It was a mediocre game or below in its level, but according to the circumstances of Maccabi Tel Aviv there is no quarter claim for its first game in the Champions League qualifiers. True, Stiava Bucharest is a very mediocre team that needs to be passed, and in my opinion they have no chance in Israel of winning the championship because they are less good than Maccabi Tel Aviv and Maccabi Haifa, but the Israeli champion presented a team that has no chance of running in the league either.
Only two foreigners played for Maccabi Tel Aviv yesterday and one of them, Henry Addo, is not sure at a satisfactory level. Add to that the lack of Felicio Milson who “brought the breeze” to the team, without Shagiv Yehezkel and without five players of the Olympic team, and under these circumstances the result in Bucharest is not bad. I included I don’t think the goal was achieved, because after all the return match will not be in Bloomfield, but a draw in the first away game is not bad.
Moreover, I think that if it wasn’t for a big mistake by Maccabi Tel Aviv coach Jarko Laztic, Maccabi Tel Aviv could also have won the game. I know there were minutes of panic at Maccabi Tel Aviv and goalkeeper Roy Mishfati saved two safe goals , but all of this was due to a bad decision by the Maccabi Tel Aviv coach: to introduce Matan Balatxa as a third defender, which undermined the entire team’s defense, and in the first free kick into the box, no Maccabi player knew who he was guarding, so the Romanians’ strike went straight net.
There was no need to introduce a third stopper because the two stoppers Raz Shlomo and Tyrese Asante did a very good job and were confident both in defense and in moving the ball. Whoever thinks that three brakes strengthen the protection is wrong and pays straight cash. Coach Laztic understood this immediately and returned to the 4th line in defense, but it was too late, instead of being in the lead 0:1 the score was already 1:1 and this gave a boost to the medium-sized Romanian champion and then we discovered Roi Mishpeti at his best.
Asante did a good job (photo: Maccabi Tel official website) In the bottom line, I think that not only was the result not achieved, in my opinion even Maccabi Tel missed and let’s remember again, there is no match in Bloomfield with 25 thousand pushing fans and in Hungary everything is open. If I You have to bet now, Maccabi Tel Aviv is a better team even when it is now in mediocre form, and it will beat Stiva Bucharest in the rematch. The demon is not bad at all.
Laztic had a game plan that we saw right away and that was to be careful. Two prominent examples of this: one is Avishai Cohen in the right wing position, in order to help the right defender Idan Nahmias. By the way, on the right wing, two players played out of their role – Nachmias a good stopper and not a defender and Avishi Cohen who is a defender played extreme and was very weak.
The second example is the link squad, and I’m not talking about Joris van Overeem who is doing a great job in position 6, but about the two more forward Dor Peretz and Gabi Kanikowski. The biggest of the two is joining the square and also being close to Eran Zahavi to help him score. Yesterday, following Maccabi Tel Aviv’s more cautious game, we didn’t see the two joining much and it hurt Eran Zahavi, who was not good through no fault of his own, especially in the attacking game of Maccabi Tel Aviv.
I have to say one more thing about Van Overeem, so smart in his game. There are players who “run away” from the ball for fear that if they press them they will lose it, but he is the complete opposite. Not only does he come to receive the ball without fear, he also recognizes a player of his team who is under pressure and immediately comes to help and take a place, in my opinion the best and smartest midfielder in Israeli football.
Van Overeem. The best midfielder in Israel (photo: Maccabi Tel official website) Maccabi Tel received the hardest professional blow from Felicio Milson. I knew from the beginning of the story with him that if he ran away from the team’s training camp, he would not want to play there anymore and even when he returned to Israel he would not I saw the over-enthusiasm of the Angolan player to stay. You can understand any player who wants to earn a lot more money, but there is a way. Maccabi Tel Aviv is a very professional club that gave Milson everything, even his teammates who like him very much say that he is very friendly and very loving. To do it in a different way and not to run away without notice. So it is true that Maccabi Tel Aviv is going to get a lot of money for him, but professionally, in the current reality that we are still in a state of war, it will be very difficult to bring in a foreigner of his level.
Maccabi Tel Aviv will have a hard time getting to Europe or rather to the Champions League with the current lineup, but to the league, with the rising power in the attack, with Dor Turgeman and Elad Madmon, they will definitely be able to win the championship again. Together with the two, Shagib Yehezkel, Usher Davide will join the lineup And backed by Ido Shahar and maybe one or two foreigners, Maccabi Tel Aviv is good enough to compete again for the championship with Maccabi Haifa.
And there is also my reference to coach Laztic. I don’t want to definitively state anything about him after his first game in Europe, and despite the mistake he made with the introduction of Matan in Latexa, he gives the impression of a professional coach, a perfectionist, who loves the team and really wants to succeed with it. He gives opportunities to all the players of the squad and they have to prove that they belong in Maccabi Tel Aviv, Yonatan Cohen for example did not prove to the coach that he belongs in the team’s squad and he is out.
Another point is that yesterday, in a 0:0 situation, he decided to take the undisputed star, Eran Zahavi, out of the game and replace him with Dan Bitton in the striker position, a role he had never done before, but brought him an equalizing goal. Not every coach would do it or rather didn’t do it, but it shows that his thoughts are only for the good of the team, even if he doesn’t succeed like the spare case of giving Balatex.
In conclusion, even when Maccabi Tel Aviv is now a mediocre team in comparison to Europe, and even when it is not of high ability, it is possible and necessary to pass Stiva Bucharest. We must work on the stationary balls, continue moving the ball even if it is sometimes dangerous because there is no one to kick up and with the reinforcement that will still arrive from home and abroad, At least in Israel Maccabi Tel Aviv is organized.
the scores
Roi Meshapti: 8
The era of Nehemias: 5
Raz Shlomo: 7
Tyrese Asante: 6
Ofir Davidzadeh: 6
Joris van Overeem: 7
Peretz generation: 6
Gabi Kanikovski: 6
Avishai Cohen: 3
Eran Zahavi: 5
Henry Addo: 5
Dan Beaton who entered as a substitute: 6
Jarko Laztic: 6
