I had to do it though because on Wednesday Panathinaikos plays the first game of the season against the Danes of OB of the Third qualifying round, for the UEFA Champions League.

A lot of things happened during the past days, first of all, a scandal of pre-fixed games hit one month ago Greek Football. The protagonists of this scandal are the president’s of Olympiacos Volou and Kavala (the two teams play for the first division) and a lot of people from the second division. Even the president of Olympiacos Piraeus is accused with some serious accusations but so far the terrible Greek Law System hasn’t made any progress and no one is punished yet.

Among this misery surround Panathinaikos Chairman Giannis Vardinogiannis decided to put his own “misery costume” in order to make a serious cut at the expenses and a lot of things changed since last season. First of all the three best known players of the team, Djibril Cisse, Gilbero Silva and Sydney Govou (who was awful his first year in the team) are no longer members of Panathinaikos. Cisse sold to Lazio for a fee of 5.8M Euros, Gilberto signed free for Brazilian side Gremio as I told in my previous post while Govou signed free for French newly promoted Evian. Luis Garcia Sanz also let free.

Goodbye and Good Luck Djibril... Thank you....

Some of are loaned players were sold, such as Marcelo Mattos to Botafongo for 900K Euros, Gabriel to Gremio for 350K Euros, Andreas Ivanschitz was sold to Mainz for 200K Euros. Many of them returned to the team having another chance to make it.

Gesualdo Ferreira remained to his position as our coach and promised that he will try to produce a team that wants to hold the ball, press very high and attack. To good to be true I’m afraid but let’s hope he can make us play at least better than last year.

Now the incoming players are:

The replacement of Cisse is Toche a Spanish player who played for Cartagena with a three year contract. I haven’t heard of this player to be honest but he has to make a huge effort in order to make the Panathinaikos fans forget Djibril Cisse.

Another Spaniard, Victor Vitolo signed as a free transfer from Greek side PAOK Salonica for three years. Vitolo started his career in Greece playing for Aris Salonica, he is a good player but the comparison with Gilberto is unfair for him

Former Arsenal player is our third transfer, the Dutch-Ghanian winger signed on-loan for one year from Al Sadd Sports Club.

From left to right: Vitolo, Quincy Owusu-Abeyie and Toce

Panathinaikos is also very close to sign 22 year old Porugese player Zeca from Vitoria Setubal.

I wish all the best to our new players but they have a lot to do..

Every body can see that the team saved a lot of money but lost reputation and dropped at least one level. Now the team has to play like a team in order to correct this handicap.

The team prepared in Austria and played five friendly games against:

Polish side Lech Poznan (we won 1-0), Austrian amateur side Kitzbühel (11-0 win!!), Sivaspor (0-0 draw), FC Koln (we lost 2-1) and Atromitos Athens (0-0) draw.

The signs after these friendly games are not good. I’ m afraid that tomorrow in Denmark against O.B.  We will have a very difficult job since their Championship has already started and their fit. Our only advantage is that we are more experienced team and if we could score one away goal would be great….

After the first ten minutes PAOK balanced and got very solid in the back. It was obvious that their objective was to “escape” with a draw so they played with a massive defense. Panathinaikos on the other hand couldn’t find any free space and our midfield players were unable to hold the ball and create an organized offensive move.  But on the 23’ minute of the game after a Panathinaikos corner PAOK defender Bruno Cirillo tried to kick the ball out of his area the ball touched his chest and the referee pointed the spot. It was a dubious decision but after the interference of his assistant and the intense protests of PAOK players he changed his decision.

The second half started with a change from our side with Christodoulopoulos replacing Luis Garcia. The game continued with the same tempo as the first half with all PAOK players to wait in their half but on 74’ Gilberto Silva scored (from an edgy offside position) the winning goal after he got the rebound inside the box.

His last goal in Greece...

PAOK decided to react in order to score the equalizer and at 84’ Muslimovic couldn’t score in front of our goal. It was the one and only time during the game that PAOK threatened us.

It wasn’t a great game but the main thing is that we got the three points and now after the AEK loss in Volos we are on the top of the table:

Panathinaikos          10

PAOK Salonika       9

AEK Athens            8

Olympiacos Volou   6

So now it’s pretty much on our hands to get the ticket for the qualification round of the Champions League. In the final day (which is tomorrow) of this play-off we play with AEK away while PAOK meets Olympiacos Volou in Thessaloniki.  We will face AEK in an empty OAKA Stadium because they are on a three match punishment to play without fans for the incidents that took place during the Greek Cup Final.

Respect...

