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.
Well its been quite a while since my last post and as would be expected by this point in the summer, quite a lot has happened. I suppose now would be as good a time as any to go over some of this summer’s developments up to this point:
A number of signings were made over the past few months, with some of the more notable ones listed below
Giorgos Athanasiadis, 26 year old keeper who joins AEK from Asteras Tripolis. At the moment we still have both Barkas and Tsitsontas on the squad so I assume Athanasiadis will be playing for the second keeper spot. He is a fairly respected keeper in Greece at the moment so I wouldn’t be surprised to see him snatch that second spot sooner or later
Paulinho, 28 year old right back who I assume will be Galo’s replacement.
Vranjes has returned to AEK, as a one year loan from Anderlecht. Of course I would have preferred a transfer rather than simply a loan, but I’ll take it. We all know what he brings to the team, not to mention the love he has for the club should certainly help motivate the other players around him too
David Simao, 29 year old midfielder joins us on a contract until 2022. Some of the notable clubs he’s played for in the past include Benfica and CSKA Sofia. I’ll admit I’m not especially familiar with him, but he seems to be a serious player with considerable experience so this should turn out to be a decent signing
Francisco Geraldes, 24 year old on loan from Sporting for the season. He’s been with Sporting for a while now but seems to have spent most of his career on loan to various clubs throughout Europe.
Milos Deletic, 25 year old forward who joins AEK on a contract until 2022. He’s probably the signing I’m most familiar with (aside from Vranjes) considering he’s spent the past three seasons with Larissa.
Daniele Verde, 23 year old forward who has also signed until 2022. He’s been with Roma since 2014 but like Geraldes has spent most of his career on loan. This signing seemed to drag on for a while so I was glad when it was finally a done deal. Hopefully all the back and forth turns out to be worth it…
Nelson Oliveira, 27 year old striker who has signed with us for two years. He was most recently with Norwich for the past three years and seemed to be a big part of their team for a while before seeming to have a falling out with management.
Aside from the signings, AEK also hired a new coach to replace Jimenez. Miguel Cardoso joined us at the end of May after spending last season managing Celta Vigo. He’s been in managerial positions since 1993, either as youth or assistant coaches, but only stepped up to head coach positions 2017. Way too early to tell what kind of an impact he’ll have with AEK, but he’ll have the chance to prove himself with AEK’s first competitive match of the season coming up in four day’s time against Romanian side Craiova.
Its looking like there’s a chance the match against Craiova, which will be our first Europa League qualifying match of the season, might be played in an empty stadium. Craiova’s match against Honved in the last round had to be halted following numerous fan incidents and I’m hearing that UEFA may be looking into possible punishments including a fan ban.
Aside from personnel changes, we of course unveiled new kits for this season earlier in the summer. I’m not thrilled with them, but they’re different and I guess they’re also not the worst I’ve seen:
Lastly, the progress on the stadium continues to move on at an impressive rate. This video, shot this morning, nicely shows some of the progress that’s been made on the first section of the roof:
I was in Greece for a couple weeks this summer with my father and naturally, the first thing we did our first day in Athens was head straight to Nea Filadelfia to check out the stadium with our own eyes. It was an incredible site to see, especially considering last time I was there, the place was still an empty dirt pit filled with overgrown weeds. Needless to say, its going to be quite the site once completed.
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