The penultimate opportunity? Van Leven and Maccabi Tel Aviv must win over Helsinki | Israel Today

You could say that this season's Maccabi Tel Aviv is reminiscent of the story of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

In her eight games in Europe she has not lost a single game, although occasionally the ability has not been good.

In the league its situation is completely different, where the Yellows have recorded three losses out of their six games.

Perhaps this is because of the comfortable rivalry that the Israeli runner-up faced in the Conference League, but regardless of what has been so far, tonight against Helsinki, Patrick Van Leven's team must not lose under any circumstances.

After the embarrassing loss to Maccabi Netanya - which significantly undermined the status of the Dutch coach - it is clear to everyone that a loss to Helsinki, which is also not considered a favorite against Maccabi at home, will simply not pass in silence.

The finger of blame in such a case will be directed solely at Luan Leven, who from the beginning of the season has been receiving criticism from inside and outside the club, following the bad season opener in the league and the unconvincing ability.

In other words, tonight's game is kind of the coach's last chance.

Maybe one chance before the last.

The Maccabi management hears the players' complaints about the coach's fixation regarding the method and patterns of the game, regarding his attitude and speech towards some of them, and they are not opaque to the situation.

The club also knows that the coach has long since lost the trust of the crowd, so if you add a loss to Helsinki to this cauldron, it is difficult to see the management of Maccabi continuing to give him backing.

By the way, even if Maccabi wins today, it is still not certain that Juan Leven will continue to receive the credit in the near future, with owner Mitch Goldhaar and his representative Jack Anglidis, who joined the trip and talked to the coach and the players, holding the cards close to his chest.

In this context, players' agents who have been working with the Yellows in recent years do not rule out the possibility that Maccabi is already looking for a replacement for Loan Leven and at the same time "trying to give the system peace of mind."

Geralds last Saturday.

Will he recover?

Yeni: "Critical game"

Regardless of Van Leven's situation, if Maccabi Tel Aviv dreams of achieving first place at home - which is worth a lot of money, and perhaps more importantly it leads directly to qualifying for the quarterfinals - it must try to achieve a victory in Finland.

A draw in a certain situation can also be good, but as mentioned, Maccabi can and should strive to win this game.

In order for Maccabi to leave Finland with a hand on the top, it needs to get a lot more from its foreign players.

With the exception of striker Stepa Fritza, none of Maccabi's foreigners supply the goods this season.

Eduardo Guerrero and Brandley Quas occasionally flicker, but really do not maintain stability.

And the bigger problem comes from the weakness shown this year by players like Luis Hernandez and Andre Geralds, who were Maccabi's defensive strongholds, but suddenly this year they make serious mistakes and do not mention the players from previous seasons.

In terms of the Yellows' lineup, it seems that Sean Leven is planning at least two changes compared to the 11 they started against Netanya.

Eyal Golsa is in the lineup, and if that happens it will be his first time in 11 since returning from a serious injury.

On offense there is a dilemma regarding the wingers between Brandly Quas and Eduardo Guerrero or Matan Hozaz.

The defense also has a dilemma, and that is whether to bring back the era of Nachmias, who has recovered from an injury.

"To me, it's a very critical game," captain Sharan Yeni said yesterday.

Patrick Van Leven added: "This is not a team we have met before, and we will have to be 100 percent ready for the unknown."