OFI 0-2 AEK

After yesterday’s 0- 0 draw between Panathinaikos and PAOK, AEK were once again presented with a golden opportunity to go 2nd in the playoffs and this time around, we were able to capitalize. Our performance today was definitely an improvement over what we saw last weekend during the game against Panathinaikos. Sure, OFI are the weakest of the teams we’ll face in the playoffs, but it was reassuring nonetheless to see us manage to put together a few significant attacks going forward. Livaja was on the score sheet once again following his well taken header to close out the first half, but it was Verde’s perfectly taken goal which was the one that received the most attention with some beautiful footwork followed topped off by a perfectly placed shot. Verde might not have been our top scorer this season but when he has scored, its often been a goal worth watching more than once.

The win today puts AEK as the sole occupant of 2nd place with 55 points – ahead of us are Olympiakos on 72 points while we are trailed by PAOK on 53 points. We’re clearly not out of the woods yet as it wouldn’t take much for us to be overtaken and from what I’ve heard and read following’s yesterday’s draw, PAOK looked more dangerous than the 0-0 scoreline would suggest. Thankfully, we seem to have put last week’s performance behind us and are heading in the right direction for the time being at least.

In other news, we made our first significant singing of the season with a three year deal with Bright Enobakhare. The 22 year old Nigerian striker was previously with Wolves but has spent much of his time on loan – can’t say I’m particularly familiar with him, but it seems like a promising singing and I’m glad he isn’t yet another player for us on loan.

AEK 1-1 Panathinaikos

The 4th of March was the last time we were able to watch an AEK game… who would have thought then that it wouldn’t be until the 7th of June, over 3 months later, when we would next get the chance to watch AEK play. Needless to say, it was somewhat reassuring to have a game to look forward to again, even if the stadium was empty and the substitutes and staff on the bench were sitting a considerable distance apart from each other.

The result was somewhat of a disappointment if I’m being honest, as was the performance itself. Earlier in the day, PAOK had lost at home to Olympiakos by a score of 1-0, a result which as a result of the point deduction handed to PAOK would have given AEK the opportunity to move up to 2nd place in the standings with a win. Instead, it was Panathinaikos who were looking more likely to get away with the win at times.

It was clear the three month break from playing had taken its toll on the players; for most of the first half, we struggled to make many significant moves forward and only managed one opportunity on target. The second half was a slight improvement but again it was Panathinaikos who looked more convincing as they had one goal called back for a foul but then managed to go ahead in the 65th minute.

Thankfully we were able to find a response 10 minutes later when Livaja managed to finish from a tough angle but ultimately we were forced to settle for the 1 point. There was considerable discussion today regarding Carrera’s hesitation to make substitutions earlier on the match when it was clear something wasn’t working. Eventually Oliveira was brought on in the 67th minute but it wasn’t until the 87th when Araujo got put in the match for a chance to make a difference with just a few minutes left – Oliveira’s introduction made the impact we were looking for has he provided the assist on Livaja’s goal, but it makes me wonder if he could have had an even bigger impact if he was introduced to match earlier on.

As a result of the 1 point we received following yesterday’s draw, we now find ourselves level in 2nd place with PAOK on 52 points. Panathinaikos are further behind on 45 points and are less of a threat, though its whether we can find a way to clinch 2nd place which worries me – being able to do so would guarantee us the chance to try to qualify for Champions League next season, something which would naturally be a huge boost for the club.

 

Despite fans not being allowed in the stadium as part of measures put in place to slow the spread of COVID-19, a number of supporters still gathered outside the stadium in Nea Filadelfeia and watched the match on a projector screen:

Speaking of the stadium, there’s been some more progress on its construction since my last post – most noticeably, the preparations are being in put place for the exterior facade to be mounted. It will be exciting to see some of the panels start to go up so we can start to really get a sense of what the completed stadium will look like from the outside.

AEK 2-0 Lamia

The improvement in fortunes under Kostenglou has continued with another 3 points following today’s win over Lamia, a win which brings us up to 5th place with 6 points (Olympiakos, PAOK, and Xanthi are all 3 for 3 so far).

