One of the few players who managed to maintain stability and good ability in the ranks of Hapoel Tel Aviv, which experienced a bad season, is undoubtedly captain Dan Einbinder. The midfielder recently extended his contract at the club and will begin his fourth season with the Reds this summer.
"I scored 6 goals and cooked another 4 and it's nice to be praised for the season and my numbers. Last season I scored 5 and cooked 6, which is not a given for a back midfielder," Einbinder told Israel Hayom.
"It's fun for me to be captain of such a big club with a huge crowd, but I have a very big responsibility to the club, the owners, and the audience. Over the past year, my relationship with them has strengthened and I want to continue to give back to them," he says of the fans.
Fans of Hapoel Tel Aviv, photo: Danny Maron
Summarize the season for me
"You can give so many words to describe this season, failure, nightmare, disappointment, but to me the word that most characterizes is bummer. Why Basa? I've been through so much in football and I don't remember a season like this."
Where was the biggest breakdown?
"The sextet against Be'er Sheva and the game in Sammy Ofer (quintet from Maccabi Haifa, S.A.). Also the Toto Cup final we got the goal at the last second from Ariel Harush. Unfortunately, there have been many very difficult moments during this season. Those three games were very difficult to be in on the pitch, and after that in the locker room. We felt helpless and it's a very difficult feeling."
Professionally, what didn't work?
"When we look back I think we lacked character in the team, we lacked a strong mentality. In many cases, it felt like we weren't quality enough and not balanced enough in all sorts of positions. The biggest problem was that there were a lot of players without confidence for large parts of the season, and when you don't have that confidence it's hard to bring ability."
Einbinder. Disappointed, Photo: Maor Elkeslassy
"There was a lot of background noise"
Signs of problems at Hapoel Tel Aviv appeared as early as August last year when Eddie Gottlieb clashed with then-professional manager Omer Boxenbaum, but no one expected this season to end with three different coaches on the sidelines and a professional manager leaving.
"A lot of things happened at the beginning of the season within the club, there was a lot of background noise, and unfortunately it managed to penetrate and have an impact, which is something that should not happen," Einbinder says.
"I think once when I played for Beitar Jerusalem they changed coaches in season 3. Changing 3 coaches because you can't only increases the pressure and it's not easy to deal with. Chaim Silves should be applauded for coming after a terrible result, and after Hisham Lajos was injured. You could say that he arrived in an impossible situation and managed to stabilize us, even if it wasn't always visible in terms of results."
Silves and the team celebrate staying in the league, Photo: Alan Shaver
Didn't the Nisanovs give the media quiet?
"My experience with the owner is a good one. They never hurt our conditions, gave us what we needed to conduct ourselves in the most professional way. For me personally, they gave a lot of backing and trust. The Nisanovs did a lot of good things for Hapoel Tel Aviv, but also a lot of mistakes and they admit it. They are fans of the team and maybe because they acted out of emotion sometimes it hurt them, but I will remember mainly the good things."
What did you go through the day they burned Khodorev?
"We woke up to messages from Salim Toama, the manager, and Erez, the speaker, who started updating us on everything that had happened, changes in the schedule, suddenly they had to reorganize everything. When we got to the dressing room at Teddy, I saw everyone's faces and I had no doubt that we were going to win this game and were going to fight for the crowd.
"Winning Teddy, on the day they burned down the club, was one of the few moments this season when we were able to come together, get excited and do something beautiful. We returned to the compound that had been damaged and destroyed, and that helped the negative energies that were there this season stay behind. It wasn't easy to finish the season at the complex."
Setting fire to the Khodorov compound, photo: Alan Shaver
What do you think of the violence this season on the field?
"Fortunately, in most of the violent incidents we were not present. It's true that in derby games there are always powders and the game stops, and I would love for them to find the right solution, for powders to be in a way that is not dangerous and regulated. Wrestling is part of the football experience. We see that the punishments that the groups receive from the ICC do not deter anyone and are ineffective. The revolution must start with the court, because everything that has happened so far is not helping."
You mentioned the derby, when will you finally win it?
"We carry the derby like a monkey on our backs. In recent years, there have been crazy budget gaps between Maccabi and Hapoel. There were games we could have won and we didn't do that. One of the goals this season is to win a derby, in the end money does not play a role on the pitch, only affects over time. We want to give our fans pride back."
The team has appointed a new foreign coach, can this concept work?
"I got to play under a foreign team both in the national team and in the teams. The coach will have to get involved and all of us at the club will have to help him and introduce him to the mentality. Things are happening now nicely and not at the last minute. There is new energy at the club and with the crowd, it's important that we maintain that for next season."
Chen Sol was promoted from analyst to professional manager, not a bit of a gamble?
"In the end, a squad of players will be forming here who will have to deal with how to make themselves better. From my acquaintance with Chen, who was appointed professional manager, he is a very hardworking guy, a real football man. It's true that he's inexperienced, but he has a lot of motivation and I believe he can succeed in a big way."
Einbinder. Believer in grace Saul,
What are the goals for next season?
"Right now it's very early, but we have to strive big and dream bigger. To turn Hapoel Tel Aviv into a winning team, a team without feelings of inferiority, that is not afraid to come and play on big fields. As soon as we play Hapoel Tel Aviv we have to aim as high as possible, whether it's the playoffs or Europe."
Finally, what do you think of the success of the youth team?
"The achievement of the youth team is something phenomenal that cannot be dwarfed, and they deserve all the credit and all the compliments. This is a very ambitious, cohesive team and I hope they will make the achievement even greater. We (Hapoel Tel Aviv, S.A.) have a lot of players in this team, and you can see that they have more experience and maturity because some of them have already gone through a season or two in the senior team. After the great euphoria, we will have to help them get back on track so that the transition will be faster."
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Lemkin and Israelov. Photo: AFP
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