The Two Towers and Records of the Defense of Panathinaikos

Panathinaikos continues his gallop in the Super League with the impressive ’10X10′, turning his most difficult exit (yet) away from Leoforos into an easy process with an emphatic 5-1 in Volos and gearing up for Sunday (11/06, 19 : 30) “Mother of Battles” with Olympiakos in “Apostolos Nikolaidis”.

A very different Clasico compared to the records in the Greek league in recent years, but without losing the peculiarities that always accompany an absolute derby between Panathinaikos and Olympiakos.

Trefoil goes into the “eternal” derby with the best psychology and mood. Hurt by the injuries of Aitor, Trouillet and Frokou who will miss the rest of the season but with outright wins, best attack (20 goals) and best defense in the league (3 goals).

He has 20 of 32 clean sheets in 2022

The last part, the defensive behavior of the entire team, is perhaps what stands out in this year’s Panathinaikos. In fact, since the second half of last season, the defense has become the Greens’ great weapon, when the whole team adopted Ivan Jovanovic’s philosophy and showed the pitch how to absorb pressure from opponents with their own style of play.

Panathinaikos has set another record in Volos, apart from ten straight wins. It’s the team’s best defensive start back in the A’ National/Super League days as the just 3 goals they’ve conceded in their first ten games is the best performance in their history. In the seasons 1967/68, 1970/71 and 2007/08 he overtook the 4 goals conceded in the first 10 games.

What is most impressive, however, is the defensive consistency that Panathinaikos has displayed for many months.

1. Since the beginning of 2022 and the 2-0 win over Aris in Leoforos (5/1), the “Greens” have played a total of 32 league games (including playoffs) and 20 clean sheets (62.5% clean sheets) denied.
2. In the 12 games in which his clean sheet was broken, he conceded a total of 18 goals, an average of 0.56 goals per game, while exactly a year earlier he was conceding just under 1 goal per game.
3. He conceded a goal (also with a penalty) from a team other than Olympiakos, AEK and PAOK for the first time after around 8.5 months and his 1-0 defeat by Panaitolikos in Agrinio (19/2) to keep the ‘zero’ . between” in 13 games with: Atromito (2-0), OFI (2-0), Lamia (2-0, 2-0), PAS Ioannina (0-0, 4-0, 3-0), Levadeiakos ( 1:0), Ionikos (1:0), Asteras Tripoli (1:0) and Aris (0:0, 1:0 and 1:0) Nothing happens by chance…

Everyone helped back on this record

All contributed to the impressive 3 goals in 10 games deficit this year (with Panathinaikos only conceding goals from AEK, PAOK and Volos). You have helped immeasurably Achilleas Poungouras and Zvonimir Sarliawhen they had to make up for the absences of injured Bart Schenkefeld and Hordur Magnusson in the first month of the year and, above all, reacted perfectly in a number of games.

He kept his home team intact with major interventions in crucial points of many games Alberto Brignoli. They offered consistency and stability even to players in the second tier of the rotation, such as Facudo Sanchez or o Christian Ganeawho filled Juancar’s gap excellently whenever he was absent or had to give the Spaniard “breathers”.

The big difference made and made the two towers of the “green” defence, Bart Schenkefeld together with Hordur Magnusson. They suffered badly early in the season, the first from a fractured lumbar vertebra sustained in the second leg with Slavia and the second from a bicep muscle strain that threw him back badly.

When they came back, however, they “found” each other very quickly, complemented each other with their competitive qualities and are the “A” and the “O”, not only in the back, but also in the first step of the development and creation of Panathinaikos.

Schenkefeld has taken on more responsibility

In his 4th year at Trefoil, Schenkefeld has taken on more responsibility than any other year, offers calm but also the necessary toughness in defense and is the man of the right decisions at the right time.

With Aris, he made two interventions in the 0-0 draw that were worth almost as much as Sporar’s goal and his only error so far was the penalty he gave to Tsokani last Saturday (29/10), the only time that he even lost his concentration for seconds (which he has already discussed with Jovanovic, who pays very meticulous attention to all the small details).

Magnuson is the first playmaker in development

Magnuson is the first playmaker at the back and the player to start development from down the left. Taking the full width at the back, he plays on the left-back’s edge (with the safety of Sanchez’s inside movement playing as a third stopper in the development phase) and lets Juancar run the full cross.

Almost all first balls go through his feet, while their accuracy rates are impressive on balls from 25 to 30 yards, either diagonally to the opposite extreme or to the left side extremes. Bring an extra player into the creation.

They complement each other in all areas

Both have learned each other’s game by now (they’ve played five matches in a row and a total of 494 minutes), they almost always have the right positions, either in the defending phase or in the attacking phase (each player’s positioning is another big “key” ) of success for Jovanovics Panathinaikos) and correctly read all the situations that arise in front of the Brignoli goal each time.

Yes, Panathinaikos scores in every game and now averages 2 goals per game. However, the confidence in his defense and an impressive 0.3 passives per game give him the opportunity to start games with the certainty that conceding goals will be very difficult, making it easier and more convincing to win victories.