Panathinaikos: He wants to avoid the banana peel in Rizoupoli

With a delay of two months, due to the many coronavirus cases that Apollon Smyrnis had in mid-December, and until an empty (and “compatible” program base) is found for both, Panathinaikos stands today (02/16/18:30, COSMOTESPORTS 2HD, Live Sportish) the “blue and whites” in Rizoupoli for the 14th game of the Super League, in a game crucial for his score and his … rest.

Against the bottom of this year’s league, which however “braked” at home with draws Olympiakos and AEK and lost very hard against PAOK and despite not scoring in his last 9 games, remains a very tough “nut” for everyone. The “Greens” are called in to avoid the…banana peel. And to achieve victory in a must-win game to return to 4th place and within European tickets.

The… cannons are slowly coming to an end as there are now 3 + 1 (including today) games left until the Regular Season finale and Panathinaikos has already squeezed many such “banana peels” in Volos, Heraklion , on the Avenue with Asteras, plus the start’s away games. He spent too many points left and right that if he had taken them he would already have been placed at much higher levels in the standings.

The short span of time from one game to another, in this non-stop program of the last two months, does not offer Ivan Jovanovic any luxury of time to work more in the daily life of the team in Koropi. The program “... Match, unloading, a practice and … we left for the next match“Limits the big corrective movements through training and now it’s about the greatest possible concentration and the mental preparation of the team.

The shot of the elf

The 59-year-old coach doesn’t plan to change many things about the squad that helped Panathinaikos win again last Sunday (13/02) against Lamia. A ‘issue’ was the condition of Aitor, who was substituted off in the 57th minute of the game with Fthiotida’s side with a calf injury, but the Spaniard has proved he has strong wine with similar minor injuries.

And from the moment he trained normally on Tuesday (15/02) 99% will start tonight’s game as a key player (and) with the “light brigade” with Mateus Vital… standing by if the need arises to change the original plan at the last minute.

From then on, Socrates Dioudis remains a key player under the ‘green’ goalposts, with Facudo Sanchez, Bart Senkefeld, Fran Veleth and Juankar forming the defensive quartet in front of him. In midfield, Ruben Pereth will be the “6ari”, Lukas Vijafanjes and Mijat Gacinovic occupy a position slightly in front of him and the Serb takes over this complex role again, playing higher and between opposing lines. Fotis Ioannidis (double goalscorer against Lamia) will start at the top again, while Sebastian Palacios will take a position at the right end of the attack.

A Year in a Row “Touku”

In fact, ‘Toukou’ is gearing up for something really impressive today: it closes exactly one year in a row wearing the Independiente and Panathinaikos jerseys! The Argentine clover midfielder started his terrible streak exactly 12 months ago, on February 16, 2021, when he initiated a substitution in Independiente’s home defeat by Lanus (1-0).

Since then he hasn’t stopped playing for the following 365 days (with a few days off), recording 58 games with 11 goals and 7 assists and a total of 3,887 minutes played! In the 5.5 months he’s been with Panathinaikos, he’s even played in 27 official Greens games in Super League and Cup! Something Vital has done accordingly, with the two Latins being the only ones with absolute participation in the Klee this year.

Again with several problems

The use of the “Greens” for today’s game against Apollo again has many failures. The unprepared Mauricio, Kotsiras (the first will be available on Saturday with Panetolikos), the injured Ludqvist and Makenda were left out, while Achilles Pougouras was out of training on Tuesday (15/02) with back problems. Given the absence (and) of Zvonimir Sarlia, who has had to serve his sentence in this game since December (4 yellow cards), Jovanovic has 19-year-old Giorgos Sideras as his only choice on the bench for central defence. On the contrary, Alexandropoulos returned after two games when he overcame the calf problem.

In detail, Panathinaikos’ 22-man squad for tonight’s game against Apollon Smyrnis consists of Dioudis, Brinioli, Xenopoulos, Vagiannidis, Juankar, Veleth, Senkefeld, Alexandropoulos, Ioannidis, Ayoubos, Karzitos, Karlitos Aitor, Sideras, Palacios, Gacinovic and Vital .