Maccabi Tel Aviv recorded their first loss under Head Coach Shota Arveladze, falling 2:1 to Bnei Yenuda on Matchday 3 of the Toto Cup at the Moshava Stadium in Petach Tikva. The Georgian boss discussed the formation he uses, comparing the Pandurii match to the one this evening and the lack of aggressiveness:
“I feel bad of course and I am disappointed that our opponent was so aggressive and we know that everybody plays this way against us and we were a bit soft. In the crucial moments when you have to go for 50/50 balls we must be aggressive.”
Reason for not being as aggressive:
“I can imagine that no one wants to get injured, when you don’t want to get injured you end up getting injured.”
Comparing the Pandurii match and tonight’s game against Bnei Yehuda:
“I think it’s two absolutely different games. I never said it was a bad game, but we had 70% ball possession and plenty of one on one chances. The two game shave nothing to do with each other. You make some changes and we wanted to have a good game but we have to be 100% concentrated.”
Having three defenders instead of the usual four:
“We played with three defenders and I wanted to see how it works and it wasn’t bad. The first half was ok and we wanted to make some corrections and they know what I was talking about.”
Potential transfers:
“I’m not here to speak about transfers and what we are going to do. We have two important games coming up against Hajduk.”
Formation:
“If you see my games I haven’t changed my system as I always play 4-3-3. Just this evening was a bit different. We have a big squad and many games to play. This was the first time I tried tim okay three in the back.”
