AEK taking nothing
for granted
But Tsartas does not rate the
Hibees very highly! - STUART CROWTHER
WHILE
AEK COACH FERNANDO SANTOS
remains confident but wary of the challenge facing his side at Easter Road
this evening, there remains it seems a feeling in the Greek camp that Hibs
are an inferior product and already out of the UEFA Cup.
That view was underlined last night when AEK
midfielder Vassilis Tsartas pronounced that being eliminated by Hibs would
be a massive failure for the more technically-gifted AEK. Tsartas
holds the belief that Hibs rely on straight-forward football with the long
ball played more often than not, a description of the McLeish style that
will not be all that familiar to most Hibs fans. The AEK midfielder
said: "We are a technical side and we know how to play
football. Hibs will be looking to play quick, straight-forward
football with long balls and crosses. I believe we are a superior
side and if we are intelligent enough we can win this game - being
eliminated by Hibs would be a failure."
Santos - respect (sns)
The
Tsartas view on the game was not matched by a more diplomatic first-team
coach, as the AEK boss Fernando Santos said: "Hibs
are a very organised team and very difficult to play against. They
play a different style of football and we don't play against teams like
them every week. In the first half last week we found Hibs were very
, very difficult to break down, but in the second half we found ways of
getting round that and hopefully we can find other ways in this
game. We are confident but I still have maximum respect for
Hibernian." You just get
the impression however that these words hide a true feeling in the AEK
camp that the tie was won through those two second-half goals last week in
Athens, and while confidence is a worthy tool in football it can also come
back and haunt you, as the men from Athens may yet discover.
Theo Zagorakis - a difficult tie (sns)
One
AEK star who does know a bit more about the game in this country is Theo
Zagorakis, who had a spell under Celtic boss Martin O'Neill while at
Leicester City. Zagorakis looked ahead to the second leg with a
little more care and one suspects a much more realistic viewpoint, saying:
"It will be difficult for us, although we do
aim to win. Hibs are a good team and I believe Craig Brewster is a
good striker, we will have to watch him very carefully. We know that
this will be a difficult game for us even though we have a 2-0 lead."
The
words though are just about done out, and the action is just about upon
us. Hibernian, as Alex McLeish has been prone to point out in recent
days, stand on the verge of a fantastic night - if they pull off the
mammoth feat of overturning a two goal deficit. The expectation is
once again high among the Hibs support and that can work against Hibs if
things don't go according to plan! But we can be sure that Hibernian
will be giving everything they have, and the hope is that the Hibees can
ensure that Mr Tsartas is not so keen to say anything before departing
Scotland for home.
|
