In his sabbatical as coach of the Bulgarian national team, Mladen Krastaic Looking from the outside at Maccabi Tel Aviv’s season and can’t believe it. After all, he came to a broken club last season, devoid of stars like Eran Zahavi, Dor Peretz, Yonatan Cohen, Nir Biton and others and led it to a better balance (in his time) than Maccabi Haifa, all this while giving a first chance in the Premier League to an 18-year-old boy who was then unknown And today it is worth 7 million euros – Oskar Gloch. All this was not enough for the club to exercise the option in his contract.
We turned to Krstaich to talk about Gloch, following the contract extension he signed. After all, he has many shares in the meteoric rise of the young talent. But it seems that the Serbian coach had a full stomach and the interview began to take a different direction. He thinks he should have received much more credit for his work in Israel, and perhaps now the club understands it better, and expressed with his characteristic openness. That’s how it sounds from his side.
From Laden, do you think Gloch made the right decision when he extended his contract?
“He made a good decision, but there are other things that are less good. The biggest clubs must take risks with young players at a high level. If he extended his contract, he must be in the squad, because we must think about the future of the club, not just the present. He He has already proven his potential in the European Championship this summer.”
Why didn’t he get a chance sooner?
“Because we were not in the club earlier. And he is not the only one. Maccabi Tel Aviv has many excellent young players. But the club doesn’t give them a chance, like we planned this season.”
Where do you think Gloch can play in Europe?
“It’s hard to say at the moment. First of all, he must be in the Maccabi Tel Aviv lineup regularly and then we can talk about his future in Europe. In any case, he has the potential to play in one of the top five leagues in Europe.”
Do you see a team in Europe paying his release clause – seven million euros?
“Of course it’s possible, but under one condition: he must be in the team – always. I’m pretty sure he has the quality to be a regular team player. If it doesn’t happen, he won’t even be worth two million euros.”
Ivic uses rotations a lot. Do you think it could harm the development of Gloch?
“It depends on the coach. I also used rotations, but we didn’t have the staff that Maccabi Tel Aviv has now. Unlike in our time, Maccabi Tel Aviv has a quality squad now, with a large number of high level players.”
Can Gloch be compared to another player in European football? Who does he remind you of?
“He’s a special player. He’s a good kid who always has his feet on the ground, always plays for the team, always plays smart and what’s most important – he has an amazing character. All of this makes him who he is. I don’t want to compare him to anyone. I’m sure that he He will do his own way and we will compare others to him.”
Another adjustment you made – you moved Saborit to the role of the brake so that Davidzade could open as a defender
“Our idea was that a high-level player like Saborit could build the game. This decision left an opening for Davidzadeh, a player who has qualities with the ball. As everyone remembers, we did the same thing with Ben Haim in the right-back position and I think we achieved what we wanted from him. This season has Maccabi Tel Aviv has five more high-level players, such as Lucassen, Peretz, Biton, Cohen, and Zevi. With such players, it is impossible not to aim for the championship. Maccabi Tel Aviv must win the championship and the cup. It will be a failure if they don’t. I respect Beer Sheva and Haifa, but Maccabi Tel Aviv has the quality to win the championship and the cup. In addition, Haifa played in the Champions League and is suffering from attrition.”
Do you think you deserve a chance to coach these players?
“I don’t want to talk about it. The club decided otherwise and I respect that. The important thing for me is what we did while I was at the club. The reactions of the fans, who write to me even today, and of football people in Israel were great. When we were at the club we pushed for the addition of Zahavi, Peretz, Cohen, Biton and the extension of the contract of Balatxa, who plays in Vienna, Austria, and of Shamir. On the other hand, me and my coaching staff did not want Van Overeem when they offered him to me as one of the options and Lucassen was not an option at that time. If you look at the period from the moment we arrived at Maccabi T. A, we finished with the most points, with a weaker squad than the current squad.”
What do you think of Stiepa Frizza’s decision to force his move to Standard Liege?
“Fritza is a player with high quality. At first we didn’t have good communication, because he believed he could play without working hard in training. We had many disagreements, but in the end we reached a situation where we helped him and he helped us. He understood that we wanted the most Good for him, even though we’re Serbian and he’s Croatian. We were honest with each other from the beginning. When he changed his line of thinking, we started playing with him and Djola (Jovanovic) as an attacking duo. It’s not good for Maccabi Tel Aviv that he left, because he and Dag ‘And she was a deadly duo. But, in the end, he has his own character and I am not surprised by his decision to sign for Standard Liege. I wish him the best.”
Finally, as a past and present national team coach, who do you think will win the World Cup?
“I would be happy for it to be Serbia…”.
