Maccabi opened up the 2015/16 season last night with a 3:2 win over Bnei Sakhin. Prior to the return leg of the UEFA Champions League playoff round, the Yellow-and-Blue enjoyed another stellar performance by captain Eran Zahavi with a brace and winger Tal Ben Chaim’s goal as well.
One of the players who received compliments on his play was youngster Dor Peretz who assisted on Zahavi’s second goal of the match: “I’m happy that the coach thought I had a good match. I think I did what I needed to on the pitch today and thats what I am most focussed on.”
Peretz also spoke about the fact that the club has many midfielders: “It’s true that there are plenty of players on Maccabi that can play the midfield position. The people who are close to me take care of me and that’s fine. I believe in my abilities and in myself that I belong with Maccabi. This is how I take care of making sure I contribute to the club. I really appreciate the players that are around me and they are a big reason that I continue to improve. I’m not really doing anything special. I’m just doing what I know how to do.”
The club has had some problems on set pieces so far this year and Peretz discussed this challenge: “I’m not the address to explain team mistakes, I’ll only talk about my responsibilities on the field. I don’t believe that Sakhin even knew they had scored. Right now we are having a bit of a problem with corner kicks and dead ball situations but little by little we are working on these things and I'm sure that within a couple of weeks you’ll be able to see the difference. I don’t think that it’s a case of self confidence, it just happens.”
The young midfielder talked about his current role on the pitch: “I will be happy to play any position that the coach tells me to, but of course I'm very happy to play in the midfield.”
