The Maccabi Tel Aviv squad held their final practice ahead of Saturday's home tie against Ashdod FC. Team captain Sheran Yeini: "We feel very confident"
Maccabi Tel Aviv held their traditional pre-match press conference ahead of their Israeli Premier ("Winner") League matchweek 18 fixture at Bloomfield Stadium against Ashdod FC. Ticket sales for the match are in full swing and owing to the overwhelming demand, gate 4 will also be opened to Maccabi Tel Aviv fans. For head coach Paulo Sousa the first order of business at the press conference was the mood of the club after last Monday night's loss at Kiryat Shmona that brought to an end a run of seven consecutive league victories: "Our team is not unbeaten, we have our weaknesses and we're hard at work in our attempts to overcome them, on an individual as well as a team level. We always work according to our game principles and get ourselves ready for the next match. Saturday's game will be a contrast to last Monday's, the demands will be quite different because our approach to different coaches and teams is never the same. Besides, our opponent's formation out on the pitch will create a different dynamic than the one in the last match so inevitably it will be a different kind of match".
This being the January transfer window, quite naturally there is a great deal of speculation about possible transfer targets and changes to the squad: "We haven't made any changes to the squad up till now, last year at this time the club brought in two very important players and of course we're thinking about doing the same this year but for the time being this is the squad at our disposal. We always want to strengthen the squad but that's something you'll have to ask (sports director) Jordi (Cruyff) about. But if we do it won't be to expand the squad, in fact we've just seen some of our players go off to other clubs and so far I'm concerned every player has a chance of playing. This is something I've been saying to the players from day one".
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Cw837yt6ao
Maccabi skipper Sheran Yeini was keen to put the loss to Kiryat Shmona behind him and look forward to the contest on Saturday: "I can sum up the last match in a few words, we started the match poorly and by the time we 'woke up' it was just a little too late. Anyway, we've learnt our lesson and that will stay with us in our system and right now we're getting ready for the next match. Don't think for a moment we were complacent about that match, Kiryat Shmona are a good side and they were playing at home and really, we got off to a very poor start. Like I said, we've learnt our lesson and now it's behind us because Saturday we face Ashdod FC and we simply can't afford to dwell on the past".
"We feel very confident, confident in our abilities, in our work methods and in carrying out the missions we're entrusted with. We've had good results up to now and we have every intention of carrying on that way in forthcoming matches. We focus on one match at a time and each match requires its own specific preparations, because like the coach said, Ashdod is a different club from Kiryat Shmona. Every club try to make it difficult for us but we have to get past that, that's what the dominant team is there for, to take the initiative. Clubs always take a defensive approach when they play us and the longer they can keep us at bay the more confident they feel, especially if they manage to sneak a goal past us in the process. That's what all of our league matches are like".
Yeini also had a word to say about Maccabi's narrowed margin ahead of the number two in the table, Hapoel Beer Sheva: "They're a good side, they also gave us a lot of trouble when we played them away and they won. We respect them as a club but our focus is only on ourselves, on our capabilities. We take every club seriously because we need to get every point possible. But we don't get extra points for beating Maccabi Haifa or Hapoel Beer Sheva, it's three points no matter who you play".
Towards the end of the press conference, Yeini added a word for the many Maccabi fans who made the trek all the way up north to Kiryat Shmona on Monday and are expected to fill Bloomfield Stadium this Saturday as well: "We're very proud of our fans that made it to Kiryat Shmona, they helped to keep us going in the interval and certainly at the end of the match. They're absolutely brilliant and I sense they feel the same way about us, they don't lose their faith in us every time we drop points".
