Whet our appetite: analysis of Maccabi Haifa's loss against Juventus

The Yom Kippur fast proved that even when the champion comes up with a group of foreigners and citizens, in the end the Israelis make the difference, and there is no greater compliment than that for our football.

Ron Amikam summarizes and explains what needs to happen so that in the home meeting against the old lady the result will be different

Ron Amikam

06/10/2022

Thursday, 06 October 2022, 10:00

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Leo Messi leaves the dressing room of Paris Saint-Germain after the "injury" against Benfica Lisbon (from Twitter)

"We will have no excuses", is a cliché that coaches use when they want to point out the difficulties they are facing, so that in the bottom line they are not defined as "whiners".

In the case of Barak Becher, we received proof yesterday (Wednesday) that the Yom Kippur fast could have been a significant excuse for the difference between the team's ability in the first hour of the game in Turin and the team's ability in the last half hour.

In his case it was even predictable and obvious.

It was clear that the fasts would not start the game and that they would enter from the 60th minute, after nearly 3 hours of recovery from the fast, backed by the professionals.

Maccabi Haifa acted exactly according to the plan.

We gave complete religious freedom to the players and the coach and actually sacrificed the game.

In the last half hour, with the full lineup, it was also a warning to Juventus: this is what awaits you in Haifa, and add to that 27-28 thousand fanatical fans in the stands.

It's not just Dean David's goal and Atzili's three goals, it's mainly the fluency in the game, the possession of the ball and to a large extent on the field as well, and the return to the principles of the game that characterize Maccabi Haifa, in the Premier League and in Europe: moving the ball quickly through the wings.

The fast neutralized two significant players from Maccabi Haifa: Dolev Haziza and Omar Azili.

Their ability to move from the wing to the middle and create a threat was lacking in the first hour of the game.

Mavis Chibuta is not the same player who left Israel for Ludogorz.

He is insecure and his actions are sometimes neighborly.

No wonder he gets almost no credit and is not reflected.

His placement in the lineup yesterday was a constraint and at the same time also a last credit.

Another player who would have reached Chibuta's situations - and had good situations to produce a dangerous action - would have done more than an endless and very ineffective dribble.

His last credit?

Cibuta (Photo: GettyImages, Valerio Pennicino)

The constraint today Kifori forced Bakr to start with five defenders, one of them being Abdoulai Sak, who, as athletic as he is, his tactical discipline is not yet perfect.

His late exit to Nabadel created the second goal for Vlauchovic too early in the second half, and from here it was already difficult to come back.

With Sondgren as a left tackle, it generally looks better than with Sk.

Sundgren, a wingback, is less effective as a firecracker, and to some extent, less productive as a fourth-line defender.

Without Neta Lavi, the burden fell on Ali Muhammad who is more 8 than 6, and he also could not always stop Juba's sequence of moving the ball, and late in his arrival to the ball, Rabio's first goal came.

With Lavi, the team plays faster, prevents and transfers weight, quickly creates advantages from the wings and most of all benefits from Mohamed's box-to-box ability.

Abu Fani and Chibuta, who often touch the ball, only delayed the game.

At least there is an amusing insight from this whole Yom Kippur story: you can play in a team with 6 foreigners and a few more citizens, but the difference is made by the Israelis.

There is no greater compliment than this for Israeli football.

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Just delayed the game.

Abu Fani (Photo: GettyImages, MARCO BERTORELLO)

Bottom line, it was a foregone conclusion with bad timing.

Juventus is not looking good.

Maccabi Haifa looked better against Maccabi Tel Aviv, certainly in their first two Champions League games.

The placement of the game at the end of Yom Kippur prevented a more balanced game that might have brought Juba to Israel next week with a noticeable lack of confidence.

Haifa is able to beat Juventus in Sami Ofer, but too many things have to happen for the bowl to really turn over.

There is no element of surprise, there is less media pressure on the opponent, there is a bit of internal distrust on the Haifa side, which stems from three losses by a margin of two goals.

In the last half hour, beyond the fact that the result was balanced, Haifa played evenly and there were moments when it was superior and more dangerous.

It even caused Yuba to become defensive and lash out.

It is possible that this will be the style of Juventus in Haifa as well, and it will suit them better in view of the inability of the Haifa defense to deal with movement in depth.

Juve is taking full advantage of the passing ability of Angel Di Maria, who besides scoring two goals from deep balls, scored another goal that was disallowed due to a tiny difference, as the Swiss referee did well to demonstrate.

Someone - a former coach - wrote on Facebook today that yesterday's game sometimes reminded of the games held on Thursdays between seniors and juniors.

It is very hard to disagree.

Juba's aggressiveness, the physicality, the use of what the refereeing constitution allows to control the ball, it's something you don't get used to.

There were moments when it seemed as if Haifa had come to play against an opponent that plays a different kind of football.

Remember how many times an Italian player put in a shoulder to shake Shawn Goldberg, and how Cibota was stopped on the crossbar with body mass blocking his way.

There are judges in Israel who would rule on a foul in the same case, but the Swiss referee adjusted himself to the level and simply ignored, even half of the fouls by the Haifa players.

There is a feeling that he will still score points.

Barak Bacher (Photo: Reuters)

Haifa needs to learn from the first three games in the Champions League for the second round of the group stage, two of which will be held at Sami Ofer: know not to get dragged into physical fights, play much faster and with fewer touches of the ball, and strive to make the most of situations.

It must be said, Haifa makes almost complete use of its quality situations.

Two field goals in three periods is more than a penalty goal in six periods that Maccabi Tel Aviv had in the previous attempt at the factory.

It's also more quality modes.

Senior European defenses do not allow easy situations for teams of these ranks.

In order to produce points, Haifa will need to raise their level, even more than what they showed in the first half against PSG.

It should be remembered that Israeli football has already suffered 9 consecutive losses in the group stage of the Champions League.

If we exclude the two pointless campaigns of Haifa in 2009 and Tel Aviv in 2015, in the other three campaigns, the points came in the second round: Haifa in 2002 scored 4 points in the second round, Maccabi Tel Aviv scored 4 in 2004 and Hapoel Tel Aviv 5 In 2010. Each of them also won a home game. This is a combination between opponents who lost interest (or came up and came with bench players, or failed and raised their hands), and the decrease in excitement and the beginning of enjoyment among the Israeli teams.

It is dangerous to bet on points for Maccabi Haifa at home where PSG are playing, Benfica in its current form or Juve, but still, the feeling that there will be points.

Not that it will even lead to the Europa League, but it will leave some flavor.

The Israeli teams cannot yet prepare themselves in the summer for the group stage, it is unnecessary.

The money they will make at the factory can help them get there again next season and make some improvements.

The day when an Israeli team qualifies for the round of 16 in the plant will be after 6-8 consecutive seasons in the group stages, and this scenario is far-fetched and even far-fetched.

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