Maccabi Tel Aviv faces Bnei Yehuda tomorrow evening on Matchday 11 of the Ligat Ha’Al at Haberfeld Stadium in Rishon Le’Zion as they will look to build on last Matchday’s win. The Head Coach Shota Arveladze discussed the upcoming contest which comes just three days after a Europa League match in Russia:

“It’s good for us that we are already playing tomorrow. Every match is like a training session just with more emotion. There are some things that I’m very encouraged by and there are others things that are disappointing me in our game. I’ve talked to the players about this, what I’m proud of and what I’m not. I’m always thinking about how I can change things. The players understand what I’m saying and everything will begin to improve.”

About Jordi Cruyff’s comments:

“I’m not going to refer to who smiles or who doesn’t as well as to who closes their eyes. I always tell my players the truth and I will always tell a player if I’m not happy about their behavior. But everything is under control on this issue. In reference to results, some are letting me down in terms of their desire or concentration when we give up a goal in the final seconds of each of the halves. The players know that they can be tougher. Our weakness is that we are being soft in these critical moments and I believe this is what Jordi was referring to.”

His part in the club’s current situation:

“My part is to be here to give the team an identity and a philosophy to help us win. We aren’t far from it. We want to win every competition that we are in both in the country and in Europe. In your eyes we may not be that strong but I don’t agree. Every team in Holland has more experience than us. We have stood up to very big clubs and we can still advance to the next stage. Even though we don’t control our own destiny we will use all of our tools. Our goal was to be in the group stage and of course we had hoped that our results would have been better. It doesn’t matter how hard it is and against every opponent we will try to win and play or football.”

The Club’s rotation:

“I’m not going to explain every decision that I make but I’ll ask you this question: Micha was on the bench, Ben Haim was on the bench and so was Vidar. Perhaps our rotation isn’t what you are seeing but I’m the only person in this room who is with the players on a day in day or basis. Tal (defender) has been our best player over the past little while and he also got to rest.”

In reference to the lack of plays off of corners:

“I don’t agree. Sagiv had a good dribble off a corner and we did this a number of times. Perhaps you don’t remember as we didn’t score goals this way. We always look to improve and change things around and it also depends on we the opponent is and the situation at hand. If Tal Ben Chaim the winger went past two players but didn’t score then you don’t remember. We have a number of drills that we use off of corners.”

Rajikovic’s form:

“I speak to both Shura and Rajiko. It’s not a single person’s problem. I want to see a proper wall when we have free kicks taken against us. I need more competition in the keeper’s position. In some cases there are limits on foreigners. I think that Daniel Lifshitz had some bad luck after getting injured in the Toto Cup match. He didn’t come out of the game and I have to give him credit for that. The other keepers need to challenge Rajikovic as well.”

Mistakes in critical moments:

“If a player passes by Dasa and a goal comes out of this, well that’s football. The other player was faster than him that specific time and it happens.”

The situation from the fans perspective:

“Our fans aren’t disappointed because Beer Sheva is doing well, but because of our performance. If someone believes that we have already lost the league then they are invited to go home, I don’t believe that we have.”

Tal Ben Haim, the Maccabi Tel Aviv central defender addressed the media in preparation for the side’s Ligat Ha’Al Matchday 11 contest against Bnei Yehuda at Haberfeld Stadium in Rishon Le’Zion. The Yellow & Blue want to put aside the loss at Zenit and continue with another league win following their victory at Kiryat Shemona:

“As Maccabi Tel Aviv players we have an obligation to play well in every single match, we didn’t win in three straight league games even though we played well and controlled the tempo but we lost. I’ve heard of problems on offense and problems on defense. Out of boredom I decided to take a look at the statistics. We are playing better than last season and we have more chances as well. The defense has given up two less goals than last campaign and we’ve scored the same amount of goals as last season. We also had the exact same amount of points. We are playing good football, it may not have been our best performance at Kiryat Shemona but at least we took all of the points on a tough pitch. The coach may be sitting here and smiling, but he certainly knows how to give it to us. We know where we need to improve.

About what Jordi Cruyff said:

“Jordi can say anything that he wants and we’re aware as to the situation and we are doing our best to improve. If we were doing everything perfectly then we would be at the top of the table. We have some new players and we are getting better from match to match and I believe that very soon you’ll see Maccabi Tel Aviv turn the tables.”

