SLGR Season Review

Invincible season for PAOK (1st)

PAOK finished the end of the Greek Super League season as Champions and went through the entire season as ‘invincibles’ with a record of 26 wins, 4 draws and 0 defeats. After the heartbreak of narrowly losing the Championship to AEK Athens to dramatic circumstances. PAOK saw this season as the season for revenge as they had believed that they were the best club in Greece.

PAOK’s 34-year drought breaking Championship finally ended with solid recruitment throughout the start of the campaign, while also being very aggressive throughout the January transfer window, once they lost their key striker Aleksandar Prijovic. Many believed that the departure of the Serbian

striker would impact on PAOK’s ability to hold onto their advantage in the league at that point in time. However, PAOK were led superbly by their Romanian manager Razvan Lucescu and their inspirational captain Vieirinha to ensure the drought ended throughout this campaign.

Olympiakos (2nd)

After a season with no trophies new manager Martins was tasked with steering the club to success. Bringing in Lazaros from AEK was big whilst also a variety of relatively unknown players from Portugal the clubs fans whilst optimistic did not know what to except.

Navigating the club into Europe was his first task which was successful. You could see as the season went on Pedro Martins became his own man doing things his own way which culminated in late signing Yaya Toure who had returned to the club to massive fan fare was shown the door along with Fetfatzidis and goal keeper Gianniotis after all had minimal game time.

A Cup run which had Olympiakos beat AC Milan to progress to the knockout stages was big but after Christmas the wheels fell off with the shock loss to Dinamo Kiev and a patch of bad results meant the SLGR race was effectively over for them. A shock loss to Lamia in the Greek Cup had rumours swirling that Martins time could be over at the club but after finishing off the season with 10 straight wins and playing nice football eased those rumours. Olympiakos will not accept a third season without a trophy so the pressure is truly on Martins but it is also good to see the club owner Marinakis has let him manage things with minimal disruptions.

AEK (3rd)

After a historic 12th Championship title winning season, this season was anything but spectacular for the reigning champions who unflatteringly lost their spine in the off season and by not replacing key personnel failed to win one derby and a single point in the UEFA Champions League in the season that was. AEK finished the season in 3rd well behind PAOK and Olympiakos and the fans have had to go through some tough matches with no great wins registered.

The highlights of the season were reaching the Greek Cup Final but as per the last 3 seasons now, AEK was beaten by PAOK. Argentine striker Ezequiel Ponce was a star upfront with 16 goals in all competitions. Fans will be hoping for a much more competitive season in 2019/20 and some decent signings instead of loan deals.

Atromitos (4th)

The Peristeri club continues to impress and do their thing however one wonders if the club will be able to replicate their 4th place finish next season as key personnel head out after such a successful season. On loan from PAOK, striker Efthimis Koulouris ended the season as the Super Leagues top goal scorer, Koulouris is the 3rd Greek player to do so under the Super League banner (Nikos Lymberopoulos and Kostas Fortounis the others) and the first Atromitos player to do so. Kouloruis is also the first Greek player to score 24 goals in a season since Demis Nikolaidis did so in 2001/02. Koulouris is expected to sign for a club abroad next season.

Austrian coach Damir Canadi, who has been at the club since June 2017, announced his departure from the club which means his successor has some big shoes to fill after great results if the last couple of seasons from the club.

Aris (5th)

Finally, one of Greek football’s sleeping giants returned to the top flight of Greek football, following time away in the lower tiers. This Aris team will play in the Europa League qualifying campaign next season, after performing above expectation for a newly promoted team, finishing in 5th place with a record of 15 wins, 4 draws and 11 losses.

It is even more of an achievement that Aris finished the season off on such a positive note, following a coaching change throughout the season, which saw their Spanish manager Paco Herrera being sacked in November and for Savvas Pantelidis to fill the void for the remainder of the season.

Panionios (6th)

Panionios finishing 6th seems like a great achievement and I’m sure that at the start of the season if you had offered that to the club, they would have grabbed it.

But if we examine it a little closer, Panionios in 6th, finished only 6 points clear of 13th placed OFI in the relegation places and finished 11 points behind 5th placed ARIS.

Much was expected under new manager Jose Anigo, Panionios were tracking okay after a tough start, until a loss to Larissa in Round 12. Following this result, the club some would say hastily, sacked Jose Anigo.

