Maccabi Haifa did not learn the lesson. After its heroic victory over Turner over Hapoel Beer Sheva, the champion led the table by four points and felt at its peak, but then came two fallen games against Hapoel Jerusalem and Maccabi Netanya, during which Barak Bachar’s team showed a mental level at the level of the Dead Sea, and actually stole two points.
Tonight (Monday) after the big 0: 6 over MS Ashdod, the Greens had a great chance to increase the difference at the top to five points, but when you get to a game of this kind when the opponent is not considered in the eyes of your players, and the mental, personal and team level below the Dead Sea , So no wonder you end up losing, and rightly so.
Haifa players did not bring anything from home. Not the hunger, not the desire and not the desire, they thought everything would come easily. They said to themselves ‘who are KS, we give performances in the league and all the media talks about us as if we are Real Madrid’. But when you get on the field and do not play according to the principles that have brought you this far, then even mediocre teams in Israel, which usually belong to the lower playoffs, defeat you, despise you and put you in place.
Dean David is disappointed (Omri Stein)In football names do not speak, there are tactics, and tactics reduce quality gaps. To the credit of Salvodan Drapic, he did not come with buses, semi-trailers and a cart, he came to play football, to move from behind without fear of the pressure of Haifa, which is usually done excellently. Drapic’s team played on long balls that embarrassed Ofri Arad and especially Bogdan Planic, in his worst game in the green uniform.
This season the brake is in a huge drop in capacity, it is not the same formidable brake from last year. He has direct guilt in the two goals conceded by the champion. In the first goal the Serb simply dropped the ball to Itamar Shabiru who scored, and in the second goal he and Josh Cohen lined up in communication between them and instead of the goalkeeper picking up the ball easily, Haifa found itself behind. Without the usual ability of its banker in defense, Haifa will not win the championship. If the Serb does not recover, and quickly, then Hapoel Tel Aviv can also cause serious problems for Bachar and his players. The high brake tried to save the homeland at the end, but it was a mockery to Eresh for Haifa that he was sent to try to equalize.
Bogdan Planic is disappointed (Omri Stein)But one should be honest and not drop the case only on Planich. Maccabi Haifa did not have a single player in its normal capacity today. Dolev Haziza was a shadow of himself. The extremist was frightened, in a panic and demonstrated insecurity that he could not pass a player. All of his lifts did not go through the body half of the rival players and it was certainly one of his worst games in the green. Even Mavis Chibuta who came in as a replacement brought nothing and he is meanwhile a huge disappointment. In the first game we were forgiving, but this time he was really not felt on the grass. This is not what they hoped for in Haifa.
And what about Neta Lavie? Everyone praised him and said he was the best “purchase” in January, but he was not in the game and barely touched the ball. It is impossible to drop everything in the link about Ali Muhammad and Jose Rodriguez, who with all due respect to both of them, will not save Haifa. Noble Omar always makes the difference but he can not score a quartet in every game. The goal was not of this world, but the dependence on it must be less.
And at the end of course there is Bachar. It was a game where the mental side spoke. Maybe the coach worked on it, but it did not manifest itself. When the head is not working, the body and legs are not functioning. And from the other side on the lines we will return to Drapich again. The boss got dirty on him and not everyone could have functioned in such a situation, but he prepared his team in a great way and with more quality on offense, it would have ended 1: 4 per kW, and rightly so.
Slobodan Drapic is happy with the finish (Nissan Aish)The beneficiary of today’s game is of course Maccabi Tel Aviv. Its gap from the top is eight points, it is not a big difference and if Haifa shuffles and is eliminated and its players get tired, then it will never be resilient and the yellows are always in the picture. And this is even before I mention Hapoel B’Shlosha, which is only two points away. A big mental account for Bachar and his team, who recorded the worst game since the coach came to Carmel.