Maccabi Tel Aviv ended their WINNER League MD7 against Beitar Jerusalem at Teddy Stadium last night (Monday) in a frustrating 0-0 draw. After an action packed 90 minutes and a fiercely contested encounter in which Maccabi created plenty of chances to score but couldn’t find the net for the second match in succession, had to settle for a point.
After making his 199th appearance for the club in all competitions, Kanichowsky, didn’t hide his frustration with the fact the team ended another match without scoring. But at the same time the 29-year-old midfielder remained adamant that converting those is something which hasn’t changed the positive mood in the camp. “We had to score. We felt this was our game” he said. “It’s a tough feeling, and very frustrating. It was an incredibly high-tempo game at Teddy, with the amazing atmosphere everyone expects here. We did a lot of things right and created huge chances, in the first half, the second half and right in the closing seconds of the game, but the ball simply refused to go into the net. When you come to a stadium like this to face a strong team and create that many opportunities, you have to leave with all three points.”
On the back of a second match which ended in a goalless draw, Kanichowsky highlighted the differences and remained positive: “Unlike the game against Bnei Sakhnin, where we faced a very compact defense, the game at Teddy was much more open, and we created clear-cut, one-on-one-with-the-goalkeeper-type chances. We’re a very attacking team that scored a lot of goals at the start of the season, so when we fail to score in two consecutive games, the disappointment is considerable. We have no one to blame but ourselves. We needed to be more clinical in front of goal.”
“We’re maintaining consistency and looking ahead”
Kanichowsky also spoke about the atmosphere at the stadium and the support from the travelling Maccabi fans: “The atmosphere at Teddy is always special, and our fans once again pushed us on in an exceptional way throughout all 90 minutes. We felt their energy from the moment we came out for the warm-up, and we really wanted to repay them with a win and three points.”
Finally, the midfielder looked ahead to the rest of the season: “On the one hand, we’re maintaining our unbeaten record and kept a clean sheet in a very difficult away game. On the other hand, Maccabi Tel Aviv goes into every stadium looking to win. There’s still a long way to go this season. We have a quality, united squad, and we believe in our approach and our ability. We’ll keep our heads up and work hard in training on the small details to make sure the ball finds the net again in the next match.”
