Tal Ben Chaim, who scored Maccabi's second equaliser against Hapoel Beer Sheva, isn't too upset about losing: "It's a long season, not to worry"
Just like last year, Maccabi Tel Aviv suffered their first league season defeat in Beer Sheva. After keeping two clean sheets in the league and another five in the "Toto" (League) Cup, last night the team shipped three goals that decided the outcome of the match. After the final whistle, head coach Pako Ayesteran was asked if the team had slowed the pace after the penalty that drew them level at 1-1: "No, not really, I think that when they scored the second goal, we were in control of the game, we had the better chances and it looked like a matter of time that we were going to score and we conceded. Sometimes this happens. I prefer to lose one game 3-0 or 6-0 than six games 1-0. In this case this was the one that we have conceded three goals and maybe we won't concede the next five or six games. I hope".
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MULfu7LibJ0&feature=youtu.be
In light of his decision to substitute a defender, Carlos Garcia, for a striker, Barak Badash, just before Beer Sheva's third goal, Ayestaran was also asked if it might not have been a risky move so late in the game: "We tried to win the game and we have lost. But I prefer to lose the game trying to win than just stay hanging from the crossbar. We were trying to win the game. They had plenty of time to play the ball and win the game from the back and that's what we tried. It could have been done another way. If you want to play with the advantage you can play every game with the advantage. But I am very pleased with the way we have played and the only thing I am not pleased with is the result. But I think we deserved to win".
Winger Tal Ben Chaim, who'd just manage to equalise when Beer Sheva's third goal entered the net, also tried to explain: "Conceding in the last minute is very frustrating, but that's the last thing that frustrates me tonight. Frustrating is losing a match you controlled from start to finish and it might sound daft, but maybe we were feeling a bit too relaxed because the match was going as well as we expected and we reckoned it was just a matter of time before we'd give it that last push and put it to bed. We conceded goals we don't usually concede and that hurt us a lot. We had a chance to win tonight and take the wind out of their sails but the season is long. It's just the third match so not to worry".
Ben Chaim continued: "Last year too, when we lost here early on, everyone was saying the same thing and we won all three of the other matches we played with them. My dad always used to tell me that at some stage or another the bluff gets called, and whilst I'm not saying they're just a bluff, I mean they won tonight after all, but I'm sure we're the better team and that will become clear as we go along. We're professionals who train all week to adjust to all kinds of situations, so it's not engraved in stone. A defender goes off, a striker goes on, in most cases that would have ended well but tonight it didn't. We've plenty of time to correct that. You have no idea how much we want this third title, how much everybody is fully committed, I mean it doesn't get any stronger than that. I'm sure losing tonight will be a bit of a wake-up call. Not that we were asleep, but you'll see, normal service will be restored".
Team captain Sheran Yeini also tried to sum up the match: "Every match we lose is a drag. Every match we play against Hapoel Beer Sheva is a treat for the fans, goals galore, lots of surprises and as long as the football is fun to watch we're happy. That substitution with Carlos didn't put us off, everybody knew what to do. The substitution was meant to be made earlier and afterwards we just wanted to win. We went for the whole nine yards and lost, it happens. It sounds strange to say this about a match in which we shipped three goals, but it was a good performance, we dominated the game and everything went according to plan. We lost concentration a couple of times and they scored but at the end of the day there's a lot of good to take from the match. At this stage of the season, the difference between losing and drawing is not so important".
The skipper continued: "There are a lot of venues that are harder to play at and it's easier to drop points. There are teams you lose points to and I can only hope that we'll take as many points as possible from the difficult matches, and I'm sure that in the end that's what will make the difference. We're just at the start of the season, we're still learning and forging our identity and that's all we're focused on. Coach said something really great, he said every loss is just the start of a winning run. We believe in our ability and feel confident. Now we have international duty so we'll try to think just about the national team and afterwards we'll get back to the league and prepare ourselves for Maccabi Haifa".
