Maccabi skipper Sheran Yeini was disappointed with last night's 1-1 draw against Beitar Jerusalem: "We weren't able to hold on to the ball"
One flaw, a last-minute equaliser by rivals Beitar Jerusalem, blemished what was otherwise a memorable maiden appearance by Maccabi Tel Aviv at Haifa's brand new "Sammy Ofer" Stadium. Close to 30,000 spectators, most of them proudly wearing the yellow-and-blue colours of Maccabi Tel Aviv, created an electrifying atmosphere inside the stadium and star midfielder Eran Zahavi scored what will surely be a candidate for goal of the season, a spectacular overhead kick between three Beitar defenders that raised his season total to 13 and extended further his consecutive goalscoring record.
After the match, Maccabi head coach Pako Ayestaran was asked if it wasn't perhaps a bit naïve to have conceded a goal in the game's dying moment: "Naïve yes, because we had a player on the floor that couldn't continue because he had cramps. We had the chance to send the ball off and to come to assist Nosa which we didn't do. It's quite innocent and a pity to lose three points for this. We dropped back too easily. We did something well today, to close them down, to shuffle across but in the last ten minutes, I don't know why, I think we rushed the game too much when we could just keep the ball. We rushed too much to the position to score the second goal. We lost the ball beside the defenders and had no time to push out and we had to run back when sometimes it was not a question of running back, it was a question of going against the ball ".
The Spaniard was reminded that with 70% ball possession, Maccabi didn't seem to do enough to pose a real threat: "I think if I was the manager of Beitar (Jerusalem) I would be thinking that I have been in real danger. I think we had a number of chances. We hit the post and the crossbar three times. I think that if you hit the crossbar and the post three times and you have two options in front of the goal, quite clear ones, well that's five. And it wasn't just Eran Zahavi. We had two or three great chances as well, with Tal (Ben Chaim) and with (Dor) Micha but we didn't score. The question is that they weren't clinical enough in the last third and sometimes we slowed down. Scoring is the matter of being clinical. The last pass was clear, for example the one Tal had for (Eden) Ben Bassat, he didn't pass the ball and it's a pity in the end finishing off-side. This I think is the summary. I think we controlled the game, we had the chances to score and we didn't score enough and conceded in a silly mistake in the end".
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kjdSAJmDm8A&feature=youtu.be
"But I don't think there are so many games with five clear chances. I think you can compare Kiryat Shmona with us. I would like to know which one is the team that has more time in that position with the ball. I'm sure that we are the ones. I will tell you maybe in the next press conference the number of shots from today and I would like to know the number of shots by Kiryat Shmona. Maybe the question is that they at the moment are more clinical. And that may be the question why they are the leader in the championship. And at the moment, as I mentioned last time, they are showing that they are a better team than Maccabi. That's all".
Maccabi have scored less than two goals only twice this season, but still Pako was once again asked if he was looking to strengthen his attack in January. The coach responded in the negative: "Rade Prica has shown in the past that he's a good enough player to score goals. I think Tal in the first six games scored five. Barak Badash I think is a player who has played three games from the beginning and has scored two goals. In this case the question is that not all of them can play. Maybe we aren't adding enough goals from the midfield, maybe this is one of the points".
In reaction to an acknowledgement that winning a third consecutive title was always going to be difficult, the coach responded: "It's very hard in any league and for any team, especially because when you are in the first position, when you are leading, there's always someone who is working in the shadow. There's always one, you know, who was second and is fighting to be first. And the difficulty is to continue having the desire, the desire to continue doing the same things that have brought you in the past to win the championship".
Team captain Sheran Yeini tried to explain what happened in the last moments of the match: "That's when Beitar started attacking pretty furiously because really, it was their only chance during the course of the match and unfortunately we collapsed, we simply didn't get it right. We weren't able to hold on to the ball or clear it properly at the end and that's really a pity. That's all I have to say".
Yeini also responded to the repeated claim that on the pitch the team do little more than wait for Eran Zahavi to step up and get the work done: "No-one on the team feels that way. We have a great squad, players who do a fantastic job and create as many chances as possible for Eran, players who make moves that set him up in scoring position. We also take advantage of the fact that a lot of our opponents guard him man-to-man and that opens up spaces for other players to work in. So to say Maccabi is just Eran Zahavi is just nonsense, we have plenty of other players scoring goals".
The Maccabi skipper reflected on comparisons made between the team's performances this season and those of the last two seasons: "I can say that compared to the previous seasons we're controlling the ball better, getting more scoring chances and scoring more goals as well. Maybe we've collected fewer points but if we can turn that around we'll be even better because if you look at the match stats there's no comparison with previous years. I mean, I look at those stats and every time I'm amazed. Even when we're not playing our best the number of players with scoring chances and our ball possession, it's just crazy".
Speaking about the results of Maccabi's rivals in the title race, Yeini added: "We don't feel under pressure, we're used to this, we've learnt to deal with the pressure of going for the title since we were kids. So the results of Beer Sheva and Kiryat Shmona don't press us either. We have the hunger and the desire, we're working harder than we ever have, in every respect, fitness, style of play, technique, everything. We've just taken fewer points at this stage of the season".
