Summary of the 1:1 of Hapoel Tel Aviv against Maccabi Netanya (Sport1)
At the end of last season, Benny Lem walked around with the feeling that after his achievement, he deserves a financial upgrade in salary.
"Eyal Segal will not like the request," they advised him, but he set up a meeting with the boss without telling him in advance what the issue was and still asked for a sum of several thousand shekels a month.
Segal did not like it.
In order to convince Lam from the beginning to leave his job in the youth department of Maccabi Haifa and take on his first senior coaching position after 25 years and more at the club of his dreams at the age of 62, Segal gave Lam a "golden parachute" - if Lam is fired or resigns, his salary will not be affected and he will continue in the youth department .
This clause helped to allay Lam's fears of failure in front of the people most important to him - the Maccabi Netanya fans.
Lem lived months of a dream.
He took Netanya from the bottom to fourth place with football performances that drew praise.
He was walking around town like in his big days as an actor, but in that spoken word meeting, Segal gave him a glimpse of the future.
Segal made it clear that if he asks for a raise, he will get it, but will lose his back when the crisis comes.
The prophecy was fulfilled.
When the business started to deteriorate, Lem felt a coldness from the boss and realized where things were going.
This story explains part of what has been happening since the summer in Maccabi Netanya.
The smugness in the summer, the failure in procurement, the lack of a professional plan B (and suitable players to carry out plan A), the communication between the faculty and the professional team and the frequent policy changes regarding reinforcement.
In less than half a year, Maccabi Netanya turned from an official refresher to just a random team in the 4-14 league that might be in the top playoffs and might be relegated.
Here are the reasons.
"An official refresher for just a random group".
Maccabi Netanya (Photo: Barney Ardov)
the summer
Maccabi Netanya had a strange summer.
The commentators made it a candidate for the championship, inside the club they talked about 3-4 places as a realistic goal, while professionals who analyzed the staff from the outside warned of a possible collapse.
A fall after the relative record of last season which originates from a lack of refreshment.
Netanya worked fast in the summer and radiated seriousness.
On paper, for a team whose entire goal is to tickle the majors, it certainly looks like a dream summer.
Netanya sold Zlatan Shahovic, parted with Dani Amos and lost Parfa Giagon who finished the loan period, but responded quickly with signings and mainly kept most of its senior players.
All of them, by the way, had offers.
Red Star Belgrade was interested in Igor Zlatanovic, Maccabi Tel Aviv probed Omri Gendelman, who also received an offer from Slovakia's Slovan Bratislava, Hapoel Beer Sheva was looking for a deal for Patrick Tovmasi and even Flamen Glavov was in demand.
Segal declined to discuss most of the proposals.
In Netanya they felt that the squad had not yet exhausted itself, that they could get an even bigger season out of everyone and then talk about sales.
Everything began to shake when the offer came for Aden Kartsev from Dynamo Moscow.
The conduct hurt both sides.
In Netanya they talked about unreasonable pressure exerted by Kartsev, his representatives and his family members in order to pressure Segal to sell.
It got to where the owner at some point cut off contact with those involved.
When Kartsev returned, Netanya was stuck with no money and a player that the audience labeled as one who didn't care and just wanted to escape.
This situation was bad for both sides.
When fans burn a player - and certainly when it comes to the most significant player on the roster - it has consequences.
"I don't think Kartsev's head is at the next station," Almog Cohen said this week in an interview with Radio 90. "He is blind and a professional. It annoys me that sometimes he comes up with a story that changes his image. I talk to him about it. As soon as you get such an image, it Whatever they think of you. Aden won't end his career because of his head, but he's a bit childish and needs to grow up."
More in Walla!
KKL-Junk encourages climate studies through scholarships for young students
In collaboration with KKL-Junk
Lem has already left, Cohen broke up with the owner Eyal Segal (photo: Barney Ardov)
the procurement
Netanya fell with most of its procurement players, there is no simpler way to present things.
Erich Barko, who supposedly arrived on Parfa Giagon's slot, presented clumsy football.
Barco was never a numbers player.
Before Netanya, he had one goal in two and a half years.
Florian Hatterharz, the promising defender who shone in the second Bundesliga arrived overweight carrying an injury.
Netanya did everything to impress Hartherz and hoped that the physical problems would be solved on the fly, but it didn't happen.
These two turned the narrative on the sports director Cohen.
Compliments for his ability to bring out players from Germany for sharp criticism.
Liran Rothman was also expected to be more in terms of numbers, but he disappeared in roles that did not suit his skills as well as a winger and was soon labeled as a disappointment as well.
Michael Ohana was supposed to be the flash.
The stuck star that will be restored in the Netanya greenhouse.
When Segal and Cohen checked on Ohana, they heard again and again that he was not the right player for a team that wanted to press.
They were told that this is a player that is not easy to reach and impossible to change, but they chose fantasy over reality.
This has already happened to Segal in the past (according to Roi Kehat). After the successes, he is drawn to dreams and gets a little too close to the sun. In Ohana's case, within a few weeks they realized the mistake there.
In fact, the biggest hole in Netanya is the absence of Giagon.
"A team that presses high needs players who also know what to do with the ball after they retrieve it, otherwise the pressure is ineffective," analyzed a senior professional in Israeli football this week.
"Netanya doesn't have the player who knows how to dribble the ball and doesn't have a midfielder with a deep pass. They have become a team that is very easy to play against. Let them hold the ball and you will easily catch them in bursts."
