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Maccabi Tel Aviv Head Coach Slavisa Jokanovic spoke after his side's 3:2 victory to open the season over Bnei Sakhnin

Maccabi Tel Aviv opened the season on the right foot with a 3:2 win over Bnei Sakhnin at Bloomfield Stadium. A Zahavi brace and a goal by Tal Ben Chaim wiped out an early deficit.

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At the end of the match Slavisa Jokanovic spoke about his club's performance and of course the return leg against Basel on Tuesday night. "I don't like this type of match. We won, and it's always positive to begin the year with three points but we are still not where we need to be, hungry and strong. I need to see more passion on the pitch. Professional football demands hard work and concentration."

 

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Jokanovic also spoke about Maccabi's match this past Wednesday and it's upcoming game on Tuesday night: "The situation that we are currently in, where we will play twice in a week will occur frequently and if we make mistakes and hand out gifts to our opponents we will not succeed. Right now only Eran Zahavi works hard without the ball and it's not a good sign for all of us. If we want to win important games we have to work from the first minute to the last minute. Eran played the full 90 minutes today and there were no problems. I'm sure he will be 100% on Tuesday and will give everything he's got. Maccabi is not just Eran."

The coach also discussed the match style that he believes in: "Dor Peretz had a fantastic match, but Maccabi as a whole need to improve. I can analyze all of the players but in general we need to look in the mirror and understand that each and every player needs to do his work in every area of the pitch. We have to be aggressive all of the time and that's the style of match I like to see and what I believe in. To be strong and to be men on the field. Everyone needs to improve and everyone has room to improve. This year we will play more than last, and I need to have the whole club ready to wear the Maccabi jersey each and every match to the fullest.

I gave some rest to a few players to make sure they will be fit for the match on Tuesday and in regard to the red card that Mitrovic picked up, he tried to make a strategic tackle that the referee saw in a different light."