The thought of Javelin on the left can be a disaster

The loss of the team’s three Iranians – due to their commitments with their country’s national team – could prove particularly costly for AEK pitch-wise given the difficult games the Union faces.

They will be present in tomorrow’s fight against Atromitos in Peristeri (23/01, 17:15, NOVA Sports 2 and Live Sportish), but they will be absent in the next three games, starting with next Wednesday’s cup rematch against PAOK for the Greek Cup and then those with Volos in OAKA and Aris in Thessaloniki for the Super League Interwetten.

The problem is big as Mohammadi and Hadjisafi are AEK’s two main solutions for the left end of his defense, while Ansarifard seemed renewed in the last few games as Araούjo wasn’t in the fight and was always afraid to pose an injury problem.

However, with the Argentine returning and with the choice of Amrabat up front always an existing solution, the need to find the right one is primarily based on the full-back position.

Since AEK deactivated Michalis Bakakis, who had responded very satisfactorily to this role on several occasions in the past and especially when the team was coached by Manolo Jimenez, two options remain: the third in the hierarchy of left-back Mario Mitai and the stopper Giorgos Tzavellas , who also played at left-back once in his career. But is it the preference of the most experienced and the ideal for the specific case?

Tzavellas is a centre-back who forgot to be a defender

The figures of the last 7 seasons are a clear reason for Argyris Giannikis to avoid this path. George Tzavellas has featured in just 8 games at left-back over the years, in a total of 195 games at team level. The bad thing is that in the 8 matches in which his coaches perforce resorted to this option, he only won once.

The last time Tzavellas played as a left-back in a Greek Championship match was recorded on 17.4.2016 when PAOK drew 0-0 against Platanias in Crete. This season he had played in this position and in the defeats against Olympiacos and Iraklis.

If we look back to the last game used in this role, we have to go back to April 3, 2019 and the defeat of then Alanyaspor team 3-1 by Akisarspor. His last win at left-back came on 22 September 2017 when ‘Alanya’ beat Trabzonspor 4-3.

Because this choice can bring imbalance

Aside from the difficulty of adjusting to the position he started his career in, as he’s not as fast as he was then and while his football “chip” is used to working in other processes, his shift to the edge of defense is very likely to create an imbalance in the center of defence, where he has been better than the others in recent games and while he seems to fit in very well with Mitoglou (but not so much with Vranies).

The next solution – unless Giannikis goes to a three-stopper pick and gives the team to a player like Chuber who has done it again in his career – is Mario Mitai, a footballer who joined AEK last summer for the basic rotation was held , but in doing so was firmly placed in the second team, for which he has played 5 games. He has had to play both European elimination games with the professional team since last July, against Velez Mostar.