AEK 3-1 Kerkyra

After another weekend of wins for Oly, PAOK, and Atromitos, the pressure was on AEK again today to get a win. Sure enough, they delivered yet again and for another week remain on top. Its still a fragile lead, with only one point separating us and Oly, but as long as we keep getting results I can’t complain.

Today’s match went as expected against second to last placed Kerkyra, although Kerkyra definitely didn’t get off to the start they had hoped for after their keeper scored an own goal to open the scoring for AEK. It all happened in the 11th minute when Lazaros had two chances to finish from point blank range but it was instead the keeper who ended up getting the ball into the back of the net.

Kone continued the scoring, scoring his first goal with AEK in over ten years. And what a goal it was; a poor clearance by Kerkyra landed right at Kone’s chest who with some great control and a beautiful finish lobbed the ball right out of the keeper’s reach and into the net.

Araujo finished off the scoring for AEK after yet another poor clearance by Kerkyra’s defense ultimately landed at the Argentinian’s feet. Araujo, showing sings of what we came to expect of him last year, finished it beautifully with a one timer that left the keeper with no chance.

Kerkyra managed to pull one back but it was too little too late for them. The penalty that lead to their goal was questionable at best, but it was the only downside of what was another convincing performance by AEK.

Whats most impressive for me about our recent performances is that we’re consistently getting results without Mantalos and Johansson. Players like Klonaridis and Kone who earlier in the season weren’t showing as much promise as we expected are now proving to have rather considerable roles in the team. Even Araujo, who had a slow start to his season this year, is starting to find himself on the scoresheet more and more often. Its a good time for the team to find some form since it will only get tougher from this point on as the pressure increases. The only thing I’m weary about at this point is that with the Christmas break fast approaching, its a very real possibility that the break might affect our momentum. Of course, it might not affect us at all, but its always a risk when you’re away from the game for a while.

 

Today’s result wasn’t the only news for our football team today. Earlier in the day, the draws took place for who we would face in the Europa League Round of 32 and to be honest, I feel like it could definitely be worse. The luck of the draw paired us with Dynamo Kiev, Ukranian runners up last season. I’m not saying it will be an easy two matches by any stretch, but we definitely have more of a chance at getting a favourable result against them than say Atletico Madrid or Arsenal for example (even if both of those teams aren’t in great form in their respective leagues).

 

One last piece of AEK news worth mentioning comes from our basketball game yesterday. We played Olympiakos and considering our recent league form, I don’t think anybody was realistically expecting much of a result. Instead, what happened was something that hasn’t happened in 13 years: we won! 13 years since the last time we beat Olympiakos in Basketball, we beat them again with a score of 66-62. It was a tight game, and towards the end the lead was fluctuating between the two sides quite a bit.

Its been an interesting season for our basketball club. We’re in mediocre form (and thats being generous) in the league and we’re even worse off in European play, yet we’ve beat PAO and Oly within the span of about a month. Strange times indeed, but hopefully our recent switch of coaches will help after we hired Dragan Sakota as our coach for the third time in his career.

Djebbour Misses Late Penalty To Salvage Three Points!

Sorry for the delay for this one. AEKMAN74 posted a good summary of the game which you can check out as well.

Well, my Father and I decided that since I only have half a year left in Greece before I, unfortunately, have to return to North America for university (don’t get me wrong, I love North America, I just don’t know how long I’ll be able to stay away from AEK) we’d go up to Thessaloniki and watch this one so I could experience a proper away game.

In the end it turned out to be a great experience, one which fortunately had little trouble between the AEK and Iraklis supporters. It was very cold up north, with some people even saying it was going to snow, but that did not take anything away from the excitement and the atmosphere that night. Around 1,800 AEK supporters showed up from all over the country (some from Athens, a particularly loud bunch of guys from Serres, some local supporters from Thessaloniki) and they created a rather festive mood, despite our team’s far from spectacular form.

Thanks to the wonderful planning from the guys over at Superleague, the PAOK game (which they won 1-0 against Tripolis) was ending at the same time Iraklis supporters were heading to the stadium. Of course, this resulted in a number of clashes but it thankfully never reached the AEK supporters.

Below are a couple of pictures I took from the game.

Considering there wasn't a huge number of them they made a fair bit of noise.

We made some noise ourselves

A view of the stadium before the match

Now, for the match itself. In the past three years we’ve won in this stadium (all 1-0 wins) but it’s never been easy. I honestly didn’t expect this one to be easy as well. Before the match, if I had known this would have ended in a draw I would have been relieved.

Unfortunately, however, we could have left Thessaloniki with all three points to place ourselves in fifth. Sure, Iraklis also could have done the same but there is little doubt that overall, we were the better team.

