No one will judge Mladen Krastic if Maccabi Tel Aviv does not take the championship this season. No one will judge the Serb if he is expelled from Europe by PSV Eindhoven. To Europe, to return to the struggles at the top and look good in the big games against Maccabi Haifa, Hapoel Beer Sheva, and of course in the derby.
In other words, Krastich's first big test will be tonight (Monday, 20:30) against Sami Ofer, when his team reaches the Israeli Clasico when no one really counts it against Barak Bachar's powerful and offensive team, which has already opened a gap of 10 points from the Yellows.
"We are on an improvement trend," Krastiewicz declared yesterday.
How has Maccabi improved since the Serb arrived?
What highlights does the coach name in his two and a half weeks on the team?
And who are the big gainers under Krastich?
Let's look at things.
One of the first messages the Serbian coach received from Maccabi was that the defense this season is not really functioning and is one of the worst defenses in the league.
In his two games in the league the Yellows have still not kept a clean sheet so he constantly requires defensive players and the back link to "play much more aggressively".
Eden Shamir celebrates in front of Petah Tikva. Receives credit in the lineup, Photo: Alan Shiber
In his two weeks in Kiryat Shalom Krestajic, he emphasized the game of pressure and how to respond to losses.
This could already be seen in most of the first half of the last game against Maccabi Petah Tikva. But football is played for 90 minutes and not half. And the extension near the goal, something in which the Yellows also had a hard time playing too many games this season.
Krasteich, who conveys the messages to the players through his assistants who translate into English, decided that for him there are no sacred cows and so he paved the way for Eden Shamir in the lineup, after the contact had little to play.
Suddenly Matan Balteksa, Elon Almog and Eduardo Guerrero, who had thought of lending them in the transfer window, returned to him in a big way.
So there is some improvement, there are requirements for the highest level, there is work on problems and distance with players, but the big question is - will all these things be enough for Maccabi Tel Aviv to achieve tonight's victory against Maccabi Haifa? The answers towards ten and a half at night.
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