,000 and 4,000, which is an amazing sight to see for a 3rd division team. I’m excited to see what our fans do at our first home match of the season. I can imagine spirits will be quite high for it.

From what I’ve heard, it sounds like we played quite alright, and missed a few chances to score a couple goals. Still though, the three points are ours, which is a huge relief. I wasn’t sure what to expect and honestly was not feeling too confident, but I guess we really couldn’t expect too much of a challenge from a team like Mandraikos, even for a largely inexperienced AEK squad.

New Kits

So, as was mentioned in a comment in the previous post, the new kits were revealed yesterday (AEK365 has some pictures).  I like them, though I wouldn’t say I’m crazy about them yet. I have the feeling I’ll really like them when I see them in person though. One slight issue I have with the yellow one (though this could easily just be me) is that the blue “Joker” label on the yellow shirt reminds me of Asteras Tripolis. I’m also not sure how I feel about having that small strip of white on the shirt. Again, this might just be me being picky, but I can’t remember any recent kits that had white on them (at least not on the yellow home kits). I somewhat feel that having the blue and white sort of takes away from the yellow and black, the two colours that mean most to AEK.

Having said all that, I know Ill warm up to them very soon.

AEK 1-1 Omonia

Our first pre-season game in OAKA ended in a draw (not a bad result really), though press reports suggested the score could easily have been a little higher for AEK. Various reviews of the game all mentioned that we were quite impressive from the midfield up, though it still sounds like its our defense which will be holding us up more than anything (Cirillo had not played that match so its yet to be seen what kind of an impact he will have).

Since then we also played in a mini friendly tournament with three other teams with refugee roots, including Panionios. The tournament consisted of two 45 minute games, and a 45 minute final which AEK went on to win. The press had similar observations regarding our front line and it makes me laugh to think that despite being coached by arguably one of Greece’s greatest defenders, its our forwards and midfielders who are impressing most.

In other news, we will apparently see our new jersey some time this week. No idea what to expect. Some sites have been suggesting it will be a pretty interesting design, but I’m not sure if I’m expecting much, I haven’t seen anything special from Puma recently.

There have also been some developments recently with the stadium: We should be seeing some plans by the end of October, and February has been set as the date for construction to finally begin in Nea Filadelfia. Not sure who or what to believe, I just hope that by the next time I visit Athens, I see something resembling a stadium.