The Bosnian assist maker
Haris Medunjanin proudly sits atop the Maccabi Tel Aviv assist leader list in the Europa League qualifying campaign. So far the Bosnian has three assists after returning for a second go around at Kiryat Shalom and on the pitch, he certainly finds himself in the thick of the club’s statistics.
Looking at the first meeting between Maccabi and Pandurii, the midfielder who played 69 minutes certainly recorded some nice numbers. In terms of the attacking side of the game, Medunjanin was second amongst Maccabi players with 64 offensive actions (Dor Micha had 65), however, with a 90% success rate, Haris was number one in accuracy.
Another terrific statistic was his passing accuracy (second to Dor Peretz who has substantially less passes) which included going 4/5 on long efforts as one of them led to the first goal of the game from winger Tal Ben Chaim.
Medunjanin also found himself on the receiving end of the most passes tied with Dor Micha having his teammates feed him the ball 47 times over the course of the match.
Audi TT
We all know how Tal Ben Chaim can rip apart a defense. The Yellow & Blue number 11 knows exactly what to do to get by the opposition with his fantastic technical ability while frustrating the defensive backs in his path. However, what does Maccabi get as a result of his fast break ability along with his speed?
Tal Ben Chaim knows how to draw fouls and did exactly that five times against Pandurii including one that led to Nosa Igiebor’s goal. In Maccabi’s other matches so far in Europa League qualifying, Ben Chaim leads all Yellow & Blue players when it comes to the referee whistling for a foul with many leading to quality set piece scoring opportunities.
Take a look at the chart of Tal Ben Chaim’s actions from the match in Romania as the top half of the table represents the opposition’s side of the pitch. As you can see, the majority of the winger’s play is on the left side in Pandurii’s half of the field.
All the colors of the rainbow
Set piece, counter and a long ball. These are some of Maccabi’s most important aspects showing how versatile they are when scoring goals especially in the Pandurii match. Igiebor’s header from Medunjanin’s free kick, the Bosnian’s long ball to Ben Chaim and Ben Basat’s assist to Dor Micha on a counter.
If we add the fact that Maccabi also scores goals near the end of matches (Benayoun against Kairat, Gal Alberman’s late strike, etc…), Shota Arveladze can be content with the versatility of his squad when it comes to finding the back of the goal, especially after the Pamdurii match.
Three on three
- Gal Alberman was first when it came to battling for the ball, winning 13 out of 17 opportunities. If we look at his ground battles, he was even more successful taking 12 out of 14.
- If the captain led the team on the ground, Nosa Igiebor was its leader in the air winning four aerial battles out of six.
- Keeper Predrag Rajikovic’s three first half saves helped Maccabi keep the match tight. His repertoire included parrying the ball before hitting the ground, a massive one-on-one save from in close and a gigantic leap to tip the ball away from a set piece by the Romanian side.