Before I close this post I have to say a big THANK YOU to Gilberto Silva. It was his last game in Greece in front of the Panathinaikos fans and he celebrated with a goal. After the game his team-mates gave him a big hug while the fans were chanting his name. It was a very emotional moment for a great character and a world class player. He truly honored Panathinaikos shirt the last three years. Tomorrow is his last game in Greece and after that he will travel to his home country to play for the next 18 months to Gremio where he will meet another ex-Panathinaikos player Gabriel.

The end...

I wish you all the best Gilberto…

After that the Panathinaikos players maybe realized that another disaster surely would hit if they didn’t change their attitude and gradually they started play like a normal team. At 27’ after a high ball from Gilberto Silva in the heart of the Volos penalty area the two center backs didn’t communicate and Luis Garcia scored a “clever” goal between them. This goal gave new confidence to the team as they were winning the majority of the battles in the center.

Luis Garcia scored his second goal this season..

The second half was all Panathinaikos, Cisse warned Volos defense at 49’ when he didn’t score all alone when he tried to round the Volos goalkeeper after a great ball from Luis Garcia, but the second time he got himself in front of the goal he executed magnificently for 2-0. Cisse celebrated his goal to the Panathinaikos bench hugging Ferreira giving this way a “message” that the players support their coach.

Cisse gave "vote of confidence" to Ferreira...

Volos couldn’t react as we were very solid in the defense but the players were trying to score a third goal in the counter attack but they were making a lot of mistakes trying to get quick to the opposition area. Ferreira wanted them to play slower and try to make organized offensive moves and that’s what they did at 84’ when Cisse gathered all the defenders of Olympiacos Volou and then passed the ball to Katsouranis for 3-0.  Cisse was great yesterday scoring one and made another goal. If the Frenchman is good Panathinaikos can’t loose, it’s that simple.

It was a vital victory for the reasons I explained in my previous post but the most important thing is that the players finally played like a team with concentration and passion.  In the other game PAOK won AEK 2-1 and now the table is:

PAOK Salonika       9

AEK Athens            8

Panathinaikos          7

Olympiacos Volou   3

The next game is on Sunday with PAOK at home while AEK plays at Volos so the “battle” for the first place is not over yet. If we win the last two games we are first and I think the players have the obligation to make it ending the season with a positive sign…

I don’t really know to tell you the truth but the Panathinaikos players keep “amazing” me day by day. This time they managed to loose from Olympiacos Volou 2-1 and now they are in danger not to qualify for next seasons  Europa League.

Olympiacos Volou started the game with a great passion for the victory and they kept attacking to waves while our players couldn’t pass the center of the field and kept loosing the ball from the pressing of the Volos players. The absences of Katsouranis and Gilberto Silva were not suitably replaced by Ferreira who started Luis Garcia, Ninis and Silva Clayton who are very similar players, technically good but they can’t mark win a header or put up a strong challenge.  Simao Mate Junior was the only one ho dad to deal defensively with the whole Olympiacos Volou midfield.

It is no exaggeration to say that Panathinaikos should loose 4-0 during the first half hour of the game while Volos players saw the ball hit the woodwork twice.  But despite Volos total dominance and contrary to the course of the game Mario Breska tried to dribble Leto inside Volos penalty are, the Argentinian stole the ball and executed with a powerful shot and put Panathinaikos in front for a lead we didn’t deserve.

Volos after the initial shock tried to equalize before half time but they couldn’t make it. The second half started with a substitution with Karagounis instead of negative Silva Clayton but nothing changed and Volos equalized with a close powerful header from Solakis at 52’. Volos wanted the victory and kept pushing Panathinaikos back and at 64’ Juan Martín (from an offside position) put them in front turning the game around.

Solakis was the best player on the pitch..

Petropoulos and Govou substituted Ninis and Luis Garcia and we changed the formation
to 4-4-2 but nervousness forced the players to play “anarchy football” and normally we didn’t really react after the second Volos goal.

It was a crystal clear victory (despite their irregular goal) for Olympiacos Volou.
As for our players many of them are not good enough for the team and those who are will probably try to find some other team to continue their careers. Ferreira made another bad coaching and it’s quite sure that he will get fired at the end of the season. He has lost every sense of discipline inside the team and it seems that the players have no confidence in him.

Disapointment...

The other game ended with a 3-0 AEK win against PAOK in Athens and now they lead the table, which after yesterday’s games is:

AEK Athens            8

PAOK Salonika       6

Panathinaikos          4

Olympiacos Volou 3

If AEK (who is also the Greek Cup Winner) win the play-off League then the Cup finalist Atromitos will take one Europa League place, so in this case the last team of play-off table will not qualify for Europe.

I can’t even imagine this scenario but if we continue to play like that I’m afraid that we will be that team.

