Summary: Maccabi Netanya - Maccabi Tel Aviv 5:1/Sport1
Everyone was expecting a tsunami, a storm the likes of which Maccabi Tel Aviv had not known for more than 20 years.
It had been brewing for weeks, yet it seemed we would never reach the moment.
The impression was that Robbie Cain was afraid, that he might take out the grenade but not release the Nazra.
In the end it happened, the moment of announcing the lineup arrived.
Te blood blood blood, drums, the lava is already raging, everything is waiting to erupt.
In the end, Eran Zahavi was supsal.
Instead of "boom" not even a faint "poof" is heard.
The sky didn't fall, hell didn't freeze over.
It's not like before, and not like it was talked about.
Zahavi on the bench/Barney Ardov
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Of course, it could have been otherwise.
We all remember that game in Kiryat Eliezer, the drunk and resentful face of Avi Nemani from the depths of the bench, the alienation of Nir Klinger, the storm that accompanied Maccabi Tel Aviv years later.
But here we are talking about a different period, with a different texture, in a club with a mentality that does not remind us of the mess of that time.
Cain approached the situation sensitively when he took Zahavi and Dor Peretz and updated them personally.
Zahavi, for his part, already falls less into media traps, as they say in Hebrew Tshacha - Too old for this shit.
His stomach may be full, it makes sense that he is very angry, but he will not let that dictate his mood.
This is Maccabi Tel Aviv where, as Mitch Goldhar once said, no one is bigger than the club.
Would this morning have looked different in case of a loss in Netanya?
Sure, and the headlines would have pointed to Cain's decision, but I find it hard to believe we would have been caught in an uncontrollable storm.
After so many dismal games, Maccabi Tel Aviv needed a refresher and a message according to which those who are good will be in the lineup and those who are not, will spend some time on the bench.
It's not like she played too well last night.
With or without Zahavi and the old surge generation, the old scumbags still exist, but the fact that this whole move happened in front of a team that celebrated naivety certainly didn't hurt.
Refreshment is necessary.
Maccabi Tel Aviv celebrates with the crowd/Barney Ardov
Guy Sarfati started his tenure at Maccabi Netanya with five wins in six games.
At that time, it seemed that the team's usual recipe in recent years was working - to open the season, change a coach, race to the top playoffs.
Then came a five-game losing streak.
Netanya, instead of thinking about how to pass the time pleasantly in April and May, is only three points away from the red line.
The story of Netanya is the story of an entire league.
Places 5-14 are in permanent manic-depression.
Hapoel Tel Aviv, Beitar Jerusalem and even Ashdod looked at one point as those who would fight for the sixth place, and maybe they will do so, and now they are all complicated. Maccabi Petah Tikva was certain to go down, especially after Ran Kozhoch started as a French negative with a chain of failures, and here it is , five games without a loss puts it next to Bnei Rayna, which in itself is not immune to deterioration after a wonderful first round. The only sure thing at the moment is Hapoel Petah Tikva's relegation, and even that could change.
Maccabi Netanya's problem is its knack for getting involved in these kinds of struggles, which apparently seem unrelated to her. In 1994/5, in 2004/5 and also in 2012/13, the festive year in which the stadium was inaugurated, she did not see herself as someone who should be in the cauldron and found herself in the second division. The French does not have the experience of such struggles This, which was evident last night with substitutions and a change of formation that buried the game for him. It is also not certain that he has the right players for the situation.
Without the right experience for the situation, and perhaps also without the right players.
French/Bernie Ardov
If that's not enough for the Frenchman, on Saturday he has to go to Teddy for a meeting with Beitar Jerusalem. Barak Abramov deviated from his custom, felt the urgency to change the management of the staff, parted ways with Gal Cohen and immediately landed Barak Itzhaki and Almog Cohen, who were originally planned to help Netanya until the end of the season and now may help to deepen its crisis.
Itzhaki's story is mysterious, not to mention fascinating. At Maccabi Tel Aviv his role was ambiguous. He was defined as a professional manager, but he was not the final authority in the selection of players. In the few cycles he coached in the 2021/22 season, he did not seem to have a purpose to stand on the lines A season later he left a club that had been his home for more than a decade.
So what's his deal with Beitar?
What's the deal with bottom battles now?
there is plenty to discover.
Still.
Itzhaki/Shlomi Gabbai
Itzhaki said yesterday that he believes first of all in hard work, Cohen states that in his 'I believe' all players should run and as much as possible, this is the basis of football for him.
Where is the problem?
The current Shebitar relies on Jordan Shua, a player who runs seven kilometers on a good day and much less than that if he wakes up without energy.
Shua was over the years a project of Yossi Abouxis. A good six months with him at Bnei Yehuda, while hiding the neighborhoodism inherent in him, they brought Yankel' It dawned on him to pay 1.4 million dollars for it and very quickly felt that he had been stung, until Moshe Hogge paid a similar amount for the jewel and rescued the president from the problem. The
current Beitar is different, especially without Abuxis around.
Since it is not possible to make changes to the staff, the dependence on Shua is critical.
He has nine goals and seven assists out of 31 scored by the team, he is involved in more than 50% of the conquests.
There is no dominant striker and the second most important player in the team in terms of numbers is Adi Yona, with six goals and two assists.
It is likely that Cohen and Yitzhak will talk to Shua, try to spur him on, tell him how mobility will improve his career and numbers.
Sometimes even this can work for a game or two, but over time they will have to give up, understand that if you build on him, you have to accept the fact that this is a player who will run a little less, and as long as he gives the output it is better to let him fake a little defensively (even if it sometimes costs a loss , like the horrifying loss in Sakhnin).
Otherwise, there will be no one to give the produce.
Do you believe in "hard work"?
Over time, Almog Cohen and Yitzhak will have to learn to give up as well.
Shua/Maor Alxalsi
At some point, Hapoel Beer Sheva's winning streak had to stop.
Her run was insane and the stats were starting to go against her.
Maccabi Petah Tikva got in sync with Kozhuch and gave one of the best performances of a visiting team in Turner this season.
Since the championship dynasty ended, Beer Sheva is a team that doesn't really know what to expect from itself.
She thinks of a championship but does not believe in it, she makes massive purchases, and they are not deep enough.
In the last two years, Beer Sheva has been a "fake competitor" - always in the picture, never really threatening.
In the first round it looked like it was finding a defined identity as a 4-6 place team and that its season was over before it even started, then came the ten wins that vaulted it up.
On the level of principle, she must not be excited by the draw against the Kozhuchims, it should not be more than a minor hit in the wing, but on Saturday she has Maccabi Tel Aviv away, knowing that a loss will eliminate her from the race for good.
A slight blow to the wing?
The real test comes on Saturday/Danny Maron
Beer Sheva will not only struggle with Maccabi Tel Aviv and the chance for the championship, but also with the image it has cultivated in recent years, of a team that is comfortable coming from the underdog position and when it comes to money time, it gets scared.
Ten consecutive wins, including over Maccabi Haifa, is nice, but cannot be a substitute for a real title run.
The game in Bloomfield points to two possibilities: a serious and honest declaration of intent or another crack in the club's backbone.
More on the same topic:
Maccabi Tel Aviv in football
Hapoel Beer Sheva
Maccabi Netanya