Truth be told, it wasn’t a phenomenal game by any means, but it sounds like we did enough to control the match and make a couple of our chances count. From what I could make out on the radio, it seemed like though we managed to control the game for the most part, it was making any meaningful gain’s into Lamia’s box which we struggled with. Livaja stepped up when needed though, as he did last week, and was involved with both of our goals scored today (the first was a pass from Livaja which resulted in an own goal while the second was a Livaja free kick slotted into the net by Vranjes).

All in all a critical 3 points as we prepare for our critical test against PAOK in a couple week’s time. Before that though, we face Panaitolikos in Agrinio, a match which we really shouldn’t struggle with considering Panaitolikos currently sit second from last, one 0 points.

Progress on the stadium is continuing at a steady rate. This video shows some great aerial views over the stadium at sunrise this morning:

Cardoso Out – Kostenoglou In

Its been a hectic couple of weeks for AEK, though that seems to be the norm these days. To summarize:

• We were knocked out of Europa League after losing our first game to Trabzonspor in Athens, 2-3 (under Cardoso). By time the second leg came around, played in Turkey, Cardoso had been laid off and replaced by Kostenoglou and almost overnight the team was drastically improved. We played a great game in Turkey and won 0-2 with just one more goal being the difference between disqualification and advancing to the next round.
• We lost our first League game at home to Xanthi (under Cardoso) though won our second game in Tripolis by a score of 2-3 (this time under Kostenoglou). As with our Europa League games, our performance against Tripolis with Kostenoglou in charge of the team was a drastic improvement over what we saw against Xanthi a week prior.

After the performances under Kostenoglou against Trabzonspor and Tripolis, management had rightfully felt that they saw enough to award the job to Kostenoglou and in my opinion, I think it was the right move to make. The improvement in quality of our play seemingly overnight was massive and on top of that, a number of players expressed their support for Kostenoglou, a noticeable difference from what we saw under Cardoso. I know it was only two games, but what I saw from the team against Tripolis was a team who played as if they really wanted to win. I was doubting this team going into the start of the season but if they continue to play as they did in the second leg against Trabzonspor and as they did over the weekend against Tripolis, we definitely have a shot of going up against PAOK and Olympiakos for the title (though I think on paper, Olympiakos will definitely remain favourites… I watched some of their Champions League qualifiers and I must say, they look particularly good this year).

 

 

Special mention to Livaja and his celebration on the second goal, reminicent of Nikloaidis’ celebrations in front of the Skepasti:

Craiova 0-2 AEK

A 2-0 away win in our first Europa League qualifier, sounds like a pretty great way to start our season if you ask me. Considering this is the first competitive match with a new manager and a heap of new players, this was exactly the start we could have hoped for.

It’s far from over, but I’d say we’re in pretty good shape for making the next qualifying round. Though I didn’t watch the game and was only able to listen on the radio, it did sound like we were the stronger team overall. Having said that, it must be said that after watching the highlights, we did seem to have a few shaky moments in defense. All in all though that doesn’t have me too worried yet as I could easily put that down to the learning curve that our guys are almost definitely still experiencing.

Our starting XI contained a few familiar faces including Barkas, Svarnas, Hult, Simoes, Mantalos, and Klonaridis. The remainder of the players though were all players who recently joined (or-rejoined) us over the summer such as Paulinho, Vranjes, Simao, Verde, and Geraldes.

Mantalos was responsible for our first goal with a wonderfully chipped header out of reach of the keeper. The second goal came courtesy of Livaja (who also assisted on the first goal). Livaja actually came on as a sub to replaced Klonaridis and it clearly seemed to be the best move Cardoso could have made in that situation.

 

Our next match will be against Craiova in a week’s time, this time in Athens. If we are to make it through to the next round, which I imagine we will, we will face either Sparta Prague or Trabzonspor. While both teams are beatable, it’s fair to say they will both be considerably tougher challenges than what we faced today with Craiova.

AEK 4-0 Aris

After putting behind the disappointing loss to Bayern behind us, we managed to get back on track with a fairly easy 4-0 win over Aris. I wasn’t able to catch the game but what I’m reading so far is that we were actually fairly unimpressive in the first half before opening the game up in the second. Boye opened the scoring early on for us before Ponce added two more in the earlier part of the second half. Livaja finished off the scoring with a fairly routine finish.

