The straight line in the cardiogram of Panathinaikos and the one-day contract

A week after Olympiakos crashed in OAKA, Panathinaikos had a match – an opportunity to show they can close the bracket right away and write a new course in the rest of the EuroLeague. The one with Bayern Munich in the Audi Dome. But nothing in practice. Again. Again at this year’s event, what was presented on the floor was appalling to say the least.

Complete lack of cooperation (7 assists from 8 errors), zero communication on defense, passivity, lack of coordination on the field. At a competitive level. Because in addition to these, questions that have nothing to do with tactics prove to be much more serious. After all, no one needed to be familiar with the “green reality” or what is happening within the organization. The body language upon entering the floor of the Audi Dome said a lot about the atmosphere.

Selfishness went for a walk

It doesn’t seem really difficult for anyone to accept that none of the Panathinaikos players can show their anger on the parquet floor. Not at the expense of the whole, but with a view to protecting it. what do we mean To show his bruised ego and play a tougher (personal) defense, to show he can’t settle for another loss, with another match reduced to a cover role and to see how the opponent repeatedly exposes him.

In many cases, the first thing a coach uses to fix a problematic situation is the battered egos of their players. At least from what they have. In this case, however, the darkness into which everyone within Panathinaikos has been plunged seems so deep that it does not allow them to look in the mirror and confront the problem.

Because – bad lies – each of the participants in this year’s promotion bears (more or less depending on the occasion) the responsibility for what appears on the floor.

The Lost Faith

Really, is there anyone on the team who believes in what has been created this year? It could be answered that the specific question is rhetorical in nature. Quite simply because everyone shows with their image/attitude that they do not surround the building with faith and trust. Bank-to-ground communication – it seems – has been so lacking for quite some time that there is not the slightest reason to change things (for the better) when things start to go wrong.

The facial changes aimed at by Dejan Radonić appear to be more of a necessary evil than a solution to the problem. Because if you get in, you can’t pull the cart out of the mud. Of the one in which Panathinaikos has been “stuck” in recent weeks and – in many cases – presented a picture of dissolution.

You know, it doesn’t take a game ending in -30 or -40 to show the problem. There are several moments/images within forty minutes that lead to this conclusion.

Low post defense and the second pass

The game against Bayern showed the mental weakness of the whole game in several phases. On the one hand, the complete inconsistency in the defense at the low post (Augustin Rubit repeatedly exposed everyone with “his” phases), from the first to the last minute. On the other hand, the manifestation of ball possession with the main characteristics of persistence in dribbling and stability.

So much so that at team level, Panathinaikos often conveys the image of a team that doesn’t work every day. If you don’t train, you don’t follow the same thing on the ground. Because the topic now encompasses the whole (beyond each individual).

Obviously Marius Grigonis is not a bad player. Obviously Mateusz Ponitka is not enough. Obviously George Papagiannis is not small for this level.

Only somewhere on the road the direction was lost.

The one-day contract

The size of the club doesn’t (sic) allow the problem to be prolonged much longer. OAKA does not “raise” such things. The change (it is necessary) can be done with or without some of those in the Audi Dome on Thursday evening January 5th. And if in the first phase no one seems to have understood the message from the derby with Olympiacos (both sporting and spiritual), it is clear that now everyone will be judged, every day that passes (although this has already been hinted at). within the organization).

What does that mean; The ‘one-day contract’ mentioned by Rick Pitino in his first tenure as Panathinaikos coach will be worn by everyone from now on.

The question is whether they are ready and willing at the club to make difficult decisions (competitive and financial) in order to change the existing situation. Because Panathinaikos (with the existing technical staff enjoying management’s full confidence) seems doomed to demolish and build from an almost zero mid-season base.

Not the most proven, but perhaps the only way to limit the damage.