So the next game with Olympiacos Volou (at home this time) on Wednesday automatically is very important if we want at least to keep the third place. But –I’ m very sad to say that- with last night’s performance of the two teams I think Volos is the favorite and not us…

AEK caught our defense napping (once more this season) just in the 2^ND minute of the game with Leonardo. From then all seemed very hard for Panathinaikos which was very nervous and the players couldn’t exchange the simplest pass with each other. Thankfully AEK didn’t advantage and started backing giving us space and after the first ten minutes we took the game to us. At 24’ Ismael Blanco put the ball into his own net, after a well executed corner from Luis Garcia. We continued pressing for a second goal and ten minutes later the referee denied Cisse a clear penalty.

Not given...

During the second half we were the better team of the game but the AEK goalkeeper was in good shape and prevented our second goal. AEK lost at 90’ the chance to get away with the win.

After the game coach Ferreira and some players stated that the referee should award the penalty and that is the main reason that we could win. For me this is unacceptable, we can’t always blame the referee. It is the easy solution to avoid the responsibilities and Mr. Ferreira made a penalty himself with this kind of statement.

No more excuses Mr Ferreira...

In the other match PAOK won Olympiacos Volou in Volos and now climbed to the first place of the table and so far is the better and the fittest team of this series.

The play-off table now is:

PAOK Salonika       6

AEK Athens            5

Panathinaikos          4

Olympiacos Volou 0

Tomorrow we play the third game in Volos and PAOK goes to Athens to face AEK (let’s hope for a draw in this game).

We have some unfinished business with Olympiacos Volou because they won us two times during the regular season. Moreover the president of Volos is a sworn “enemy” of our team and I expect a very tough game.

It is the last chance of the players (and Ferreira) to show something better and diverse this difficult situation. Gilberto Silva (our best player of Thursday’s game), Katsouranis, Christodoulopoulos, Seitaridis, Spyropoulos and Marinos will not travel to Volos due to various injuries.

Sebastian Leto though returns after his absence due to yellow cards but I don’t know who will replace Gilberto and Katsouranis who are crucial in the center of the field.

So let’s hope for a positive reaction or else…

Panathinaikos is the most successful team in modern European Basketball history as they have won the title, during the last fifteen years, six times while Real Madrid is in the top of the list with eight wins but with the last win in 1995 and four wins during the 1960’s but basketball was so much different back then.

Time to celebrate...

While our boys and fans were celebrating their huge success it was kick-off time for the first game of the Greek Superleague Playoffs against PAOK in Salonika. When I switched the channel to watch the football game it was already the 30^TH minute and there was no score in the game. I was still in a festive mood so I was watching the game like I was a neutral spectator so I didn’t care much that we couldn’t keep the ball in our feet making numerous mistakes giving the possession to PAOK very easily. PAOK’s right winger Vieirinha was “playing” with our left back Ioannidis but PAOK side they were also nervous and they couldn’t finish what Vieirinha was trying to create.

Vieirinha... The Portugese star of PAOK "tortured" Ioannidis

When the second half began I was hoping for a much more improved performance from our side but that didn’t happen, in fact we were an awful spectacle and PAOK punished us in the 57’ minute while a mistake from (whom else?) Vyntra inside our penalty area gave the opportunity to Athanasiadis to score with a close range finish. PAOK kept pressing in order to score a second goal and they made it at the 75’ when Vieirinha sliced our defense with a pass to former Liverpool player El Zhar who executed perfectly for 2-0. The PAOK fans were ecstatic and Panathinaikos was sinking without a trace.

The Panathinaikos players decided they had to react so four minutes later and after our first organized offensive move in the game Vyntra overlapped and centered the ball from the right sideline straight to Cisse’s head for 2-1.

After that point the game became a Russian roulette, PAOK pushed back and tried to hit in the counter attack but they failed two times with Zlatan Muslimović unable to score.

So Panathinaikos already lost the three point advantage they had before the start of the Play-offs, while AEK in the other game won Olympiacos Volou.

After Sunday’s matches the Play-off table is:

AEK Athens            4

PAOK Salonika       3

Panathinaikos          3

Olympiacos Volou  0

The next game is against AEK and will take place on Thursday evening. If we don’t win I am afraid that we will finish in the third place and we will play next year at the early stages of the Europa League qualification round. The psychology of the team right now is at the very bottom while our contenders are on the opposite side. Moreover physically the team seems empty while PAOK for instance was running till the 95 minute of the game.

All the questions will be answered Thursday evening…

Now, what happened these past few weeks..

Firs of all we lost the last game of the regular season from Olympiacos Volos (it is a team that is based in the city of Volos and has the same colours and almost the same badge with our rivals).  This result gave Olympiacos Volou the opportunity to take part in the upcoming playoffs. The other two teams are AEK Athens and PAOK Salonika.

