Jordi Cruyff, the Yellow & Blue Head Coach summed up his club’s 1:0 win over Hapoel Raanana on Matchday 10 of the Israel Premier League Ligat Ha’Al:
“It was not a good performance. If we would have the possibility to change 8 players during the game I would have as they were super tired and had no energy. The break comes at a good time. We took the points, but the team didn’t look fresh and couldn’t pass the ball 3 times. However, there were matches that we played well and didn’t take the points. Character wise, the players were dead tired but we kept a clean sheet and I expect a team with a lot of energy when the come back from the break.”
Playing against the last place club:
“I’ve seen worse games this season. We have played with basically the same 11 players for 4 games in 12 days and that’s hard to do. The players weren’t fresh but they had to play, we couldn’t rotate in the midfield. The players suffered today and gave it all. I’m quite sure the players will improve.”
Issues in the midfield:
“Battocchio and Rikan were problematic as they weren’t at their peak physically. Yeini and Shpungin were sick. Eventually we had to put three in and it was a difficult physical game for us. The only thing we had in mind were the three points.”
About the players on the bench not playing over the last few matches:
“The team has been playing good the last 2-3 games and Astana was a good performance. The players also deserve some continuity. When you have the ball you look good when you don’t in the middle you suffer.”
Plans for after the break:
“Last Thursday and the Acre match was the type of football we were looking for. I’d like to bring back Golasa and Micha after the break as well as Schoenfeld and I hope that Jose Rodriguez will be able to play. Dasa won’t be back quickly.”
