After the resounding 0:5 over Bnei Rayna in the first round, Maccabi Tel Aviv will host tomorrow (Monday, 20:15) in Netanya, for a match against Hapoel Hadera.
Today, the team's coach, Vladan Ivić, spoke at the press conference ahead of the match.
On the recovery from the elimination from Europe and the return to the league: "This is our commitment, we are professionals who have to think about the next game. I would say the same even if we were to go through. The next game is always the most important for us, a very important game. We are working on it and want to be ready in 100 percent with the team that will open the game and with the players that will come off the bench. They must prepare themselves for the 95 minutes that await us in front of Hadera and give our best to win."
In addition, the coach referred to Stipa Fritza, who left the country on his own accord to sign with the Belgian Standard Liege: "It's his decision, I don't agree with it of course. He's a Maccabi player and it's a big surprise for me, I know him. Now it's a matter for the club, The club is above all of us, we are here for the club, we have a contract with the club. We have to abide by the rules of the club. Simple things, it's not something difficult for me. I have the issues that are important to me, like the team, the club has its own, but in the end we are all subject to the club. We belong to the biggest club in Israel and that's because of the rules, we can't break the rules. Now it's a matter of the club and the player and I can't say what will happen right now."
breakthrough.
Maccabi Tel Aviv were surprised by his sudden departure, photo: Alan Shiver
On the team's squad: "Obviously we prepared ourselves for Europe, this was a major goal when we built the squad. When I arrived there were many players here and we brought more, we are looking for additional positions. We will do our best, we have a quality squad and the players have to show me that they deserve to play, most of them They will play. On the one hand, it's a good headache, and on the other hand, you have to pay attention to everyone and not make a mistake in making decisions about players. Everyone works here every day, we watch them, I'm a coach who gives everyone a chance, it depends only on them."
About Eran Zahavi, Ivitch said: "Eran played in important games for us and helped us. We didn't start with him in the last game because he was a little sick before the game against Rayna. The next two days he didn't work 100 percent during training. We made a decision to start with him on the bench, after that He played 60 minutes, including overtime. We wanted to be sure he was 100 percent ready. He's obviously an important player for us and I'm sure he'll see that."
On the possibility of adding a defender: "We are thinking about 2-3 positions, one of them could be a defender. In the last games we played with 3 players in the last line. If we find a quality player who can help us, maybe we will make a move, everything is open, the transfer window is more open than Europe and we will see what happens It will happen. We have enough players in this squad that can give us the quality we need."
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