Responsibility:

“I’m not one to run away from responsibility. I’m hungrier now than when I was an 18-year old. I play every match like it’s my last. If we don’t get a good result it sits with me all week long, at home, with my family and with everyone around me. We played well in the matches that we didn’t win and I’m convinced you don’t rewatch the games. We do and we also look at all of the statistics. Of course the coach can’t come onto the pitch and score a goal for us. We will begin to score more frequently again and we are playing quality football, we just have to improve our results.”

Message to the fans:

“I want to guarantee the fans that we are doing our maximum in every training session and every match. Very soon we will return to our rightful place.”

May 24, 2003. Bloomfield Stadium. The last home match for the Yellow & Blue and the second to last Matchday of one of the most dramatic seasons of the last two decades in the history of Israeli football. Maccabi leads the league on goal differential over Maccabi Haifa.

Maccabi needs to win by a large margin with the identity of the champion still to be determined. Avi Nimni had recently returned to Coach Nir Klinger’s rotation as Baruch Dego was out due to injury and had taken control of the situation over they past few weeks. Watch how he exploded in this encounter:

Eden Ben Basat, Maccabi Tel Aviv’s striker talked about the the Club’s 2:0 loss to Zenit in Russia on Matchday Five of the Europa League Group Stages. Number 9 also talked about the current situation in Israel with fires throughout the country and specifically in Haifa as well as looking back at the match that was:

“We played just as the professional staff wanted us to and we tried to do as best as we could. Unfortunately, we gave up goals in the 44th minute and in the last few minutes of the match. It’s a bit painful but in general I’m happy about the way we looked and even though we didn’t take any points there are some positives that we can take out of this match. I hope that the next time we won’t give up goals in the critical minutes of the game.”

Summing up the match:

“We came here to take points and to look Zenit in the eye as they are a bigger team than us. But as you saw on the pitch we played toe to toe with them and anything is possible in football. They won and they deserved it.”

Looking ahead to Matchday Six:

“The next match is at home and we couldn’t ask for anything more than that. I hope that destiny will be in our own hands and that it will be up to us.”

Thoughts on what is happening in Israel:

“Our thoughts are with everyone in Israel. My family is from Haifa so I hope that this won’t continue to spread. I hope that the fires will end very quickly and everyone will be safe.”

The Yellow & Blue Head Coach Shota Arveladze summed up his Club’s 2:0 loss to Zenit St. Petersburg in Russia on Matchday Five of the Europa League Group Stages.

“I think we could gotten more out of this match, but the opponent had quality and when they came at us they came at us hard.”

On the chances of advancing:

“We will have to see what happens in the Dundalk versus Alkmaar match. I would think that we will still have a chance to advance on the final match day.”

Eitan Tibi, the Maccabi central defender also spoke about the game: “It was a tough game and Zenit is a good side. Unfortunately we didn’t win as we played well. They had two chances and they scored on both of them. We have one more match at home that will decide who will advance to the Round of 32. I hope we will win at home. If you would have asked me if I would’ve been content having the last match be the one that decides our fate of going up to the next round, I would have bought it.”

Zenit St. Petersburg showed why they are at the top of Group D in Europa League Group Stage action as Aleksandr Kokorin’s 44th minute goal coupled with Aleksandr Kerzhakov’s 91st minute strike helped the hosts to the three points and the win.

Prematch
Head Coach Shota Arveladze made a number of changes to the Starting XI that featured against Kiryat Shemona, however, Serbian keeper Predrag Rajikovic was in his usual position with a defensive corps of Eli Dasa, Eitan Tibi, Egor Filipenka and Omri Ben Harush in front of him. Eyal Golasa, Haris Medunjanin and Nosa Igiebor manned the midfield while Oscar Scarione, Eden Ben Basat and acting Captain Tal Ben Chaim provided the attack.

Available on the bench for the Georgian boss were keeper Daniel Tenenbaum, Gal Alberman, Sagiv Yehezkel, Vidar Kjartansson, Tal Ben Haim, Eliel Peretz and Yossi Benayoun.

First Half
After a quiet opening quarter hour of action Zenit’s Kokorin had the contest’s first chance but couldn’t find the handle on the ball in the box. In the 27th minute, Maccabi looked to have gotten on the board via Ben Chaim however he was ruled to be offside after receiving the ball from Medunjanin.

