Unconvincing start to the season & what that might mean for Aris FC in 2019/20

Returning to the Greek Super league in 2018 and finishing in fifth left nothing but optimism for the future of Aris FC. After the successful season, the Kitrinomavri earned the opportunity to qualify for next season’s Europa League Qualification process, allowing the chance to once again cement itself as a Greek Super league powerhouse.
In preparation for the Europa league qualification process, President Theodoros Karapidis was pro-active in everything he did, preparing the Kleanthis Vikelidis stadium with shiny new seats and signing notable big players. His signings included former Olympiakos and West Bromich Albion striker Brown Ideye, Daniel Sundgren from AIK, Lindsay Rose from Lorient and the re-signings of Fetfatzidis, Basha and Bruno Gama. At this time there was speculation that Aris had signed too many ‘country-men’ on one year contracts and would make it difficult for the team to gel or build anything sustainably good for the future.
Coach Pantelidis first competitive game of 2019 came on Friday 26th of July, in Thessaloniki against AEL of Cyprus. Although Aris was the much better team on the night, they couldn’t find the back of the net and had to settle for a nil-all draw. The away leg was a week later in Cyprus where a win or score draw would be enough to progress. The kitrinomavri again were the better side and this time managed to win by one goal, through the scoring prowess of the French fan favourite, Nicolas Diguiny.
Belief was at its fullest when Aris were drawn against Modle FC of Sweden, where they would play home and away for the chance to reach the final play-off round edging the club closer to a potential group stage birth of the Europa League. Aris lost 3-0 in a disappointing performance, showing a lack of continuity between the team which wasn’t surprising seeing as it there were so many new players thrown together. The return leg was a completely opposite performance, where the team showed resilience to fight back and go 3-0 up in the 84th minute, enough to send the tie into extra time. Unfortunately, Molde scored on the counter attack in the 105th minute, being enough to knock out Aris and end the dreams of everyone in Super 3, who believed European football would return. 
Three weeks later & we are now two games into the domestic campaign where Aris have only managed to gain one point, with a draw at home against OFI Crete, and a loss at the expense of newly promoted Volos NPS. 
Oh, I almost forgot, that in the last two weeks Angelos Charisteas has become Football Director, Coach Pantelidis has been shown the door with no coach standing ready to take over. However, rumours are that Real Madrid legend Guti is being hunted by Karapidis to take charge of the team. 
It’s very difficult to predict what kind of season the club will have due to so many changes, but the appointment of a quality manager might be the trick to getting the team back winning games as the quality on-field is there. Whilst Karapidis goes through this process, the priority of the players must be to gain maximum points in their next two games against Panathinaikos & PAOK.
#VamosAris By Kosta for Hellas Football

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