He emphasizes physical fitness ("players couldn't finish 90 minutes"), demands "pressure on the opponent" and lets his players watch for hours in Liverpool • This is how Hapoel Tel Aviv coach managed to get Nissanobs "dancing in the stands"

• Klinger. Focus on physical fitness

  Photo:

  Alan Shaver

After two training sessions at Hapoel Tel Aviv, they sat down for a meeting with professional manager Moshe Sinai and coach Nir Klinger, as part of the professional program chapter. "The first thing to work on is physical fitness," Klinger said, and Sinai agreed.

The victory in the first game of the KJ made no impression on the coach, who set up a training camp and added players to training units. "We couldn't finish 90 minutes, players were finished," said a player in the team, who added: "Slowly we felt better and the results came."

Six wins has been achieved since the arrival of the new professional team, Sinai and Klinger. For comparison, throughout last season, including the lower playoff games, the Reds won just nine games. "Klinger Winner, he has demands and he does not compromise order," explained one of his players. "Players' positions, pressure on the opponent, defensive missions and things like that are the basis."

Hapoel Tel Aviv players "Klinger has demands" // Photo: Alan Shiber

When players testify to "pressure on the opponent", they talk about entire hours of video meetings, watching the world's best teams, such as Liverpool's Premier League and Leipzig leaders, who are in first place in the Bundesliga. "It's hard to reach Liverpool levels, but the existing stuff is trying to do the maximum," said Hapoel. "At least you see a team pushing high and not going backwards and being led by the opponent."

Jerafi is qualified and will open
Klinger's third change was to improve the roster. Exactly a month ago, in front of MS Ashdod, only three players were sitting on the red bench following the flu strike that plagued the roster. That didn't stop Klinger from cutting the likes of Light Inbrom and Damba Kamara that week, joining Philippa Rodriguez and Michael Oulha (already signed this summer), making Shay Eisen the car player and producing more of the existing roster.

"The Nissanov brothers finally saw that they had someone to trust and took a step back," said a club member. "In the game against Raanana they danced in the stands, it has not happened to them yet."

The Nissanobs. "Dancing in the stands" // Photo: Alan Shiber

The process that happens in Hapoel is also seen in the stands. The fans were accustomed to a dormant, evil group, one that is hard to watch. "Wake up," they called the players in recent months plus a juicy curse. In the last two weeks this song has been heard in the stands. The red crowd also feels that his group is awake, alive and kicking.

Tomorrow (Saturday, 15:00) the Reds will be staying at Hapoel Kfar Knesset, and the good news for Klinger comes from the direction of Yoav Jarafi, who is ready for the game and will open the gate in place of injured Eric Janco.