Matias Almeida for everyone and everything! The Argentinian coach of AEK spoke to the journalist, Lucas Marinellimaking important references to last year’s championship, the way his team played last season, his feelings when he first entered the OPAP Arena, but also the… leaders, Sergio Araujo and Levi Garcia.
Among other things, Matias Almeida spoke about the lost opportunity that AEK had to qualify for the Champions League groups, while he revealed that he expected to have a good term on the “Union” bench.
In detail what he said:
On AEK’s last season and their reaction after the bad start: “In the beginning it was still noticeable that we were newcomers, that we were getting to know a new team. They were coming off a very bad year, in which they had not entered any European competition. So, they came under pressure.” He added: “In the early rounds we were playing a back three system and I changed it in the second or third game. From then on, the team started to raise the level, to be more even. Game by game, he grew. Halfway through the year, I think we hit our ceiling. It was when we were at our best, then we had Eliasson’s serious injury and then we started playing during the week in the Cup and then the league, which changes the shape of the team a lot. The World Cup played a very special factor for the clubs, because it stopped in the middle of the tournament. And we got on well there. We had to do preseason, with 14 players, and everything was strange.”
For the “battle” for the title with Panathinaikos: “In the middle of the championship, when we already knew that the competition between us would be strong, I said that the championship will be decided in the last second of the playoffs. Because I saw that Panathinaikos was a good team that played well and won. We were winning and so were they. They were winning with a minute left.
They won, in these ways that you say and many said that “Panathinaikos has the luck of the champion”. We were following them, at one point they even put us nine points behind. We continued and everything was very even with Olympiakos and PAOK playing very well. And all this happened until entering the playoffs. We entered the playoffs one point behind them (s.s. Panathinaikos), and the difference was that we didn’t lose in the playoffs, but they were defeated. We played 10 playoffs, the league here is good, but it’s terrible because you go through the whole tournament, you get into the playoffs and the points keep adding up. The ones that enter the playoffs are the ones with the most history and they are all classic rivals. So, two derbies are played during the regular season and two more in the playoffs, and if you also play in the Cup, he can find them again against you in the Cup, it’s crazy.”
About the OPAP Arena and what it felt like when he first walked in: “Whenever I go to a place and start studying it, it’s like I start to feel like I might do well or pretty well”he said and added: “It happened with Chivas, it happened with Banfield. Here, as soon as I arrived I felt it was going to be fine. I studied them a lot, I studied the team and each player individually. So, I knew what I was coming for. And I knew that it was the only door to Europe that had been opened to me so far, and that I was going to make the most of it.
The completion of the OPAP Arena which has a very dramatic history because of how the club was created, with immigrants. That stadium had not been built for 20 years, they were finishing it, they didn’t. I, as a coach, would be the one to debut in this stadium. There were many things I felt I would be good at. It’s a bit visualized what I’m saying, but the fact of visualization is often important to me. It was on my mind every day.”
I used to say the word champion to the players every day. Every day I told them: “We are working to be champions”, “we are working to win the Cup and be champions”, “we are working to be champions”. Job and champion. I think they were great performers of what we wanted.”
On AEK’s playing style last season: “One of the keys for AEK was how well they attacked from the ‘wings’ and the way they ‘charged’ the opposition area” with Almeida pointing out: “Our football, or what we try to do on the pitch, it is first to have possession of the ball. Because? Because I think that by having possession you wear down the opponent. I see football like boxing.
“In boxing you have a person who hits and tries from one side or the other to knock out the opponent/ I feel like football is like that, because I study it everywhere. There’s the speed with which you perform each movement, each action, and the persistence to keep going,” he pointed out, adding: “Because we reach 70,000 times to the right and 70,000 times to the left, but the definition numbers are few. Then I notice that, in the defensive phase, the vast majority of teams close down, score and then give away the wings which can be the strategy of some coaches. You have to see how many people you enter the opponent’s area with, where you finish the crosses and the moves that need to be made… The individual characteristics that AEK has are suitable for this game. On the wings we have fast, skilled, dynamic footballers, who get into goal positions and who can score”he initially reported, while also talking about Levi Garcia and Sergio Araujo:
“I think one of our successes was getting Levi Garcia to play center forward. When I got here, Garcia had never played in the “9” because for me it’s a nine. He did very well and was almost the top scorer of the competition.
He is strong and fast, so he is one of the players that in this position, at “9” is better for him, he is more comfortable. He shoots very well with the left, but also with the right, while he is very good in the air,” said Almeida about Levia, who then showed that he has more demands from Levia by saying: “He needs to score even more goals with his head and he will.”
Araujo is the leader you have to have on the pitch, he is the “soul of the team” for his dedication, for his will, for his camaraderie”
I made this statement after an action he took in which he could have scored the goal. But, being unselfish, he tackled the goalkeeper and passed to his teammate. I think he was the example of what is missing from today’s football. I see that there is a lot of ego, a lot of ‘me, me’, a lot of photos for a single person and a lot of Instagram,” Almeida said of Araujo, adding: “He was a sample of the football that I fight for to continue to exist and to don’t disappear It was a team game”
For what he said after being banned in the match against Antwerp: “I’ve been a coach for 12 years and I’m not going to be for 25 years. It is very clear to me why I was a player and why the replacement of coaches should be done with young guys.
I don’t want to be a big guy who gets annoyed by players talking on the phone at the table. Kids change and I’m still around them. Now, in 10 years I don’t know what an 18-year-old will be like and if I’ll really be able to handle it. I don’t want to be the typical guy who says, “Oh, how heavy is that.” There is also a life. Although my life is largely football, I have a family and there are times when I should enjoy what I have done. I love what I do, but it’s fast paced, with a lot of stress, a lot of commitment, a lot of passion and a lot of dedication. All the time you watch videos, write matches.
Many times you put things aside, and I put them aside. And I don’t want either. Here I have four more years on my contract if all goes well, which you never know in football and I don’t see myself coaching for many more years. I want to get a bit more experience, I would like to go to a World Cup as a coach and see live football there from another position. I want to have energy, I don’t want to be a coach that others have to do everything for. That to me is cheating. I don’t want to be that kind of coach.”
Source: Sport Fm
I am currently a news writer for News Bulletin247 where I mostly cover sports news. I have always been interested in writing and it is something I am very passionate about. In my spare time, I enjoy reading and spending time with my family and friends.