His replacement Akis Mantzios, a former player, and coach, failed to improve the situation of the team which went on to win only 1 of their next 9 matches, with some thrashings in between. Losing Giorgos Masouras to Olympiakos, had a negative effect on the team and the extra load being carried by Fiorin Durmishaj & Srdjan Spiridonovic. Giannis Maniatis was also brought in to sure up the defensive structure.

Winning 3 of their last 4 matches, meant Panionios avoided a relegation scrap and given some poor finishes to the season by other clubs, ended the season in 6th..

Lamia (7th)

Lamia started their 2nd only season in the Greek Superleague with the aim of

surviving a potential relegation battle and solidifying themselves in the league.

Although their season got off to a rocky start with the club not winning a league

game until Gameweek 7 and with Babis Tennes making way for Makis Chavos, their

form improved massively in the start of 2019 and they managed a team record 7th

place finish. They became the highest ranked club based outside of Athens and

Thessaloniki, a massive feat for a club with such limited resources.

You would think that a record 7th place league finish would be the highlight of

Lamia’s season but its not. It was their fairytale Greek Cup run, during which they

knocked out heavyweight clubs like Panathinaikos in the Round of 16 and title

favorites Olympiakos in the Quarter-Finals. It was only the 2nd ever time they made

it to the Semi-Finals of the Greek Cup, eventually losing to AEK. All in all, a fantastic

and historic season for Lamia with Makis Chavos and star players Jeronimo Barrales,

Facundo Bertoglio and Nikos Melissas all contributing a lot.

Panathinaikos (8th)

Not much was expected of this team in 2018-19 - Giorgos Donis returned to his old club as coach and inherited a very young and inexperienced squad. However, the narrative was spun on its head. Donis found the magic touch with his youngsters and the early season form wiped away the -6 they had to start off with. The team began to fall apart after a run of three successive derbies. They were no match for PAOK but outplayed AEK and frustrated Olympiakos with Kace scoring one of the goals of the season.

Inexperience and a lack of depth and Injuries all took their toll, as Donis could not find a suitable replacement for Anthony Mounier on the wing or a stable partner for Kolovetsios. The scenes against Olympiakos also took its toll and the club as a whole with a further 5 points deduction. (11 points stripped off them this season.) If not for these deductions, they would have finished in 6th spot. A very respectable achievement given the circumstances.

Overall, this season was somewhere in between a success and failure, as many young talents emerged but the team wilted when it mattered.

Panetolikos (9th)

Another strange season for the Agrinio based club. They have solidified themselves

as a Greek Superleague outfit and are never threatened with relegation but at the

time they don’t look ready to make the jump to compete for a European place.

Traianos Dellas led them to a 9th place finish and while they were briefly in the race

for 5th, they dropped out of it as soon as Aris’ form picked up.

Panetolikos are now focusing on next season, as Dellas resigned and the club has become affiliated with Portuguese giants Benfica. They have hired a Portuguese manager and are expected to reap the benefits of that partnership so they can make a push towards a European spot.

AEL (10th)

AEL were highly anticipating exceeding expectations for their third season straight in the top flight. The team kicked off the season with a 1-0 away victory against Apollon Smyrni. However, the team lost 3 in a row after the away victory in Athens which saw Sotiris Antoniou resign as the manager after just 4 rounds into the new season. AEL appointed Italian manager Gianluca Festa. With his appointment the team slightly picked up on the performances and significantly changed the style of play which suited some iof the players, however, the majority of the summer acquisitions were not part of Festa’s plans and were released. Furthermore, without the experience of Moras and the versatility of young Bulgarian left-back Hubchev, the defence were left vulnerable to opposition teams counter-attacks as both players were out injured for most of the season.

As the season progressed, AEL were once again on the verge of being relegated. However, AEL advanced comfortably out of the group stage in the Greek Cup but only to be knocked out by Asteras Tripolis 7-6 on aggregate in the Round of 16. Afterwards, the team’s performance suddenly spiralled which saw AEL in the relegation zone, in addition to witnessing the resignation of Gianluca Festa after the 2-1 away defeat to Lamia only for him to revoke that decision shortly afterwards. The last 8 remaining games were crucial but the announcement that Deletic had signed with AEK did not go down well with Kougias who then controversially suspended him. Somehow, this did not affect the team’s performances as AEL earned 8 out of 15 points in the remaining 6 rounds, which was enough to survive relegation.

