After shedding themselves last summer, the Premier League teams are returning to the bread and butter. Just before the opening whistle of the first round of the season, channel commentator Eyal Lachman was asked to give his prediction for the upcoming season. From the champion, through the relegated to the table at the end of the season. ready? M-T-H-Y-L-Y-M.
The champion – Maccabi Haifa
This seems to be her era. The crowd grew and intensified, and so did the list of conquerors – Nikita Rukavica, Frantezdi Piero, Dean David, Charon Sherry and Omar Atzili. They are the type of players who run smart, the ones who read the move, imagine where the ball will fall. The Greens have a potential of over 70 conquests that guarantee the title.
On the other hand, the arrival of Dor Peretz symbolizes everything in Maccabi Tel Aviv. Ivitz gives up a one-time opportunity for him to play with the most conquerors that have fallen to him and Maccabi once in a generation and maintains the gray and predictable method of play he sticks to: 4-3-3 with three back midfielders.
Although it was Ivić who taught Peretz what it means to go deep and with him Peretz began to spice up the defensive work by scoring goals, but championships are still taken with goal scorers. Maccabi Haifa did this thanks to 53 league goals by David, Atzili, Haziza and Sherry. Maccabi Tel Aviv could have done it even bigger with Oskar Gloch, George Jovanovich, Stiffa Fritsa, Eran Zahavi and Gabi Kanikovski. In an original and surprising method, without wing players. Ivitch had to train Gloch to play in a generational position broke through and would have received a double-digit number of goals from him.
Relegating – Hapoel Haifa (because of the selection of the foreigners) and Nes Ziona (despite the selection of the foreigners)
Since from the beginning of the establishment in Hapoel Haifa it was about the foreigners, on the one hand there are now no Israeli players left in the market and on the other hand it is too late to bring in foreigners. So Hapoel Haifa will no longer be able to fix this failure on the fly. The waiver on the local Sa’ar Pedida is surprising, and Dino Stiegletz is too tall and big for a defensive position on the line – where lightness and mobility are important. He could have been very successful as a stopper, but Hapoel Haifa has three more foreigners there as well as Louis Taha, Niso Kapiloto and Ben Vahba. In total, six brakes in the 190 cm area of which only two (or three) can play.
Unlike Hapoel Haifa, Nir Berkovich made excellent decisions in the selection of foreigners – especially regarding Mohamed Osman who was not properly appreciated in Hadera and Abubakar Keita who has a tremendous presence in the center of the field. To them he wisely added the outstanding national team: Uri Magbo, Almog Bozaglo, Miki Sirostein and Or Ruizman. However, Lance Ziona urgently lacks attacking players – and because of this it does not seem that the section will reach 40 league goals to survive.
The disappointing one – Hapoel Hadera
The fact that it is a disappointing team is already cheering for its room, forget that its name as a survivor comes solely from a brilliant professional management that turns the team into a refreshing hope. Hadera has been relying on the foreigners for years (Sisa, Plomin, Tapoko) and the lack of success is with the Israelis (Flakoshchenko and Guzlan). And now, she is facing the same phenomenon as Hapoel Haifa: there are no Israelis in the market. However, this season the best foreigner in Israel – the Belgian/Moroccan Sami Burrard – will play in its ranks.
Player of the season – Gabi Kanikovsky (Maccabi Tel Aviv)
Maccabi Tel Aviv will not win a championship, but the boy who grew up in the yellow club is on the verge of the peak season of his life. The transition from a line player to a significant midfield player, jumped the connection to a player who is weak in large areas and therefore greatly affects the pace of the game.
The outstanding foreigner – Sami Burrard (Hapoel Hadera)
Those who grew up in Anderlecht like Romelu Lukaku and Yuri Tillmans, and went on to Simon Mineola’s Saint-Truiden, are expected to adapt in style to Israeli football as happened to their predecessors – Pishont and Holmay, Sandor and Blessing Kako, midfielders who came from Belgian football. It is a rare necessity to find a central midfielder who is also dangerous for the opponent’s goal – as evidenced by eight league goals last season in the second division in Holland.
Top scorer – Dean David
If there is one thing that is the most difficult to teach – it is movement in depth. This is also the reason why Dean David often enters the disaffected. When you have such a good quality, you just need to regulate it a little. Players who don’t move deep – they don’t have a career abroad. The Israeli strikers who have succeeded in Europe are only those who moved deep – Fini Belili, Shawn Weissman, Eran Zahavi and Ben Shaher. On the other hand, Barak Itzhaki, Toto Tamuz, Eliran Atar – who are not deep players – They struggled more in Europe. It’s a welcome trait, the hardest trait to find in strikers, and that’s why Dean David is my top scorer.
Coach of the season – Kobi Yarofa (Hapoel Tel Aviv)
The coach of the Reds will be chosen as the coach of the season thanks to the uncompromising demand for excellence. Medicine built a link squad of six fantastic players – El-Yam Kanzpolsky, Sintihao Sallich, Shlomi Azoulay, Pablo Gonzalez, Godfried Romarto, Dan Aybinder, Ran Binyamin and Ari Cohen. With them, Hapoel Tel Aviv will be able to accumulate huge percentages of ball possession, which will ease the burden of the defensive and midfield game.
The discovery of the season – Ofir Benvanishti (Urani KS) and Rotem Hatuel (HaPoel BS)
Benvanishti grew up in Hapoel Ramat-Gan as a technical and talented player 190 cm of presence, and 34 games in Umm Al-Fahm also gave him strength and physicality. The new Nir Bitton, if you will.
Beside him, Eliniv Barda did the right thing by moving Hatuel from the wing position to the striker position, and indeed the talent that replaced Ahi Nazareth, Umm El Faham and the worker Acre scored a hat trick in the four games in Europe. Including the final round of the previous season and the cup final, Lachtuel has five goals in the last seven games.
The first legionnaire to return – Ben Ajouval
Australia is too far for those who are used to the Petah Tikva area, the landscape pattern of their homeland.
The table at the end of the season >>
