Panathinaikos enter Playoffs in fine form
Panathinaikos enter the new-look Greek Super League playoffs in fine form, having only lost twice in the last 18 matches.
Panathinaikos enter the new-look Greek Super League playoffs in fine form. An upturn in results just before the halfway mark of the regular season saw the team clinch a spot in the top-six with a few weeks to spare, which enabled Giorgos Donis to blood in young talents along the way.
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Had the Greens started the regular season the way they finished, they would have ended up in second spot and staring down the barrel of a UEFA Champions League qualifying spot.
The opening three weeks saw the team significantly under perform, picking up a single point (away at Lamia), before losing to OFI and Aris. The team had only amassed eight points from the first eight games after a poor loss against Larissa. However, significant improvement followed in the next 18 fixtures.
This is how the ladder looks based on the last 18 fixtures:
Olympiacos 44
PAOK 39
AEK 37
Panathinaikos 36
Only one win would have separated Panathinaikos to PAOK, and the Trifylli have a much lower budget than their rivals (this is not taking into account the point deduction that PAOK has received). In the last 18 matches, the team has a strong record of ten wins, six draws and two losses.
The defence improved along the way, and stability and organisation were clearly evident, meaning that there was less pressure on the attacking players in terms of how many goals they needed to score to win matches.
One of the two losses came in a hugely controversial manner against arch-rivals Olympiacos in Piraeus as the team was not awarded two clear penalties. The other came against AEK when Donis opted to rest most of his key starters in preparation for the Greek Cup quarter-finals.
During the same period, Olympiacos had 13 wins, five draws, and zero losses, PAOK had 12 wins, three draws, and three losses, and AEK had 11 wins, four draws, and three losses. Consequently, Panathinaikos lost fewer matches than both AEK and PAOK.
The team enters the playoffs in great shape with key players fit and firing, so confidence will be high. The decisions club management makes in the upcoming summer in terms of transfers and budget will be vital as the team hopes to follow in its current path of an upward trajectory.
