The Olympiacos derby – AEK couldn’t help but have a spot on NOVA’s “Monday FC” show, with Demi Nikolaidis to analyze the “big” match of “Karaiskakis”.
Focusing on AEK, Demis Nikolaidis argued that the Union did not enter with a mentality to win the derby with Olympicbut not to be defeated, lacking courage, which was also seen in the lost aerial duels in the game.
The veteran striker emphasized that this was an easy victory for Olympiacos, characterizing Piraeus’ performance as mediocre, but Union’s as poor. In fact, he pointed out that the Mendiliber players appeared tired in the derby.
“Bad match. Easy victory for Olympiacos. Mediocre Olympiacos, bad for AEK. Olympiacos looked tired to me. The intensity they scored was at six. I expected AEK to take advantage of it. The intensity of the runs was not what we are used to by Mendiliber. AEK entered with the mentality of not losing and not to win the game. The derbies without a win happened a lot because of the last year’s. I don’t think the players have that in mind. We are talking about another team and another season. When a team isn’t doing well, it’s all our fault. When the team is not doing well, everyone is psychologically affected. AEK lacked courage, it might have been an instruction to be more restrained. You have to dare to do things. AEK entered with a little fear. AEK cannot lose every aerial duel. In many matches the opponents jump on their own”, first mentioned and then commented on whether the fact that Olympiacos played two days earlier in Europe than AEK was also a factor:
“Olympiacos played Barcelona in Spain and AEK played Aberdeen in Athens and it was 3-0 before halftime. I disagree with Nikolic about rest days. However, the Olympiacos we are used to was not. You were watching the match anyway and you felt that somehow the match was going to take place. Taremi did not work well as an anti-Chiquinio. Taremi as Taremi worked, as Ciquinho with the pressing did not. Taremi has other characteristics. He was in everything. It wasn’t much, but they decided the game. El Kabi had very few contacts with the ball, but in the ones he had, he did something. He could have scored. If Jovic played for Olympiakos, he would have scored ten goals. It is in good condition, but not powered at all. He wants a job.”
Then Demis Nikolaidis emphasized that AEK lacked concentration: “AEK has lost all aerial duels in the match. Lots of easy crosses without the right pressure, but there is a lack of concentration, psychologically they don’t trust each other. We see this in the last four to five matches. El Kabi can’t be alone when he crosses. In the first half Olympiakos had possession, in the second half he left the ball to AEK and AEK took it because they were behind in the score and had to create.”
Finally, regarding the persons that stood out, he underlined: “Pineda was running everywhere. We haven’t seen the Pineda we know yet. But when the whole team is not doing well you don’t see the talents of the players. But Pineda was by far the AEK player with the most actions. And Ese did a similar job at Olympiakos. Costinia did very well. Olympiacos, without getting a great performance, won easily”.