Aiming to stay in the hunt
Paokfc.gr’s Rival Analysis column puts the magnifying glass on this weekend’s opponents AEK, giving you the lowdown on everything you need to know about the Athens club ahead of our Super League Matchday 18 derby contest at the Toumba.
AEK celebrated a long-awaited Super League title success in the 2017-18 season – a title which was decided in the courtroom rather than exclusively on the pitch. And that was the club’s last success. Since then, what has followed was not what was expected.
For the last two years, ΑΕΚ has been trying to get back to the heights in reached during its title-winning season, but the club’s efforts to be competitive at the top of the table have fallen short. Indeed, during the current campaign, the team’s problems have been more apparent then ever.
The Enosi has already gone through three coaches. The experiment with Miguel Cardoso over the summer was a complete failure. The Portuguese technician was sent on his way in August after the club’s failure to secure a place in the group stage of the UEFA Europa League along with a poor start to the Super League.
The ship was somewhat steadied by one of the club’s loyal servants in Nikos Kostenoglou. Under his guidance, the team improved and managed to get some positive results, but it never managed to get back up among the title contenders.
After much deliberation, the club’s technical director Ilia Ivic opted to bring in Massimo Carrera.
The Italian coach, who had worked alongside Antonio Conte for a long spell, was available after leaving Spartak Moscow in 2018 and he signed on with the Enosi to try to revive the club’s fortunes.
Under Carrera, AΕΚ recorded three wins and a draw. The team’s playing style has become more… Italian, with the defensive side of things taking priority.
Messers Oliveira, Livaja and Mantalos are the team’s leading lights, with eight, six and five goals respectively between them. The latter also has six assists, and is the Kitrinomavri’s key playmaker and creative force.
Currently ΑΕΚ is third in the standings, 10 points behind Olympiacos, and arrives at the Toumba without only the injured Konstantinos Galanopoulos, and with the aim of getting a positive result to try and stay in the frame of the title race.
The players selected by Carrera for the trip to the Toumba are the following:
Barkas, Tsintotas, Bakakis, Lopes, Oikonomou, Chygrynskiy, Vranjes, Hult, Svarnas, Paulinho, Kristicic, Simoes, Mantalos, Sabanatzovic, Botos, Verde, Giakoumakis, Livaja, Almpanis, Oliveira.
