Maccabi have closed the gap at the top of the table to two points. Nikola Mitrovic: "We must play the same as we played tonight"
Maccabi Tel Aviv opened their second round of Israeli Premier League matches with a 3-0 "home" victory over Maccabi Petach Tikva, just as they did in the parallel away fixture at the start of round one. After three "home" games played outside of Bloomfield Stadium, the team will return to Tel Aviv for their next home tie and the squad celebrated their victory in the dressing room by singing "Yala, abayita" (time to go home). "For sure it was quite a happy dressing room today because I think the team performed really well", explained head coach Pako Ayestaran after the match. "We'll have to come back to play here (Netanya) next week probably. Still we don't know, but it could be. But it's a stadium I really love. Everything. I think the pitch, the level of the grass. I think apart from Bloomfield it's the one in best condition and this helps us".
After a relatively uneventful first half, Maccabi scored 36 seconds after the restart before winger Tal Ben Chaim put the match to bed eight minutes later with his second goal on the night. Asked if this was perhaps the team's easiest contest so far this season, the Spaniard responded: "Not easiest. This was for me the best performance of the team against a difficult team, who have conceded just seven goals in the last five or six games, that from the last five games I think they won four. I think it was a difficult team and we knew from the beginning that we needed to be patient because you know they've only conceded four goals in the first thirty minutes. In this case it's a team that really keeps tight at the beginning of the game and I think it was down to us, down to our good performance because if we wouldn't be at this level we would have had problems against Petch Tikva".
To a remark that the team seemed to play better with midfielder Eran Zahavi playing in the striker's role, the coach responded: "The question is not about the number of strikers. It's about the number of players that arrive to the last third of the pitch. But I would like to remind you that at the beginning we were playing with Eran and everybody told me 'Who's going to score if you've got just one natural scorer?' But we're not just playing with Eran. There's Eran, there's Tal (Ben Chaim) there's (Dor) Micha and Gael (Margulies) and against Ashdod with Barak Badash as a striker we did really well as well. In this case, depending on the game, one of the strengths of this team is that we've got different options".
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=20kBjRm___g&feature=youtu.be
Nikola Mitrovic, whose superb cross facilitated the team's first goal on the night, had this take on the match: "We moved the ball well like we normally must do and we played strong defensively, especially when we lost the ball we stayed close to the player. Even when we didn't have the ball we did it well". And surely it's nice to have such talented colleagues with you in midfield. "It's always good for me, not only for me but it's good for the team because there's always an opportunity to play forward and I think today we did it quite well".
It was remarked that his stellar performance against Maccabi Petach Tikva was a sea change to his form at the beginning of the season. "I think I dropped in my play a bit because it wasn't easy. I didn't pass the preparation and everything but I'm again in good shape". Asked if his role this season was larger than last season, the Serb responded: "I always try to do what the coach asks. But I think maybe this year I have more freedom than last year".
Mitrovic also had a word to say about the current title race: "We don't need to look at any opponent. We are good enough so we must look at how we play and if we perform well and play well we don't need to look at other opponents". But surely it's just a battle between Maccabi, Ironi Kiryat Shmona and Hapoel Beer Sheva. Mitro: "Maybe I don't agree. Maccabi Haifa is also a good team. Maybe they didn't start well but I think they are a good team. Also Maccabi Petach Tikva are a good team. But it's also good for Israeli football and the Israeli league that there's more quality, so it's good for everybody".
