Doron Ben Dor
Maccabi Haifa players (Omari Stein)
Being in the midst of a crisis and with three league games without a win, Maccabi Haifa will try to recover tonight (Saturday) at 19:30 when they host Ironi Kiryat Shmona at the Sami Ofer Stadium. After the difficult meeting held by coach Barak Bakr, in which he harshly criticized his players and the attitude in recent games, including towards midfielder Ali Muhammad, in Carmel hope that things will seep in and come to light.
“Barak could not restrain himself any longer when he saw the lack of commitment of several key players, who were a little confused and did not understand that it is not possible to bring a crowd of 8,000 fans or more to a game against Hapoel Hadera and make it look like this,” the team said. “Bacher’s harsh criticism, when he didn’t pass over almost any player, must permeate. From now on, the burden of proof is on the players themselves, and it starts already tomorrow against Kiryat Shmona.”
The coach himself is aware that he will have to make several changes in the lineup. The one in the 11 picture is shortstop Shawn Goldberg, and if there is one player more than anyone who can be pointed to as a commit, it is him. Dia Saba, Mahmoud Jaber and Pierre also appeared in the lineup, while it is not impossible that the front part will include captain Chiron Sherry, from whom leadership and numbers on the field are expected, Omar Atzili and Dean David.
Bachar He commented on the game: “Obviously, when we don’t win three games in the league, we have to do everything in order to win the game against KS. Every game is difficult, a win will give us air and take some pressure off. What’s on our mind is how we recover and win because as soon as you don’t collect points, other teams close the gap, it’s important for us to regain the momentum.”
The coach referred to the crisis that the champion has been in since the 3:0 defeat to Maccabi Tel Aviv and said: “In a long season there are ups and downs, now we are in decline. The mental thing? There is always mental and professional preparation, we have some conclusions for the game and we need to apply them on the field.” As mentioned, the Greens recorded 11 consecutive victories in the league and since then lost to Maccabi Tel Aviv and finished in a tie with Bnei Raina and Hapoel Hadera.
Despite the less successful period, the green fans continue to fill Sami Ofer every cycle and all the tickets for the game are sold out. Today (Friday), several dozen fans arrived at the training complex in Kfar Galim, to encourage and support the players before the match. At the end of training, the fans talked to the players, who for their part promised to give everything to get three points and get the team back on track.
