A day after signing a 2-year-deal at Maccabi Tel Aviv, new signing Derrick Lukassen experienced his first training session at the Kiryat Shalom training complex. The 27-year-old Dutch central defender joined his new teammates who returned to training after a day off following the 3-1 victory over Kiryat Shmona as the team began preparing for Saturday’s league match away to Ashdod.

Luckassen wasn’t the only one to draw attention as Maccabi’s former Sports Director who is currently the technical director of Barcelona arrived for a short visit and met some familiar faces.

Maccabi Tel Aviv agreed with PSV Eindhoven on the transfer of Derrick Luckassen (186cm) who joined the club on a 2-year-deal after successfully completing his medical.

The 27-year-old Dutch central defender who will wear the number 25 at Maccabi said after signing his contract: “I am happy and excited to join Maccabi Tel Aviv, a club I played against in the past and know this is a massive club in Israel with great supporters . I spoke with Joris Van Overeem and Eran Zahavi and I am very positive about this move and excited ahead of this new chapter in my career”.

Barak Itzhaki, Head of Maccabi’s Football Department, added: “We are delighted Derrick is joining us. He is a player with great attributes, has solid experience at the top level and will be a significant addition to this team”.

A product of AZ Alkmaar youth’s department, Luckassen made his senior league debut for AZ at the age of 19 against Dordrecht in August 2014. Two seasons later (2016/17) Luckassen featured for AZ in the two Europa League matches against Maccabi 0-0 at Netanya and 2-1 at the Afas stadion. In July 2017 PSV Eindhoven bought Luckassen from AZ but after 25 appearances in all competitions during his first season spent loan spells with Bundesliga side Hertha Berlin (2018/19) and Belgian outfit Anderlecht (2019/20).

In January 2021, Luckassen joined Turkish outfit Kasimpasa on a six month long loan spell and made 17 appearances for the Istanbul club. In the summer, Luckassen returned to Turkey and joined Fatih Karagumrk last season, where he made 21 appearances scoring 1 goal for the Istanbul club that finished 8^th in the table.

Luckassen represented the young Dutch national sides at U-18, U-19, U-20 and U-21’s and has a total of 19 international appearances.

After an impressive start to the season which included 2 league goals and 3 assists you voted fore Oscar Gloukh as the KOPELL Group sponsored Maccabi Player of the Month.

While the talented 18-year-old collected the majority of your votes, Gloukh narrowly beat competition for Daniel Peretz who came in second and Djordje Jovanivic in third place.

Maccabi’s outstanding start to the league season continued on Saturday as Vladimir Ivic’s charges beat Ironi Kiryat Shmona 3-1 to maintain a perfect record of nine points from the opening three matches. The day after the match we plunged into the stats to check the interesting numbers the team achieved so far this season.

A record start

Maccabi kicked-off the league campaign with 3 victories out of the first 3 league matches and a 14-1 goal difference. This is Maccabi’s best ever start to a league campaign as only Beitar Tel Aviv (1949/50) had a better start  – 3 wins and a 14+ goal difference.

Of the 71 seasons in Israel’s history, this is the 12th season Maccabi begin a league campaign with 3 wins and the first time since the 2013/14 campaign.

A new league record:

Gabi Kanichowsky and Parfait Guiagon became the 8^th and 9^th Maccabi Tel Aviv players to score goals in the 2022/23 league campaign. This set a new record of the number of goals corers from one team which improved the previous record of 7.

Since foreign coaches began guiding Maccabi Tel Aviv (2012/13) the home record in 15 matches against Ironi Kiryat Shmona is 13 wins and 2 draws.

A 91% success rate against Kiryat Shmona is the highest against any of the 13 top flight opponents Maccabi hosted in 5 matches or more.

A first league brace

The injury time consolation goal Maccabi conceded from Kiryat Shmona’s, Itamar Shviro, ended a 270 minutes of a clean sheet. Maccabi kept a clean sheet after 3 league matches only 7 times in its’ history with the record set by Daniel Tewnenbaum  in the 2019/20 campaign – first goal conceded on MD14.

Gabi Kanichowsky who was named as the BOSS Player of the Match, scored his first brace in the league. Kanichowsky, who scored 3 league goals last season, scored his first Maccabi brace during the Conference League 5-0 victory away to HJK Helsinki.

Maccabi’s record against Kiryat Shmona’s coach Menachem Koretzki after yesterday’s match is now: 14 victories, 1 defeat and a draw – 91.7% which places him as the coach with the lowest success rate who faced Maccabi in 10 matches or more.

Gabi Kanichowsky whose two goals against Kiryat Shmona led Maccabi Aviv to a 3-1 victory at Bloomfield stadium to continue the perfect start to the league season, said: “Obviously this is fun, we are looking good, scoring goals and working hard which is exactly how we should continue”.

The 25-year-old midfielder who has plenty of competition in the squad, added: “At a club like Maccabi Tel Aviv it is legitimate and perfectly fine because in order to challenge for all titles one needs a deep squad. Sometimes this is hard on the squad especially as we have some crazy players here. I am delighted I started today and scored two goals. To play with so many good players is fun and I am enjoying every moment. We as players need to continue fighting as everyone who wants to receive playing minutes must prove ourselves all the time”

Preview

Maccabi returned to Bloomfield stadium for Saturday’s early kickoff match against Ironi Kiryat Shmona aiming to maintain their 100% percent league record. Vladimir Ivic’s side also wanted to improve their unblemished 11-0 goal tally achieved in the opening two matches against Maccabi Bnei Reineh (5-0) and Hapoel Hadera (6-0).

