Giannikis’ AEK doesn’t attack at all

Panetolikos’ 2-1 home loss to AEK in OAKA brought grievances and concerns. Once again the debate has erupted as to whether Giannikis is the right coach Union has to put together a really good side.

From the day the club returned to the first division, the problem is the same. No coach has managed to build a team capable of winning titles by playing attacking football.

AEK’s old friends were proud that ‘their illness’, as they usually call it, was associated with teams playing attractive football.

Titles aside, the average friend of AEK feels the need to create a team that can play attractive football for a long time. In recent years they have been looking for a coach who can come up with a football proposal worth presenting at the new stadium.

For strange reasons, the coaches that AEK has chosen since 2015 are conservative. Poyet, Ketspaia, Jimenez, Carrera and even Giannikis worked on shots that were either adapted to the opponent or looking for chances through good defense and exploitation of space.

During that time, Cardozo was the only coach hired with the aim of making AEK more aggressive, but he never found success with the football he works for. You could also say Ouzounidis, with the difference that he came to a team that had already excelled. It is a rule that the coach who takes over a team of outstanding successes is doomed to fail.

Giannikis PAS was a good team but not an attacking side

So we come to Giannikis. I don’t know what criteria AEK used to hire him, but every time I hear a colleague talk about Giannikis’ attacking PAS, smoke comes out of my ears. Giannikis in PAS relied on a modern 4-4-2 in his defensive form. Just like Metaxas successfully does, he looked for instant attacks after stealing. This football, when played with two strikers, helps to steal high because both stoppers have an opponent and it is not easy to move the ball.

Indeed, Giannikis did a great job in the two years he worked at PAS, creating an ensemble that played with high intensity and aimed high. But he didn’t play attacking initiative football. That doesn’t mean it doesn’t work for a large team.

But Giannikis never created an attacking PAS Giannina. He made a tough set, which he won by being able to push with high intensity, winning balls that he used with fast attacks, and reached the final. Not bad, many teams, including big ones, play on the field. It is also a fact that after a steal, the opponent’s defense is always imbalanced.

She even struggled in her big wins

For Giannikis to be successful in AEK, he needs to form a team capable of operating confidently in play without the ball as he doesn’t look for large possession to get his team running so he can handle the pressure can win balls and of course work on attacking. When you play on a team that plays league, there will be long periods where you need to have the ball no matter what football you want to play.

The truth is that we’ve seen quite a bit of Giannikis’ AEK so far. It is clear that the coach is looking for places. His plan was problematic even in the games he won with Aris and Panathinaikos. The measures were small and the attacks were carried out only with counterattacks. The following two home games show that this approach was not a choice but a necessity.

AEK, either under the responsibility of the coach or under the responsibility of his squad, knows how to play this football. We also saw it at Panetolikos. To threaten, she had to reverse her lines and seek a long pass for one of her three attackers. This is how Ansarifad’s goal came, this is how he kept trying to make attacks with Amrabat and Garcia.

The back teams are not involved in the development

The problem with AEK is that the backlines don’t participate in development. We constantly see the ball going to either extreme and they try with individual energy to use their speed. Just when Tsouber isn’t on the field, who has the quality and the logic and the class to do the simple things and get his teammates in the game, AEK seeks goal with one-on-one actions from the three forwards, not looking for cushions.

AEK’s image on the field, especially in the game with Panetolikos, certainly exposes the coach. He presented a team that is creatively unfeasible, that never tried to play rationally and that’s an issue that needs to be evaluated. But there is also a reality that cannot be ignored.

As far as defense goes, the squad is bad. When you have Javelas in central defence, right-back Svarna, trio on the axis the slow Le Talec, alongside the ambitious but creatively limited Simoes, Ten Mandalos with their pros and cons, you can’t have any claims to combination football.

Creation begins with defense

Many make the mistake of talking about the lack of quality that exists in the defensive part of the team, they only care about the problems that arise when the team defends. In modern football, creation starts from the back. To build a team that attacks properly, ball transfer must be done with quality, with reliable and quick transfers from below. Creating a diaper starts from the back lines and requires a connection. If the lines aren’t connected, you can’t attack them as a whole, and that means you’re looking for isolation.

In AEK, they’re just looking for isolation. Bring an extreme attacker open and create a threat. You should think about what percentage of the squad that the coach has in his hands is to blame for this reality and to what extent the coach himself is to blame.

He has an alibi, but the picture exposes him

The truth is that the administration moved in the right direction over the summer. He understood that roster quality is required and four good transfers were made. Chuber, Amrabat were acquired and Araujo and Vranies returned. But it has to be accepted that there are players in key positions that you can’t play with in the league.

Even teams that play in this category have better solutions than the players that AEK has in certain areas. That reality combined with the fact that Giannikis is managing a roster he didn’t choose provides him with an alibi. However, the team’s image exposes him simply because AEK doesn’t attack as a whole.