Maccabi Tel Aviv have completed their preparations for tomorrow's match against Hapoel Beer Sheva. Head coach Paulo Sousa: "We have to give them credit"
This morning (Monday) the Maccabi Tel Aviv squad held their final practice ahead of tomorrow night's home tie against Hapoel Beer Sheva. At the club's press conference held before the match, head coach Paulo Sousa addressed himself to the criticism the team have been subjected to of late: "There are lots of coaches whom I have to respect, the way they write and the way they talk. This is the way I live. I don't accept certain things but I need to respect them because everybody needs to have their opinion. But so far this season this team have done amazing things, with lots of different situations. Like the way we were involved in Europe, the way we performed in Europe, the way we changed things, our approach and patterns of the games, the demands on the players for each game from the difficulties we have run across so far this season with certain players. For all these things I have to say that so far I am really happy, for the ways the boys are performing, the way they are giving, and the way I am looking toward the future of this club and especially these boys. There are some moments in the game where we could perform better but as a coach, the way I analyse the things is not superficial, I go much deeper. You have situations that incline us to play in certain ways and when you change players or when you integrate certain players, when the opponents differ, you need to introduce new things and it's difficult sometimes to get it clear and to perform during the 90 minutes. But the pattern is there, it's in our club philosophy and our football philosophy, to try to repeat and look for the patterns, to be much more consistent, also in the future. Because we're not only thinking in the short term, we're thinking in the middle-long term, for which you need to get consistency in things. We've known it throughout the season, you'll always have ups and downs, and also when you have some situations where you're not performing your best, you need to capture the points".
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MlVBD7JTkJQ&list=UU-oWQqnf8B8a_TsmVi0mTUg
Responding to a comment that a victory tomorrow night would guarantee Maccabi the title, Sousa responded: "I disagree with you. There remain after that I think eight games, 24 points, so for that alone it's not true. Especially the way Beer Sheva are performing this season, I think that all their numbers are the numbers of champions. Unfortunately for them Maccabi are first, but Beer Sheva are doing really really well. We have to give all the credit to my colleague and the players because they are doing well". Having lost strikers Barak Itzhaki to injury and Rade Prica to suspension, Sousa was questioned whether he felt he had a problem in attack. "Each coach, including myself, likes to have all his best players on the pitch. Not only for my side but the opponent's side, because they have the love and the passion for football like me. Firstly because I like to compete with the best but also because we are prepared for that and I always want to have a full squad so I can choose. I can't have that for tomorrow's game but we have solutions and we've been working during all this week to give solutions to the players and the team to perform and to get the result we're looking for in every game, which is to win".
In light of the suggestion that fan pressure may have lead the team to make mistakes in the second half of last week's Tel Aviv Derby, the coach was asked if he had spoken to the players about the problem: "We work, it's not only talking, I also believe in working. And my players are always open to working, to performing to get it better and better, to recognise what they are, what they want to be. They come with lots of joy every day to every session to get the best performance to help Maccabi to win. As manager this is the best thing I can have and I can ask – to see in the faces of my players and in the behaviour of my players in the training sessions that they like to perform and they like to work and this is something very nice for me".
Returning to Hapoel Beer Sheva, Sousa continued: "I think they have quality players, a team whose process is quite simple, direct balls, looking to draw a foul, looking for a mistake by the opponent. They have a huge rate of success in set pieces. So far with us they haven't had the same success as they've had all season in set pieces and hopefully tomorrow they still won't have that success. We prefer that, we're working on that and hopefully we'll handle the situation well and also create problems for them from set pieces because we've also scored goals against them from set pieces". He added: "I always say that the defence is not just the four defenders or the three defenders or the goalkeeper. It's much more than this, it's a unit, just like the team's attack. We also want to involve many more players in the attack because defending is to have the ball. For me it's one of the keys – if we always have the ball, this is one of our patterns, to be the protagonist team".
As for next season, Sousa had this to say: "In my mind I am really focused on this project. I am spending lots of energy in this project because I love this project. I'm here from day one to deliver the best I am capable of, to my players, to my club, to my fans, to this football because it's the way I live football, with all my passion and all my love which I deliver. You never know what will happen tomorrow but so far I am really happy here".
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7Zg4IaR8rI&list=UU-oWQqnf8B8a_TsmVi0mTUg
Midfielder Gal Alberman also addressed himself to the criticism of the team's performances: "We've come a very long way, they'll always be criticism but so far we're concerned the only criticism that matters is that of the playing staff and if that happens we'll have a problem. Of course our fans always demand more and that encourages us to perform better. We're mature enough to understand that there will always be criticism, and that's legitimate, but as a team we're where we want to be right now. We have some tough opponents, we have injury problems and we usually have the added pressure of playing on the Monday after all our opponents have already played their Saturday matches. So far I'm concerned we're dealing with all this very well and I hope we'll continue to do so". He added: "I don't see a dip in our performances, last time out (against Hapoel Tel Aviv) we had some good moments and some less good moments and that's because we wanted to settle the tie. We were very disappointed at the end of the match because we wanted to show we could play the game our way and as soon as we let it go we disappointed ourselves. But we've been working on that all week and I hope that tomorrow we'll already be able to show the results of that work. Beer Sheva are a very capable side, irrespective of any particular player. We're looking at a tough match but I hope that we'll be able to press our advantages on the pitch throughout the ninety minutes".