Five minutes later Mak beat the Yellow & Blue defense but his effort went wide of the target while just one minute later Ben Chaim had another chance to put the visitors in the lead but his shot went over the bar as the score remained 0:0.

However, as the match headed towards the break, Zenit got on the board with seconds remaining in the half as Aleksandr Kokorin beat Ben Harush to a cross from the left side into the box as the striker knocked the ball past a helpless Rajikovic for a 1:0 lead.

Second Half
Coach Arvelazde made two substitutions to begin the second half as Yossi Benayoun and Sagiv Yehezkel came on for Scarione and Ben Chaim. It didn’t take long for Yehezkel to get into the fray as the winger’s effort in the box was collected by the keeper in the 49th minute while two minutes later he blew past a defender on the left side and made a beauty of a pass to Benayoun but number 51 couldn’t get a shot off as Zenit cleared the ball from danger.

Ben Basat had an 18-meter free kick in the 67th minute but the Zenit keeper Lodygin made the easy save and Medunjnain’s free kick in the 75th minute was also collected by the shot stopper to keep the hosts in the lead.

Coach Arveladze made his third substitution of the evening in the 81st minute as Eliel Peretz was introduced for Medunjanin with Maccabi looking for an equalizer with time winding down. Four minutes later, Yehezkel lifted a ball to Igiebor in the box but the Nigerian’s header went over the goal while Dasa’s 87th minute effort went flying over the bar.

As the match moved into injury time, Zenit finished off the story as Aleksandr Kerzhakov scored from a free kick at the top of the box beating Rajikovic to his right side as Maccabi will head back to Israel empty handed from St. Petersburg.

The Yellow & Blue midfielder, Eyal Golasa talked about tonight’s clash against Zenit in Russia as Maccabi look to avenge the 3:4 result from Matchday One of the Europa League. Golasa discussed the familiarity between the teams, the cold weather and how they have been preparing:

“We’re getting ready for the match against Zenit and we are practicing everything to make sure we are prepared in order to get the best result possible.”

How many layers of clothing are you wearing in the cold:

“I’m not really sure, but I have on thermals plus about 5 or 6 layers.”

About Zenit:

“We are going to be playing a very tough game against an excellent team, but we know them a bit better now since we played them back in September and I hope that we will get a good result plus advance as far as we can.”

St. Petersburg is also familiar with Maccabi:

“Sure they do and they also played against us so they know what we can do. It will be a good game and like I said we want to get a good result.”

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Internationally acclaimed journalist Michael Yokhin joined Lior Timor and Asaf Shemesh on the Maccabi-Cast as they broke down Zenit and what Maccabi can expect from the St. Petersburg side:

The weather factor:

“Maccabi looks like they’ll have some good luck with the weather in Zenit as it won’t be as cold as it could be, so that’s a plus in their favor.”

Importance of the match for Zenit:

“There are a few players who are hurt on the Zenit side but it may not really make a difference as they have already advanced to the next round. However, this is a very important game and crucial for Russia in general as the country is battling Portugal for the 6th overall place in UEFA Rankings. This position is worth two Champions League spots for the 2018/19 season whereas 7th place allows just one team to head into the Champions League. That all being said, Zenit knows the better they finish now in the Europa League will help them out a few years down the road to get into the Champions League so they will be highly motivated. Every point from here on in is critical for them.”

Looking back and going forward:

“This was one of the greatest comebacks in football history and it was heavily covered by all the media throughout the world. They aren’t looking back but ahead as Zenit will be going on a long break coming up so they will be going all out for the game against Maccabi including Axel Witsel and others.”

About Giuliano:

“He is a real up and coming gem of a player. He had played with Dnipro and the coach Mircea Lucescu wanted him when he was coaching Shakhtar so he was known to the manger. No one thought he would be as good as he has turned out to be which was a replacement for Hulk. He was involved in all four goals in Netanya scoring one and assisting on the three others.”

The keys for Maccabi:

“Maccabi will need to be calm and patient and make sure not to do anything off the cuff on the hard and cold pitch that awaits them. They can’t make the same mistakes they did in the last 13 minutes in Netanya and the defense has to be very vigilant. A draw would be a decent result as well.”

The Petrovsky Stadium:

“The Stadium is old and they are working on opening up a new stadium which was supposed to debut back in 2009 but is still under construction. The fans will have a good time and again the weather is not that bad.”