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For this reason, it is often not uncommon to say that the purpose sanctifies the means. Massimo Carrera’s players may not have reached high standards of performance, but they beat St. Gallen 1-0 and secured a ticket to the playoffs, where they will face Wolfsburg. The goal has been achieved and the appearance comes second. The Italian also admitted it in his post-match remarks.
“RESPONSE” OF TSINTOTAS
However, we must also lean on the “bells” that rang in yesterday’s game and may be … an omen of the continuation of the season. For qualification to come, Panagiotis Tsintontas needed to be one of the Union leaders for the third consecutive game.
The 27-year-old goalkeeper was heavily challenged after the sale of Vassilis Barkas to Celtic, but for now he shows that he can cope with the demands of the main goalkeeper. He performed important operations, had quick reactions on all fours, while inspiring confidence in his teammates.
THE CORRECTIONS OF THE RACE
In fact, Tsintota’s appearance also covered Carrera’s spelling mistakes. The Italian coach did not “read” the game correctly. He knew that St. Gallen is a team with speed in attack, that has a lot of pressure and yet could not “hit” in counterattacks. Apart from the penalty phase won, AEK failed to get any balls into the back of the Swiss defense during the match.
He preferred the logic of development from behind, which did not bring the desired results and was easily handled by the Swiss defense. Apart from some fixed phases starring -again- by Petros Mandalos, Unión did not put their rival in a difficult position. On the contrary, Peter Zeidler’s players were creating beautiful collaborations in the last third of the field and if they were a little cooler in the final effort, they could have hurt the Greek team.
ANSFARIFARD IS CRACKED ON THE RIGHT
In addition, what was evident for the second consecutive game, after the opening of the championship against Panetolikos, was that Karim Ansarifard cannot live in the same squad with Oliveira. The Iranian striker showed courage, he fought with the St. Gallen defenders, but did not threaten the Swiss home, playing as a right midfielder. He had good collaborations with Vasilantonopoulos, it took energy, but until now.
In general, the simultaneous presence of Livagia, Ansarifard and Oliveira in the starting eleven raises the quality, but at the same time “loads” the development of AEK. It is characteristic that with the entry of Livai García, the Union took a step forward and gained – greater – speed in their game. Garcia showed good writing skills, went into personal solitude, seemed to have strength and is definitely more extreme than any other AEK player.
ON A BAD NIGHT KEY PLAYERS
The most serious issue for the Union in yesterday’s game was the bad night in which several important players met. Dmitro Czigrinski showed that he did not press well from the first minutes, culminating in the tragic error in the 37th minute that could have cost his team a goal.
For a player of quality and Ukrainian experience, it was bad to “read” the phase and perhaps a sign that he is not in the best possible condition. In addition, in the match against Panetolikos he showed instability in his movements.
His appearance, then, brings back to the table the issue of acquiring another plug for AEK, since apart from the stable Svarna, the other plugs show various transitions in their performance. Hnid showed that it takes time to adapt to a more demanding level than Tunisian football, while 18-year-old Ziga Laci suffers various injuries as a result of her football “adulthood”.
Insua and Oliveira also presented a bad image. The Portuguese could have been “saved” from the goal, but he was obviously offside, was not fueled by his teammates and failed to make a difference even with some personal energy. Compared to Ansarifard, Oliveira found himself on a worse night, but Carrera preferred to take out the Iranian. History justified it for the penalty won, but the appearance of the 28-year-old forward was another “bell”.
On the other hand, the Argentine defender, in addition to the clumsy pursuit that was impressively repelled by Tsintotas, showed nervousness in his game, with several wrong decisions and dismissals. For AEK it is important that Insua is in good condition, since he can offer a lot in terms of creation, while he is a more complete defender than López. However, these appearances raise concerns and it remains to be seen whether they will be the exception rather than the rule.
MATCH-CHALLENGE WITH WOLFSBURG
All of the above should be improved immediately, as AEK will host Wolfsburg at OAKA in less than a week. Against St. Gallen, the “yellow-blacks” had the title of favorite, so it was logical to have an extra pressure. Against the Germans, they will be the ones who will play the role of outsider and seek to achieve a great classification.
A ranking that will be important both economically and competitively, as the ‘yellow-blacks’ must improve their position in the UEFA rankings if they want to have better draws and a bigger European tour in the coming years. So the Union does not have the comfort of watching the game with the German team. It is a fighting challenge.
Wolfsburg is a team with tall bodies, so they will have to slowly enter the equation and Yevgeny Sakhof (entered as a change in the 90 ‘) ahead of next week’s game. At the same time, Carrera, with the problems presented by the defense, will have to see if he will move to a trio logic in the blocks, in order to have a better treatment of the dangerous attackers of Wolfsburg.
So far, with the exception of the Cup final with Olympiakos, AEK got what they wanted, even with a mediocre image. However, the … lives are reduced and if Carrera does not immediately present an improved version, the negative results will soon appear. And the Union cannot afford to enter a new cycle of introversion this early in the season.
READ ALSO:
St. Gallen 0-1 AEK: Escape from Switzerland and now … Wolfsburg
UEFA qualification: AEK gave Greece hope
Tsintotas ended the discussion
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