Now after the points teams gathered during the regular season, the play-off table is:

Panathinaikos       3

AEK Athens            1

PAOK Salonika       0

Olympiacos Volou 0

The coaches of teams participating in the play-offs

The schedule is:

8/5

AEK   Athens – Olympiacos Volou

PAOK – Panathinaikos

11/5

Olympiacos Volou – PAOK

Panathinaikos – AEK   Athens

15/5

AEK   Athens – PAOK

Olympiacos Volou  - Panathinaikos

18/5

PAOK – AEK   Athens

Panathinaikos – Olympiacos Volou

22/5

Olympiacos Volou – AEK   Athens

Panathinaikos- PAOK

25/5

AEK   Athens – Panathinaikos

PAOK – Olympiacos Volou

The first team gets a pace for the Champions League qualifying round; the second team and third team go to the Europa League qualifying rounds. But since AEK won the Greek Cup (which automatically qualifies for the Europa League) everybody goes Europe. The only interest is the place they will finish in order to enter later for the qualification games.

Hope I haven’t confused you…

So I’ll be back for Sunday’s game preview…

The starting line-up and formation were as described in the preview with the only change at the left back with Ioannidis instead of Spyropoulos who got injured in training.

Panathinaikos tried to score from the first minute but all the shots made were way off target so I can’t say that we had any classic moment to score. Our performance gradually started to decline after the first half hour and the last quarter of the first half belongs to Asteras Tripolis who missed two very good chances to score.

Sebastian Leto

During the second half we tried to score but the players were targeting the birds of OAKA Stadium. Ninis entered the field at the 60’ instead of Karagounis but nothing happened since the players could communicate with each other. Govou for Christodoulopoulos and Silva Clayton for Katsouranis made the team more attacking. It was the 80’ that the fate of the game changed, Aras got a second yellow card for protesting against the referee and two minutes later after a well executed corner from Silva Clayton Pipinis send the ball to his own net. After that Cisse had the chance to score three times at the counter-attack but he didn’t make it.

After that result Asteras Tripolis relegated along with Larisa and Panserraikos.

Ferreira at the press conference stated that the team has lack of confidence and that he will try this coming week to fix that. I don’t want to judge our coach –at least not now- but sometimes seems that he realizes some things that should have solve sometime now…

As I have said from this blog the team has a lot of problems which all come from the uncertainty in the administration of the Panathinaikos board and reflect to the team.

Our next game is with Asteras Tripolis at home, Asteras has small chances to stay in the league and I think tomorrow they will fight for it.

Traditionally we don’t do well with Asteras plus our indifference and lack of motivation I don’t expect a sure or easy victory, so I wouldn’t bet my money that Panathinaikos will win tomorrow.

Ferreira this time probably will play with a 4-3-3 formation:

GK Tzorvas

DR Vyntra               DCR Boumsong                        DCL Sarriegi                        DL Spyropoulos

DMC Gilberto Silva

MCR Katsouranis   MCL Karagounis

AMR Christodoulopoulos                                               AML Leto

STC Cisse

The game will take place tomorrow at OAKA Stadium of Athens, 18:00 CET

Panathinaikos entered the field as I described in the preview with Kotsolis under the goalpost and at the sixth minute showed readiness   as he blocked a shot from Parker. This lost opportunity from Panserraikos didn’t ring a bell to the Panathinaikos players who seemed completely bored, out of rhythm, without movement. Ferreira tried to change things shifting the attacking player’s positions but the result was the same. It was the perfect spectacle if somebody wanted to go to sleep without taking pills.

At 39’ Panserraikos hits again with a close header from Parker but Kotsolis denied him once more making a fantastic save but just before halftime justice came and Panserraikos scored with Georgiadis after a lovely through ball from Anakoglou.

Panserraikos players celebrate their goal...

Ferreira tried to alter things during the second half, Ninis entered instead of Marinos and Govou for Spyropoloulos, he changed the system to 3-4-3 but the passion and the will of the players remained at the lowest level. The one and only time that Panathinakos came close to score was on the last minute of extra time but the Panserraikos goalkeeper said no.

Panserraikos got a well deserved win and should take all the plaudits while our players –except Kotsolis- seems that they went to Serres for tourism. It was an awful performance and they have absolutely no excuse this time.

Kotsolis was the only player who tried..

Panathinaikos this year managed to lose points from the last three teams of the table and this behaviour is one of the many reasons that we couldn’t fight for the championship till the end. We tend to struggle with lower reputation teams and this is a diachronically problem.  The seasons we win this kind of games usually we take the Championship, that’s a fact.

I don’t know if Ferreira will be our coach next year but the first thing he has to change is the attitude and the mentality of the players. If they don’t change their approach it’s mathematically sure that this kind of performance will show up again in the future..