Eitan Tibi, the Maccabi Tel Aviv veteran central defender summed up the 0:0 draw at Maccabi Petah Tikva that closed out the first round if Israel Premier League Ligat Ha’Al matches:

“I believe we have played better football recently after a period of time where we didn’t play well. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to score even though we kept a clean sheet. There’s not much to say, we are going through a tough time.”

Controlling the match:
“I think we didn’t control some of our recent matches, but we had that against Petah Tikva. There’s no question that we didn’t create enough chances to score but when you play against a very defensive system you’re not going to have many chances. But we have to score at least one goal from the chances that we do have.”

Not coming easy:
“We want to do everything and things just aren’t coming to us easy right now. There are times like that. That’s the current situation and we have to continue to work hard and lift up our heads and do everything in our power to get us out of the this state.”

Optimism:
“The current squad is the best we have had during my time at the club and there are a lot of new players that need to adjust to the style that Maccabi has played over the past few seasons. It will take time and it’s not easy but I’m certain that it will all come together and we will be a better team.”

Dor Micha and Maccabi Tel Aviv hoped that tonight would end a bit better, but after 90 minutes at the Moshava Stadium the scoreboard read 0:0 against Maccabi Petah Tikva. Following 90+ minutes, the midfielder looked back at the match that was:

“It’s difficult to analyze what didn’t work right after the match. It’s a period of time where we have good chances and the ball just doesn’t go in. Everything is hard. I can’t complain about anyone and their desire to battle on the pitch. Everyone tried their hardest. Right now we just aren’t good enough and that’s a fact.”

About the opening round of league play:
“We’re still at a stage in the season where we haven’t found the right lineup and system. There are too many ups and downs during the matches and we have to improve going into the second round. It’s going to be hard to battle for the championship but we’ve been in more difficult situations last season and I believe that we will improve. I truly believe in the players that are here and there is potential, certainly more than we see right now. We are still in the race and we have to wake up.”

The upcoming Toto Cup Final:
“You can never say that someone is a favorite against Maccabi. We’ve lost too many titles over the last two seasons and we can’t just give up on one now. We will come ready to play and try to win the first title of the season.”

Maccabi Tel Aviv ended the first Israel Premier League Ligat Ha’Al round of matches with a 0:0 draw at the Moshava Stadium against Maccabi Petah Tikva. The Head Coach Jordi Cruyff spoke about the contest following the match:

“We played, tried and it’s clear that there were issues with getting quality chances. We crossed from the wings but we couldn’t finish them. We had chances at the beginning of the match but we couldn’t take advantage of them. We began to feel the pressure that we had to score and it didn’t matter how many attacking players we sent up, we weren’t able to get the proper chances and weren’t accurate enough.”

The coach continued:
“Things aren’t coming together the way we would like. When we score, we give up easy goals and when we can keep a clean sheet we can’t score. It always seems that we are on the wrong side of the story.”

And added:
“I don’t think that this is the right time to look at the whole season when we aren’t happy with the result. I don’t believe that this is the right time to discuss my role as the coach.”

The Yellow & Blue picked up a point in a goalless draw against Maccabi Petah Tikva at the Moshava Stadium as they will now prepare for the Toto Cup Final on Thursday night versus Hapoel Beer Sheva.

Head Coach Jordi Cruyff’s Starting Lineup featured Serbian keeper Predrag Rajikovic, Yuval Shpungin, Eitan Tibi, Jean-Sylvain Babin and Ofir Davidzada. Eyal Golasa, Jose Rodriguez, Avi Rikan, Dor Micha, Aaron Schoenfeld and Nick Blackman.

Available on the bench were keeper Daniel Lifshitz, Eli Dasa, Vidar Kjartansson, Barak Itzhaki, Eliran Atar, Tal Ben Haim, Dor Peretz.

First Half
Maccabi controlled the opening minutes of the match as Rikan had the Yellow & Blue’s first chance in the 4’, but his attempt from outside the box went off the near side of the goal and out. Two minutes later it was Rikan again who had a magnificent opportunity in the box thanks to superb play by Babin and Blackman on the right, but Tzachi Gigi made a brilliant save while Tibi’s bicycle kick seconds later was also cleared by the Petah Tikva shot stopper.

In the 13’ Rodriguez took an attempt from outside the box but Gigi was in place as both sides traded off play in the midfield for the next quarter hour. Petah Tikva had a good chance via Lidor Cohen in the 29’ but his attempt flew over the goal. Two minutes later Blackman’s header just cleared the bar as Babin and Golasa each picked up a yellow card in the 40’. Rikan had another chance from 16 meters in the 43’ as both sides went into the break goalless.

Second Half
Blackman had Maccabi’s first chance of the second half when he launched a laser beam over the bar in the 53’ while Cruyff made his first substitution four minutes later when he inserted Vidar Kjartansson in favor for Schoenfeld. Barak Itzhaki entered the contest in the 65’ as he replaced Rikan. Yaniv Brik almost broke the deadlock for Petah Tikva in the 72’ but his point black range chance was somehow stopped miraculously by Rajikovic.

In the 76’ Micha sent Vidar a ball in the box but his header missed the far post by centimeters and one minute later Eliran Atar came on for Jose Rodriguez to spark the offense. Atar put the ball off a defender that went out for a corner and Itzhaki volleyed the ensuing set piece just over the goal in the 80’ as Maccabi searched in earnest for a goal. Babin crosses a ball to Itzhaki, but #10 put it wide of the goal in injury time as the match ended in a goalless draw, 0:0.

After a victory over Villarreal in the Europa League, Maccabi Tel Aviv will return to Israel Premier League Ligat Ha’Al action this evening on Matchday 13 which will end the first round of league matches at Maccabi Petah Tikva, 21:00.

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Maccabi sits in 4th place with 22 points while Petah Tikva find themselves in 10th spot with 14 points so far this season. After a poor start to the season, Petah Tikva has taken 4 points in their last 2 matches.

Cruyff is looking for momentum:
Head Coach Jordi Cruyff is looking to gain momentum heading into tonight’s game and then onto the second round of league matches: ““Petah Tikva is always a tough game for us. The last few years the matches have always been close and it will be a rough battle. We also know that an unexpected loss of points over the last few weeks has put pressure on ourselves and we can’t lose more points.”

Nick Blackman also addressed the media:
“The team just has to continue to work. We have a great coaching staff and manager and we will do what we have to. We will treat this as any other game and we will focus on taking another victory.”

This may be the first league match between the two this season but Maccabi has already defeated Petah Tikva 3:0 in the Toto Cup as Vidar Kjartansson was the hat trick hero.

Last season, the two sides played each other 7 times across all competitions. Maccabi won 5 matches, one ended in a draw and one was a Petah Tikva win.

Sharon Mimer will be on the sidelines for Petah Tikva this evening after replacing Kobi Refuah this season. Under Mimer’s direction, Petah Tikva won 3 league matches, drew 2 and lost 3 times.

Check out the photos from last night’s final training session: