Maccabi Tel Aviv returned to the top of the Premier League after beating Maccabi Netanya 3:0 last night (Monday) in front of over 25,000 spectators at Bloomfield Stadium. Great goals by Djorja Jovanovic, Eran Zahavi and Enrik Savorit left the crowd feeling good after the less successful game against Sakhnin last week which they narrowly defeated. This time Vladan Ivic’s team was already much more comfortable on the home field when the coach returned to the lineup players who contribute more offensively.
The weekly surprise in Ivić’s lineup was the placement of Derrick Lucassen in the center of defense for the first time since his 45 minutes against Beitar Jerusalem. The Dutchman has not played since, according to the coach also because of medical issues, but this time he took the opportunity with both hands and played an excellent game. Lucassen’s data was very impressive and he won 19 out of 20 fights, 95% success, the most and successful on grass. 12 out of 13 successful fights were in the air, when he manages to attack Netanya’s attacking players without a problem, get ahead of them and even take out of such a fight the attack that led to the second goal.
Lucassen finished with 7-for-7 in the ground battles, 2-for-2 in the successful tackles and also recorded 6 saves. Ivic He was satisfied with his performance and noted that “all three brakes played an excellent game, they really had a perfect game. Derrick was replaced in the first game against Beitar because he had a yellow card and I didn’t want to take a risk against their transitions. Then the league went on break and when we came back he had a small muscle problem, I started with a different trio, usually I don’t like to touch the back too much so it was difficult for him to come back and open.”
Ivic continued about the Dutch stopper: “He opened this time, we started the second goal thanks to him, it’s a small detail that sometimes people don’t see, but for me it’s very important. He attacked Netanya’s players very high, also in the center of the pitch, which is a risk we usually don’t take because we lost them in previous games, but he took those risks and won those battles in the air. He did it very well.”
Maccabi Tel Aviv complimented the three defenders as mentioned, when they noted that Nir Biton also recorded an excellent game and of course Enrik Savorit that the attack was excellent with a great assist and a goal that you don’t see every day from a defensive player. Another player who drew praise was Oskar Gluch, with Ivic calling his assist “amazing”, and he also played a part in the team’s first goal. The young midfielder continues to shine and there is no doubt that he, Gabi Kanikowski and Farpa Goyagon are three midfielders that the fans come to the courts for.
At the same time, even in this game there were less good moments of the team and Ivic was asked again about the method of the game. “I think this method is the most correct for the squad we have and I am very satisfied with this game, with our approach. At the same time, with this method, the ones who lose the most energy are our wingbacks – Maor Kandil and Andre Geraldesh on the right side and Ofir Davidzadeh and Matan Hozze on the left side.”
“I replaced Kandil today because I’m not sure he can finish 90 minutes and I don’t want to lose him, last season he didn’t play. I need to manage his minutes and his workload intelligently. Against Sakhnin he came off the bench because that was my plan from the beginning of the week. I felt he would help us in the last 30 minutes there. Sometimes these decisions work and sometimes they don’t,” added the coach.
On the possibility that he will try to play in a different formation, he replied: “With the players we have, this is the method for us. Of course in the past I played most of the time with 4 at the back but if I want to play like that I need fast attacking wingers who know how to play in this position. At the moment, most of the players who are supposedly claimed to be able to play there, are not wing players. They are middle bonds. Yes – I can put Parfa on one side and Dan Beaton on the other, but neither of them are wingers.”
The coach continued to talk about the issue and it can already be said that he will ask to add a foreign winger in the January transfer window: “We can do something with Dan or Parfa, but they are midfielders. I see the role of the winger in a completely different way, what he needs to know how to do and the qualities he must have. We brought in one such player, Yonatan Cohen, but it will take him more time. We’ll see if we bring in a winger in January, we do follow players for this position and we were close to signing two of them, but they blew us away at the last second.”
After Ivitch, he was the one who came to speak Saburit. “I think I had good games this season before this game, defensively, which is my real job. My cooking is a very team move and I like it much more than the goal I scored. We played against one of the teams that in my opinion is one of the best in the league despite its position and we played a good game, but it’s probably not enough. The season is still long and every game here is different. The issue of citizenship? I really don’t know anything about it because it’s a long process and I’m waiting.”
About the game at Sami Ofer in which the team lost 2:0, when Maccabi Haifa scored the first goal after a mistake by him, Saborit said: “The first night after the game is always difficult, nobody wants to make a mistake like that. It’s part of my job unfortunately. I just want to thank all the audience and those who supported me. Now it’s behind me, it’s forgotten. Of course, after the match at Sami Ofer I felt like shit, but then I came home and saw my family and everything passed. Now the feeling is good.”