A.E.K. -

[Euro2004]

Defense sucks and has since the summer. Our best defender is sitting the bench in Liverpool. Thank you Thanopoulous for letting that happen. Thanks Demi for pushing that transfer thru...

There's nothing you could have done to keep Kyrgiakos. The problem is that you lost some very good players: Kyrgiakos, Edinho, Pliatsikas, Hetemaj (who i like) but instead of upgrades you brought in some poor players:

Iordache

Makos

Leonardo

Araujo

Jahic

Arce

None are good enough for AEK. Add to that list players that were already there and weren't good enough:

Saja

Arabatzis

Geraldo Alves

Alexopoulous

and you've got 10 players in the squad (at least!) that shouldn't be there.

[Dava-G]

I agree nothing we could do about letting him go. He wanted to go sit on the bench... why should we stop him. But plain and simple Mastorovic is horrible as a central defender UNLESS he has a better CD to lean on. Perfect example was the cup final last season. Kyriakos gets hurt and leaves and the defense goes upside down.

Very difficult to build a defense out of nothing once your MVP of the previous season leaves in the middle of the night (Thanopoulous knew he was leaving and should have started looking for a replacement).

[Euro2004]

I agree nothing we could do about letting him go. He wanted to go sit on the bench... why should we stop him. But plain and simple Mastorovic is horrible as a central defender UNLESS he has a better CD to lean on. Perfect example was the cup final last season. Kyriakos gets hurt and leaves and the defense goes upside down.

Very difficult to build a defense out of nothing once your MVP of the previous season leaves in the middle of the night (Thanopoulous knew he was leaving and should have started looking for a replacement).

I agree about the Cup final. His injury changed the game. If Kyrgiakos didn't get injured you'd have won the game, plain and simple. He was the best defender in the league by a mile. The only thing i'm unsure about is, didn't the bring Arce in as his replacement? In other words Thanopoulos did go looking, they just picked a dud. Or am I wrong? Sorry I'm generally not that clued up about the behind the scenes politics in Greece.

[Dava-G]

The only thing i'm unsure about is, didn't the bring Arce in as his replacement? In other words Thanopoulos did go looking, they just picked a dud. Or am I wrong? Sorry I'm generally not that clued up about the behind the scenes politics in Greece.

You are right about that. Thank god they had some smarts only signed him to a loan. I heard he wants to transfer back during January. I hope so.

Problem is, when it is that late in the summer all of the options are gone. Its like going to the super market at the end of the day in the summer. Most of the tomatoes are crushed and not usable. Yes there are some that are OK but you need to spend alot of time looking for them - if you can find them.

Problem is, Bajevic asked for Moras and Tavlaridis (who doesnt even play much in France anymore) and was told no. So they "found" this guy and he was presented to Bajevic. What is he to say? If he says no then he gets no one.

Its funny, if we look at how everything was handled starting towards the end of last year (regarding signings) you can see how bad of a job the board has done... really too bad...