Nea Smyrni…Old AEK…

By: Chris Paraskevas | October 1st, 2008

Just a quick note before I begin my standard ramblings over the Kitrinomavri’s latest escapade, the above headline is an attempt at something of a clever shuffling of Greek linguistics..”Nea” translating to “New” (As far as I’ve learned) and “Old” meaning what it means…

The Nea Smyrni was of course the venue for what was another painful performance by Giogios Donis’ fledgling AEK outfit. Quite frankly, his claims that this was our best display of the season seemed odd at first but, when considering some of the other performances that have been churned out this season, he might not be too far off the mark.

His analytical accuracy is itself a worry: our best performance was a match in which we collapsed defensively and lacked anything resembling creativity in attack, save for the sporadic bursts of energy of the excellent Nacho Scocco, who scored a superb second-half equalizer to draw the Enosis level.

It was a rare highlight during a match where captain Daniel Majstorovic resumed his steady decline after a superb performance against Panathinaikos on the opening day of the season, with his embarrassing air-swing only eclipsed by a moment of madness by Sotiris Kyrgiakos, whose own-goal from the same passage of play had given the Kyanerythri the lead.

Donis’ change to a 3-5-2 formation – with Majstorovic inexplicably flanked by Juanfran and Kyrgiakos at the back – was exposed by Lienen’s side as they took a second-half lead, before forgotten-man Pantelis Kafes scored a dramatic 94th minute equalizer to steal what could be a crucial point within the context of the title race – one that might be un-winnable if Donis is unable to inspire a stylistic revolution in the immediate future.

PS. No comment on the refereeing performance. It was irrelevant given the disjointedness of the football played…

Panionios 2 (Kyrgiakos o.g. 26′, Delura 68′)
AEK Athens 2 (Scocco 58′, Kafes 90+4′)

Line-ups:

Panionios: Kresic, Maniatis, Berthe (Langkamp), Skoufalis, Kiliaras (67′ Delura), Kotsopoulos, Makos, Kurmodzi, Majstorovic, Nicolaou, Choutos (79′ Tzavellas)

AEK Athens: Saja, Majstorovic, Kyrgiakos, Juanfran (80′ Pavlis), Silva (61′ Hetemaj), Pelletieri (87′ Kafes), Basinas, Scocco, Lagos, Blanco, Edinho

Here are a few highlights from the match: