Ergotelis 2-2 AEK

So, as is typical with AEK, we blow an early 1-0 lead and end up with a draw (today, the match against PAS, the Cup Final, the match with BATE).

 

My stream today was poor quality, so I can’t comment as much as I could have. But basically what we saw throughout the match was that we had many chances, yet we only scored one of them.

We went up first after Manduca headed in the ball off of Karabelas’ cross. Saja saved an Ergotelis penalty, Ergotelis scored a goal, scored another and went up 2-1. While this was happening we were missing some of the easiest chances imaginable and we didn’t have a penalty scored. Late in the match though, we were awarded a questionable penalty (I personally don’t think it was a penalty but I wont complain since we should have had the penalty earlier on). Blanco easily scored this and we got away with a draw.

Ergotelis have never beaten us before this match, and that still remains true (we have won six games and tied four).

We are now in seventh with only three points separating us from third and only two separating us from a spot to qualify for Europe. Had we won today we might have been in fourth but as we all know, this is AEK that we love and follow so much. And as we also know, AEK never likes to do things the easy way.

Saja played today, made some fine saves to keep us in the game. Overall, we played a decent match, but really should have scored our chances. We were not great, but we saw moments of brilliant passing, but those moments were few. This is not the AEK we all want to see, the AEK we are used to seeing, not like the AEK of 2007-2008 (a team consisting of a Blanco that could score with ease, Liberopoulos, Ribo, Dellas, Zikos, the fantastic Papastatopoulos, Kallon, Edinho) that ended up with the highest scoring offense, the fewest conceding defence.

Things are a long way from being how we want them to be. A very long way.

The bus with the AEK players was attacked by AEK supporters that made the trip to Crete to watch the match. I wouldn’t be surprised to see some more attacks in Athens (the plane should be arriving soon if it hasn’t arrived already).

Oh well… we play Bate on Thursday, with basically no defence available, and Larissa on Monday (the match was postponed due to a Beyonce show).

Lets see what happens there, though I am not expecting much.

Another draw in Larissa for AEK

The match against Larissa ended 0-0 yesterday.

A report can be found here.

As the article states the draw means little for us. Either way, we can still qualify for Champions League as long as we beat Panathinaikos this Sunday. However, we did not play as well as we should have one week before the biggest game of the playoffs.

It was not a horrible display by AEK, however it was not nearly as impressive a display as the past two matches. I think one significant reason for this was the absence of Kafes, who over this season has turned into a critical midfielder for us. Im not sure yet if he will be ready for this weekend, but hopefully he will because Nsaliwa will be out for the next game due to picking up too many yellow cards.

Larissa had some incredible opportunities to score, including a penalty. Luckily for us however we managed to hold onto that one valuable point which could grant us Champions League and extra money which we so desperately need.

With regards to some of the comments which have been posted about Sunday’s game I believe, but am not certain, that a win next week will be enough to grant us Champions League as the final standing, in case of two teams having the same amount of points, is determined by head-to-head record. This means that regardless the score, as long as we win, we will get first since we would have beaten Pao once in the playoffs (and once in the regular season) and drawn with them once in the playoffs (and once in the regular season).

I will have to clarify that though because I am not 100 percent certain.

AEK is angry with regards to the officiating at yesterday’s games due to some of the calls made such as the penalty (it is questionable as I have not seen a truly convincing video of it however there is a high chance that Koutromanos may have actually made contact with the Larissa player) and the goal we almost scored (again, I can’t say for sure what is true as I have not yet seen a camera view which confirms without doubt that the ball indeed did cross the line).

Here is the best video I can find at the moment of highlights of the game.

There isn’t much I can think of too say of the game. No one really stood out as either fantastic or worrisome, at least not that I can remember. Ill see if AEKMAN74  or AEK Baltimore have anything to add.

For some reason, I believe that we will win this weekend. Larissa just seems to be one of those teams we have trouble beating this year (only one win from four games, with the three other results being draws). We barely beat them earlier in the playoffs after a mediocre performance and then we went on to draw Pao away and to beat PAOK twice in a row with two good performances. Im sure, if we play the best we can, without silly mistakes, that we can beat Pao, and get a chance to qualify for Champions League next year.

Another Big Win Against PAOK

Yet another big win against our northern rivals, this time with a scoreline of 3-1.

Videos below:

It was a fairly confident win against PAOK this time with goals coming from Djebbour, Blanco, and Scocco. There were some questionable calls from the ref (including a red for PAOK, which I agree with but could have been avoided by PAOK) and some calls not made (including a hand ball from Kafes which wasn’t called).

Nonetheless, AEK were the stronger team on the pitch and by far at times. We dominated the game often with some great control. Passing and crossing were excellent throughout the game. The players seemed to be playing perfect in their assinged positions and the game flowed well. After we scored our second goal PAOK all but stopped existing, except for a few attacks every now and then.

Firstly, Saja played a good game and made some critical saves, although he really didn’t have much to do, especially during the second half.

Secondly, Koutromanos was excellent. He played quite far up at times (it even seemed as times as if we were playing with three defenders and with Kouts playing as a midfielder) and made some great runs, really showing a boost in confidence, likely due to Bajevic taking over. He made some great crosses and showed great speed and ball control. Defeinately a lot of promise.

Majstorovic played allright, but I must say that I feel that he was the weakest player playing for us today. He let some men slip by him, and he, as usual, looked too often for the back pass rather than controlling (when he had time) and getting the ball up. Alexopoulos played a good game and missed a great chance on a corner when his header was cleared by a PAOK defender.

Alves played great today as well, in left back rather than his normal centre back. His tackles were smooth and almost always got the ball, his headers were good, and he controlled the ball calmly and confidently and managed to distribute well.

Our midfield was good. Nsaliwa played a good game, made some nice passes, ran well and managed to bring the ball up on his own many times to help set up the offence. Kafes played some good defending along with Pelletieri.

Our offence, which consisted of Scocco, Blanco, and Djebbour, was fantastic. They worked like a well greased machine. They created chance after chance. Blanco once again showed how much he has developed by making a beautiful cross. Djebbour took part in the game much more than normal, and Scocco (well, no surprise here) was incredible. He ran, passed, crossed, took some great corners, and was everywhere, swapping from left to right, taking great shots. I strongly believe that him and Blanco must be kept no matter what. If Djebbour keeps playing the way he did today (he got MVP of the match and the fans certianly appreciated the effort he put in today), we should look to keep him for another year, although he might not be affordable next year.

Our subs were Manduca, Gentsoglou, and Edinho. Firstly, Manduca played yet another great game, as he has been doing since the start of the playoffs. Im not sure what it is that brought him to increase his game so much so suddenly, but perhaps it might be worth it to keep him on another year at least. He ran great, and conrtibuted much to the team. Hopefully we will see some more of this form him until the end of the playoffs.

Gentsoglou played great, even though he wasn’t on for too long. Hi made some superb crosses, seemed confident enough considering he hadn’t played in so long, and had a beautiful shot saved by Chalkias (Chalkias had a horrible game today, hopefully his performance will be better when PAOK play Pao this weekend).

Edinho only managed to play a few minutes so not much can be said about him. He had a nice header but thats about all he managed to do this game.

PAOK created some good chances as well, and played some dangerous football at times however couldn’t keep it up. They did have some critical players out so that may have affected them.

Well, overall, it was a satisfying performance. The crowd was definately pleased. Hopefully, we will continue to see this level of play until the end of the playoffs, in which case we should beat Larissa this weekend and we should have a high chance of beating PAO at our last game of the playoffs.

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-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.

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.

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.

Panthrakikos 1-1 AEK

An uninspired performance by AEK means that second place is now slipping out of reach for this season.

