Tag: gili vermuth

Zahavi: “I’m happy to help the club”

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Maccabi Tel Aviv Captain Eran Zahavi scored a pair of goals at home against Hapoel Acre right before the International break. Zahavi discussed scoring the goals, the difference between the Champions League and the Israeli league, the National Team and Barak Itzhaki:

יוקאנוביץ’ בסיום הניצחון מול הפועל עכו

You waited until October to score:

“I try to score all the time. Some games I do and some games I don’t. I didn’t have a great match today but I ended up scoring two goals. I don’t really think about scoring I just go out and play.”

Did you get the monkey off of your back after not scoring for awhile:

“I knew that it would come and I wasn’t feeling any pressure. I don’t really look at when I score and how many goals I score. I’m happy to help the club and when the team plays well it will help me as well.”

How much easier is it to score in the Israeli league than in the nirkeidar-40Champions League:

“The Champions League is a totally different level. In the Israeli league we are the favorites and we control the majority of the match and have more opportunities to score. In the Champions League we had some good chances to score but it just didn’t happen. We will come into those games and give even more. It’s been awhile since we’ve been in the competition and we will continue to learn from it.”

 The club waited until the 60th minute to take control of the match:

 “We did score right the start of the game. We did have plenty of opportunities to score and it was hard to get past what seemed to be ten defenders at the start of the match. The bottom line is we won 5:0 and it was a good result.”

The National Team has a pair of matches against Cyprus and Belgium coming up:

“We have a very tough match against a good team that has played very well. I want nirkeidar-34to win this game and make sure we make it into the playoff. They aren’t going to be easy but we are playing at home and with our supporters I hope we will be able to do it. Belgium is a totally different story altogether. Right now we have to focus on Cyprus and take the points against them,then we can talk about Belgium.”

How much do you enjoy playing with Barak Itzhaki:

“I’m really happy for Itzhaki. He scored a goal and assisted on another and I’m thrilled for him as he had a very good game. He is very important to the club and he knows how to score goals and we need these types of players on the pitch. I enjoy playing with him.”

Vermouth: “We just weren’t good enough”

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Maccabi Tel Aviv midfielder Gili Vermouth played 90 minutes in his club’s 2:1 loss to Hapoel Raanana. The veteran midfielder discussed what went wrong in the match, his playing time this year and playing consistently for the club:

What happened this evening against Raanana:

untitled-19“I think that we just didn’t play well enough, as Raanana had two chances and scored two goals. We didn’t take advantage of our opportunities and could have played better closer to the goal. We just weren’t good enough.

If we would have scored first, the game would have played out differently and it would have been a bit easier. But because they scored first we had to chase after them. We watched them on video and prepared properly and paid extra attention to their set pieces.”

On his playing time this season:

“I would like to play more and start all of the matches. In the game against Beer Sheva and Kiryat Shemona I played, but I didn’t against Chelsea and it’s not pleasant, but that’s the story right now.”

 Not playing consistently can have an impact:

“There’s no question that I could play better and I made some good passes but they didn’t make it through to the intended target. I always come to play each and every game and I know that I can contribute both in Europe and in Israel. Anyone that doesn’t play consistently is not in an ideal situation but I’m happy that I played a full match today. When I played against Viktoria Plzen I was able to change both of the games and then I didn’t play against Basel and Chelsea, but this is what it is right now.”