Head Coach Slavisa Jokanovic discussed his club’s preparations, the busy month ahead for the Yellow-and-Blue, the security situation in Israel and more:

 “We have some very busy weeks and challenges ahead of us. We’ve played eight European matches, the Super Cup, National Team games and plenty of others in the league and more. This is the situation we are in and we must be ready for the expectations ahead of us on the pitch. The schedule isn’t easy but we’ll put our best effort into it.”

On the current security situation in Israel:

“I’m a football coach and I work with my players on the football pitch. I feel totally safe and secure and I love the city of Tel Aviv, I’m not scared in the least. My family also isn’t worried about me and I’m sure things will settle down soon and we will get back to peace and quiet.”

There are a number of suspended and injured players:

“Nosa Igiebor and Dejan Radonjic are both not fit and I don’t know when they will return to the squad as their condition is still not clear. At the beginning of the year we all talked about how we needed another striker and now we don’t have him. In Nosa’s case we still haven’t been able to figure out the issue and if we can’t do that soon we will have to find other methods to help him. Yuval Shpungin is also unavailable as he just had a medical treatment. Today is the first day in over a week that I have more than eight players to work with.”

Nikola Mitrovic spoke about the upcoming match against Maccabi Petach Tikva and the International break:

 “Maccabi Petach Tikva is a good club but if we play well we don’t have to worry. It’s an important match and we have to make sure we are ready. We worked very hard over the break to prepare for the matches we have ahead of us over the next few weeks. The training sessions were not easy, however they were very enjoyable.”