AEK: The collapse of the defensive function in the last three matches

Another one AEK fans have been seeing for the past few weeks. The team that, with the weapon of its inhibitory function and control of the rhythm, managed to qualify for the groups of the Conference League and find itself in the first place of the championship, in the last three games it is sailing defensively.

The numbers say it all: in the first 13 official games of the season, “Union” had conceded 6 goals in allwhile in the last three, against Chelie, Kifissia and PAOK, he has conceded 7!

In fact, it is not a coincidence. OR Celie in Slovenia’s 3-1 he had 57% possession and 3.67 xGoals (against just 0.72), the PAOK yesterday had 56.7% possession and 1.8 xGoals (against just 1.4), while against Kifissiaalthough AEK had 61.9% possession saw the hosts have 4.1 xGoals, while they were at 1.7.

It is now clear that something is not working properly for his team Marko Nikolicas it presents a problem both in possession of the ball, control of the pace and the production of phases, as well as in dealing with the opponents, who “hit” her either playing possession football, or in her slow transitions.

Yesterday the slow axis of the midfield, with Joao Mario at “10” and the Grujic next to Marin it never worked making even the Meite-Ozdoev duo look… fast. Ball recoveries become difficult, the opposition creates cracks, while the many individual errors come to complete the scene of the team’s defensive collapse.

THE Marko Nikolic he is asked to provide solutions and maybe even reconsider some options, such as… removing the classic defensive midfielders from his team’s composition. The only one left on the roster, Jens Jonsson, who had 105 appearances in the previous three years and made a significant contribution to the team’s game, has played all of 16 minutes in two games of the Conference League qualifiers this year.