The Reaction (Belatedly…)

By: Chris Paraskevas | October 11th, 2008

It’s been a while…but give me credit for having the guts to drag my carcass out into the open officially as an AEK fan after what was a horrendous derby display that lacked passion, direction and belief. From the club’s administration, to the coaching staff, substitutes’ bench and eleven men who laboured fruitlessly on the pitch of the Giorgios Karaiskakis, one always got the feeling that Kovacevic was going to be the one to complain his way off the bench and onto the score-sheet: his 63rd minute “winner” was as expected as it was difficult to swallow.

In a recent Goal.com editorial of mine, I suggested that AEK’s derby woes are born out of a psychological defect which has been constructed through years of under-achievement and bad management, both on and off the pitch.

In terms of pin-pointing a single factor on the pitch which determined the result of the latest episode of one of Greek football’s biggest theatrical events, from the offset - and generally, from the beginning of his tenure - it was the anxious, 38 year-old figure of Giorgios Donis who looked most out of place in Piraeus.

He was a stark contrast to the epitome of cool that was Valverde, whose ability to discern the need for change won his side the match - and potentially, even at this embryonic stage, another championship. Conferring with an Olympiakos fan after the match - I’m not kidding, there wasn’t an ounce of physical violence involved - it became obvious that at least, on a more practical, immediate scale, the difference was in the two managers.

One, a UEFA Cup finalist, the other, a UEFA Cup passerby. In no way am I suggesting that Donis is AEK’s problem. To the contrary, for a relatively young man without the experience of his counterpart or the likes of Fernando Santos of PAOK or Henk Ten Cate of Panathinaikos, he is conducting himself amicably and has, at times, delivered some crucial results (see Panathinaikos and Panionios).

Of course, it doesn’t mean he is immune to criticism. His defensive set-up did nothing to stifle the psychological decline of the club as per the above article. Ironically, he was saved from a potentially more embarrassing result from the out-of-form Daniel Majstorovic - who was then substituted later in the match.

It was a 90 minute spell which also highlighted some questionable transfer movements, which perhaps are not solely the fault of the former Larissa man. Djebbour looks a shell of his former self, clearly struggling to adapt to full match readiness after a late transfer arrival - though, Agustin Pelletieri has performed superbly after meeting a similar fate and having had to travel direct from South America.

Juanfran doesn’t seem to be totally capable of adequately fulfilling what has been a troublesome left-back slot but Nacho Scocco again looked our best, bringing with him a creative spark and directness that was lacking in his fellow team-mates.

The decision to appoint Sotiris Kyrgiakos as captain papered over some much larger cracks which had already begun appearing during a disastrous pre-season and UEFA Cup Qualifying campaign. These were exposed by an unspectacular but quality-laden Olympiakos side, who are already looking unbeatable domestically.

It is difficult to tell whether this is the start of a slide down very slippery slope for Donis. Perhaps I’m reading into it a little: it’s a derby, a tight derby, a typical derby and a typical result. It could have happened to anybody, right?

One thing is for certain. One year on from the day a similar performance was produced in the same match, nothing has change…

Olympiakos 2 (Kovacevic 63′, Diogo 66′)
AEK Athens 0

Olympiakos: Nikopolidis, Patsatzoglou, Antzas, A. Papadopoulos, Domi, Dudu, Diogo, Belluschi, Leto, Galletti, Torosidis

AEK Athens: Saja, Majstorovic, Kyrgiakos, Juanfran, Georgeas, Basinas, Pelletieri, Scocco, Djebbour, Blanco, Lagos