AEK Athens 3-1 Xanthi And Djebbour’s Algerian Mess
By: Chris Paraskevas |
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They say tardiness is a sign of genius – I’ve got to be honest, I just made that up. If it were true, then I wouldn’t be draining myself of my remaining lazy afternoon energy to deliver a belated review of a match that I didn’t bother to watch past 20-odd minutes, about a team that doesn’t have a great deal left to play for, against a team who I’ll quickly forget about.
The unbeaten streak continued with a 3-1 win over Xanthi at the weekend though the sheer gulf between AEK and the sides currently contesting (Well, half-heartedly contesting) for the Greek Super League title makes the current competition ladder a rather painful site. Yours truly would rather pretend that the competition started in January, when this current mob collectively seemed to start giving a f*** about the colours on their jersey.
A double for Ismael Blanco really doesn’t ever seem to be deserving of his not inconsiderably limited efforts these days, with a measly return of six goals this season far from the higher standards we’ve come to expect of the cult-hero Argentine. Indeed, the absence of an in-form goal-scorer this season appears to have been the downfall of every other side except Panathinaikos, with Djibril Cisse topping the league’s scoring charts with 17 goals and the nearest competitor Danijel Cesarec of Asteras Tripolis with nine.
Back to AEK, the most interesting piece of news this week has been Rafik Djebbour’s move to deny via an official statement on the club’s website that he criticized manager Dusan Bajevic’s lack of tactical nous. Quotes coming out of Algeria from football publication “Le Buteur” had the temperamental striker claiming his relationship hadn’t improved with the Serb tactician since his return from the wilderness and recent form resurrection.
Never a dull moment – unless of course you’re actually forced to watch a game of football…
Category: AEK Athens Team News
Panathinaikos 1-1 AEK Athens
By: Chris Paraskevas | 1 Comment
If AEK Athens did Panathinaikos a favour last month when they took an unprecedented three points back with them from a trip to Piraeus, then they returned the favour somewhat with a useful and entirely welcome point at the OAKA Spiros Louis on Sunday evening.
Well out of the title race themselves, Dusan Bajevic’s side produce the performance of a team scrapping for European football and came away from what was always going to be a difficult clash with a barely deserved point.
Indeed, it might have been another stunning derby victory on the road had the impressive Rafik Djebbour showed just a little more composure when presented with a late chance but in truth a victory would have been particularly cruel on the Trifylli given the way in which they territorially dominated a rather dour affair at the Olympic Stadium.
While the first half saw AEK take a shock lead inside ten minutes through resident superstar Nacho Scocco (courtesy of a wonderfully watchable and particularly sweet midfield stuff-up by AEK-hero-turn-villain Kostas Katsouranis), forcing Panathinaikos to show their hand and respond in kind through Dimitris Salpiggidis, the second was a rather more cagey affair that didn’t produce the more open football of the first period.
Understandable given the gulf in quality between the two squads, a central midfield pairing of the aforementioned traitor and Gilberto Silva outclassing that of Sanel Jahic and Pantelis Kafes as adequate but out-of-place full-backs Carlos Araujo and Nikos Karabelas failed to come to terms with the threat posed by Sebastian Leto and Salpiggidis respectively.
The one shining light for AEK was between the posts, where Giannis Arabatzis produced yet another memorable derby display to keep his side into fifth place and extend their unbeaten run to as many games. His late close-range stops from Djibril Cisse and Salpiggidis (twice) notable, as well as his general composure in collecting crosses and taking command of his penalty area when his centre-backs were time and time again unable to do so.
It was a match that was never going to reach the dizzying heights of the Karaiskaki purge and the fact that I chose to enter into a movie quotation marathon with my brother in the early hours of the morning, rather than totally focus on the football spectacle at hand, perhaps best sums up the largely docile nature of the clash.
Still, a welcome point and another psychological boost entering into the final straight of the season and again AEK have influence the title race, Olympiakos and PAOK only six points behind the Greens and both still to play them again before the end of the campaign.
Category: AEK Athens Team NewsPreview: Panathinaikos – AEK Athens
By: Chris Paraskevas | Add Comments
It’s amazing what results can do: scour through the archives of the AEK Offside only four weeks ago and you will stumble across the musings of an 
individual drained of all life and motivation to follow his beloved football club.
Post-Karaiskaki miracle and suddenly life was tolerable again, 4:00 am wake-ups not seeming quite as painful as they did before (ironically I’ve been less inclined to rise myself to watch matches now that AEK have actually gone on something of a mini-surge, unbeaten in four matches and having utterly ruined Olympiakos’ chances of a 13th title in 14 years).
And as much as that remains not only a sweet victory for AEK fans but also a victory of sorts from Greek football given the Piraeus club’s damaging domination of the domestic scene over the past decade-and-a-half, AEKzites won’t mind giving Olympiakos a sniff of the title by doing them a favour and beating Panathinaikos at the OAKA Spiros Louis Stadium tonight (a home match for the Greens, who are expected to have 50,000 fans baying for black and yellow blood).
Let’s also not forget the fact that even closer to PAO and currently lying in second place are a resurgent PAOK, who are continuing their impressive growth under the guidance of former AEK manager Fernando Santos. The Portuguese tactician recently emulated the feat of his former employers by masterminding a 1-0 win away against Olympiakos, seemingly starting to bury his reputation as a manager who has always struggled with derby clashes in Greece.
PAOK sit only five points behind Panathinaikos, who would be best advised not to ignore the threat of the Thessaloniki club as the power begins to re-balance itself between Athens and northern Greece, the latter having fallen away in recent years in terms of its standing as a football power.
AEK of course are without a realistic chance of mounting a late title challenge with only ten games to go after this one, still 19 points behind the league leaders. They’ll be desperate to secure themselves a shot at UEFA Champions League football at the end of the season by sneaking into the league’s top five, so every point here on in is a valuable one (and European football – specifically Champions League – is infinitely valuable to an embattled club).
In terms of the upcoming match, I won’t bother sifting through the standard pre-match musings of players and managers from either sides, except to point out that Panathinaikos president Nikos Pateras made his usual trip to the club’s training grounds in an attempt to rouse his troops.
There isn’t a great deal of team news coming out of the green side of Athens other than the absence of teen prodigy Sotiris Ninis and the fact that Djibril Cisse is attracting inevitable interest from suitors outside of Greece, while AEK are set to line up in either a 4-4-2 or 4-3-3 formation with no real surprises in personnel: Arabatzis, Araujo, Majstorovic, Alves, Karabelas, Manduca, Jahic, Kafes, Scocco, Djebbour and Blanco the logical set-up.
Make no mistake: anything other than a defeat here would be a wonderful result for Dusan Bajevic’s men and severely dent Panathinaikos’ title charge.
Category: AEK Athens Team NewsAngry AEK Athens Fans Throw Yoghurt At Shareholders; New President Set To Take Over
By: Chris Paraskevas | 1 Comment
First off, the good news: it’s going to be a third manager this season for Olympiakos, who are going along at a Panthrakikos-like pace this season as far as the managerial merry-go-round goes with the announcement that Zico has been fired from his post thanks to the club’s early exit from the Greek Cup at the hands of Panserraikos and consecutive defeats to Aris and – I assure you I have a wide grin on my face as I type this – AEK Athens, leaving them seven points adrift of league leaders Panathinaikos.
If AEK do nothing else this season other than end up going into administration, it will be comforting to know that Dusan Bajevic’s side have contributed to the continuing circus in Piraeus – you’d be amazed how far schadenfreude goes to easing the pain.
Speaking of pain, the continuing soap opera continues with a new president set to take over at AEK, relieving Nikos Thanopoulos of his duties. At a general meeting in which a number of fans carried banners and apparently threw yoghurt at the club’s shareholders, it was announced that Thanopoulos would be facilitating the arrival of London-based lawyer Stavros Adamidis to the club, the latter assuming an image reminiscent of a young Dirty Harry cleaning up San Francisco’s streets.
Among other things (including the usual rhetoric about a love for the club) Adamidis stated in no uncertain terms that the “party is over”.
Of course, it wouldn’t be a general meeting these days without some mention of phantom presidents and investors, with Thanopoulos going on to address the issue of a certain Bob Kozonis, hinting that whilst he negotiated with the American in the best interests of the club, he never saw the “colour” of his money.
In a separate statement Kozonis claimed he was still interested in taking over the club, which has received a financial boost in the form of a share capital increase of 15 million euros.
It appears meanwhile that Dusan Bajevic’s future remains safe, though there will be no movements in the transfer market to assist the Serb tactician, though his players will at least be paid up until the end of the month to resume something of a normal functioning within the team.
Category: AEK Athens Team NewsIraklis 1-1 AEK Athens; A Poor Impersonation Of Zinedine Zidane
By: Chris Paraskevas | 1 Comment
As the all-too-familiar sound of my alarm went off on my bedside table/Playstation 2 shrine, I strongly considered returning to sleep after spending hours of the preceding day playing cricket and generally reducing my not inconsiderable body fat (an exhausting exercise in itself).