This, for example, is exactly what happened to Netanya in Teddy.
Also in the previous round in Bloomfield, Hapoel Tel Aviv scored an easy goal in a burst that left two on one after losing the ball.
In the bottom line, Netanya did not harm the substitutes it brought in, did not solve the problems within the squad and did not find alternative tactical solutions.
Three weeks without an official game between the respectable appearances against Bashkshire to open the season, only hid the problems.
If the loss to Maccabi Haifa in the second round was still acceptable, Kobi Yarafa and Hapoel Tel Aviv already exposed the confused Netanya in the third round.
From there the business started to deteriorate.
Expectations were shattered, the audience was turned upside down, Lem walked around for weeks disgruntled in fear of his future.
For weeks in Netanya there was no hierarchy in the staff.
They tried again and again to do what worked last season with unsuitable players.
The only one in the trend of improvement, and it is also on an improvisational standard.
Weir (Photo: Barney Ardov)
down
Except for Zlatanovic, all the stars of last season experienced a sharp decline.
Matwamasi was in the system who expected "15-20 goals", but he seems detached, lacks desire and has scored a single goal so far.
Classic second year syndrome.
Aviv Avraham, who scored five league goals last season, lost his place in the lineup.
In general, it seems that in his context all parties have exhausted the relationship.
Avraham did not feel that he was respected properly for a domestic player who was with the club at the bottom and at the top.
He does not feel valued enough professionally and financially, nor does he receive exceptional support from the audience.
Even in his case, Netanya let matters reach a state of no return.
Kartsev is a shadow of the barometer that held Netanya last season, Glabov looks nervous and frustrated and recently also spoke in Bulgaria about "longing for the dressing room at CSKA Sofia". The process of erasing Yuval Ashkenazi that started in the top playoffs last season ended this week with his release to Bnei Sakhnin. Amir Berkovic Not contributing enough, Gendelman started the season late due to injury and now is injured again, and in fact, the only player who shows a trend of improvement is Ido Weir, who himself plays on an improvised basis in the left back position that is foreign to him.
When Selm left and was replaced by his assistant Ran Kozhuch, Netanya stopped absolutely to use players who are not in the plans: the two foreigners, Ohana and Ashkenazi. Add injuries and suspensions, the fact that Avraham and Gil Yitzhak are no longer really in the plans, and you got a team that plays Shavuot with a minimal squad and therefore manages to really turn a page and generate momentum despite some positive results.
The atmosphere around has not changed.
Sources in Netanya claim that since Lam's departure, Segal has become more involved and that there is a disconnect between him and Cohen.
The owner, for his part, is careful in the various interviews he gives to point out that nothing has changed in terms of his involvement and that he does not speak to Cohen as he did not previously speak to members of the professional team.
Either way, around Netanya there is an atmosphere of pessimism and fatigue.
It is very dangerous in such a complex league.
He is also among the candidates to join.
Ben Shaher (Photo: Maor Alxalsi)
January
What next?
In Netanya they are talking about two attacking players and a left defender and this is even before possible deals for Kartsev and Abraham.
When talking about procurement, it is important to clarify.
There are two fairly clear guidelines in Netanya in regards to policy: Segal suffers from loanee trauma and is unwilling to hear about it.
The cases of Dan Glazer, Sean Weissman and Parfa are too painful for him.
If you want to improve a young man, in Netanya they want to sell and get properties in return.
Therefore, they also do not believe in veteran Israeli players who come after the peak.
By and large, Netanya was looking for bargains in the market.
good deals
The professional crisis somewhat changes the picture.
Take Ben Shahar for example.
Until recently, in Netanya they were not ready to hear the name of Shahar.
In the summer, they outright rejected the possibility of adding him and now, he is suddenly definitely considered.
Yahav Gorfinkel, who in the summer attracted Netanya and refused to come, suddenly became a candidate for a possible deal with Aviv Avraham.
Regardless, agents of players who offered Netanya foreigners heard about "things that need to happen before it becomes relevant", such as a solution for Barko, Hartherz and Ohana.
"I am motivated to learn from the mistakes I made in the summer," Cohen said this week.
"In the end, everyone was sure that we had made the final decisions. It's not good to close a squad quickly. I should have thought more."
Netanya is looking for a fix, but before the purchase, she has a critical month ahead of her.
In January, Netanya will meet Bnei Sakhnin, Hapoel Haifa and Nes Ziona, as well as Hapoel Beer Sheva in the final of the Toto Cup.
In a too strange league with 11 teams more or less at the same level, the difference between top and relegation playoffs is very small.
Things like momentum at the right time or an accurate purchase in January will change teams in a season, and vice versa.
Netanya is three points away from the top playoffs, one game is described and also the qualification for the quarter-finals of the State Cup, on the other hand, is one point away from the red line.
Here is the subtle difference between a season that will be remembered as successful and... let's go back exactly 10 years.
February 2013. Netanya, which opened the same season in Europe with Yam Tsifikat, beats Hapoel Tel Aviv 0:3 in Bloomfield and at the end, its people are interested in the corresponding results, calculate the gap from the top playoffs and talk about saving the season.
In the next five games until the end of the round, Netanya will take 3 out of 15, and will of course fall into the lower playoffs.
Remember how it ended?
descending
How will this season end?
I can only say one thing.
The one who least expects it, is in the worst situation.
sport
Israeli soccer
Super League
Tags
Maccabi Netanya