1. Barak Becher bravely copes with everything that is thrown at his team.
He went into the break in first place despite a tough campaign in the Champions League.
He managed to overcome the departure of one of his most important anchors, Bogdan Palanich, and smoothly and quickly integrate two new foreign brakes.
He managed to find solutions to the disadvantage of Dolev Haziza for more than two months, perhaps the most tactically important player for the team, he trusted Dean David even when he was in a difficult period personally and professionally and has been receiving great output from him in recent months.
Now Bacher also has to deal with the absence of a first goalkeeper and two senior defenders, which forces him to change his method and play with three defenders and in addition he will also soon lose his captain, Netta Lavie, who will say goodbye to our football on Monday on his way to the league in Japan.
Maccabi Haifa.
seem unstoppable,
So for the challenging game against Hapoel Jerusalem and Ziv Aryeh, the one that spoiled Labacher's record of victories last season and the one that defeated Haifa by Teddy 0:3 in the first round, he came up with three brakes, with Lavi on the bench, Haziza and Menachem starting as wing defenders, Azili and David as strikers while Piero loses the His place and he starts the game on the bench.
Bacher knew that in such a composition, with such significant shortages in key positions, he would have to earn the goals through stationary and personal excellence of his number players.
It is very difficult to create offensive coordination with such significant deficiencies, certainly against a trained team whose quality players, Badash and Yao, play on the more vulnerable wing of Haifa's defense (the left side of the defense).
Haifa started the game well with another great goal from a brilliant corner drill (it will be interesting to see when other teams will understand the importance of stationary situations and invest time and resources to improve this element in their game) and also knew how to react quickly to an equalizing goal that came after a questionable penalty.
These goals and the great ability of Roi Mishpeti were enough for Bacher, who, like the last three games, managed to get three points with a minimum of minutes of quality football.
Against Maccabi Tel Aviv it probably won't be enough and Haifa will have to raise a level and here it will be interesting to see if Bacher will bring back Sondgren, Lavie and Piero (which is more suitable for these games, certainly if Haifa gives up the ball), which wing will Haziza play and if he will again surprise with the formation.
Piero.
Suitable for games like against Maccabi Tel Aviv, photo: Barney Ardov
Haifa's opponent, Hapoel Jerusalem, looked good, confident, very well trained, played the right football, but was left with only the compliments and should be worried about the fact that since returning from the break they are still without a win (elimination from the cup and the league - four draws and a loss), having a lot of difficulty scoring goals and she has four right goals in six games.
Butaka, and Togi do not provide numbers, Cedric is young and immature, apart from Ofek Bitton, there are not enough goals from the second wave and there is not enough utilization of stationary situations.
Arye needs to get numbers from another player from the second line (defender or midfielder), work on more stationary alternatives, and hope that his foreigners in the front will raise a level to ensure as soon as possible a top playoff, a place that Hapoel Jerusalem definitely deserves.
Guy Badash
Hapoel Jerusalem did not return from the break, photo: Barney Ardov
the claimant to the crown
The game in Teddy promised a lot and is even more.
The balance of power at the beginning of the game was clear in favor of Maccabi Tel Aviv.
The best attack in the league with two strikers in excellent form and one Oskar Gloch behind them against one of the weakest defenses in the league in front of three attacking players in wonderful form.
Aitor Karanka started again in the three-stop line-up and continued to trust Geraldes and Glazer, with Dor Peretz and Goyagon starting on the bench.
Aboxis, on the other hand, came up with a similar formation (5:4:1), with the two home players, the defender Or Zahavi and the fullback Avishai Cohen receiving the team shirt.
The moment that had the most impact on the game came in the 28th minute, when Shua sent a brilliant deep ball to Asperia (very reminiscent of the ball he sent to Nicolasco in Turner) and Lucassen, trying to block Asperia with his body, missed it and so it turned out that he pushed him with his forearm from behind.
Gal Leibovich.
He made a difficult decision, photo: Danny Maron
Gal Leibovich whistled for a penalty kick from 11 meters and Daniel Bar Natan, who was sitting in the VAR car, called Leibovich to the screen claiming that there was no attempt by Lucassen to play the ball while preventing a certain situation to score a goal and therefore and accordingly, Maccabi remained with ten players.
This suspension opened the game and from that moment we got a rhythmic and fascinating game with a lot of areas and situations for both sides.
The two who shined the most this evening, with all due respect (and there is a lot of respect) to Gloch, Asperia and Yovanovitch, were Eran Zahavi and Jordan Shua.
Zahavi came back in a form reminiscent of being forgotten from the World Cup break, looked great and scored a brace with two great shots.
Shua, as in his breakthrough season in Bnei Yehuda, again benefits from the connection with Aboxis and simply dances on the field.
His vision of the game is fantastic (11 tackles in half a season), the quality of passing is at the highest level and his demeanor seems to be much more stable as well.
Eran Zehavi.
Twinkle in Teddy, photo: Danny Maron
Aitor Karanka is still looking for which players he connects with, who he trusts and how he thinks the team should play.
It is possible that Lucassen's suspension will force Cranka to move to a formation he is more connected to (4:2:3:1), but even there he will have a dilemma, because his two strikers are in great shape and he does not have wing players in good shape, which will make him sit on the sidelines Or a striker who currently delivers the goods on the offensive side.
There is also the possibility of switching to a 4:4:2 diamond formation, an formation that Krstaich used, but according to Karanka's past teams, it is not certain that he is connected to this formation in terms of the way of training.
The problem for Karanka is that his team's competitive season in the league could end in the next round and he must find a way to beat Maccabi Haifa, otherwise his chances of fighting for the title will be reduced to a minimum, which makes Monday's big game in Bloomfield even bigger.
Aitor Cranka.
Must find solutions before Maccabi Haifa, photo: Danny Maron
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