Where to catch it and where to leave it again… Ending the game in Agrinio (1-0 loss to Panetolikos), trying to keep a clear head and wondering which of the two is worse?

That this year’s Panathinaikos have already ‘written’ a record with 10 defeats in 24 regular-season games (including 5 in 6 games played in the … and 8 in a total of 12 away games) is a shame. or that from the moment Panaitolikos scored with Mendoza a goal from … out of thin air – after the discovery of a foul by Sidiropoulos – most of us felt that (and) this game was “about” nothing would? Really sad… There is no other adjective to describe it all…

At some point the pastor gets bored at most. It’s no longer a coincidence that all this recurring scene of grief is still something…metaphysical. And no coach is “amazing” anymore because it hasn’t happened once or twice. It became the (disappointing) “rule”, the deja vu of a team that has a psychology… butter, a huge personality deficit and players with no “men” (don’t write anything heavier) when it starts to stress.. In 7 of the 8 games outside the avenue, when Panathinaikos scored the first goal, they didn’t get a single point, except (and I won’t repeat the rule) the game with Lamia, which also took place in Volos. The numbers are hard on this case, as hard as their truth is…

Good, golden and holy is the talk of Panathinaikos, which has been in the process of a competitive rebuild since the beginning of the season, after last year’s leveling (at all levels), the “betas” are good, but now after 8 months and this building of the this year’s “shamrock” has started to tip over… very dangerously. At the risk of taking such an incline that in the end it will be difficult to… absorb the situation. And if (and) this season is accompanied by total failure, the clicking of a potential collapse will be much louder than ever…

We are sitting and discussing on February 20, 2022 if Panathinaikos will manage to enter the playoffs in this championship, with these teams, with this ball that we see and OFI, PAS, Aris, Asteras and I don’t know who behind to let himself otherwise … For a Panathinaikos who has 10 defeats in 24 games. And the ghost of George Kalafatis hasn’t risen to begin in our folders. Not just for this year, but for everything that has happened over the years! And I apologize to the great founder of Panathinaikos for calling him one day after the 58th anniversary of his death for such things. I deserved the folder too…

Ivan had to be more determined

Aside from the lack of psychology that grows in the difficult circumstances of the absence of personalities, the whole thing is (and is) “constructive”. And in the phase in which Panathinaikos is now in the season, the final analysis on the part of the coach, after Panetolikos-type “slaps” in the face, is no longer sufficient. He is the architect of all this effort, he has been responsible for all the decisions and steps taken since last summer and at the end of the day he has to find the solutions for the team to achieve its main goals.

Jovanovic has many good points as a coach, but like all people he has his “flaws”. With the main thing that he always tries to get out of the … fly, xiggi, he is not decisive in the key decisions. Where he has to break eggs to continue … He received a squad “wounded” and discredited by the former coach and (God forbid) general manager of the “Cloverleaf”.

In many cases, however, he had to be much more adamant about difficult decisions. And especially when it comes to transfer and planning issues, where he was and remains very “difficult” (throughout his entire coaching career): Do I need a goalkeeper? So I will do everything to get this striker who will give me that easy goal.

The permanent absence of such a footballer, which was not corrected even last January, must make it clear that at the end of the day he is doing an injustice to his own work and that of his staff. And that “drives” most of the people on the team insane.

Because this year Panathinaikos, this Panathinaikos always plays good ball in most of his games, plays “normal” football, tries to assert himself on the pitch, despite given spelling mistakes in his squad, but as long as he doesn’t have the man in front to make it easier to justify life, justify working in the field, as long as it doesn’t cover its gaps properly and WITH OPTIONS FROM HIGHER SHELVES, it will constantly be chasing its…tail. And he will try to find it every time because he takes his eyes off himself…

Problem #1 and the trade-off

Of course, Jovanovic has made a lot of big mistakes in those 8 months that he’s been sitting on the edge of the ‘green’ bench. And in setting up the squad and making decisions or making decisions in the course of the game and everything. Whatever “tolerance” there is – through this heartbreaking score harvest based on Panathinaikos’ image and looks – he hasn’t won it… bluntly, but ONLY his work. And his effort to get B lyceum kids back to A’ elementary school to remember the… basics.

And of course the footballers are not irresponsible. Because they themselves have not opened a book in recent years. Or more specifically, what happened from 2017, with responsibility primarily on the part of Alafouzos, created a huge ‘alibi’, lowered the bar of expectations, buried motivation and eliminated any ‘hunger’ for success or perception of actual club size. This “and to lose, let’s look at the next game” took root deep in Koropi and became his #1 problem. Compromise with failure and defeat…

The uprooting of the “alien” mentality

But now it is the duty of the Serbian coach – since he himself is reassured and wants to continue the common course with Panathinaikos – to make significantly deeper cuts in the football department in the coming summer.

Regardless of the end of the season (because the year still has a long way to go and many challenges ahead), Jovanovic (as he remains on the “green” bench) is forced to cancel a lot in the summer for the time being, all at the mentality level. He tries, he fights it from day one… With its advantages and disadvantages, its sticking points and any insecurities. He didn’t even succeed and he still has to get much “harder” and more vertical. Deciding who can truly serve what they want and infusing the roster with quality and substance. But not with other half measures, but with options that will take him much deeper …

Right now, it’s important to see how a team can “catch up” (again) at the end of the regular season that’s just trying to build a small streak and convince them to constantly kick the card with the points in order to do it and sinks back into her introversion … But this year should not (also) be lost. It’s still in the hands of all of them… And in any case, the week leading up to the game on Sunday (02/27) with AEK on the Avenue will be very important “internally”…