In less than a week, Maccabi Tel Aviv lost the top of the table and suddenly it is 4 points away from the champion Maccabi Haifa. On the face of it, these are only two bad results, but when you look at the big picture, you realize that the Yellows are facing a number of difficult problems.
The harshest criticism leveled at Vladan Ivić after the loss to Hapoel BS and the draw against Nes Ziona was that he is fixated on the five-man defensive system. The Serbian would like to play in a 4:3:3 formation, but to play in this way he needs wing players , and as far as he's concerned, and he's also said this repeatedly - he doesn't have the right players for that, so he continues with the current method.
Ivicich tonight he returns to the lines, photo: Alan Shiver
How did it happen that Maccabi reached this situation at this stage of the season?
Here is the answer: "In the summer we had 3 foreign wing players with whom we conducted negotiations and each of them was already almost closed, but in the 90th minute they went to another place", says the team, "Obviously we need another wing player and we will bring in January".
The only winger who arrived is Yonatan Cohen, who signed on the very last day of the closing of the window, but it took him a month and a half to get his first playing minutes in the last game, claiming that he is still ineligible.
The point is that the next two games and the ones after the break could be critical to the championship fight, because another loss by Maccabi Tel Aviv, and on the other hand a victory by Maccabi Haifa, could increase the gap between the teams to 7 points, and this would be a gap that the Yellows would find very difficult to close him.
Yonatan Cohen and burst onto the bench.
Who will play tonight?, Photo: Alan Shiver
So it's true, Yonatan Cohen may not be in the natural shape, but Matan Hozz is a winger, and even players who are not linebackers such as Parfa Goyagon, Gabi Kanikovski, and even Djorja Jovanovic, have already played in these positions before and can do it again.
Is playing with players as we mentioned in a position that is not natural for them the ideal solution?
Obviously not, but those around the club believe that Ivic should think about this possibility, as his predecessor in the position of Mladan Karstaic did, because a team with wing players will be able to play deep and become a much faster team than now.
"In this squad, you can play in several formations," they claim in Kiryat Shalom, "Ivić is a good coach and he will find solutions, but in the end these are his decisions."
Eran Zahavi yesterday.
No offense, photo: Alan Shiver
The point is that Maccabi Tel Aviv's problem is not only a lack of wing players, but that it has several players who are in less good shape, with the emphasis being on Dor Peretz, who still does not mention the player from before leaving for Italy, or Giorja Yovanovic And Eran Zahavi, who look a bit rusty near the goal. And even players who started the season great experienced a decline in the last two games.
"There are players with a lack of confidence. There are players whose pressure affects them," say Maccabi, "but we have many experienced players who need to get them out of it. The best solution to everything would be victory."
But this is not the only solution that the Yellows are planning to restore the confidence of the players and they will probably hold a training camp abroad during the upcoming break, in order to work on the connection and other professional problems. In the meantime, they will have to forget about everything and beat Hapoel Jerusalem tonight, otherwise, the mini Their crisis will turn into a big crisis.
were we wrong
We will fix it!
If you found an error in the article, we would appreciate it if you shared it with us
