14 Aug 2018 22:40:27
Not quite sure why everybody thinks we should automatically beat AEK Athens but you should maybe consider that as an association, Greece are ranked 15th in Europe and Scotland are ranked 26th.
{Ed007's Note - They have more teams picking up co-efficient points than Scotland,, only Olympiacos are higher than us as individual clubs.
For this season Celtic are ranked ib 47th spot in the UEFA rankings - AEK are in 123rd place.}
14 Aug 2018 22:53:27
No disgrace losing to the greek champions. They obviously better than Olympiakos, they finished 3rd in the Greek League. 2nd places PAOK have hammered Basel then beaten Spartak Moscow in the CL qualifiers, which again shows that its a decent league.
{Ed007's Note - They only won the league - their first in 24 or 25 years - because the POAK were deducted points after their president ran onto the pitch with a gun. They won the league by default.}
14 Aug 2018 23:03:08
I would say that suggests that they play in a better league and as a consequence they would be technically better. I think Leicester City are ranked quite a way behind us but I think they’d probably give us a game. My point is we shouldn’t expect to beat a team like AEK Athens just because we turn up.
{Ed007's Note - I expect us to beat dug $hite teams from Greece, 3 shots on target over 180 mins and they scored with them. If we had everybody fully fit and available we would have comfortably beaten them. Even at that the players available should have beaten them.
By morning I'll be able to prove why this is all Craig Gordon's fault :-D
14 Aug 2018 23:08:03
No we have a right to beat no one but we should have put ourselves in a position to win this tie. BR clearly stated his given objective was to "Dominate in Scotland and qualify for the CL".
So while it's not the end of the world, it's still abject failure as a club to reach our basic objectives. I don't see the team being strengthened now, there will be sales though.
14 Aug 2018 23:08:32
AEK won the league by 6 points after PAOK were deducted 3 points and foreited the game against AEK 3-0. Clearly not much between the teams. I’d expect both to make the group stages.
14 Aug 2018 23:19:26
Guys I get what your saying about Greek football and your right it’s been known to a good level. but that AEK team were no better than average for me, and it’s a big opportunity missed considering who awaited us in the next round! Some woeful defending over 2 legs cost us but also we could have put the tie to bed at home, after playing against 10 men for most of the 2nd half! But we couldn’t break down what for was an average Greek side! And I’ll put my hands up and say when we drew AEK I thought we’re in for 2 tough games but it turned out we made it tough for ourselves! After back to back trebles and signing up French eddy sharpish in the window it was all positive but there’s a gloom went over the club this past week and a half. first thing we do now is get shot of the rat boyata, pay off compper and get 2 decent centre backs in! Someone to replace Armstrong and paddy! And if we can get a RB in to then all the better! Pissed off as I am, we’ve got a full season left to play there must be some sort of lift over the next 2 weeks in the transfer market!
14 Aug 2018 23:25:36
As I understand it PAOK were only deducted 3 points but Athens won the league by 6 points. Greece have got 2 teams in CL qualifiers and they enter at a later stage than we do so you have to assume that their league is of a higher standard than ours.