On the one hand, I told myself, I would be gaining valuable rest with which I could meet the rigours of the day ahead and on the other, I would be rousing myself for what would in all likelihood be a totally un-fulfilling 90 minutes of football.
Somehow, against my better judgement, I decided for the latter option.
And for just a moment as AEK’s trip to Iraklis drew to a close it appeared as though my decision had been vindicated when substitue Yousouff Hersi won a soft late penalty with the scores deadlocked at 1-1; until the impressive Rafik Djebbour decided to put his own spin on Zidane’s cheeky penalty at the 2006 World Cup in Germany.
A shame that the Algerian striker’s impression of the French-Algerian midfielder’s spot-kick involved the ball going over the crossbar as opposed to clipping it and bouncing over the line.
It was a moment that summed up Dusan Bajevic’s sides continuing inability to capitalize on what should have been a landmark 2-1 win away against Olympiakos three rounds ago, the matches since then having seen AEK throw away a 3-1 lead at home to humble Atromitos before this latest frustration (Bajevic muttering all manner of expletives in reaction to Djebbour’s penalty).
There’s really not much else to say other than that luck really isn’t going the way of the club on the pitch: one can’t blame Djebbour as he was largely responsible for the team’s comeback, scoring a fine individual effort and generally looking one of the few players along with the likes of Nikos Georgeas and Pantelis Kafes to… well… care.
At least it wasn’t a loss – and it might just have been with the Thessaloniki outfit wasting two glorious chances at the death to steal victory.
How it should be done:
How it shouldn’t be done: (1:17 onwards)
Category: AEK Athens Team NewsAEK Athens 3-3 Atromitos And The Proverbial Toilette
By: Chris Paraskevas | Add Comments
Nostradamus might have the monopoly on catastrophic predictions but when it comes to foreseeing the future of AEK Athens, he has been utterly trumped (and in any case he seems to always be fairly wide of the mark anyway).
Indeed, the words “I’ll enjoy this while I still can” (which I’m pretty sure is a direct quote from either the actual article or the comments section of the last AEK Offside entry) proved to be wise, with a 3-3 draw at home against lowly Atromitos scuppering any chances of building on what should prove to be the club’s biggest result of the season, a 2-1 away win over Olympiakos.
Sure, sure, the penalty that sparked the comeback from 3-1 down for the visitors was particularly, well… pathetic… but it’s not so much the means as it is the ends on this occasion: one way or another AEK were going to make sure that they’d go about doing what they always do best and sucking the lingering hope of their loyal and frustrated following into the football equivalent of a black hole.
And while it could have been worse (a loss isn’t out of the question these days) continuing rumours about the exit of the club’s one bright spark in Nacho Scocco don’t do anything for morale inside and outside of the first-team squad. The fact that he has been consecutively linked to rivals Panathinaikos and Olympiakos merely adds insult to what would be an injury from which Bajevic’s side certainly wouldn’t recover this season; now is the time to try desperately hard to hold on to our classiest players.
Of course, that is easier said than done and considering the club recently had to deny reports that they were in debt for €60+ million there might be a case for arguing that Scocco should depart for a hefty fee (though the suggested €2-or-so-million doesn’t exactly inspired confidence). In all likelihood though, this is probably the usual shit-stirring we see when Greek tabloids run out of hard news to write about…
… appropriate perhaps, given the way the club seems to be inevitably headed down the proverbial toilette.
Highlights from the Atromitos game:
Category: AEK Athens Team NewsOlympiakos 1-2 AEK Athens
By: Chris Paraskevas | 6 Comments
Do I really need to say anything else? You’ll notice that the AEK blog is devoid of the usual doom-saying and radioactive level of cynicism that usually infects the first paragraph of my entries and with good reason: this is one of the most memorable days in the history of a club, during one of its most forgettable periods.
It’s been 15 years since a win at the Karaiskaki and quite frankly, this was a match in which that drought should not have been broken: unpaid players, lifeless performances both in Europe and at home and a squad that will probably be torn apart during the summer (not to mention an Olympiakos side still alive in the UEFA Champions League).
If you can take time out of your hectic social schedules to go back and flick over my previous entries, you’ll probably wonder why I even bothered to rouse myself at 4:00 am (O.K, I had already stayed up for another match – but would have woken up for this one anyway).
The answer you would receive from myself or any other AEK fan probably wouldn’t border on anything logical: we simply can’t stay away from the club, no matter how cancerous, shambolic or laughable it becomes (and it has indeed become an amalgamation of all three).
