Panathinaikos - Mid Season Review

Panathinaikos - Mid Season Review 

By Antonios Theodosis



After a summer full of changes that brought in new personnel both on the bench and on the pitch, the anticipation for Panathinaikos’ start to the 2020-2021 Super League season was quite high and yet the disastrous start to the season forced Panathinaikos owner Giannis Alafouzos to fire newly appointed manager Danny Poyatos. 


After replacing Poyatos with Laszlo Boloni the Greens now sit in fifth place with eighteen points at the winter break. The Greens have amassed just five wins so far along with three draws and five losses, conceding twelve goals and scoring fourteen along the way.

 

At the midway point of the season Panathinaikos are in a much better spot than they were at the very beginning. At the start of the season, under Poyatos the team was not playing well at all and were utilizing an unbalanced 4-3-3 formation which saw talisman Carlitos playing out of position out wide on the left. 


The cards were eventually shuffled with the appointment of Laszlo Boloni who opted to modify the lineup and the way that this Panathinaikos team plays.

 

Boloni so far has had this Panathinaikos side playing very well and has given the youth players such as Zagaritis and Alexandropoulos a fair shout, much to the satisfaction of the Panathinaikos faithful, myself included. One of the strong points for this team so far has been the midfield trio of Mauricio, Kourbelis, and academy product Alexandropoulos. 


The trio have so far proven to be hardworking and threatening going forward in several cases, especially Mauricio who has had multiple chances to score in the last few games of 2020. If they can continue their hot run of form into 2021 it will prove to be very beneficial to Panathinaikos’ attempts to get back into Europe.

 

For me at this midway point of the season I would say that Villafanez has proven to be the most important and strongest link to Panathinaikos’ fortunes turning around towards the end of 2020. Boloni has played him in a free role in which he has been allowed to roam the pitch and create chances for his teammates going forward. 


He has so far provided strong performances against AEK, Panaitolikos, and PAS Giannina by either assisting, scoring, or contributing in the build up play that led to the goals. His form so far has coincided with Panathinaikos’ good performances and for the sake of the Panathinaikos fans let us hope that his hot run of form continues into 2021.

 

At this midway point of the season I would have liked things to have been better, but alas the dreadful start to the season halted our chances of being in a better position now. With that said however, I like the direction the team is heading toward under Boloni. 


He has made it known that he will not tolerate lack of effort and attitude and has also given the youth players the chances we fans have been begging for. If this run of form can continue into 2021 I like our chances of reaching our initial goal of qualifying for European competition. 


Let us look toward 2021 with some positivity.  


Hellas Football 


Follow @antoniotheo on Instagram 

 

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