Panionios-AEK Half Time Report

AEK are down 1-0 to Panionios at the end of the first half after Kyrgiakos let in an own goal. Edinho has missed a couple of chances but AEK have not had any serious scoring oppourtunities yet. They have managed to keep the ball for the most part in the Panionios end but will have to start organizing the offence a little better if they are to get some goals in the net.

At this moment it is still possible for AEK to catch up and get three points, which will put them up at the top of the standings after Olympiakos drew 0-0 in Crete yesterday against OFI.

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).

Panionios 2-2 AEK

Well, AEK, along with Giorgos Donis will have to settle for UEFA Cup next year after drawing with Panionios following PAO’s 3-1 victoy over Aris. At this point, with one match remaining in the Playoffs, it will be impossible for AEK to finish first in the Playoffs.

AEK went down first after a goal by Panionios player Fernandez in the 21st minute.

AEK quickly evened out the game after Rivaldo nailed in a penalty. Blanco was tackled inside the penalty box by Panionios keeper Kresic. It was a needed tackle which would have most likely resulted in a goal by Blanco who was about to swerve to the left of the keeper which would have left him an open net to tap the ball into.

AEK took the lead in the 39th minute after a perfectly set up cross to Blanco by Ramos was headed to Lyberopoulos who headed the ball into the net out of reach of the Panionios keeper.

“Allright” I was thinking at this point “AEK simply let their guard down for the first Panionios goal and were slowly starting to get back into the game”. Unfortunately the game was only showed on Supersport, a chanel which we do not have access to so I ended up having to listen to the match on the radio. On the radio, it was very difficult to see how poorly AEK was actually playing. When I saw the highlights on TV after the match I realized that, although AEK had some decent chances to score, Panionios also had many chances to score and humiliate AEK like the other teams we played in the Playoffs had.

AEK led the game 2-1 for the rest of regulation time from this point onward. The nineteeth minute came and I was praying for the referee to blow the whistle. Unfortunately, however, the officials decided upon four minutes of extra time. It was in the first minute of extra time that AEK displayed the worst “Defence” in the history of the team, and possibly, I’m quite serious, in the history of the sport of soccer. And it was due to this pathetic defence that Panionios tied the game.  Although the coach thought our defenders were fouled, the ref did not think so.  During the press conference the coach said he will take what ever team he has left to the final game and be done with this “diadikasia”, u can almost translate it to “ordeal”.

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.

 

Aris 4-0 AEK

It was painful to watch this game earlier tonight. A month ago, if I saw 4-0 it would bring a smile to my face but now it forces me to turn my back. We played a very pathetic game today. Our offence was much better than it was when we played PAO however, our defence seemed determined to prove that they could in fact play worse than they did when AEK played PAO.

To make this sad loss even worse, Papastathopoulos got a red card after commiting a second yellow card foul meaning he will not be able to play with AEK when they play Panionios away for their next playoff match.

The first Aris goal was a result of poor defending by Lagos. He got to the ball but quickly lost control after trying to run up with the ball, a mistake he has made one or two times before. An Aris player quickly grabbed and since he wasnt being marked by any defenders was able to run up and get an easy shot on goal. There was nothing Macho could do to stop the goal since no goalie in the world can do anything in situations like that without a good defence to rely on.

The second goal for Aris was another goal that could have been avoided had our defence been on its toes and marking men. Aris got control of the ball in their box. After two passes the ball was at the feet of an Aris offender in front of the goal with the nearest defender twenty yards away. The Aris player had a clear path between himself and the goal the only obstacle being Macho. Macho made the slide tackle and actually managed to get the ball away from the feet of the offender but he quickly regained possesion and simply tap the ball into the net. Had their been a defender marking the player he could have gotten to the ball when the Aris player lost it and cleared it out of the danger zone.

And what a surprise, the third goal was a result of poor defending. There isnt much that can be said about this goal. Ever since the age of ten, whenever Ive been playing soccer on a team the coach would always tell the defenders to get behing the man your marking. So what did Papastathopoulos do with the man he should have been marking? He got infront of the man he should have been marking which left a clear opening for the Aris forward to run up to the goal and again tap the ball into the net. Again, there was nothing Macho could do.

