Panathinaikos is preparing to “enter” the Super League playoffs next Sunday (13/3) and is theoretically in the same position it finished last year’s regular season (5th, -3 from place 4), but on a very different fate with regard to the rest of his “package”.

Aura, psyche, vibe, grouping and even frontline options: The Greens await the draw of the qualifiers program in the league offices in significantly better shape than – especially – last season, when their dressing rooms looked like a giant powder keg, they just needed a… spark to “explode”.

Awaiting the first opponent – whether it will be a derby or a theoretically easier “premier”, inside or outside and with PAS Giannina taking the position of OFI in the six – Ivan Jovanovic has already started to close the schedule for Sunday plan , regarding the structure of his team and the Panathinaikos squad with a 4-2-3-1 that has been consolidated in the last two games with AEK and Atromitos. A formation that now has two central midfielders and Mijat Gacinovic in the role of midfielder (“ten”).

Sotiris Alexandropoulos, who received 4 yellow cards in the match against Atromitos and (according to the disciplinary code) has to serve his sentence in the first match of the qualifiers, is missing from the premiere of the playoffs. And this – as everything shows – will change the plan in the axis of Panathinaikos midfield. There, the Serbian coach is already working on the idea of ​​using Ruben Pereth and Dimitris Kourbelis at the same time (for the first time) in the central media duo.

Ruben the ultimate… balancer

The Spaniard missed the game against Atromitos due to a card but there is no question that he will return to a basic shirt. Overpriced by any measure, the 32-year-old is the ultimate balancer in Jovanovic’s racing model, regardless of system, and is considered perhaps the most important player in the green squad.

This is confirmed by his numbers in the regular season, in which he played in 23 of the 26 games (2.127 minutes, third in participation time behind Juankar and Fran Veleth), missing only the first round game with Panetolikos in Leoforos (28/11 , 2-0) due to minor adductor problems, from the home game against Aris (5/1, 2-0) due to Covid-19 and from last Sunday’s game (6/3, 2-0). Peristeri due to maps.

Kourbelis is doing very well now…

On the other hand, Kourbelis showed a very high level of commitment at Peristeri in his first eleventh appearance since the day he returned to the team’s duties. He played 65 minutes and was the one who kept the clover lines solid, especially in the first half where Panathinaikos didn’t perform well. He organized the whole team in the tactical part of the stadium and set the rhythm of Panathinaikos. Among other things, with those excellent diagonal balls from 30-40 meters, which constantly transported the ball to the “weak” side of Atromitos’ defense and created conditions for one-on-one on the wingers or on Juankar. The Panathinaikos captain did this a total of 6 times and in 3 of them good opportunities were “born”…

He’s thinking about it very seriously now

If Vigiafanies hadn’t come from his quadriceps muscle injury, he might have changed plans (again). The Argentine midfielder is doing well now, he’s been training hard with the rest of the team since Saturday (5/3), but on the one hand his minor injury requires special attention because he’s ‘sneaky’ and on the other hand Jovanovic has (proved) that it’s very difficult , playing at the 11 players at once, stemming from injury and usually absent for 10-15 days.

The idea of ​​bringing Ruben and Kourbeli together from the start for the first time always earns more points (regardless of who is the first opponent to reach the playoffs) and will be tried in the training sessions over the next few days.

What is definitely pleasing to the Serbian coach is that for the first time in a long time he has no major absentee problems apart from Federico Maceda, who has had ankle surgery, and Ramon Ludqvist, who has had an arthroscopy and is in the process the process of returning.

More solutions in his midfield

Especially in midfield, after the (very dynamic) “return” of Kourbelis, the integration of Gacinovic, who has begun to “button up” exceptionally in the way the team plays, the rise of Alexandropoulos, the return of Mauricio, but also of Well done, Jovanovic’s quality range is too big now.

And they offer him the opportunity to “open up” the rotation with changing faces and formations depending on the opponent, to come out with more intensity from the super-competitive phase of the next 2.5 months, where everything will be judged for the shamrock, playoffs and cup .

Fatigue is always the No. 1 “opponent” of teams at the finish line each season, with a series of games every 3 or 4 days, but this time Jovanovic (who was forced to recruit a little to Ayub in Toumba a month ago due to lack of) is clearly “full” of solutions and options. And this will be one of the great trump cards and “weapons” of Panathinaikos in this year’s playoffs, where every detail will play its role…