Maccabi Tel Aviv remained perfect in the Premier League after 1:3 last night (Saturday) over Kiryat Shmona. Gabi Kanikovski scored a brace and excelled, Parfa Goyagon scored his first goal in the yellow uniform, Oscar Gloch scored again and also Dor Peretz who came off the bench against Hapoel Hadera and scored, this time coming off the bench and adding an assist. At the same time, the club was not satisfied with the ability throughout most of the stages of the game, they were very angry about the approval of Itamar Shabiru’s goal, which they claimed was by a clear margin, and in addition, they did not like the suspension of Djorja Jovanovic, who left the team ahead of the match against M. Ashdod without a striker.
After the departure of Stipa Fritza and when there are still no wing players in Maccabi Tel Aviv, Vladan Ivitch remains limited offensively for the game against Ashdod in the next round and will have to see how he solves the issue and with whom he plays alongside Eran Zahavi, this is when the Serbian is removed and the other striker in the squad is Dor Turgeman, who was not at all in the squad for the meeting against KS. Ivić, for his part, wants to finish the issue of reinforcements and add players in the attacking positions so that he has depth, and possibly also the defender Derrick Lucassen, with whom advanced talks were conducted last weekend, but it has not yet matured into an official signing. Another issue that they hope to finish this week is the negotiations with Yonatan Cohen, when the hope is that he will get on a plane from Italy to Israel in the coming days.
“I hope that Marines get a striker instead of Stipa Peritza this week,” he said Ivic Regarding the purchase and added: “Eli Desa (who is on his way to Dynamo Moscow) is not part of us and I don’t want to talk about him. My plan is to find the right players to come here. We talked to several players who were close to joining again, but at the last minute some of them preferred to stay where they are now It’s a process, I need a few positions and everyone knows, it’s already an urgent matter. It’s nothing new. We can only hope it happens quickly.”
Ivic didn’t like many parts of the game and tried to explain at the end how he could be disappointed after another victory that was never in doubt: “We have to work on both sides of the field as a team, work according to the tactical plan and get everyone what we ask of them because we can’t play Only when the ball is at our feet. Yes, we won three games with a goal difference of 1:14, maybe I look crazy to you, but I look to the future. We have to be realistic and understand what the problems are. I won’t tell them to you but only to my players. We need start working to fix it as soon as possible. There will be groups that will punish us for our problems.”
Ivic continued: “Maybe they will say I’m crazy because we scored 14 goals and we have a perfect record. Okay, we have creative players up front who know how to cook and score and I’m very happy that they are in our team, but football is more than that. If I put Leo Messi next to 10 players who don’t Do nothing on the pitch, they won’t be able to win the game just because Messi is with them. Against serious teams it won’t work. We have to take responsibility and I’m the first. If I don’t manage to fix the problems I’ve seen, then I’m the problem. I’ll talk to the players, I’ll explain to them what What was right and what was wrong. Everyone who speaks has to work according to the instructions and whoever doesn’t do it, won’t play.”
“I saw some things that could be to our detriment in the future and I don’t want to allow such a situation to happen,” added the Serb. “First of all, we need to get our heads in order, understand what we need to do in situations where we are without the ball, where we want to apply pressure, what to do when we want the ball. Sometimes I am more satisfied with 0:1 than with 0:6. It depends In how we played and how we worked during the game. In the last game we won 0:6 and I told the players that we were wrong here and there and here, and that all of this will haunt us against KS. That’s exactly what happened. We will have to work in a different way now.”
The one who excelled in the game was, of course, Kanikovsky, when besides Gloch, Ofir Davidzadeh and Enrique Saborit, who had an excellent game, and Shahar Piven, who had to leave due to an injury, also stood out. The scorer of the pair was the one who later came out to talk to the media and said: “In Israel, everyone wants numbers, it’s really important to me to help the team, to achieve our goals and we lived up to that in the game against KS. The Sabbath is always on my mind and it’s a bit difficult for me, also to see ahead All the games on Saturday are painful for me personally, but I have to concentrate on football. I have to be a professional and put it aside. Every player has problems of one kind or another, but they have to be left aside when they get on the field.”
About Ivitch’s statements: that he was not satisfied, he said Kanikowski: “I understand what he means. We worked all week on something specific. When the coach sees that we are not implementing it surely hurts him. We need to improve to meet the expectations of Maccabi Tel Aviv and his and I think we will improve that.”
The midfielder added about the struggle in the center of the field: “We have to withstand the pressure and meet the expectations. A few days ago a friend asked me, ‘What are all these connections?’ It’s clear that those who don’t play are frustrated and always want to play, that’s legitimate, but the dressing room cheers for everyone and that’s a recipe for success. The goal in the end is for Maccabi to run for all the titles and it doesn’t matter if I play or someone else.”
The influence of Eran Zahavi and Nir Bitton on him and the younger guys: “It’s that Eran is present in the dressing room, on the field, makes everyone understand that you have to push yourself to the limit to stand up to what he does and it’s a privilege to be next to such a player. I think his and Bitton’s presence Gives us extra. Seeing them give 100% in every training session, it pushes you to give just like them and makes you realize that you can’t do less. You see it on the field as well.”