If that isnt enough humiliation the fourth goal for Aris was yet again another defensive error. An Aris player ran up down the left flank and headed towards the goal where he was able to make a cross to an unmarked Aris player in front of the goal who then made a pass to another unmarked Aris player who was able to get an easy shot on goal.

These were the exact same errors which led to PAO humiliating us in the exact same fashion. I would have hoped our defence would have learned from those mistakes but they clearly have not. Hopefully these are some key areas Donis could focus on as soon as possible when (hopefully) he comes to AEK.

Unfortunately, Kostenoglou decided to play Ramos as a defender. I thought that earlier in the year management had realized that defence was not his ideal position and that he was better suited as a midfielder.

Lagos did not have a good day. He was very shaky and made many errors.

PAO managed to beat Panionios 3-0 which means that they are first in the playoffs with 17 points and AEK is second with 14 points. It looks like Champions League wont happen for AEK this year. Hopefully some summer transfers will go through and we can have another shot. Of course, there is still a chance at Chamions League but it is highly unlikely considering that there are only two games left to be played. If Aris can draw with PAO in Athens and AEK manage an away win against Panionios which they should be able to do, then we will simply have to beat PAO at home. However, Aris have the final of the Greek Cup in one week against Olympiacos who recently fired former AEK player Ilia Ivic, who was their football director. Aris are going to be focusing more attention to the Greek Cup instead of the playoffs so a draw is not extremely unreliable but who knows, PAO have been extremely unreliable at times as well. 

 

AEK 1-0 Aris

I really dont know what goes on with this team. One day they put on a really poor display then, five days later, they come back and play like the champions they are. AEK played a very good game of soccer today that could have been 4-0 in favour of AEK. Each and every player played a solid game and contributed to the team in whatever way they could. Bourbos and Ramos together were constantly running hard and helping to distribute the ball around the pitch and were the constant link between the defence and offence. As soon as they gained possesion they would run up the right flank of the field constantly swerving with amazing control to avoid oncoming Aris defenders and set up a play for the forwards. Ramos himself had a nice shot which unfortunately hit the cross bar.  

The offence did exactly what a good offence should do, try to score. They tried many times but unfortunately could never manage to get the ball to the back of the net. The passing was well organized, not at all like it was against Panathinaikos. Kallon played very smart soccer never rushing into the Aris defence but rather waiting and looking for the right pass to make. Rivaldo controlled the ball at times in a very similar fashion to Pele getting past defenders as if it was nothing and never once loosing control. Its a shame he never managed to finish off with a nice shot.

Lyberopoulos came in as a sub for Bourbos at half time and a smart choice that was. Lyberopoulos scored a classic Lybe header in the 54th minute. The important thing to note from this goal is that it wasnt Edinho or Ramos who made the perfect cross to Lyberopoulos but Blanco. Blanco played a very good game along with the rest of the team. He was not only a forward concentrating on scoring goals but also helped to pass the ball around at times. He had an excellent shot in the 68th minute which unfortunately hit the cross bar instead of going in the net.

Our defence was once again a solid wall. Aris did play a decent game however, with AEK’s defence being as tight as it was no team could ever manage to score against it. It was very difficult for Aris players to get past our defence consisting of Papastathopoulos, Alves, Nsaliwa, Georgeas, Bourbos, and Ramos. Even if a player managed to penetrate through the wall the defence would rush back and make sure that Aris players were never given enough space to release a good shot on net (if only they could have played this way against Panathinaikos).

Our defence was not the only reason Aris couldnt score however. Jurgen Macho, feeling he had to prove to himself that he was better than how he had played against PAO played a very solid game. He seemed to be always on his toes and made some very important saves to help keep his team in the lead. It was this solid performance that led to him being awarded the MVP of the match.

Unfortunately, PAO won away agianst Panionios 2-1 to keep them in first place.

Dellas, and Georgeas, most likely will not be ready to play against Aris in Thessaloniki this wednesday.  Kalon went out with an injury but they will know by tomorrow whether he will be ready for Wednesday’s game.