Vangelis Arnautoglou writes about AEK, which went into its championship claim process with an image a little further from the one that brought it here.
In a game that wasn’t exactly life and death, AEK looked as out of the ordinary as it has been all season. He didn’t play a bad match yesterday against Panathinaikos to feel far from winning, but he didn’t have the performance he could have given him either.
In the period when everything will be decided in the details, it seems that Al-Ittihad enters the field more mentally confused than the other contenders for the championship.
Her psyche was visibly shaken after the home defeat by Olympiacos at the close of the regular season, not because it was done by any particular team but because she realized for the first time that she could lose at home. Something also holds statements against Panathinaikos.
The choice of Matthias Almeida to form the team with the squad that Olympiacos defeated was the logic of rewarding his image in that match regardless of the final result.
For the coach to decide, he appears to be satisfied with what he has seen. The game didn’t do him justice though as again during the first half AEK was the team that had many moments to score and the most classic chance with Rota’s poor finish.
Admittedly, the absence of Levi Garcia can be described as a wound that cannot be healed through chemistry. It’s also somewhat questionable why the coach wouldn’t choose the only net striker in the squad’s roster, without this necessarily implying that Van Weert would be the answer to all problems.
Certainly, however, Zuber couldn’t become a moment threat against a team that played so closed, with a central defensive duo that didn’t allow much.
AEK’s problem with goal is evident when it doesn’t have a top scorer. Not only for the goals he could have scored but also for all the conditions he can create with his spirited play for those around him.
This has clearly been the Achilles’ heel of the last two matches they have failed to win at home, and this could be the solution for the next nine matches left in the league race if it returns to its previous form.
But, first of all, her problem seems to be psychological. It is a team that has lost points that it could have won against other competitors and at the same time the team that is invited to win more against them in order to win the title. It’s also clear that she lacks the freshness she had during the league to effectively operate the high-pressing football that Matías Almeida demands.
In conclusion, nothing was lost, after all, AEK was the team that came back from -8 to enter the playoffs claiming the championship. But she now has two weeks to show in Tumba convincingly that she can take the job. It wouldn’t be the easiest thing in the world, but the way things turned out, she has something to show for it.
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