We lined up with a lineup similar to that which we fielded against Oly. Arabatzis as ‘keeper, Araujo, Majstorovic, Geraldo Alves, and Georgeas took care of the defense, Kafes and Jahic were the defensive midfielders with Manduca and Scocco taking the offensive midfield roles, and Blanco and Djebbour were upfront. A pretty solid lineup considering what we have to work with.

Our problem last week was our lack of a midfield, due mostly to the exclusion of Kafes (injury) and Jahic (too many yellow cards). Immediately, a difference was seen on Saturday with those two guys, especially Kafes, back in the midfield. They stopped the Iraklis counters early or at least stalled them for our defense, and they helped to drastically improve the transition of the ball from defense to the attackers. Honestly, from where we were sitting the view was terrible, so I don’t know how much of a role these two midfielders actually played, but I do know that were getting the ball up much more effectively than last week.

Arabatzis had a good game but could do little to stop Kone’s (yes, the former AEK player who refused to celebrate out of respect; he says he still has very fond memories of his time at AEK) fantastic shot.I think very few ‘keepers would come close to saving it. Arabatzis did make another save in the dying minutes of the game, just like against Oly, to keep us in it, so he certainly deserves credit.

Our defense was good. They were beaten often on the 1-on-1’s  but they were quite solid when it came to stopping the counter attacks which was mandatory with this Iraklis team. Unfortunately, Araujo got a red card for his second yellow late in the match but the boys were forced to play rough or else there would have been no stopping Iraklis.

I already mentioned our defensive midfielders but the more attacking guys, Scocco and Manduca, also did their job. They got the ball up and dangerously close on another of occasions and only a lack of either luck or concentration (or, of course, both) kept us from scoring another goal or two.

Blanco was not the main man in our attack on Saturday. That honor would have to go, without a doubt, to Djebbour. He scored a fantastic goal (which I will post further down) and was dangerous, as we’ve been seeing these past two weeks, when on the ball. It’s a shame he wasn’t here the first half of the season, we really could have used him.

I’m just dreaming of when Nemeth will return and play with us (if he ever does come back). Nemeth and Djebbour, with Blanco ready on the bench, would be deadly for any team. With Pao’s weak defense, these guys could easily do some damage in two weeks.

One thing which many noticed from this game was our playing style. I don’t know what it was, but the whole team was playing with a fantastic fluidity. We were passing the ball nicely, there was alot of one touch passing going on, it was overall a nice style of football we saw. We really did play some good football and only due to luck didn’t come away with a win. As everyone has been saying in the press, AEK was the better team on the pitch that night, even though Iraklis did come very close to scoring on a number of occasions.

Now, some highlights.

As you will notice, Djebbour missed a penalty…with three minutes of time remaining! I really don’t know what he was attempting with that shot, but he really should have done better. He apologized to the fans but that really isn’t enough. He had a solid chance to place us firmly in fifth spot but it was wasted. Hopefully, he learned his lesson and won’t try a stupid shot like that again. By they way, Blanco had already been subbed off by this time which is why he didn’t take the kick.

Well, fortunately, Kavala tied 0-0, once again, with Oly. This is the ideal result for AEK since it now keeps them two points behind us. It also leaves Olympiakos now trailing Pao by seven points, meanwhile they are only ahead of PAOK by three. I’m loving it.

The Oly fans (10,000 of them were allowed to go up to Kavala) caused a bunch of trouble in the city and the stadium, running around like a bunch of hooligans, running on to the pitch numerous times, and clashing with police. Of course, if this was a fair league, they would have been punished for their disgusting hooliganism (that’s all they’ve ever been). At least one home match without fans would have been the norm (that would mean no fans at home when they play PAOK at home next weekend… considering how terrible they played yesterday I would have said a sure win for PAOK there), if not more, and perhaps a heavy fine. Of course, we know this isn’t a fair league, and they will get away with no punishment at all.

AEK 2-1 Groningen, Kyrgkiakos plays!!

AEK finished their final friendly with a victory after going down 0-1 in the first half. The starting lineupfor AEK’s final game before the critical match against Omonia included Jurgen Macho and Edinho, both of whom have not played with team for quite a while now.

The game overall was a definate imprpovement over past games, and it was played with a quick pace at times. Rivaldo had showed some quick bursts of speed which have not been seen for a while and his corners and free kicks are starting to show some improvement. Alexopoulos was solid for the most part as usual, and many of the youngters who played today such as Pliatsikas,Pavlis,Zorbas, and Koutromanos all showed some promising displays of football at times. Pavlis came close to scoring but was not able to make contact with the ball when it came in front of him before an open net. Blanco, who is starting more of the life we saw last year as each game passeshad a few chances to score as well but was not able to get any into the net. Nsaliwa, still trying to impress Donis played a better game. He seemed to be more in control and was starting to make smarter passes at times.

