Serene has developed into a midfielder with great responsibilities and the right decisions

Being “low-key” and quiet, he became important and valuable to Panathinaikos, Adam Shereen Especially in this clincher series.

Another player whose name you hardly see on the front pages or in the headlines of sports websites (unless he scores the winning goal in a derby), but on the other hand he never ceases to be a very important part of Ivan Jovanovic. Plan.

Especially in the ranking matches this year and in the way the Serbian coach regularly approaches matches, having given specific “tasks” to the 23-year-old midfielder.

The Slovenian international midfielder came from … nowhere last summer, “stuck” to the starting lineup at one time, and he helped out hugely with the energy he brought to the team at the start of the season and the winning streak that brought Panathinaikos leader from the start in Category.

However, there were also certain elements of his game that still seemed “immature” and showed that he needed to work to rise to another level.

First of all his position: Was he a midfielder in the 4-2-3-1? Was he more than just a 4-3-3 midfielder? Was he better suited to a role higher up the pitch and closer to the striker?

In previous years, Ceren has served in all of these roles, most notably in Rijeka, Croatia, where he played two full seasons without a specific game model installed in his mind.

This affected in several cases his choices and decisions on the field. Something that started to emerge – much more forcefully now – when the season had progressed enough and the pressure (for the result, for the goal of first place, for maintaining the top) began to mount.

As a result, it went through a period of disfigurement in February, exactly at the time when Panathinaikos overcame a difficult January and began to regain control.

Jovanovic explained his role

Jovanović and his staff saw the “problem” and the first thing they hurried to do was clear the mind of the young Slovenian, clarify his role and goal on the field, with the horizon of the playoffs and create a more stable profile on the “green” axis.

Sirin has the best and most intense kicks of any Panathinaikos midfielder. However, the aim was to be able to use this quality of him in a targeted way, without wasting energy unnecessarily on the field, with the result that his choices and decisions with the ball as a whole are affected.

Since the first match in the playoffs against AEK in the OPAP Arena, he was given a much clearer role on the field, higher than the other two midfielders – Ruben Perez and Dimitris Korbelis – where the first and main task was target pressing. On the line of development of the first opponent.

Something that the Slovenian possesses and that he has worked on more, if you watch it with a more detailed look at how he now moves in the pressure areas that Panathinaikos wants to set traps for.

“Automation” of his game

Since then, Jovanović has worked with him a lot on the decision-making part as well. It gave him more responsibility by being an extra player in partnerships higher up the pitch (which he did with Megat Jasinović last year midway through last season), getting him more involved in traffic by requiring him to pass more of the ball from his feet over the midfield. And he made his game more “automated” in conjunction with how the rest of the team moved.

Things that are not easily seen on the field in the course of a match, but have been worked on (and are being worked on) with great patience at Koropi, as Cherin has evolved into a central midfielder with greater responsibilities and more sound decisions.

In favor of the team itself, which has become more compact in its lines and more efficient / functional in pressing opposing lines and in rotating the ball.