Maccabi Tel Aviv will host their first Tel Aviv Derby of the season on Matchday 22 of WINNER League action when they welcome their city rivals Hapoel to Bloomfield Stadium. Dutch Head Coach Peter Bosz will be manning the sidelines for his first Derby and discussed the preparations for the game, the transfer window and the race for the title:

“If we win and Beer Sheva loses then we are number one. The plan for the derby is to win the game, play good football and look at ourselves. We don’t gain any extra points by looking at Beer Sheva. It’s an important game for the fans as it’s a Derby.”

Hapoel Tel Aviv’s roster turnover:

“I don’t have any control on who plays for Hapoel and which players they have brought in. I can only control what Maccabi does. We will prepare well, be fit and be mentally prepared. That’s all I can do. I know Hapoel is not well classified, but for me it’s much more important how we are doing. I know a lot more about Maccabi.”

Gili Vermouth’s transfer to Maccabi Haifa:

“I said that all of the players that work with me, then I want them in the club. He worked hard and is a good player. He’s no longer our player and is now with Maccabi Haifa. He’s a fantastic player and he wants to play, he’s also a national team player and with Maccabi he didn’t have very many minutes, that’s football. There’s always a possibility for players to move, that’s football. I’m focusing on players that are here.”

The injury status of the players:

“I think Avi Rikan is better but he was sick for 3-4 days. I will have to see today as he will train with us for the first time. I’ll need to see the medical report. Orlando Sa will not train with us today, but we still have two more days of training until the next game.”

The importance of Eran Zahavi:

“Eran is a fantatsic player, and I’m not telling you something new, you all know it. But he still needs help, he can’t do everything on his own and the team has to be around him. He’s really important and of course his goals are important but there is more, his mentality is maybe as much important as his goals. He is a fantastic team player. At the cup match, a lot of players had cramps and he pulled everyone together and took us to the victory. He’s important, but the team is always more important.”

The transfer window that just closed:

“You must know all the facts and in football you don’t know all of the facts. Only the owners and Jordi know all of the facts. I don’t even know everything. I’m happy with the team I have right now.”

The team’s adjustment to the new style of play:

“I’m in football long enough to know that we can’t immediately play the way we to play want at Maccabi. Everything takes time and I’ve been here for only a month. Sometimes the style that I want to play we will only be able to do for 30 minutes like against Beitar and other times it will be the first half, but we will work for the 90 minutes. That’s the dream, but it’s not possible to see what you want to see in one month. That’s why we train and continue to get better.”