Is Time Running Out For Ten Cate
Friday, October 31st, 2008
It seems like only yesterday that the hilarious outburst of Alberto Malesani took place after the then-Panathinaikos manager saw his side held to a goalless draw at home to Iraklis.
The post-match rant saw him earn a place in the hearts of Greek fans, his raw honesty shedding light upon the endemic disease that his a volatile Hellenic managerial landscape.
His press conference epitomized what must have been the thoughts of most logical followers of the game, the tragic accuracy of his message perhaps lost beneath the air of exasperation and frustration in his voice: Here was a man who had been pushed to the brink.
A few years later, the slightly more reserved Henk Ten Cate will most likely face a similar fate to that of his many predecessors, including the now-famous Malesani ironically, the pressure seems to have suddenly mounted during the same week that his side have drawn at home to Iraklis.
What began as the promising reign of a cultured manager has quickly derailed under the weight of unrealistic expectations: to ask a side whose nucleus has been formed over a single summer to compete simultaneously on the domestic and continental stage and find success in both cannot normally be financed by a mere 20-or-so million euros.
Olympiakos have spelt close to a decade trying to build a side capable of achieving just that and despite having monopolized Greek football during that time, even their relatively grandiose spending has not compared – nor been able to consistently compete with that of the European football aristocracy.
At a time where the club has enjoyed an administrative and subsequent financial rebirth, managerial and coaching stability simply must be the foundation for positive change at a club whose European pedigree has suddenly stalled.
Granted, Ten Cate is no super-coach but his European experience and tactical knowledge extend beyond the current level of sophistication of any Greek club (he was reportedly the brains behind Barcelona’s recent Champions League success).
Perhaps it was with such a history in mind that his appointment was made, in an attempt to restore continental football back to the only Greek club to have competed in a European Cup Final, when they lost to Johan Cruyff’s Ajax in 1971.
The move paid off, as Ten Cate lead his fledging team – barely assembled and without the services of a certain Gilberto Silva – into the group stages of Europe’s premier competition, proving himself tactically astute enough to guide the Greeks past Georgian champions and Czech giants with a minimum fuss.
Financed by new-found capital after a part-sale of the club by traditional owners the Vardinogiannis family, the former Ajax boss quickly went about assembling a side with enough depth to compete respectably in both Europe and Greece; the likes of Cleyton, Gabriel and Christodoulopoulos are hardly world-beaters but bring enough quality for a title challenge and potential UEFA Cup birth.
A seemingly perceptive individual, Ten Cate perhaps realised as much and spent his limited finances accordingly, opting for depth over individual quality in an attempt to balance out commitments to the club’s pedigree and the need for practicality.
Importantly, he set about quickly imposing an ethos of fluid, attacking football to satisfy a fan-base tired of the perpetual grinding culture endured under Portuguese manager Jose Peseiro last season.
Inexplicably, though, neither Ten Cate nor his fellow staff were able to recruit in an area where the team needed it most: defense.
An apparent breakdown in relations with Greece international centre-back Sotiris Kyrgiakos might just have denied the Athenians a Super League title – his influence and leadership qualities have carried a distinctly poor AEK outfit in the early part of the season.
His absence was perhaps most noticeable as the Greeks were defeated by Inter Milan – or more accurately, Zlatan Ibrahimovic – in their opening Champions League encounter in Athens, where the Swede found little opposition in the form of make-shift center-back Simao and the unconvincing Sarriegi – neither have the quality upon which progress to the knockout stages can be based.
Ten Cate has admitted as much in his post-match press conferences following both the defeat to the Serie A champions and his side’s embarrassing collapse in Cyprus. How the presence of a powerful stopper was missed on both occasions and indeed against Bremen, where Hugo Almeida effectively ended the Greeks’ campaign thanks to a complete absence of man-marking.
It is a problem has also manifested itself domestically, where Panathinaikos have conceded five goals in their last two home games – both of which they have failed to win.
A “failed” European campaign has been exacerbated by a title challenge that is unravelling before the eyes of the 53 year-old, which perhaps explains the sudden rush of pressure and speculation surrounding his position at the club – the wolves were noticeably kept at bay during a three-match domestic winning streak.
With a conspicuous defensive frailty now plaguing the early part of his reign, the next step might be logically analysing what has turned out a failed summer transfer drive.
It is a pointless exercise in the context of a club ignoring it’s own paranoia.
The blame seems to have temporarily shifted to the players themselves but the truth is that neither Ten Cate, Antoniou nor the men on the pitch can be blamed, simply because there is no real problem at Panathinaikos.
What we have are a club undergoing a total rebuilding phase, filtering down to the pitch from the board-room – results cannot be demanded within a season in such a context.
It is a philosophy Panathinaikos must adopt immediately if Ten Cate is to avoid the fate of a certain Italian manager who went before him.
No tag for this post.
ou up. Some art objects do it more seductively than others. A gorgeous Titian such as “Europa” at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, for instance, pulls viewers in with a spectacle of story, tone, and technique.