Asteras Tripolis (11th)

A season to forget for Asteras Tripolis, they started out the season losing to

Hibernian in the Europa League 2nd Qualifying Round and things only got worse

from then on. A really tough schedule and some questionable referee decisions

against them ensured that they would be in a relegation battle right from the start of

the season. Their manager, Savvas Pantelidis left them mid-season to go to Aris and

his replacement – Giorgos Paraschos- couldn’t improve things either. In the end,

they survived by a single point while never impressing with their performances.

It wasn’t all doom and gloom in Tripoli though, as they had a solid Greek Cup run

which saw them make it all the way to the Semi-Finals of the competition, losing to

eventual winners PAOK.

Xanthi (12th)

Xanthi lost out on a European place on goal difference last season, so their aim was

to fight again for 5th. They started out strong with 5 league wins in 9 games but they

only managed to win 2 more times in the next 21 games!

The football wasn’t good (lots and lots of draws), manager Milos Rastavac wasn’t happy and the club were heading for a relegation battle but in the end they just survived on goal difference.With Rastavac surely out of the picture for next season and some new owners

coming in, a summer full of changes awaits Xanthi.

OFI (13th)

FLGR Champions OFI came back to much fan fare. The fallen Cretan Giants who has had perennial financial issues had looked to put those behind them. Losing top goal scorer Manos was a big blow but picking up Giakoumakis on loan from AEK alleviated the fans fears.

Unfortunately whilst the clubs backroom and ownership issues had seems to be resolved in a positive way the clubs fortunes on the field went south. Spending most of the season in the lower half or relegation spots had OFI had fears that they would have a short lived stay in the top league. Mid season sacking of Manager Papadopoulos for a touchline spat looked at the time harsh with most pundits predicting they would get relegated.

An end of season run of results with a final match win over high flying Atromitos meant OFI finished 4th last and will have a relegation playoff with fellow Cretan club and tricky opponent Platanias for the final spot in the new SLGR season.

Overall not a good season for the Heraklion based club.

PAS Giannina (14th)

It was a horrible season for the club that up until recently used to boast the record of

having a manager (Giannis Petrakis) with the longest active tenure in the whole

league. PAS Giannina had a busy summer as they lost their top scorer Pedro Conte

and almost were in danger of losing their manager to Panathinaikos, a move that

never ended up happening with the Greens choosing Donis over him. To replace

Conte’s goals they made what was considered a big move at the time with Stefanos

Athanasiadis coming in on a free transfer but a tally of 2 goals in 23 appearances

certainly left PAS fans disappointed.

The team fought a relegation battle all the way through but didn’t find a way to survive, ultimately ending up at 14th place and thus getting relegated to Superleague 2. Long time manager Giannis Petrakis and long time goalkeeper Markos Vellidis have left, as the club moves on to a new era.They have the stability and the resources necessary to come straight back up, the question is, can they pick up the right people for that job?

Levadiakos (15th)

Until this season, the Livadea based club had the reputation of being tough as nails.  For the greater part of a decade, Levadiakos always punched above their weight in the Super League and picked up enormous points in the latter half of seasons to barely remain above the relegation zone.  In 2019, however, they were not as lucky and went down largely without a fight.  They may have had some people fooled in the winter when they picked an enormous seven points in three matches, but they would ultimately finish in 15th place with 21 points.  

Management has some tough decisions to make in the future with a squad full of aging players.  And the future of 19 year-old Fotis Ioannidis will be another focal point, as the Greek youth international raised plenty of eyebrows with his impressive performances for club and country

Apollon Smyrnis (16th)

An absolutely disastrous season for the club from Rizoupoli.  From the get-go, Apollon were destined to finish at the bottom of the table and get relegated after losing 8 straight games.  Management was soon forced to go introduce a slew of new players into the club as the original squad simply wasn’t good enough.  Finishing with just a mere 10 points on the year after Platanias finished with the same amount of points last season, Apollon’s performance this year truly justifies the EPO’s decision to reduce the size of the Super League, as they could just not compete.  

In a season of such failure and disappointment, the clear high point of the season for Apollon came in the Ionian Derby in Nea Symrni, where the club picked up a huge 0-1 away victory against old rivals Panionios.

By Hellas Football