Maccabi kicked off the Playoff with a 2-1 victory over Hapoel Be’ersheva that restored top spot in the league table. The day after, we checked some of the numbers that emerge following another fine display of Patrick van Leeuwen’s side.
Record breaking Van Leeuwen
The Dutch coach who was appointed in December, guided Maccabi to 16 league matches of which he won 14, drawn 2 and has a success rate of 91. 7%.
Of the 228 coaches (who coached 16 matches or more) in the league’s history – Van Leeuwen is the only one with 14 league victories in his first 16 matches incharge.
All four of the coaches to manage 13 victories in their first 16 league matches were foreign: Ivan Jezbinac (Hapoel Tel Aviv 1957), Ignace Molnar (Hapoel Petah Tikva 1961), Paulo Sousa (Maccabi Tel Aviv 2013/14), Vladimir Ivic (Maccabi Tel Aviv 2018/19).
A first brace for Blackman
Having scored a brace of goals on two occasions earlier this season (2 against Hapoel Be’ersheva and 2 against FK Riga) Nick Blackman scored his first Maccabi league brace.
The Barbados international English born striker took his season tally to 9 goals. Blackman, who joined Maccabi in 2017/18 increased his total goal tally to 14 league goals and 23 in all competitions.
Heading for a new record? Fifth victory over Be’ersheva this season
Maccabi recorded their fifth victory of the season over Hapoel Be’ersheva in six matches – alongside a draw in the first league round.
This is the sixth team in the history that Maccabi beats five times in one season together with: Hapoel Tel Aviv (1992), Maccabi Haifa (1992), Beitar Tel Aviv (1993), Maccabi Petah Tikva (2017), Bnei Yehuda (2018).
Maccabi will also face Be’ersheva on MD32 and another victory will set a new club record.
