The bet paid off.
Maccabi Haifa successfully represents Israeli football in the Champions League, and its professional challenge against the European elite is not easy.
Until the game against Juventus, the Greens tried to bridge the existing professional gaps through an attempt to play controlled defense, but in the end suffered and lost.
Until the game against Juventus, Haifa's attack did not look high quality compared to its opponents.
The injury of Dolev Haziza, and the fact that Haifa saw the match against Juventus as an opportunity for first points, made Bacher choose this time a formation with a defensive line of only four players, and with Dean David and Franzadi Piero in the attack.
The gamble paid off in a big way against a disorganized Juba, who went up with a retreating team and a single striker.
The greens celebrate at the end,
In the league games we recently see the greens playing with less energy and concentration.
Bacher makes extensive rotations in the lineups he chooses for the league games, but it doesn't help.
The main problem is not physical, but mental.
After all, the transition from a game against Juventus in Turin to a game in the Galilee landscape against Bnei Reina is an extreme anti-climax.
The victory against Juventus opened for Haifa the possibility of third place and participation in the European League.
Although she will pay a price in the league, on the main stage in Europe it is forbidden to fake.
Across the road,
25 minutes of extra time for the first half of the Tel Aviv derby proved that we have not yet learned that the soccer field is supposed to be a place of pleasure and sympathy, and not a place where you can do as much as you like.
Throwing balls onto the field and disrupting the course of the game is wrong, and lighting and throwing flares is simply dangerous.
It is not an easy decision for the referee to cancel a game following such phenomena.
There is a safety hazard in dispersing the crowd.
This must be coordinated with the broadcasters that broadcast the game, and this creates a problem for the manager and the association.
The point is that something has to be done about it, otherwise it will slide on and on.
The first half in the derby belonged entirely to the fans, who became one camp full of orange flares.
Maybe a combination of Hapoel's red and Maccabi's yellow.
The referee adds 25 minutes, photo: Ami Shoman
In this derby we saw a red team that is not closed in on itself, that wants and tries but has not yet found the balanced lineup and has not yet understood the personal change in the coach's position.
Drapich knows how to coach football, but Hapoel Tel Aviv is a club whose demands are high and do not correspond to reality.
There is no patience to build in stages and gradually.
They don't have the ability to guard the home players and strengthen in the right places.
There are no long-term plans for progress, but only a need to deliver results immediately.
It will be difficult for Drapich to chart a path and create a stable path of progress.
On the other hand, Maccabi Tel Aviv is filled with veteran players who returned to win the championship, plus great youngsters, led by Oscar Gloch and Daniel Peretz, and with a clear game concept.
Ivić's new Maccabi Tel Aviv has adopted a way of playing that is accepted in Europe today.
It has three excellent decisive players - Zahavi, Gloch and Yovanovic - who will score in almost every game, and it has a team of physical and tactical players, whose main purpose is to help with the work of the defense and in the center of the field.
It does not always lead to spectacular football over time, but is very effective in achieving the result.
Even if there are minutes of less good football, there is always the possibility that the deciding trio will make an extraordinary performance and score.
You can see this style at Paris Saint-Germain, for example, with Messi, Neymar and Mbappe, and also at Real Madrid, the European champions, with Rodrigo, Benzema and Vinicius.
In Maccabi Tel Aviv, they do not try to play total football in the style of Pep Guardiola, with control of the ball in all parts of the field and continuous pressure on the ball, but look for effectiveness according to the players' roster.
Gloch celebrates.
Maccabi's new method, photo: Ami Shoman
Gloch, Zahavi and Yovanovich scored, establishing that Maccabi Tel Aviv is still the best team in the city. On the other hand, Hapoel Tel Aviv will continue to search for its lost identity, which was last seen when Eran Zahavi played in its ranks.
She needs a dramatic trend change to reduce the yellows' advantage on the grass.
It is possible, but requires organized work plans and a lot of patience.
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