Jovanovic: “We have more quality than last year, I’m satisfied with the exception of derbies”

The image of Panathinaikos against Atromitos certainly left Ivan Jovanovic pleased.

The Serbian coach focused on the quality of the “clover” and the fact that despite the changes he makes to breathe life into his basic tools, the image of his team is not altered.

Details of what he said at the press conference

On the easy night of Panathinaikos and if there is anything that did not leave him satisfied: “We were worried before the game as it meant a lot to us, coming from a long journey. You know after the Europeans there could be a relaxation. We should have been as focused as we were. We made changes to have freshness and we had it in all the lines. We did not expect the game to develop so easily, as Atromitos has a good team. We were in the right spots in the first half and that helped us rest some players. As for the second leg, a coach could always find some issues, but the way the game went it was logical. It would be an exaggeration to mention after this match some negatives that I may have seen. I am satisfied with the seriousness shown by my players to take this game easily».

For the elements that Panathinaikos must improve in their game: “Interruption is an issue for us as we have several players playing in their Nationals. My players will rest for 2-3 days and then we will look at the issues we have. We also lost a lot of key players to injury during this time. We only had two stoppers available. I hope that during this break we will have the return of players like Palmer-Brown, Kleinheisler and Aitor. Vagiannidis returned for the first time after a month. When we are full we can do more things. In the last period of time we were under a lot of pressure because of the injuries».

For Panathinaikos’ scoring record so far: “I am satisfied in general. The exception is the fact that we did not manage to win the derbies at home. As a general picture I can say that I am satisfied. In the games in Greece, we did not have a very different image than in Europe. We made a lot of changes from one game to another, but the image of the team was not spoiled and that satisfies me. We continue in the next round where we will have equally difficult games. We take a breather for a few days and start thinking about the next cycle. The internationals will be burdened but hopefully they will all come back healthy».

On the fact that Panathinaikos scores more this year: “We have more quality than last year. We are more productive and you can see that the 11th today, despite having changes, was almost the same as the one that started with Marseille. We have options and we have players who are serious, who are focused. So a victory can come out easier compared to last year».