A Season to Forget

A Season to Forget

By Greg Gavalas

Season 2020-21 started with a fair bit of optimism, under Italian coach Massimo Carrera who came in halfway through the 2019/20 season and proved to show himself as a worthy coach, better things were expected for the new season as a whole off season would be managed under Carreras eyes.

Added to that there were impressive transfers to the team, one of the first was Levi Garcia brought in on a 5-year contract and some great reviews and highlights of the speedy winger, something AEK had missed since winning the championship in 2018.

Former PAOK midfielder Yevgen Shakhov and Romanian international defender Ionut Nedelcearu came in to help a very weak defence.

On top of that AEK landed two signings that really impressed, Muamer Tankovic, who the Enosi was chasing last seasons end and the icing on the cake was former Olympiakos (OSFP) striker, Karim Ansarifard who proved an instant impact when his solo goal at the Olympic Stadium (OAKA) saw AEK eliminate German side, Wolfsburg from the UEFA Europa League and advancement into the Group stages however that’s as high as the European season would get in what would turn out to be another disastrous European campaign.

AEK did start well, early round wins were complimented with the historic win over Wolfsburg, that however was followed up with a 1-0 loss at home to Atromitos, which was then followed by a draw at home to PAOK, but the team recovered domestically and started to get results again whilst suffering defeats in the Europa league, but just as Europe seemed all but over, a 4-1 away win over Ukrainian side Zorya put some further life into the campaign.

This was followed up by another 4-1 win in Greece against Larisa and AEK looked to be flying again, but that’s a high as it got, what would follow in both Europe and the Super League would see the end of Carrera’s reign with the team, this was exclaimed when AEK was humiliated at the OAKA by lowly Zorya, 3-0 in one of the most embarrassing nights in AEK’s European history and the Ukrainian teams first win in Europe.

What couldn’t get worse, the home defeats kept coming, then to Panathinaikos and Sporting Braga, a nightmare European campaign came to an end in England against Leicester City, 5 losses 1 win.

The pressure was now mounting on Carrera but the results didn’t come with any consistency, a 4-3 win over Apollon highlighted again the struggles in the AEK defence who were now conceding over 2 goals a game, a home draw to Volos FC (2-2) saw Carrera sacked, in his place, for the fourth time, Manolo Jimenez, the return of the Spaniard had mixed emotions from fans.

In almost a repeat of last season, when Jimenez came in, he had AEK go on a run of wins and the conceding goals decreased, AEK went 5 games conceding just 1 goal, the big game with PAOK at Toumba loomed as everyone knew, Jimenez’s biggest problem was derby losses and very few wins. The game would finish 2-2, AEK would play well and should have won, the fact they should have won continued the optimism even though the defensive problems were clear to see.

Like before however, AEK would go on a poor run, as the attack’s fluency clearly started to drop, the weak defence made way for more unacceptable defeats to PAS Giannena, Apollon and another humiliating home defeat, this time to Aris, 2-0.

In the Cup, AEK scrapped through on Volos FC 4-3 on aggregate but the teams playing style was a worry as the playoffs draw closer and closer, A bizarre feeling came about for the Cup itself, as AEK was paired with PAOK, to see who would play Olympiakos (OSFP) in the final, I say bizarre because the fact of the matter was, Olympiakos had the better of AEK, just before the first leg with PAOK, the reds of Piraeus would stamp the most humiliating home defeat of them all, 5-1 at OAKA, not much more to say but it would follow a week of apologies from players and coaching staff to what had become a season we wanted over already, to face another Cup final and probably lose another in 5 years would be too much.

AEK would lose both matches with PAOK for a 3-1 aggregate elimination in the Semi-Finals as well as lose both final league games with PAOK & OSFP, a sole 1-0 win over Panathinaikos at Leoforos the only piece of celebrations in the final part of the season, a season we want to forget.

As the new season looms, AEK needs to desperately look at her defence and acquire very good defenders, on top of that some more dynamic CDM’s and another striker if Nelson Oliveira is to move on.

One thing is for sure, AEK does not want a repeat of one of the most depressing seasons experienced, new coach Vladan Milojevic is familiar with the Greek scene, Dimitris Melissanidis needs to give the Serbian coach what he needs so AEK can challenge for a League title again.

Hellas Football 

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