AEK, who had many of its main players (Kyrgiakos, Kafes, Scocco, Juanfran, Nsaliwa) remain in Athens due to either cards or injury, barely managed to get one point in Komotini today after a rather low class performance by the team.

There seemed to be no smooth connection from defence to midfield to offence today, as we barely managed to create any significant chances in front of the Panthrakikos. Passing between AEK players was horrible, and the whole team seemed to be disorganized.

The starting lineup was Saja, Georgeas, Alexopoulos, Majstorovic, Geraldo, Pelletieri, Hetemaj, Manduca, Blanco, Edinho, and Djebbour.Clearly, this was far from our average starting XI, which could have perhaps been one reason the team was not in top form. Without Nsaliwa and Kafes in the middle, clever passes just werent happening. Hetemaj didnt play a great game, and neither did Manduca. Although we started with three of our most attacking players (Edinho, Blanco, and Djebbour) we were very weak and hardly managed to cause Panthrakikos any stress. Hopefully we will see Kafes, Nsaliwa, and Scocco back in there for the Semi-Final game against Panserraikos later this week, or else we will unlikely see any goals.

Panthrakikos scored first, and their goal should be a strong candidate for most pathetic goal of the year due to unorganized defence and bad luck for AEK. Majstorivic tried to clear a loose ball forward but it unfortunately deflected off of the foot of a Panthrakikos player and into AEK’s net.

Videos will be posted once they are available.

Links to reports will be posted once they are available as well.

Scores from today’s other games here.

Edinho scores for Portugal!

Edinho scored for Portugal on his debut with the Portuguese National Team against South Africa.

AEK 3-1 Levadeiakos

AEK grabbed another thre points this weekend to move into one point within second place in the standings. Goals for AEK came from Djebbour, Blanco (who is now top-scorer), and substitue Edinho. Levadeiakos’ only goal came from an own goal after a Levadeiakos shot rebounded off Tacthtidis’ foot, catching Saja off guard.

Overall it was a satisfying performance by AEK, who managed to play consistently the entire match. Both Georgeas and Juanfran were dangerous down the wings and both managed to create some significant chances. Alexopoulos replaced Majstorovic who was suffering from a virus and played some solid defence along with Kyrgiakos. The defence was solid overall however they did get caught offguard on the Levadeiakos counter attacks a few times, especially down the wings.

The midfield, which at the start consisted of Scocco, Nsaliwa, Kafes, Tacthsidis, was allright, with Tachtsidis once again showing plenty of promise. Kafes fought hard and was good both defencively and offesnively, contributing with some great tackles. Overall the midfield managed to penetrate and create some chances however they often had trouble finding a player up front to play the ball to and so had to resort to playing the back pass so the ball could be played down the wings.

As the score shows, the offence once again managed to score some goals, which at this point is extremely important if we are to finish second. Djebbour also missed a great chance to score a second when a header hit the crossbar.

The substitues for the match were Pelletieri, Diouf, and Edinho.

Panathinaikos drew 1-1 away at Tripolis, and PAOK managed to get a 2-1 win over Thrasivoulos after going down 0-1 in the first half. Olympiakos beat Panionios away 3-2 and therefore confirmed themseslves as champions since it is now impossible for any other team to catch with only three games remaining.

Goals here.

There were plenty of fires burning at OAKA last night after soem AEK fans managed to smash into a Panathinaikos boutique burn all the scarves and shirts. Reports also say that soem of the AEK fans also manged to burn the AEK boutique at OAKA as well.

The incidents started about an hour before the game when Panathinaikos fans leaving a volleyball match at OAKA clashed with AEK fans. Riot police were soon there and of course, the presence of the polic did not do any good with regards to calming down the AEK fans. Most of the trouble was around gate 1, where Original21 sit. Flares and molotov cocktails were being thrown at the police throughout much of the match and the police responded with tear gas. No reports of any innjuries have been heard yet.

It is unfortunate that this kind of behaviour is present at football matches in Greece, and quite often, as it distracts players and prevents fans from going to watch the matches.