The battle of giants of Israeli football held this evening (Monday) at the Bloomfield Stadium ended in a complete knockout, with Maccabi Tel Aviv beating Maccabi Haifa 0:3 and narrowing the gap at the top to five points.
Coach of Maccabi Haifa, Barak Bacher Summed up the game: “We didn’t make it to the game today. We couldn’t produce any solution and we lost this game with absolute justice. We knew that Maccabi Tel Aviv would come to fight for its life, we prepared for it but their aggressiveness and ability won. We didn’t play well, we were in a bad period and we weren’t able to raise the level today and we got in the lead. This is the weakest game since I arrived at Maccabi Haifa, unequivocally, we came out cheap today. This is football, things happen, you can catch a bad game against an excellent team, we did everything wrong today and now we have to recalculate the course, strengthen the players and win the next game.”
“There was a knockout here, no one runs away and denies it,” admitted the coach. “We lost to an excellent team that came and did things we are not used to being done to us. We probably arrived feeling too comfortable, at no point in the game did we feel like we were getting into things. Maybe this game will shock us all, me, the team and the players. Maybe sometimes a slap like that can do us good, when you win there is a feeling that everything will be fine, certainly with such a streak and a gap created in the table, and now this loss can shock us. We will have to work harder and fix what is needed. It’s not pleasant to lose, certainly not in such a way and in such an important game, but this is football, just as we did nice things this year, there are also unpleasant things. .
On the preparations for the game he said: “The plan was to play a different method, but the players were not fit and healthy – neither Daniel Sondgren nor Dolev Haziza nor Ali Muhammad – so we changed plans. Anyway, we should have done more with this lineup. We discovered a lack of aggressiveness against the crazy aggressiveness of Maccabi Tel Aviv.”
“The championship is the goal, but we are only after half a league,” added Becher. “Even if we won and even if there was a draw everything was still open. The difference has narrowed, maybe the momentum too, but we will try to turn it around. It was a weak day for all of us, mine, the team and the players, everyone wanted and tried but we couldn’t. I don’t believe there is one player who didn’t come and want to win and do things right. We were punished together, I’m not looking for culprits. I am looking to check myself and the team, what we did wrong and correct. Talk to the players, feel what they think, sit down and analyze quietly and wisely. No need to hang our heads, we are still in first place, everything is fine.
About his suspension, the coach of Maccabi Haifa said: “I was standing a meter or two beyond the technical line and that’s why I was sent off. If that’s the case then every coach should be removed every game. The fourth referee came to the referee and told him to give me a yellow card and I told him to give me a yellow card.
On the need for reinforcements, Bachar added: “We need refreshment in the squad, the question is which player will be able to bring. We don’t need to bring foreigners and right now there aren’t too many good and cheap Israelis on the market. We’ll try to strengthen ourselves, we’ll look for something suitable and if we can’t find it, then we’ll make do with what we have, it’s always good to innovate and refresh.”
graze my lips He also summed up the game: “We didn’t make it to tonight’s game, but we will think and recover, we are already concentrating on the next game. What happened tonight does not suit us, but as we knew how to do a crazy streak of 11 victories, we will recover. The fans came all the way from Haifa, cheered non-stop and we feel bad for them, but we will pay them back on the field later on.”
