Yannis Seretis writes of the “high profile” who could join Panathinaikos at the end of January after a turbulent last 20 days before it was too late for Trefoil this season.
Prisoner no. 1: The transfer period has ended and no further additions will be made Panathinayakas. Maximovic will arrive in June, so that the new midfield can be built on him (the trio with Arau – Bagacetta is very “strong”) and those who came – came, left (Kleinheisler – Chokai, Jovanovic were very unsuccessful choices. ) – left. First colon.
Prisoner #2: Juricic, Cherin, Geremegev are back, Palacios ready with Intrepid. Next Ionitis, Huancar, Verbits – Sporar and Vajianitis. Colon or no colon here, because no one can be sure what will happen. But, like the rematch with Olympiakos, Panathinaikos is no longer in an emergency.
Prisoner No. 3: Papala Devil-January with Sunday-Wednesday-Sunday sequence. If Panathinaikos qualifies ahead of Atromitos, it will have two semi-finals with PAOK in February (month 14 and 22), but in any case the schedule will be “relaxed”. Based on the number of games and their frequency, but also based on the strength of Panathinaikos' opponents (Serres, Lamia, Kifisia, Aris, OFI five opponents with 3/5 in Leoforos until the end of the regular season) .
Now, therefore, in case of two consecutive failures Don't fear And PAOK, with Panathinaikos in danger of being derailed from the cup and the championship in less than a week (depending on the results with Peristeri and Olympiakos at Empty Avenue), this is a perfect moment for Fatih Terim to ask for the bell. Is that Yiannis Alafouzos? Is it Technical Director Yiannis Papadimitriou? Maybe I can't see the horizon…
Obviously, a coach at Terim's age, with Terim's small stature, temperament and personality, doesn't take words lightly. However, the club must do the right thing. From now on he will have the opportunity to evaluate the management of the Turkish coach – among other things.
The administration of Fotis Ioannidis and the huge cost of his absence in Toumba and Peristeri – because you never know “what you have” until now – is the tip of the iceberg of a series of wrong choices by many players. A combination of “injuries, transfers, changes/trials” prevented Panathinaikos from building a new identity in the post-Ivan era.
“Six-Eight-Ten” Kotsira is also an unnecessary sign. Not even seven (!) players in the forward position, five in the defensive midfield position and six stoppers in the first eight games of the term. He has three strong signings (a key stopper, a key eight and Bakaseta when there is a wonderful opportunity), prudent, no-nonsense roster management in January to avoid many injuries and too much work in attacking and defensive change. This is exactly what Panathinaikos needed after Jovanovic decided he had “peaked”.
These did not happen. Other things happened. Among the “others”, Panathinaikos also had great luck, qualifying against Olympiakos with half a team, which gave a big psychological boost to the new start. Within five days that good wind had evaporated. It's not too late. Panathinaikos has time to change for the better, but the main condition is that its coach changes on many issues. We do not mean that he did not leave his team only with midfielder Serin in the match against PAOK from the 64th minute (Lemnios replaced Vajianidis, Kotsiras moved to the right wing, good again for Panathinaikos, who was replaced in the 72nd. Dyson – Despontov). Big mistakes are made during matches by all the coaches, even the 'imbaters'.
Picking a few constants based on the eleven, thoroughly researching each opponent, and generally minimizing all kinds of risk related to the management of the roster. This does not mean that success will follow. But if they do, nothing worse can happen.
PS 1. If Terim is fired before the end of the season, what happened in the Fotis Ioannidis administration will play a (first) catalytic role.
PS2: What Bagacetas is doing in his first two games (his team's top scorer in both defeats) without even completing a week at Panathinaikos highlights how much of a failure the transfers of Bernard and Juricic have been – it certainly hasn't. Terim. With some good elements, but by no means able to raise Panathinaikos' status to make the difference in winning the championship.
PS 3. PAOK's dynamic and impressive presence this year highlights the level of opportunity Panathinaikos had last year due to AEK's troubled start. That opportunity was lost for a number of reasons (Aiter injury in the winter transfer window, terrible “suicide”, mainly non-football reasons in the playoffs), but this year, heading into the season, Glover won't even get a second chance despite his over-inflated budget.
