Maccabi Haifa and Hapoel BS are at the top of the table, even among leading players who bring in numbers, but behind the scenes, the two leaders have particularly dominant professional teams.
Barak Bachar and Roni Levy talk a lot and write about the work, but the two also have unusual assistants.
In Haifa, this is a French guy, in the Arik Bendo court.
In Haifa a Frenchman is sometimes used as a coach standard.
Barak Bachar allows him to deliver full training, empowers him in the eyes of the players and this is reflected behind the scenes.
The players allow themselves to share with the Frenchman professional and personal issues, and some of them he accompanies on a personal level.
For example, Dolev Haziza.
At the beginning of the season, the professional team decided to try to help the midfielder concentrate during the game only on the football itself and not on the things around.
The Frenchman, who is also said to have a "short fuse", was assisted by mental trainer Danny Inbar, and since then, after many conversations, videos and examples, the team has testified that everything is moving aside.
French guy with Barak Bachar.
The assistant coach provides confidence,
With the results and the numbers, it is impossible to argue: seven goals and six assists, even after the own goal against Maccabi Tel Aviv, the connection knew, as they say in Haifa, "to get back in the game and not sink into nonsense.
In the past, it could have gone elsewhere. "
Another player with whom a Frenchman works is defender Raz Meir.
When the feeling was that Meir was insecure, the Frenchman took advantage of the fact that he was playing on the line where the coaches are, and the things he worked on with him in training - commented on him every game.
In every bad action, the phrase "not terrible" was repeated.
The security returned to the defender slowly, and in terms of data, in Haifa it is said that Raz Meir has made extraordinary progress this season and has learned to disengage from background noises such as comments from the audience or to sink after a bad action.
All of these, of course, are also the lot of Danny Inbar.
In B'Sh, similar work is done by Arik Bendo with defender Hatem 'Abd al-Hamid and midfielder Tomer Yosefi. Regarding the latter, B'Sh.
Yosefi took things to his attention, mainly to "mature" himself on the field.
As for Alhamid, the assistant coach "extinguished" quite a few fires.
French guy. Barak Bachar's back, Photo: Maor Elkelsi
For example at the beginning of the season, when Alhamid was less fond of playing as a defender, but sometimes had no choice.
Later, Bendo recommended that Roni Levy switch to a three-brake system - on the one hand to earn Alhamid as a brake and on the other hand to make better use of the players' material.
Since then, the method has been successful, and the management of BS praises the coach: "Roni manages his team well, knows what he needs to get out of them.
This is something he does with us and has learned to take a person like Eric and make him balance things in the locker room. "For example, actors say that it is more convenient for them to turn to Bando, than to Levy, with whom the distance is more significant.
Roni Levy and Eric Bendo.
Ask Alhamid and Yosefi, Photo: Alan Shiber
Unlike other assistants in the Premier League, also tonight, chances are there will be quite a few situations in the game where Frenchman and Bendo will sit in the ears of the head coaches, whisper and give advice.
So far it has worked, but the two big clubs have made it clear: "Were it not for the freedom of work that coaches give to their assistants, no one would have expressed themselves."
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