This is not AEK…

This past Saturday we took on Panionio at home in a key match. We needed 3 points here to start putting the pressure on Olympiaco who beat Paok very late in very Olympiaco controversial style, and Panatha who play Veria later today. It was also the first match for our new manager for Jose Morais.

Our starting 11 featured 7 Greek’s for the second straight game. Once again we played a 433 type scheme with Johanson, Mantalo, and Bakasetas patrolling the middle of the park. Hugo Almedia got his first start coming off his injury, he was partnered by Aravidi and Platella up top.

Taking on Panionio means the return of Taxiarxis Foutas to the OAKA, one of our former young promising players. I personally really liked Fountas when he was at AEK, I felt that he had some qualities that could have been properly developed. Unfortunately things didn’t work out and he elected to not stay with the club the year that we got relegated.

The match started out with very little going on, nothing promising happened for either team in the first 15 minutes. Our first chance came in the 25th minute where Chygrynskiy’s header flashed wide after a clever Mantalo cross from the left. The Ukrainian really should have hit the target, he had acres of room. Our only other chance in the first half came in the 39th minute after Aravidi had an effort on the half volley which didn’t really trouble the Panionio goalkeeper. The first half was a very dead one, not many chances, and very very little going on.

We need a better second half, that’s for sure. In the 54th minute Mantalo had his shot sail harmlessly over the bar, a half chance to be fair. In the 62nd minute Aravidi had his header flash just wide, still deadlocked at 0. Mr. Morais then made two attacking subs bringing on Simoes and pushing Mantalo and Bakaseta further forward and Pekart another striker to partner the sluggish Hugo up top. We had one last chance to clip a winner, in the 73rd minute the ball kindly fell to Mantalo’s feet after a set piece but he blasted the ball over the bar. Our final passes were very, very poor. A lot of balls were doing straight to the goalie who had no trouble collecting such a poor service. The match ended 0-0, our second goalless draw of the year. This was really a poor game, we featured very little going forward. Dissipating result yet again.

The crowd was understandably disappointed as the final whistle blew and were chanting “THIS IS NOT AEK”. They are 100% right this really is not AEK. We don’t pose an attacking threat in some games. Hugo Almedia looked very dead throughout the game, a striker that lacks the movement. Although we kept another clean sheet and the defense was solid for the most part this result is simply not good enough. These games are must wins especially at home. We need to establish some momentum and some confidence with our new manager.

Our next match is tomorrow. This is our first group stage cup match where we take on Kerkyra. Hopefully we can find some momentum in this match, get a convincing victory and take a step forwrad in the right direction before our big visit to Toumba on Sunday the 30th.

George Angelidis, New York