Maccabi Tel Aviv’s players earned a day off following their 2-0 win over Hapoel Ra’anana on Saturday but on Monday they got back to work at the PenguinPickUp training facility at Kiryat Shalom as they began preparations to face Hapoel Haifa at Bloomfield on Saturday, kickoff at 19:50.

Maccabi go into the clash as league leaders with 23 points, two more than second-placed Hapoel Beersheba. They have three consecutive victories under their belts and have gone nine matches this season without conceding a goal.

Haifa will present a tough challenge as they are in good form after themselves having won their last two matches, but with 15 points, they lie in fifth place in the TASE Premier League standings.

Watch our pictures from today’s training session.

Maccabi Tel Aviv’s continued successes reached nine consecutive matches without conceding a goal after Saturday’s 2-0 win over Hapoel Ra’anana and the club now sits atop the TASE Premier League standings with a six-point lead.

Goalkeeper Daniel Tenenbaum already set a new record for clean sheets after last week’s 2-0 home win over Hapoel Beersheba, but another mark was equalled on Saturday, as with the final match of last season, a 4-0 win over Beersheba, Maccabi have already reached 10 matches without conceding a goal and have equalled the record held solely by Maccabi Haifa which they set in 1988-89.

Next up for Maccabi will be Hapoel Haifa at Bloomfield on Saturday and if the boys in yellow manage to shut down their goal, they will set an all-time mark.

Another achievement of note set on Saturday was that Maccabi have now registered the most away wins by any Israeli club without conceding a goal since the start of a season.

As of today, Maccabi are the only first division club in any European league not to have conceded a goal. Second are Karabakh of Azerbaijan who have conceded twice in 10 matches followed by Olympiakos of Athens with three goals in nine, Benfica Lisbon (3 in 10) and Slavia Prague (3 in 15).

Another factoid that will be of interest to Maccabi fans is that Reims of France, coached by former Maccabi boss Predrag Raijkovic, lead the same category among the top five European leagues (England, Spain, Italy, Germany and France). They have conceded four goals in 11 league fixtures.

As for individual records, Jair Amador continued his excellent start to the season and dispossessed opponents nine times during Saturday’s match. Eyal Golasa’s aggressive play as he made a comeback from injury after a year on the sidelines, also contributed to the win and won the ball in 10 of the 16 clashes he was involved in. Dan Glazer, who is having a great season too, created the assist for Chico Ofouedo’s goal, his second of the season, while Ofouedo himself, scored for the fourth time in his last five outings and he is the club’s leading goal scorer.

Yonatan Cohen, who scored the second goal on Saturday, registered his second strike of the season.

Exactly a year ago, Eyal last played in Maccabi Tel Aviv’s starting lineup, on November 3, 2018 and he was then sidelined with injury.

On Saturday, the midfielder was back in the side since returning to full health and fitness.

It was a fruitful return for Golasa, and following the 2-0 win over Hapoel Ra’anana, he said: “It’s a great feeling to be back on the pitch after a year and winning has been a bonus. My aim is also to ensure I stay fit and to help the side. I have worked hard to be able to make this return and I’m very pleased that I feel I am back to my best.”

“We began the game well and I even had a chance to score. We were not as sharp in the second half but most important is that we won. I have no doubt that we will continue to improve as each game unfolds.

Golasa was impressed by the defensive ability of the team and said: “I think we are doing very well, we work as one. Last year we also showed commitment but this year it’s clear for all to see the improvement.”

Nov. 2 – Hapoel Ra’anana v. Maccabi Tel Aviv, Moshava Stadium at 17:30: After the victory over Hapoel Beersheba, Maccabi will attempt to continue their winning momentum into November in a cash against Menahem Koretzky’s tough side who have managed to draw their last three home games and has not lost this season.

Nov. 9 – Maccabi Tel Aviv v. Hapoel Haifa, Bloomfield at 19:50: A last fling before the long international break will see Hapoel Haifa, who are having one of their best starts in years, come to Bloomfield. Last season at Sami Ofer Stadium, Maccabi won 3-1, while the home fixture in Netanya ended in a 1-1 draw.

Nov. 11-28 – International break and winter reseeding on the Bloomfield pitch. The rest of the month will leave Maccabi’s fans yearning for more play as there will be three consecutive Saturdays without action at the stadium because the national team will host Poland in Jerusalem and will then travel to North Macedonia in Euro 2020 qualifying action. This is also a time when Israeli soccer pitches are given a boost for the winter, so they cannot be used for a period following reseeding.

Nov. 28 – ShoppingIL weekend takes place between November 6-8 but Maccabi’s big sale day, Yellow Friday, will be held at the end of the month, a week after Black Friday. Look out for notices on our online shop and at outlets and watch for surprises.

Nov. 30 – Hapoel Kiryat Shmona v. Maccabi Tel Aviv, Kiryat Shmona at 17:30. Maccabi return from the break directly into an away fixture a long way from home in the far north against Hapoel Kiryat Shmona in the 11th round of the TASE Premier League. The two teams have already met this season in Kiryat Shmona in the Toto Cup and Maccabi won 1-0. It will be good preparation for the first Tel Aviv Derby, always a much-anticipated clash hosted by Hapoel, which will take place on December 4.

“Ra’anana are a good club, they make life difficult for all their favoured opponents but I hope we will deliver the goods,” Maccabi Tel Aviv central defender Eitan Tibi said ahead of Saturday’s TASE Premier League clash with the team from the Sharon region.

Maccabi have not conceded a goal in nine consecutive league matches and when asked about Maccabi’s solid defensive wall, Tibi said: “There is a great commitment by all the team to defence, we display tactical discipline and I’m happy that this is the case and hope it will continue.”

By keeping a clean sheet for eight straight matches on Monday when they beat Hapoel Beersheba 2-0, Maccabi set a new record for not conceding a goal since the start of a season, a record hitherto held by Hapoel Yahud who achieved the feat in 1981-82. The series of clean sheets actually began in the last round of last season when Maccabi beat Hapoel Beersheba 4-0, so the string stands at nine.

Tibi talked of his difficult period last season and at the start of the current campaign but said he continued to work hard and devote himself to the task he was expecting to do.

“It has not been easy but even when I was not playing and not even a member of the squad, what was most important for me and the team was to continue to be ready for the moment I would be needed and to help the club succeed. I’m pleased that I took the decision to stay with Maccabi because this is the best place for me and I’m happy to be here.”

Maccabi Tel Aviv will face second division side Hapoel Umm Al Fahm in the 8th round of the State Cup draw which took place this afternoon at the IFA headquarters.

Matches will take place between December 19-23. In addition the IFA announced today that the Semi Final matches will take place at Sammy Ofer while the Cup final will be staged at Bloomfield stadium.

On the eve of the 11th league round, Umm Al-Fahm are currently ranked 4th in the table as Nir Berkovic’s side so far registered 6 victories having beaten Beitar Ramat Gan 6-0 in the previous cup round. Umm Al-Fahm host their home games at Afula.