Raz Amir
Jovanovich and his friends in training (Hagi Michaeli)
Maccabi Tel Aviv, which saw Hapoel Beer Sheva stumble and Maccabi Haifa win, will host Maccabi Netanya this evening (Monday, 8:30 p.m.) with the aim of narrowing the gaps from the top flight. This morning striker Djorja Jovanovic and coach Aitor Karanka spoke at a press conference that was broadcast live here on the website.
“We want to win every game, but we have good opponents and you can’t score five or six goals in every game,” he said Jovanovic“We’re not afraid that we won’t win, we all want to play as fast as possible to make amends. We didn’t play badly against Sakhnin, but the misses cost us two points. Tight wins in difficult games? Sometimes it’s important to win 0:1 or 0:2, we’re trying to improve. Against Sakhnin it was frustrating, we could have scored five.”
Jovanovic also spoke about the championship fight: “All of us in the team believe that it is possible to win the championship, but we look at ourselves. If we win every game, we will win.” Personally, the striker said: “I’m happy in Israel, I’ve said it many times. I’m in the biggest club in Israel. Ambitions? I give 100% in every game and of course I want to score as much as possible to help the team. I feel good with Zahavi, we scored 24-25 goals from the beginning of the season. You can’t score three-four goals in every game.”
Jovanovic also spoke about Rarsh Ilya: “He’s a good player and I’m sure he’ll help us. A limit of five foreigners? We have to fight for our place, nobody’s place is guaranteed.” In conclusion, the striker commented on the fact that he was not in the squad for the World Cup: “I was not in the final squad, I was a little disappointed, but there are very good strikers in Serbia and that is the coach’s decision.”
Karanka: Know what we don’t do well
The Maccabi Tel Aviv coach said: “The conversations in the dressing room remain between us. The most important thing is that we have a great team, the players want to improve and we know what we don’t do well. Sickness: “In general, it’s easier to play at home, but here you have to know that you come to win every game.”
Karanka also commented on the difficulty against a team that shuts down: “Hapoel BS didn’t create a single chance yesterday (against Hapoel Jerusalem) and we created six-seven (against Sakhnin). We have to prepare for every game.” About the foreigner limit and Rarsh Ilya, the coach said: “He can give us something else, but we have to be careful with him and do it correctly so that he doesn’t lose his confidence. We need to find solutions with the players we have.”