For once though, our faith and passion was repaid in the sweetest way possible – though perhaps faith is an inappropriate term given even the most optimistic of AEK fans would have been hoping for a respectable 3-0 loss.
Followers of the AEK Offside will know that this particular fan isn’t inclined to delve into conspiracy theories about biased refereeing and Olympiakos somehow managing to tamper with the orbit of stars in order to align them in favour of their club, instead focusing on the shortcomings of his own club.
But the manner in which Olympiakos’ opening goal was allowed to stand pushed even my limits: initially disallowed by the linesman after Konstantinos Mitroglou was deemed to have interfered with play when he stretched to deflect home Avraam Papadopoulos’ opening goal (clearly in an offside position and standing right next to the goalkeeper, it is inconclusive as to whether he touched the ball or not) the decision was overturned after an emergency counsel between the referee, fourth official and a host of Olympiakos players, who seemed to hold a fair amount of sway in the matter before he overturned the linesman’s decision. Justice was restored later on in the match though, courtesy of a rather bizarrely disallowed late equalizer by Vasilis Torosidis for a non-existent foul.
It only served to heighten the sense of justice and satisfaction of Nacho Scocco’s fine equalizer, followed up by one of the highlights of the season: Antonios Nikopolidis somehow contriving to allow the Argentine’s innocuous free-kick to float over his head and into the back of the net for the winner, the perennial derby-winning goalkeeper suffering an embarrassment deserving of his general level of buffoonery which has largely gone unpunished.
He was outshone on this occasion by the immense Giannis Arabatzis, the 25 year-old elevating himself to cult-hero status with a heroic performance which included perhaps the save of the season, a flinging out a right hand in the last minute of injury time to deny Torosidis what seemed to be a certain headed and heartbreaking equalizer.
Arabatzis’ inclusion at the expense of regular number one Sebastian Saja was but one of a number of vindicated tactical decisions from Serb manager Dusan Bajevic, who has no doubt exercised a few demons against his former club with a massive victory.
Perhaps the most important of all of his selections was that of Algerian striker Rafik Djebbour, who up until this point had seemed set to leave the club, taking his questionable temperament and general moodiness with him.
Far from being yet another problem in a long list of them for AEK, he was the undoubted star of the derby, at-times single-handedly ripping apart an experienced Olympiakos defence and stepping up to carry the attacking burden that usual fan-favourite Ismael Blanco has failed to shoulder.
No doubt Djebbour is motivated by a potential inclusion in Algeria’s squad to travel to the 2010 World Cup; not that motivation is anywhere near as important as performance. Quite frankly, if that’s what it takes to get an immensely talented footballer into the right frame of mind, I’d be more than happy to go out and help the cause of the Algerian FA by kitting myself out in their national team jersey.
In the meantime, I’m more than happy to dress in black and yellow for a few more days, as well as taking out the time to rape the Facebook profiles of resident Olympiakos fans with reminders about Scocco’s exploits and the fact that they have fallen further behind Panathinaikos in the title race.
This result hardly solves any of AEK’s on and off-field problems but damnnit, let’s enjoy it while we still can…
AEK Ole!
PS. The picture included in this article is a rather hillarious pre-match war-cry by Olympiakos striker Diogo, telling his teammates to show Scocco what “The Legend” means…
AEK fans greeting the team before and after the result (and the goals):
Category: AEK Athens Team NewsA Bar Of Soap
By: Chris Paraskevas | Add Comments
For all of you who have sufficiently recovered from their New Year drinking expeditions and wrestled themselves out of an alcohol-induced coma, you’ll probably be wondering whether the above headline is a figment of your imagination or the harsh reality of the daily grind of life to which you have returned.
Actually, it’s to do with the recent announcement by Bob Kozonis that he has the resources with which to buy AEK and transform them into a Greek sporting powerhouse once again, claiming that he’s ready to sink 35 million of his Euros into the club to address it’s various debts and expenses. Perhaps most crucial is the promise to build AEK a new home, one modelled around the Allianz Arena (Bayern Munich’s home ground that resembles a wrinkled bar of soap), a claim steeped in symbolism given the fanaticism with which fans of the club have generally pushed for a new home to replace the now demolished and much-loved Nikos Goumas Stadium.
The lack of a home for AEK has been both part and a reflection of the various problems faced by the club, who’s recent general meeting was postponed as shareholders feared clashes with fans no doubt inflamed up by Kozonis’ recent promises and keen to see the maligned management pave the way for the American-Greek businessman:
On Tuesday AEK’s current shareholders, who recently said they would no longer negotiate with Kozonis, issued a statement threatening the Greek-American with legal action and insisting he is not a solvent and reliable businessman.
