At the end of last night's loss to Hapoel Haifa, Eran Zahavi was clearly disappointed: "We should be doing far better than we are". But he added: "This is the time to help one another even more"
After thirteen consecutive league matches without a loss, Maccabi Tel Aviv tonight arrived at Haifa's brand-new "Sammy Ofer" Stadium and for only the second time this season failed to find the net in a 2-0 defeat. The winners, Hapoel Haifa, only last week replaced their head coach and he was understandably pleased with the result. At the other end, Maccabi head coach Pako Ayestaran cut a disappointed figure after the encounter. He said of his team's performance that they did not play their usual game, failed to dominate possession and mixed up the rules on the pitch. He felt this was the time for the team to show character going forward. After three consecutive games without a win, the coach says it's time for a change.
Not only have the team not won, they've also conceded in three games in a row after a run of seven clean sheets. Tonight, of course, Pako was not pleased with his defence and suggested that something wasn't working properly. He didn't think it was to do with over-confidence because what he saw on the pitch looked more like a lack of confidence. Maccabi were moving the ball slowly and lacked a winning mentality, the coach felt. He believes the team will have to have another look at the way things are done and think of how to improve them. Otherwise this lack of confidence and dominance will remain in place.
Midfielder Eran Zahavi attempted to remain upbeat as he added to what the coach had said: "We're going through a rough patch at the moment so far results go but on the other hand the only way to go from here is up. This is precisely the time when we have to show strength of character and every one of us will have to face up to his own responsibility for the current state of affairs, both as individuals and as team members. We've still got a lot of games to play before the title is settled and I hope that we'll be improving as we go along. It's hard to put a finger on just exactly what's not working at present. Clearly we're not working well as a team at the moment, we should be doing far better than we are. We've taken our foot off the gas and somehow we have to get back into gear".
"It's not a question of over-confidence", the league's top goalscorer added, "there are no easy games in the league and all our opponents go into our matches highly motivated. And if we don't, that's when things go wrong. For us not to win in three consecutive matches is not normal, but this is not the time to press the panic button. This is the time to help one another even more and return to our rightful place".
