Last season Panathinaikos experienced yet another campaign during which the club failed to escape the mediocrity of recent years and achieve their goal of returning to titles and playing in Europe. First Danny Pogiatos, and then Laszlo Boloni afterwards both failed to create the team that the club’s management desired. Although Panathinaikos had some good spells during the season, they did not have stability and ended up finishing fifth in the league, while they were also eliminated from the Greek Cup at the semi-finals stage, losing out to PAS Giannina.

In the summer the club’s administration decided to look abroad for a coach once more. They initially brought Ivan Jovanovic to Athens to take over as head coach. The experienced Serbian was the man the club backed to start building the team in the summer.

The team’s performances in the pre-season friendlies were intensely problematic, but with a flurry of transfer activity in the final stages of the transfer window, the atmosphere changed, with the squad being significantly bolstered, ushering in some much-needed optimism among the «Leoforos» faithful.

Ten players left, while seven young players came in. Brignoli, Kotsiras, and Sankhare arrived to strengthen the defense, Perez, Lundqvist and Vital for the midfield, and Palacios for the forward line were the main new additions.

The start of the season, however, proved to be extremely difficult for Panathinaikos. The many new faces seemed to suffer from a lack of chemistry and the results did not come, especially away from home.

After eight matches, the Greens have collected 11 points, counting three wins at home, a draw with OFI, three away defeats by PAS Giannina, Aris and Asteras Tripolis, while they claimed a point at Olympiacos.

The main protagonist for Panathinaikos so far this season is Carlitos with eight goals and one assist. Ruben Perez has also stood out in the midfield, while the Trifylli are expecting more from Vital and Palacios, who were acquired to bring a goal threat but have yet to shine.

Jovanovic has been without injured duo Kourbelis and Beck for a long time, and they are players who can make a significant contribution, while the defensive problems are exaccerbated by an injury to Pougouras, who is currently sidelined, while Panathinaikos are also counting on the return to action of Dutch defender Schenkeveld.