Maccabi Tel Aviv’s boss, Dutchman Peter Bosz spoke to the assembled media prior to the club’s Israel State Cup quarterfinal match away against Hapoel Kfar Saba. The quarterfinals are set up as a two-legged tie with the first leg being played at Levita Stadium and the return leg at Bloomfield. Bosz discussed defender Tal Ben Haim’s status, the gap between Maccabi and Beer Sheva and also looked back at the Derby against Hapoel Tel Aviv:

“Tomorrow is a very big Cup game, especially coming after the match against Hapoel. It was mentally tough as we just played a Derby and we have to be ready to play. It won’t be easy.”

More on the Derby:

“I believe that Hapoel did a fantastic job and I watched the game again on TV and on my computer. We have to find a way to win these types of games and we have to create more chances. Hapoel had only one shot on goal and it was a goal. They had a counterattack in the second half that ended with a poor pass. We controlled the ball for 73% of the time and we did a great job in that part but we didn’t cross well and we couldn’t create chances, Eran Zahavi and Haris Medunjanin had chances and we had to do more with them.”

Opponent’s style of play against Maccabi:

“More teams will play like Hapoel did against us. If we defend like we did against Hapoel other than the first two minutes we will do well, but we have to work on the offensive part of our game.”

There has been less pressing over the past few games:

“Every game is different. I agree we played well against Maccabi Haifa as we scored two goals and the game was wide open as Haifa was attacking as well. In the Derby match we gave up a goal right away in the first few minutes and we had to come from behind. We had a problem since Hapoel played so tightly together and looked to counterattack.”

Concern about the 5 point gap between Maccabi and Beer Sheva:

“Worrying doesn’t help me, but I’m worried about the gap of 5 points. There are 14 games left with 42 points to get and 42 points to lose. The championship is not over.”

Looking forward to Kfar Saba:

“We must play better than we did in the last two cup games and I know that we can do better than what we’ve done recently.”

Status of striker Orlando Sa:

“I don’t think he will play tomorrow.”

Defender Tal Ben Haim hasn’t played recently:

“He will have a lot of minutes as he’s a fantastic defender. We have three good center backs. I asked Tal to sit on the bench with us for the Beitar match and he was in a lot of pain. He had been injured in the Rishon Cup match. For the Derby I believed that Tibi is faster than than Tal and that is why he played, it was more of a tactical move.”