Jovanovic’s plan for qualification: There he will beat Maccabi Haifa

It’s a very “strange” game for Panathinaikos tomorrow (12/14, 7:45 p.m., COSMOTE SPORT 3 HD and LIVE Sportish) against Maccabi Haifa at Leoforos, in the final “round” of the Europa League groups.

“Strange” and very important for a number of reasons that have been analyzed in recent days, around the value of this particular game and the “Cloverleaf”’s first qualification for the knockout rounds in 14 years.

“Strange” because Maccabi Haifa has gone through many different phases this season due to the war situation of the last two months and something with Palestine and Hamas and you can never be sure which team will play against you.

Maccabi on October 5th, which Panathinaikos faced at the “Sammy Ofer Stadium” a few hours before the outbreak of war with Hamas, was a very well organized team, a natural continuation of the group that Barak Bakhar had built and built over the last three years had managed it in three leagues before he left for Red Star.

The war kept the Israeli team busy for more than a month until they returned to the Europa League and pushed the Spaniards to their limits in the game against Villarreal in Larnaca, eventually losing 2-1. From then on, your course is like a roller coaster ride.

In the newly started Israeli league they won two games in a row, but narrowly lost 3-0 to Rennes in Budapest. In the postponed game last Wednesday (6/12), he drew 0-0 against Villarreal at Ceramica, but on Sunday (10/12) there was a 1-1 draw against Beitar Jerusalem, a result that was in the dressing room causes tremors and strong criticism from Masai Dego towards his players.

In any case, they are still a very good team, with players who have been playing together for years and have a lot more “friction” in the European Cups than Panathinaikos has had in the last 5-6 years, having recently played in the Champions League groups Year .

And he is highly motivated to carry on as much as possible this year, despite the war-related problems. Which makes them even more dangerous…

You’ve seen all the games

Ivan Jovanovic and his staff have analyzed all the games Maccabi Haifa has played in the last month or so.

And even more so in the last two European Cup games (with Rennes and Villarreal), but also in the Israeli league, because this is the latest and clearest example of their situation.

This is a team that played in “Ceramica” with much more composed lines, was regularly very well organized and in 3-4 cases looked for the counterattack and the goal with very good conditions, even if they did not find the end.

The Serbian coach expects a similar tactical approach from the Israelis in tomorrow’s game (December 14th) at Leoforos.

And based on this logic, he is also preparing his own team by wanting to “hit” the Israelis in the most “vulnerable” part of their game, the edges of their defense.

The pressure and the twins

Maccabi is showing that it is much more vulnerable on the wings, not because it lacks quality, but because its wingers are not particularly fanatical when it comes to marking their full-backs.

Both Halaili and Hajja are often too slow to return after losing the ball as they move up the pitch, and their defensive marking from Sudgren and Kornud is poor.

And this is exactly where Jovanovic wants to apply more pressure with Sebastian Palasios and Aitor as well as Giorgos Vagiannidis and Filip Mladenovic and their movements from the sides to achieve the greatest possible balance of lines and high quality collaboration from the ends.

From then on, a key requirement for the “Cloverleaf” coach is that Panathinaikos can push the Israelis up from the first minute, gain control and possession of the ball and, above all, have patience, stability and clear thinking in a game whose Dates may vary at any time throughout the game.

And apart from the runs, the intensity and the pressure, elements that Panathinaikos needs to dominate the field, above all in this game they will play… ball and mind.