Shota Arveladze, Maccabi Tel Aviv’s boss discussed his side’s crucial European contest in Croatia this coming Thursday evening. The Georgian talked about the squad, the match ahead and mentioned the Olympics right at the start of his address to the media:
About the Olympics:
“You will be surprised but I didn’t watch one Olympic football match, I just watched a bit of the Georgian athletes as I didn’t have much time.”
Thursday’s match:
“We have a football game with a very good atmosphere coming up. Last year was a big step for the club when they went to the Champions League group stages. Maccabi had a great year last year even though they didn’t win any prizes. Having so many points in the league, Champions League and Cup Final the club did many things positively. Everything is inches in football. A post here or a post there and anything can be decided by these small amounts. We always think that Maccabi has to be in the group stages of a European competition and it’s very important for the club.”
About Hajduk Split:
“We have an opponent that we know a bit better than the prior week because we played them. We know that they have a good crowd and we know their strong points. We are a few steps ahead of last week. Right now we won last week’s game and we have one more game to go. We always play to win and try to get a result that we planned. We began this summer with the goal of making it to the European group stages and we are almost there.”
On what Split thinks about Maccabi:
“If they think we are weak then that is good, I’m happy they are thinking about us.”
Game plan:
“The plan is to play our own game and not give up a goal. We won’t change our style of play and we can’t change our style of play. We will not drop back. There may be some minutes where we need to defend but we are planning to play our football. At the end of the day we have enough experience to win the game.”
The squad:
“We don’t have 4-6 players every game. Everyone comes and works hard every day. It’s the hardest job for the coach to leave people out of the squad but we trust all of our players. We have replacements for everybody.”
Potential transfers:
“We are always searching for players and there is always talk about who will stay and who will go, but we will do the best that we can for Maccabi. If we feel that we need to get stronger then we will. It’s not good for the club and the players if they want to play and they can’t play. That’s something normal. We always try to have every player of the 21 or 22 play.”
Advancing the player’s careers:
“I never think as to what is good for the players and their careers. They have to decide for themselves. I am responsible for Maccabi. I see the players come and respect the club and I have to say that every single player I’ve seen respects each other.”