Ivic made three changes from the side that won in Netanya as Andre Geraldes returned to the right side of defence at the expense of Maor Kandil. Nir Bitton who limped off in the first half against Hadera and was replaced by Sheran Yeini remained sidelined as the veteran captain lined-up alongside Shahar Piven and right in front of goalkeeper Daniel Peretz.

Enric Saborit, who completed the 8-minute demolition of Hadera by scoring Maccabi’s fourth goal was named at left-back in a four-man defensive line. Dan Glazer kept his place as the midfield anchorman as he was joined in the engine room by Gabi Kanichowsky who came in for Parfait Guiagon. Ofir Davizada pushed a little forward as a left sided midfielder with the Oscar Gloukh’s brace ensuring another start behind the forwards for the talented youngster. Eran Zahavi and Djordje Jovanovic who both got their names on the scoresheet against Hadera led Maccabi’s line upfront.

With Joris van Overeem (ankle) and Eyal Golasa (shoulder) still recovering from their injuries, Ivic named a substitutes bench which included Daniel Tenenbaum, Idan Nachmias, Dan Biton, Parfait Guiagon, Avi Rikan, Maor Kandil, Roy Revivo, Dor Peretz, Matan Hozez.

Prior to kickoff Maccabi honored the contribution of former player Yuval Shpungin, who made 246 appearances for Maccabi in all competitions during a 10-year-spell at the club.

First Half

With an almost full stadium backing them, Maccabi began the match with purpose and intention aiming to catch the visitors off guard early on. A Gabi Kanichowsky cross from the right three minutes after the start was intercepted by Kiryat Shmona’s keeper Dziugas Bartkus while four minutes later Eran Zahavi couldn’t connect onto an Andre Geraldes cross from the same position.

Maccabi increased the pressure and in the 22nd minute Bartkus charged out of his goal to try and clear a through ball but collided with one of his defenders. Kanichowsky latched onto the loose ball but instead of squaring it to the unmarked Jovanovic tried a shot which was blocked and cleared. In the 26th minute however Kanichowsky scored the opener at the end of a spectacular team effort which began with Enric Saborit who carved the visitors’ defence open with a perfect through ball to Oscar Gloukh. The youngster cut the ball back for Zahavi who forced a spectacular save from Bartkus but the Lithuanian keeper could do nothing to prevent Kanichowsky from poking in the rebound with the goal at his mercy.

Ayid Habashi limped off with an injury and was replaced by Samuel Broun as Kirtat Shmona were forced to make their first change shortly after the half hour mark. On the stroke of halftime Zahavi, Gloukh and Jovanovic combined on the edge of Kiryat Shmona’s area but the visitors managed to clear the danger as Maccabi’s narrow lead was kept at the break.

Second Half

The second half began where the first one left off as Maccabi kept pegging Kiryat Shmona back to their goal. Jovanovic rose high above the visitors’ defence in the 51st minute to head Davidzada’s pinpoint cross wide of the post.

A rare mistake in Maccabi’s defence three minutes later saw Mohammed Shaker race clear through but Daniel Peretz charged out of his goal and pulled a stunning save to keep his goal locked. The 24,880 fans at Bloomfield were on their feet celebrating Maccabi’s second right on the hour mark as Gloukh cut the ball back for Kanichowsky who fired a curling left-foot shot to score his second of the night and double Maccabi’s lead.

Vladimir Ivic made a double change on 67 as Shahar Piven and Oscar Gloukh bowed out to a standing ovation and were replaced by Dor Peretz and Parfait Guiagon. A minute later Kanichowsky was denied a hat-trick as Dzubas was at full stretch to deny the diminutive midfielder’s powerful right foot shot from the edge of the area.

Guiagon got involved almost instantly as his dribbled past a couple of Kiryat Shmona defenders before picking Kanichowsky whose cross reached Zahavi. But the 35-year-old marksman sent a weak shot which didn’t trouble Bartkus too much.

Jovanovic who was booked for a foul on Noam Cohen, saw his yellow card replaced by red following the intervention of VAR as Maccabi were reduced to 10 men for the closing stages. Kanichowsky, who scored a brace, was given his standing ovation on 89 as he was replaced by Matan Hozez.

A minute inside injury time Guiagon joined in the celebration as the talented Ivorian beat Dzubas to increase Maccabi’s lead to three goals. Ivic made two more changes as Avi Rikan and Idan Nachmias replaced Zahavi and Davidzada. But Kiryat Shmona managed to spoil the celebration as Maccabi’s defence was caught flat allowing Itamar Shviro to score a consolation from close range and end the clean sheet record.

Maccabi Tel Aviv FC and Standard de Liege reached an agreement for the sale of Stipe Perica (27).

Perica, scored 3 goals in 6 appearances this season to reach a total of 20 goals in 51 matches since joining Maccabi from Watford on a free transfer in August 2021.

The 26-year-old Maccabi central midfielder who played in the two league matches Maccabi won convincingly against Maccabi Bnei Reineh (5-0) and Hapoel Hadera (6-0), said: “The entire team is doing a good job so far, not just me, a fact which is reflected in our results. But there is still room for plenty of improvement. We analyzed the last match on video and we so there are many areas we still have to improve in our game”.

On Saturday’s opponents, Kiryat Shmona, Piven, added: “Kiryat Smona is a rough agressive team we tend to struggle against as over the past few seasons they stretched us till the closing stages of games. Last season it happened in the league and the State Cup both home and away. We Re preparing for this game just like before any other game and I am sure our coaching staff will have us prepared again as we have two more days before the match”.