AEK’s marriage to Giannikis had started early

The Greek coach’s life is difficult. You see, in Greece there aren’t many opportunities for a coach to make a career. The way we deal with the categories outside of the Super League Interwetten makes it difficult for a coach to show their work away from the elite.

Argyris Giannikis managed to work at PAS Giannina for two years to present a project that gave him the right to look for a good job. What are the good jobs in Greece for a Greek coach? They don’t usually exist, but taking on a team from the so-called BIG-6 is considered a career opportunity.

The Greek coach’s difficult cycle

That is, one of the big teams that is only handed over to a Greek coach in times of crisis, usually during the championship and while they are in a problematic situation. In other words, you must first be able to correct mistakes made by others and then convince yourself how you deserve to continue next season.

Knowing that if you succeed and scapularize them from the summer qualifiers, you will again be the first contestant to go. As long as you’re three points behind the first to play your position in the next game, and even if you escape, you’ll get back into that process very soon.

If you cannot survive, you must look back. You will have received harsh criticism for not making it, you will have been insulted and similar jobs to stay on the same level will not be easy to find. So you have to gather your courage, your strength, to start over.

For Argyris Giannikis and all Giannikis, this is the circle.

The job at PAS has made him play his card at the highest level. He knew he would have an opportunity to accept a good offer and he waited. He twice said “no” to good financial proposals from Atromitos because he wanted to work in a team that would give him the right to look up.

His mission turned out to be much more difficult than he had imagined. He managed to stay at AEK for 5 months, although the Melissanidis administration decided and tried to support him. Now he has to arm himself with patience, gather his courage and accept that he has to work deeper again.

The management of AEK wanted to give him time

He would certainly understand that it is harder to be successful when the lights are constantly on you. The pressure on a team like AEK is huge, the roster he was called up for wasn’t his and all of this most likely left him unable to show his work.

You know that the prologue gives all Greek coaches an alibi. Our football really doesn’t help this beautiful and – in truth – attractive profession. However, it is attractive when you are given the opportunity and time to get work done and completed. These conditions do not exist in Greece.

However, the reality is that AEK’s management wanted to give time in this case. She was looking, in her own way, for a coach who would put her in a concrete football plan and relieve her of the need to find a solution to the team’s timeless problem.

He did not use the power that the three-year contract gave him

He gave him a three-year contract just days before the Christmas holidays and after a home defeat to OFI to show everyone he believes in him. In this way, wanting to make it possible both inside and outside the dressing rooms.

However, he could not use this power she gave him. One could not imagine that after the home defeat against OFI two more home defeats against Panetolikos and Volos would follow.

However, results aside, the move was lost due to his inability to implement a football plan that was able to convince that he is the right person for AEK to start construction.

Personally, I was surprised by the decision of AEK’s management at the end of December to give Argyris Giannikis a three-year contract. He was already eliminated from the championship competition, but it wasn’t the results that made me think about this choice of management of AEK, but the image of the team on the field. There was no football suggestion worth rewarding.

On December 7th and while AEK was at -6 from Olympiakos and coming back from wins with Aris and Panathinaikos, I had written a text entitled “The Rule Giannikis Must Know”.

Among other things, I mentioned the following in this text: “The coach who plays defensively to have support must win.

In the event that the results go awry and the difference begins with Olympiakos, which seems the most likely scenario given the ability of Martins’ team to produce the required results, there will be no argument that would allow him to create the team he wants for the summer.

There’s a rule: no one loves the coach who plays defensively and doesn’t win. Quite simply because football is punished that nobody likes to see. In short, for those victories to make sense and not be trampled on like last year, Boloni shouldn’t be caught by them.

To prove that he understood that football has brought some important marginal wins, but if he doesn’t improve, if there isn’t greater intensity and aggression in his overall philosophy, it’s not possible to support a championship team“.

He could not win through initiative football

You know the sequel. The problem that Argyris Giannikis will face was recognized from an early age. He had failed to find an attractive football plan through which to win.

At PAS Giannina, he did so with a high-intensity 4-4-2 and direct football. It’s not usually that easy to win a championship in this type of football, but in any case you can’t rule out the possibility that every game plan can develop with better players.

However, he never managed to do that at AEK. He scored two big wins in games he played with very little possession, Aris and Panathinaikos. But important victories that were very lucky. Goal early and the opponent wasted in their own moments.

From one point the difficulty that existed in Giannikis’ team began to win even weaker opponents with initiative football. You’ve seen AEK create chances with just space play and counterattacks, even with small and medium-sized teams.

He didn’t find any solutions to the defensive problem, he didn’t push for transfers

He could consider that he played a role because he didn’t have the right midfielders. However, the coach’s job is difficult, often unfair and above all well paid to find solutions. Giannikis found no solutions on the defensive.

If he didn’t think he would succeed with these players, he had to ask for a transfer in January. He did not do it. The team’s image was one of going to the point of failure with mathematical precision. The difference to the top could not be overlooked, the football that AEK played was permanently conservative in order to hide the defensive gaps as best as possible.

With the exclusion of PAOK, the last cannon was saved

This created the conditions for only one road to be able to save Giannikis’ work, at least until the summer. The Conquest of the Greek Cup. This means helping to save time through the special edition that is carried out by the respective institution and through the joy of winning a trophy.

From the moment the ban from PAOK came, it was clear that he was losing his last life. He had nothing to support his stay. All teams look for inspiration at the start of a season, creating a positive aura and even making fun of each other. Just as the season had gone with Giannikis. Under the same coach, there was no longer any argument to justify optimism.

Avenue’s lead in the game made his stay look dangerous

Both for the smooth running of AEK and for the prestige of the coach himself, it would be good to be able to end the season with Argyris Giannikis. However, for a coach who was still full of dreams a few months ago, it proved difficult to work with a clear head and guaranteed failure, that is, without the slightest chance of turning the situation around.

The way he managed the game on the Avenue made his stint dangerous for the sequel, forcing AEK to speed up developments. In practice, this particular marriage had begun at a very young age. A turnaround was no longer possible as there was no thought given to improving defensive weaknesses with January additions.

That doesn’t mean that if better midfielders came along, Argyris Giannikis could convince him that he’s the right person to build from the start the side that will win another championship.

AEK needs a man who will give him a clear football plan. Giannikis failed to convince that he was the right person and lost his position within 5 months. He must now arm himself with strength and appetite to take a step back in hopes of getting another chance in the future.