At the beginning of the second half, Sotiris Kyrgkiakos, who just the night before played in Slovakia for the Greek National Team, made his first appearance with the team (Angellos Basinas has yet to appear). It was the solid performance many were expecting, especially when it came to getting the headers. Panagiotis Lagos and Nikos Georgeas also came in during the second half and the pair worked great together. They both showed great speed and passing and Georgeas’ defending skills were on par. Lagos had a clear chance to shoot but passed instead. The ball ended up at Socco’s feet and the Argentinian (who, as usual, had a great performance) comfortably put the ball in the back of the net to make the score 1-1.

The second goal was a header scored by Kone off of a cross from Ramos (the Brazillian had a decent performance, but wasn’t running with the ball as much as normal, and wasn’t as active as normal either). The scoreline remained at 2-1 untill the ref blew the final whistle. Both goals for AEK were scored in the last thrity minutes.

Overall, the team showed a improvement, but will still have to kick it up a notch higher if they are to leave Cyprus with a favorable result against Omonia.

AEK-Greuther Furth 2-2

AEK ended their second friendly of the preseason against German Second Division team Greuther Furth in a 2-2 draw. AEK went down early on in the first minute and by the end of the scond half they were down 0-2. Two goals however, in the 83rd and 85th minutes of the game allowed AEK to catch up and come out with a score of 2-2. The first goal for AEK was, according to AEK’s website an own goal and the second goal was scored by Pliatsikas off of a cross from Georgeas. It was a hard and low shot out of the keepers reach.

Apparently the second half was a much better performance than the first.

The lineup was Fisekis, Ramos (64′ Koutromanos), Perez (who was on trial for Donis to see) (46′ Georgeas), Majstorovic (74′ Alexopoulos), Papastathopoulos (61′ Geraldo), Nsaliwa (46′ Rivaldo), Kafes (75′ Pliatsikas), Kone (46′ Hetemaj), Lagos (46′ Zorbas), Burns (46′ Pavlis), Blanco (Tachtsidis).

Squad for AEK match against Panionios

PAO is currently tied 0-0 with Aris in the 38th minute. A draw for Aris against PAO and a win for AEK against PAO this wednesday at home for AEK will be enough to ensure that AEK finish first in the Playoffs and can therefore qualify for Champions League.

The squad for AEK’s away match against Panionios will consist of many regulars such as Lyberopoulos, Rivaldo, Ramos, Lagos, Blanco, and Manduca (who is back from injury).

Alexopoulos who has recently recovered from injury will also be going along with Kapetanos, Kafes, Kone, Azcarate, Arabatzis, Moretto, Bourbos, Tatzidis, Geraldo, Pliatsikas, and Pavlis.

Papastathopoulos, Nsaliwa, and Edinho will are not allowed to play due to cards accumulated.

Dellas, Kallon, Macho, and Georgeas are all injured or feeling discomfort.

 

Squad for Match Against Panathinaikos

Kostenoglou will be taking his usual squad with him to the Appostolos Nikolaidis stadium. The squad will include Macho, Moretto, Dellas, Bourbos, Arruabarrena, Papastathopoulos, Pliatsikas, Geraldo Alves, Edson Silva Ramos, Kone, Julio Cezar, Liberopoulos, and Blanco.

Georgeas and Manduca are still not 100 percent ready.

I cannot find the squad that PAO will be taking but I do know that Gonzales, Endoi, Seric, and Fissas will not be playing.

 

Maybe olympiacos will have another member joining them at Club 4.

Although no match at the Appostolos Nikolaidis Stadium is never an easy match (this is afterall a derby) AEK should be able to win as long as they have confidence (but not too much of course, although PAO’s form has been pretty bad lately they will still never be an easy team to beat away). The key to AEK getting the result they want will obviously be a quick goal. Whoever scores first will have a much easier game for the rest of the night. If PAO let in a quick goal they will quickly loose the patience of the fans who have not been very impressed with the team lately.

Squad announced for match against Panionios

The squad the Nikos Kostenoglou will be taking with him is rather similar to the usual. Lyberopoulos, Rivaldo, Edinho, Kone, Macho, Lagos, Kafes, Morretto, Arruabarena, Blanco, Geraldo Alves, Pavlis, Toszer, Pappas, Julio Cesar, Bourbos, Kallon, Pliatsikas, Dellas, Ensaliwa, Edson Silva Ramos.

I am pleased to also see Kapetanos included in the squad for the game tonight. Hopefully is performance is back up to what it was two years ago during Champions League qualification against Hearts.

Gustavo Manduca was complaining about stomach pains and Papastathopoulos is not able to play due to too many cards. Akis Zikos is not playing unfortunately.

Today’s Lineup

The coach will be taking:Macho,Moretto,Edson Silva Ramos,Dellas,Bourbos,Georgeas,Papastathopoulos,Pliatsikas,Kone,Manduca,Kafes,Julio Cezar,Nsaliwa,Zikos,Edinho,Rivaldo,Tozser,Kallon,Liberopoulos, and Blanco.

A crowd of at least 50,000 is now expected according to some AEK newspapers.