After the loss to Hapoel Be’er Sheva, Maccabi Tel Aviv thought that against the bottom team Menas Ziona and in the eyes of the home crowd in Bloomfield, the Yellows would return to the winning track. But separate thoughts and separate reality. Not only did Vladimir Ivić’s team fail to return to the top, but after a disappointing 1:1 home draw against Nir Berkovic’s team, they may find themselves this evening (Sunday) 4 points away from Maccabi Haifa.
For the first time this season, the crowd booed against the management, the coach and the players when Vladimir Ivić received the most fire. The criticism was that he was late in the substitutions and changing the formation, that he chose not to dress Parfa Goyagon and especially that he did not appear with energy like Ivic of the previous great seasons.
From a statistical point of view, Maccabi Tel Aviv came up with quite a few situations. Eran Zahavi, Oskar Gloch and Georgia Yovanovich could have added doubles yesterday but missed endlessly. “Ending in a home draw with Nes Ziona is a stain,” said the Maccabi Tel Aviv players Honestly at the end of the game. “Not beating a team that plays with ten players from halftime is embarrassing.”
Ivić, who watched the game from the stands due to his removal, realized yesterday that there is no substitute for Dan Glazer in the rescue of the ball and that his decision to play without another striker or wing players led to the situation he is in. “I expect more from myself,” said Eran Zahavi. “I thought I would have more goals in this state of the season, but everything went the other way. There are games where the ball doesn’t want to go in.”
In terms of defensive play, Ivić has yet to find the right placement, as Maccabi Tel Aviv has conceded six goals since the start of the season. For comparison, in the previous term in the two championships won by the Yellows, they conceded 17 in the first season and only 10 in the second season. Except for Eyal Golsa who was awarded points yesterday, the rest were below their level including goalkeeper Daniel Peretz who had a part in the goal scored by Yoni Stoyanov.
The one who seems dejected by the situation is Yonatan Cohen. The player who arrived about a month ago only entered yesterday in the last few minutes, even though he was the first to get up to warm up. Ahead of the match against Hapoel Jerusalem on Tuesday, Ivić will make a change. Andre Geraldesh will start, Shahar Piven will return to the squad as well as Dan Glazer who may return to the lineup.