While we may have scored a comfortable four goals, Aris seemed to have had their fair share of chances too. Had their finishing been a bit more clinical they could have tied the game up which would have made things a little more interesting. In either case, it was a vital three points in front of an empty stadium that keeps us within reach of PAOK. PAOK meanwhile have to face Panathinaikos tomorrow, a team that has been in surprisingly good form this season. While PAOK are still favourites for the match in my opinion, I wouldn’t be at all surprised if PAO pull off the draw, a result which would keep us at four points behind PAOK. Meanwhile, Oly are still three points behind us though they face Apollon Smyrni tomorrow, a team that has yet to win a game this season. Having said that, Oly played OFI last week and lost 1-0, granting OFI their first win of the season, so anything is possible at this point. Who knows, Apollon might be desperate enough for points that they may just throw everything they have at Oly.

All in all it was a good result for us, and one that we badly needed  considering we’re up against PAO next week. I’m definitely impressed and surprised by how well PAO are managing so far this season, but I’d like to think that the extra maturity and experience on our team should be enough to see us manage a win, even if we’re playing in PAO’s home.

Apollon Smirnis 0-2 AEK

The last Superleague win for AEK came on the 29th of September when we beat OFI 3-0. It was a bit of a relief to see us return to winning ways then when we beat Apollon 2-0 yesterday through goals from Mantalos and Livaja. The match itself wasn’t as straight forward for AEK as I was expecting it to be. We were clearly the stronger side though Apollon were fairly tight in defense and managed a few attacks of their own. Our biggest downfall though was our decisiveness in front of goal, something that has been affecting us for the past month or two. We’ve got a good defense and our midfield is up to the task as well but it seems like we’re still missing one key ingredient up front.

Mantalos’ goal was a beauty and Livaja’s came as a huge relief since up until that point, I was slightly worried Apollon might snatch a last minute draw just like we did against Olympiakos a couple weeks back. Thankfully they didn’t, and we managed to grab an important 3 points. Olympiakos lost early today which keeps them near us in the standings though PAOK managed to win the Thesaloniki derby which unfortunately sees them move further ahead.

As some of you may have noticed already, we were recently docked 3 points for some fan incidents during the AEK – Olympiakos match. AEK’s appeal was rejected however the team is now taking the case to the CAS court with hopes of the punishment being deemed inappropriate. Olympiakos fans were also involved in some incidents following their loss to OFI today, so it will be interesting to the see how the League handles that, and whether they give them the same punishment as they did to us ( 3 point deduction and two games with no supporters). Many eyebrows will be raised if Olympiakos somehow manage to come away without any form of punishment similar to what we received.

 

AEK 1-1 Olympiakos

While last season was one of our best on record when it came to derbies, this season is shaping out to be anything but…

To be honest, I didn’t have the highest hopes as the game started. We always have a good shot against Olympiakos, particularly when playing at home, but having both Mantalos and Ponce out of the lineup was always going to be a huge blow to us. Surprisingly though, we quite easily controlled the pace of the match for almost the entire first half. In fact, it was safe to say that Olympiakos didn’t really look like threatening at all until the 44th minute when they hit the post.

Despite controlling the pace and possession for most of the first half, we struggled to make anything come of it. We did hit the post once ourselves but the team seemed lost in the final third of the pitch. It didn’t help that not only was Mantalos missing, but Simoes was having a particularly bad game. Usually we see Simoes all over the pitch, getting involved any chance he could, but he was nowhere to be seen on Sunday. Bakasetas tried to get some offense going, but Livaja and Klonaridis weren’t doing much to help out. Funny enough was the fact that Hult was probably our most dangerous player going forward aside from Bakasetas.

As I could almost anticipate, Olympiakos made us pay for our lack of scoring in the first half when Fourtounis managed to put one in the back of the net out of Barkas’ reach. With Olympiakos up 1-0 from early in the second half, the game looked more and more like a lost cause as time wore on until Bakasetas was able to sneak one in for us in the dying minutes of the game, leveling the score at 1-1 and salvaging a valuable point.  With seconds left in the game, Olympiakos had the easiest of chances to make it 2-1 in their favour when Fetfatzidis failed to put away a shot from point blank range.

