From basketcase to the top.
From basketcase to the top.
AEK started from scratch to get to where it is today. With a plan, faith, patience and good football. She succeeded because she only looked out for herself and that is what she must continue to do.
In the football of Matias Almeida, beyond the clear mutation of a team that did not know where it was stepping and where it was when it took over, into a group that likes and has efficiency, there are some very specific principles that are not circumvented.
As he points out at every opportunity, respect for the team, for his teammates and above all, for every opponent, is the most basic of all. With this guide, AEK is currently at the top . And with it he will continue to march now that the demands have increased greatly.
For AEK to reach the position it is today, it had to find a path and follow it with patience and method. No rush, no absurd championship demands in a period that was being built from the beginning.
Many bridges had fallen during the previous four periods, so every step would have to be made on solid foundations. So, step by step, he climbed the stairs to reach the position he is in today. Nothing was given to her, but nothing has been achieved yet because, now, everyone expects more from her.
Step 1 - Let's become a team
Taking over a multi-layered chaos, Matias Almeida put forward the logic of football. To be honest, he also knew, having studied the roster very well before he even took over, that AEK could not go any worse. He brought the group close to him, 'tied' the work around him and the numerous staff and created conditions of trust.
The group of '7', i.e. him and his associates, quickly became the 'group of 35'. They united and left everyone else out, no one could now get to the players without first going through the coach. No one would have a place in it either if he put himself above the group.
Step 2 - Find the racing style
This was a difficult, time-pressured process as, usually, coaches who took on this job lost ground under the pressure of results. Around November, AEK was no longer on target.
The truth is that Almeida started an idea that didn't work. But he had the acumen to change it quickly and this diversification rewarded him. Certainly, the foundations were in place. The intensity, the pressure, the recovery, the overlapping, was already in the DNA of the players. A click in the layout was needed and the coach found it.
Step 3 - Play for fun
Of course, there should also be a change in mentality. Football should primarily be a joy and not a compulsion. The additions of players who had confidence in themselves and the required mental balance to understand the coach's directions, pulled the rest out of the rut of personal insecurity.
AEK started playing for themselves, without worrying about others or worrying about their own setbacks. The few matches that didn't go well were each one separate and an occasion for counterattacks.
Step 4 - To build our own headquarters
We will never know if AEK Almeida could cope with the initial setbacks - especially the one with Volos in Rizoupoli - playing in OAKA. It is a given that the OPAP Arena gives them a huge boost, 11 wins in 11 games there, speaks for itself.
But in order for this headquarters to become a strong castle, the team itself would have to achieve it, grab the aura of the world and turn it into its weapon. For the first time in about 20 years, the Union has a headquarters and has taken off with its football.
Step 5 - To win a derby
Even if this was a painful story. AEK was trapped in a helplessness complex against the other contenders for the title, it was an abscess that their organization had to eliminate. After the defeat in the Avenue, in addition to the grievances created within it by Kabakov's arbitration, introversion also strengthened.
The imposing double in Aris was the beginning, the victories over PAOK and Panathinaikos at home the certification of the change and the appearance at 'Karaiskakis' the job left in the middle, but with satisfaction for the way the team played there. Like something is changing.
Step 6 - To believe in the reversal
During the period when Panathinaikos did not leave points almost anywhere, AEK had to look at itself, its football, its own improvement. To make steady progress and wait for her opportunity.
She focused on her work, she looked at how she would get better and above all, how she would give a constant presence in the hunt for first place, exerting more and more pressure on the opponent. When he started to squint, she took advantage of the situation and moved forward.
Step 7 - Let's not go crazy, improvement matters
So at the top since yesterday and with the bull. For a week in total, up to the very difficult away game against Atromitos. Here now the team has to change track. Now she has the stress of the top, she will take the pressure and have the biggest 'must' of everyone else.
But the title should neither be the beginning nor the end of the world. It is important that AEK is among the contenders until the end, until the last game of the playoffs. If someone else does it convincingly, then they will have done so rightly. The question for Almeida and the players is to have reached the end of the route.