Maccabi Tel Aviv are preparing for their second Tel Aviv derby in the space of a week. About Hapoel tel Aviv, head coach Paulo Sousa is in no doubt: "They are one of the best"
Just one week after last week's particularly dramatic Tel Aviv derby, Maccabi and Hapoel Tel Aviv will open their Israeli Premier League play-off season tomorrow night at 8.50pm with yet another encounter between the two sides. "We will not have surprises on either team," said Maccabi head coach Paulo Sousa at this morning's press conference. "We know each other, we play in the same league. Last week we played and like I said before the game, and as I predict for this game, it will be balanced against a team that in my opinion play better in the small spaces and create difficulties. But I am sure first of all that it will be a different game, a completely different game with more or less the same protagonists, with more or less the same pattern of game play and hopefully with the same result. No two games are the same, even if we play against the same opponent after one week. At each game you have different circumstances, different demands. The pattern will be more or less the same but all the details of the game will be different".
Concerning Hapoel Sousa continued: "What they can do is what we were expecting last week, what they tried to make straight away of the first situation on the pitch – very aggressive, varying the limit of the aggressiveness because they know like us that it's a different game, an important game for both teams, for both clubs, and especially for us with our main target of the season, to win the league, for them also to ensure a place in Europe. Because of that we're expecting a team with good players with a pattern of playing, especially in small spaces, that is one of the best if not the best. For that we were prepared last week-end and we want to be prepared and will also be prepared for tomorrow's game. We try to have alternatives, with Barak (Badash) we'll also see if we'll play him from the beginning. We are lacking in numbers, especially up front. But we need to be looking for alternatives like we always do to enable the team to get the result each game, tomorrow too".
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dNpM8aZm0gI
Asked if the three goals Eran Zahavi scored in last week's derby were all that was to be expected of the star midfielder, Sousa replied: "I hope not. Especially for Zahavi it's not enough. For us we're always looking to score goals to win games. With him and other players it's what we work for, to be a team that control the game with possession when we have that possibility, that control the game when we don't have possession, to be aggressive, to be working well defensively in the difficult positions. The pattern is there and we are quite confident we can repeat the good performance and to be able in the end to win the match".
Sousa was also asked about Hapoel Tel Aviv's league leading striker Omer Damari, who scored a brace in last week's derby: "For me it's not one element or one player. First of all because in modern football one player does not make the difference alone. He (Damari) scores but he doesn't play alone. He doesn't just get the ball from the keeper. Their whole team work on that and first of all it's about not giving them the possibility to get close to our box and to have space enough to score".
Next week Maccabi will host second-placed Hapoel Beer Sheva, who narrowed the gap between the two clubs on Saturday night to four points with a victory over Bnei Sakhnin. Sousa is not concerned: "I've already answered this question too many times. It's up to us, we don't look at the other teams. We look at the other ones to analyse them, to know what they are as a team, the patterns, individually, in sectors, and then when we play against them we go much more deeply. For that we are focused much more on ourselves, to keep progressing in our culture and our football philosophy and to keep looking to win games. Tomorrow we have a different opponent and for that we want to be focused for tomorrow's game and try as we always do to make sure that everything we do is in order to get the three points".
Defender Remi Mareval, who played for Maccabi in his first Tel Aviv derby last week, was also present at the press conference: "I came in January and I like the team. There's a good atmosphere and for me it's better and I want to show more of my potential." Asked about last week's derby he said: "'For me it was very amazing. (Rade) Prica gets his red card and we played with ten men. It was very hard. But for me the match is 90 minutes plus. For me it's not finished until the final result".