All in all it was a disappointing outing for us, especially considering we had more than enough time to put ourselves ahead earlier in the match. Realistically there wasn’t much Ouzounidis could do from the bench considering key players like Simoes, Klonaridis, and Livaja simply weren’t having the best of games. The league isn’t a lost cause yet (far from it really) but a win would have put us just one point off of first place. As it stands, we’re currently tied for 3rd with Olympiakos, level on 13 points.

CL Group Stage Bound! (AEK 1-1 MOL Vidi)

Twelve years since our last appearance in the Champions League group stages and we are finally heading back! It might not have been pretty but ultimately the team managed to accomplish what they set out to accomplish so far.

By most accounts it actually wasn’t a great game on our part. We managed to find our way ahead thanks to a well taken Mantalos penalty shot but Vidi managed to equalize not too long after and for much of the remainder of the game, we were left wondering if Vidi might even find a way to force the game to extra time. Without a strong performance from Barkas, Vidi could have definitely found the back of the net yet again.

Luckily though, we managed to hold onto the draw in front of nearly 40,000 rain drenched supporters. Unfortunately however, we didn’t escape unscathed. Not only did we lose Lopez towards the end of the match with a red card, but Livaja also received a red card after the final whistle had blown. Of course, this means we’ll be without two key players for the next match at least although it looks like there might even be the chance of Livaja receiving a further one or two game ban. This would be, to say the least, a huge blow for us considering how huge a role he has played for us in terms of offense. I guess the one bright side is that it might give one of our recent singings a big opportunity but its definitely not a great situation to find ourselves in.

Regardless, we’ve done it. For the next few months at least we will be watching AEK play against some of Europe’s biggest clubs. The draw for the Group Stage will take place this coming thursday and as expected, we might be drawn against some big names. Looking at the list of possible opponents, its hard to really find one that I would prefer to play against over another. Of course there are the typical favourites but every possible opponent could be a huge challenge. The total list of possible teams in our group is as follows.

First pot: Real Madrid, Atletico Madrid, Bayern Munich, Barcelona, Juventus, PSG, Manchester City, Lokomotiv Moscow

Second pot: Dortmund, Porto, Manchester United, Shakhtar Donetsk, Benfica, Napoli, Tottenham, Roma

Third pot: Liverpool, Schalke, Lyon, Monaco, Salzburg, Ajax, CSKA Moscow, Eindhoven

As you can see, from the first pot all the way to the third, theres nothing but tough opposition. I honestly can’t even chose a single team out of that list that I would consider an “easier” opponent aside from possibly Lokomotiv or Salzburg but even those two sides will be extremely tough to play against. Regardless, it will still be great fun in either case and considering our strong form in Europe lately, I see no reason to not be up for the challenge.

AEK 2-0 PAS Giannena

Goals from Livaja and Ponce ensured that AEK got off to the best start possible for this season’s Championship campaign. Had luck been on our side, the score could easily have been higher for us especially considering a fairly clear penalty wasn’t called in our favour. In either case, it was a solid outing from the team and the expected three points were exactly what we needed to ensure our run of good form continues.

Livaja had a noteworthy day today after not only scoring the second goal, but doing well to set up the first one. Ponce also looked particularly promising, scoring the opener but also finding himself involved in a number of other chances. If Ponce and Livaja continue to link up well as we saw today, we might see the start of a great attacking pairing. Memories of the Livaja-Araujo attacking duo? I’m definitely seeing it so far.

Defensively the game went as expected. PAS made their way forward from time to time but never really managed to look particularly threatening. Overall there was very little to complain about with the team but its safe to say the first true test of the league will come next week when we head south to Tripolis. Of course before that we face Vidi for the second leg of our Champions League qualifying tie early next week. We can’t take anything for granted, but I see no reason for our run of form to end against the Hungarian side and if all goes to plan, we’ll be celebrating our return to the Champions League group stages by next Tuesday evening!