Yesterday, the shareholders announced that the eagerly anticipated general meeting of the club was postponed due to the lack of a quorum, which was greeted with disbelief and anger by holders of smaller stakes, including the amateur division of the club. A few dozen fans also gathered outside the office of shareholder Petros Pappas and expressed their anger.
Last night, main shareholder Nikos Notias announced he is working on a plan for AEK’s future and will make his final decisions known by January 20. The question is whether AEK can wait until then.
Another day, another year…
Category: AEK Athens Team NewsFootball Manager Comas, Hibernating Algerians And AEK’s Slugworth
By: Chris Paraskevas | Add Comments
Fresh out of a Football Manager-induced dream status, from a world where AEK aren’t a basket case and utter embarrassment to their fans, I find myself staring at the grim reality of a Christmas and New Year period where my wish list is far larger than the collection of presents found under my metaphorical yellow and black tree.
Among the most interesting pieces I’ve found as I quite frankly the break afforded before the Greek Super League resumes on January 5 were on the impending departure of a cluster of players during the summer and the sudden emergence out of hibernation of Algerian striker Rafik Djebbour – surely just a coincidence after the Africans secured their place in South Africa.
In the latter piece, bad-boy Djebbour – who joined this club having been a star at neighbouring Athenian outfit Panionios but will probably depart during January – pleads for sympathy from whoever cares to listen as he looks for that Willy-Wonkaesque golden ticket to the World Cup (and Dusan Bajevic reminds me a little of Slugworth, come to think of it).
He speaks about his famed bust-up with Argentine striker Nacho Scocco, as well as his international ambitions and general imprisonment at AEK, where he has become a forgotten figure thanks to his disciplinary deficiencies; he interestingly admits to having a rather ill-considered approach to matters in the interview, claiming that he feels the need to speak out unreservedly when he sees something wrong – such high moral standards should surely be applauded in this age of ultra-political correctness (note use of sarcasm).
Moving on to a topic that might actually have some relevance to the overall state of the club, the following article lists a number of players whose contracts are coming to an end in about six months time – Football-Manager savvy users will note that at this point an alert would pop up in the “Inbox” asking you to offer them a new contract.
Hopefully Bajevic’s assistant manager is more useful than the mundane one that I always seem to be stuck with when playing the game. The Serbian manager will have to make decisions on the future of Panagiotis Tachtsidis, Gustavo Manduca, Juanfran, Panagiotis Lagos, Giannis Arabatzis and Geraldo Alves.
Quite frankly, I’ve only be happy to see the first two of that group stay, with the rest offering little to the side and in some cases causing it no end of harm while pocketing precious wages in financially troubled times (Juanfran).
Merry Christmas.
Category: AEK Athens Team NewsMy Throat Is Sore: But Let’s All Laugh At Olympiakos Anyway…
By: Chris Paraskevas | 3 Comments
It’s an extremely accurate measure of the success of the season when I say that Olympiakos’ 1-0 defeat at the Kleanthis Vikelidis on the weekend is one of the high-points of the campaign thus far.
I suppose followers of The Offside have picked up the obvious pattern: that the blog entries by yours truly and his Olympiakos counterpart Peter Katsiris are delayed whenever our teams lose.
Having said that, the sheer fact that I’ve even summoned the energy to document the circus that is AEK this season is a miracle in itself, while Peter has roused himself from a web-coma to no doubt go on and celebrate his club’s 13th title in 14 years (sure, Panathinaikos are first, but we all know an implosion is just around the corner).
So let’s take this opportunity to bask in the glory of a rather hilarious mistake by resident fuck-up-between-the-sticks Antonis Nikopolidis, who at a few centuries old still doesn’t appear to have a clear successor – how I wish AEK had similarly limited problems.
I dared to challenge Peter to a Facebook duel I rather unwisely decided to waltz into his net space and poke fun at the latest loss administered to his beloved – he began to list the sides who have beaten AEK this season (a total of six from fifteen… so far).
The most recent defeat against a club who are… well… nobody quite frankly (Asteras Tripolis – don’t even bother Wikipedia-ing them) was totally expected, as is any catastrophe on and off the pitch associated with the AEK skeleton these days.
It’s late… I’ve got a flemmy throat… and I’m going to bed – but not before a bit of theatre from Thessaloniki: (the commentary is particularly hillarious)
Category: AEK Athens Team News
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