Asteras Season Review

Asteras Season Review 

By Alexander Koutakos 

Now that was what you call a campaign! The 2020-21 season for Asteras was nothing short of a rollercoaster. It started off well, became poor and then ended off with a high flying victory against PAOK. 

Despite crucial injuries and no fans in the stadium, Asteras Tripolis showed the rest of Greece that Asteras are no one to mess with. Wins and draws against PAOK, Panathinaikos and Aris really made Asteras the pleasantful surprise of the season. Many had predicted that Asteras would finish in the bottom half of the table. 

However, Asteras proved the haters wrong by making it to the playoffs and finishing 6th. For this wonderful campaign, I will give my thoughts on Asteras’s season in the regular season, the playoffs and the Greek cup. I will also give out season awards and I will write about what I think Asteras should look to do in the summer transfer window.

Regular season

For me, the regular season for Asteras consisted of 3 important segments that shaped the outcome of this season for Asteras.The 1st and 3rd were positive. However, the middle part of the season dealt Asteras with a punch that made achieving the european ticket that it so desired quite improbable. 

In the first section of the regular season, Asteras won 4 games, drew 1 and lost 1. The 4 wins were against PAO, OFI, Larissa and Apollon Smyrni. In these games, Asteras scored 10 and conceded a mere 2. It seemed as if a European ticket was possible. The attack was clinical, the defense was solid and overall the team was gelling. However, the middle part of the regular season hit and the chance of a European ticket dwindled. In this part of the season, 

Asteras won 1, drew 5 and lost 4. The team lost cohesion and started to defend poorly. Against Volos for example, we were up 1-0 and Volos had only 10 men. Sadly, in the 94th minute, Perea scored a goal on Volos’ only shot in the entire game. This goal illustrated a problem with Asteras in the middle of the season. The problem here was that Asteras continuously could not close out a game properly without conceding. Crucial points were lost due to this. If Asteras had kept on to its leads, I could have been sitting here right now, writing about what Asteras should aim for in Europe next season. However, that is not the case. 

Like all good teams do, Asteras responded to the adversity in the last part of the regular season. In this part of the season, Asteras won 6, drew 3 and lost 1. In this series of matches, Asteras had two phenomenal wins against PAOK and Aris that both finished 2-1 in favor of the Arcadians. 

Luis Fernandez and Barrales both found form and chemistry that was unstoppable for opposition defences to cope with. At the end of the regular season, Asteras found itself 6th and 5 points behind a European spot. At this point in time, I believed that a European spot was still on the cards. Sadly, the playoffs dealt a blow towards my hope.

Playoffs 

In the playoffs, Asteras collected 9 points with a record of 1 win, 6 draws and 3 losses. The first and the last fixture were certainly the best for Asteras. The middle part of the playoffs for Asteras was decent, but not good enough. 

In the first game of the playoffs, Asteras drew 2-2 against Panathinaikos. The first half of this game was quite quiet and without any goals. However, in the second half, Macheda scored 2 vital goals for Panathinaikos in the 58th and 59th minute respectively. Asteras found themselves 2-0 down and hope for a point in this game was certainly dwindling. Nevertheless, Milan Rastavac rallied his troops and Asteras ended up drawing 2-2. In the 84th minute, Luis Fernandez scored a semi-volley right around the penalty spot to make it 2-1. From then on, Panathinaikos was in utter disarray. Then came extra time. In the 97th minute, Asteras’s goalie (Papadopoulos) was told to go up the field after Asteras got a free-kick. The free-kick was crossed into the left side of the box and fell right to Fernandez who centered the ball in the box. Papadopulos, who was just ahead of the penalty spot, slotted the ball into the net. This goal was viewed countless times over by many in Greece and around the world. 

 

After this game, Luis Fernandez got injured and poor results ensued. If he was not injured, things could have been a lot different. On the last matchday, Asteras beat eventual cup winners PAOK with a score of 1-0. In this match, Gomez scored a penalty in the 25th minute and Asteras held on for the remaining 65 minutes of the match.

Overall, it is safe to say that this season in the league was good but not great. It would have been great, if we finished top 4 and thus, got a European spot. Nonetheless, this season was full of some good results and I am sure that every Asteras fan is faithful in coach Rastavac and is optimistic about next season.

 

The Greek Cup

In the Greek cup, Asteras was eliminated in the first round by Aris. Both games ended 2-0 in favor of Aris and Asteras was the second best team in both of those games. Asteras just didn't show enough. The passing wasn't good enough, the defending was poor and overall the Greek cup games were certainly a low point of the season. Aris deserved to move forward to the quarterfinals and we all know how their Greek cup campaign ended in the quarterfinals with Bouchalakis stealing the ball from Cuesta and eventually scoring.

Season Awards

For the season awards, I will be giving out an attacker OTS award, midfielder OTS award, defender OTS award and a newly transferred player award.

For the attacker OTS award, I have decided to give the award to Jeronimo Barrales. This season, Barrales tallied 11 goals and 3 assists. He did have a goal-scoring drought towards the end of the season. However, his offensive output was crucial to the success of Asteras this season.

For the midfielder OTS award, I have decided to give the award to Luis Fernandez. Luis Fernandez who usually plays as a CAM tallied 7 goals and 3 assists for Asteras this season. He was certainly the mastermind behind the attack.  His assist count is low, but he has a ton of "second assists". Without Fernandez (when he was injured), Asteras struggled to produce offensively. Hopefully, next year when he is healthy, he can contribute as much as he did this year or even more.

For the defender OTS award, I have given it to Giannis Kotsiras. Kotsiras tallied 1 goal and 3 assists. Defensively, he was a rock. The amount of clearances and interceptions that he made this year was truly phenomenal. It is a pity and a shame that John Van't Schip did not select Kotsiras to be part of Greece's squad for the upcoming matches against Belgium and Norway.

For the newly transferred player award, I have decided to give it to Federico Alvarez. Alvarez arrived from Quilmes in Argentina and the left-back certainly did not disappoint on both ends of the field. He tallied 4 assists and was instrumental in Asteras' defensive structure. When he was on the field, the opposition winger would struggle to have an impact.

What I think Asteras should do in the summer transfer window

In the summer transfer window, Asteras has some work to do if it wants to cement itself as a top 6 club in Greece. In my opinion, positions that need reinforcement are the CM position, the CB position and the fullback position.

The CM position is a position where Asteras just doesn't have anyone really. Asteras currently just has 6's and 10's,but no 8's. For this position, Asteras should aim to make a first team signing or at least a capable backup. 

For the CB and the fullback positions, Asteras needs to purchase some new backups. The CB position has just lost Pasalidis and at the moment, Asteras is a little low on CB's. A new replacement would certainly reinforce that position. The current backup fullbacks have been disappointing this season and I suggest they either go on loan or depart through a transfer. New backup fullbacks will ensure that Asteras has capable backups for the likes of Kotsiras and Alvarez.

Another thing that Asteras needs to do is clear the dead wood and replace the dead wood with young and talented Greeks from the academy. There are many players on the roster who have registered less than 10 caps this season and that I consider as "dead wood". I would love to see these players replaced with young Greeks. 

Hopefully, the summer transfer window proves beneficial for Asteras and from there on we can aim to finish in a European spot next season!

Pame Asteras!

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