Two Cylinders Away
AGONAsport’s AEK contributor, Greg Gavlas, talks about the Kitrinomavri’s loss to Olympiacos and the lack of overall quality in the roster.
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Despite a valiant effort against top of the table Olympiacos, AEK were handed a 2-0 defeat at the Georgios Karaiskakis Stadium on Sunday. The team fought hard and got forward in an attempt to come away with an upset win, but the final pass was lacking.
As I wrote last week, the team needed to step up and whilst AEK tried in attack, the defense did not “step up” for this game and was rightfully punished with two goals.
Nikos Kostenoglou started with a 4-4-2 formation. This was the right thing to do given the opponent and the fact that in most of AEK’s “harder” games this season, where a 3-5-2 formation was used to start, AEK had to revert to a 4-4-2 for stability at the back.
The Kitrinomavri had a go forward and were particularly dangerous from the left flank with Christos Albanis. I have much faith in this player and thought he was AEK’s best and most dangerous player on the night. He has great control, speed, and can score. It was only in the second minute of the game that Ruben Semedo was yellow carded having to stop the young midfielder from getting into a very dangerous position. Not to mention, Albanis was the only player getting behind the Olympiacos defense.
Surprisingly, Marko Livaja did not show up for this derby. He was marked well by the Olympiacos players and was short of any great moments whatsoever. Again, the step up mentioned last week without Petros Mantalos was missed here and this hurt AEK - they did not have a problem going forward with some good lead up work, but Mantalos was heavily missed when it came to the final pass to set up a teammate in a good position to shoot.
That brings me to Nelson Oliveira. The Portuguese striker came with promise and hope, but I have been left disappointed every match. He is a very slow player and even for the Super League’s standards, is too slow to trouble defenses. There has not been a moment of killer finishing and he has had chances, not a high amount, but enough to prove his class, which has lacked. Oliveira was more involved in the game, a positive takeaway nonetheless, but it counted for nothing besides some very tight shots which Olympiacos goalkeeper Jose Sa saved comfortably. We didn’t see the connection with Livaja that was witnessed in past games and Olympiacos deserve credit for keeping Livaja out of the game.
Milos Deletic tried hard on the right side but was, for the most part, handled well by the opposition’s defense. AEK lacked quality on the right side. They dominated the left flank with Helder Lopez and Albanis and whilst Bakakis did support Deletic in attack, the 26-year-old was left dispossessed most of the time. This is a classic example of where AEK’s “cheaper” spending and transfers do not add up to Olympiacos’, who have Daniel Podence on their right side – this outlines the demise of the team since winning the Super League in 2017.
Olympiacos had Guinean International, Mady Camara, in the middle of the park and attacking when they went forward. It eventually led to a brilliant second goal from a great assist by Podence.
When AEK attacked, and only Albanis was a true threat, the only support came from a marked Livaja or Lopez. Lopez showed his rustiness and gave away possession many times and by the end of the game, he was passing to Olympiacos players - he was lucky to not be red carded with silly challenges.
Without further support in attack and no Mantalos, AEK could not get behind the Olympiacos defence. Andre Simoes and Kostas Galanopoulos did well to get the ball forward, but lacked the pressing to support the attackers that was needed.
One shining light was the performance of substituted David Simao. He replaced a yellow-carded Galanopoulos and I loved his direct and accurate passing while also doing well to switch the field with his distribution.
Daniele Verde replaced Deletic in the 66th minute and if you wanted it outlined how much the captain was missed look no further. The Italian was poor and seemed more tired than Deletic or Albanis in the 30 odd minutes he played.
AEK lost this game for a couple of reasons. In attack, whilst it kept going, did not have the quality to penetrate the Olympiacos defense even with an aged Avram Papadopoulos playing 90 minutes in the back. Second, the defense simply did not show up.
Perhaps take-care goalkeeper Panagiotis Tsintotas is not as commanding as regular number one, Vasillis Barkas, but Ognjen Vranjes and Dmytro Chygrynskiy looked uncomfortable with each Olympiacos attack - panic clearances, poor marking at corners, you name it. In fact, Vranjes and Tsintotas were lucky VAR disallowed a goal to make it 2-0 in the first half after a horrible mix up.
AEK should look at what else is available for the right side of midfield. When Mantalos is there, it is ok, but Deletic or Verde cannot trouble some of the better teams in the league and won't be bringing AEK a derby win any time soon.
With Oliveira and Giakoumakis as striker options, it feels like Sergio Araujo and Ezequiel Ponce were a long time ago.
AEK’s next four fixtures against Atromitos, Panathinaikos, Aris, and OFI will be decent tests. After drawing at home to PAOK and the away loss to Olympiacos, third is what the Enosis are fighting for (again) until the club acquires more quality players.
