45-60:
Maccabi Tel Aviv enters the second leg of the Europa League Playoff Round after winning their first match last week 2:1 at the Netanya Stadium. Every victory is a good victory, however, the away goal that the Yellow & Blue gave up could be critical when the two sides face each other at the Stadion Poljud. The goal that was given up in the second half was even more painful as Maccabi dominated in almost every aspect of the game including ball possession with a 70%-30% advantage as well as shots on target with a 14-3 and corner kicks 13-2.
We all recall how dynamic the Yellow & Blue were over the first half, but the weakest moments for Shota Arveladze’s squad were between the 45-60th minute mark. Pay attention to the graphs below that breakdown the match into 15 minute blocks of time:
Maccabi is shown in red (please excuse the statistics company for their choice of color) and they controlled every element of the match except during these 15 minutes of play. Perhaps the Challenges graph is most telling. The reason the graph shows that Split won more challenges in the first half is that Maccabi possessed the ball for 74% of the time and therefore would lose more balls than the defending side. But during the 45-60th minutes of the contest, Hajduk dictated the pace of the game and Maccabi failed to raise their level of aggressiveness which translated into them not having control.
Balance the Wings:
Over the course of the last match between the clubs, Maccabi attacked 35 times from the left wing, 34 from the center and 28 times from the right side. Due to the absence of winger Tal Ben Chaim because of yellow card accumulation it can be assumed that the attack won’t be predominantly from the left side of the pitch. This is where the players in the center and the right side where Dor Micha plays will be more important in the upcoming clash.
The gifted midfielder had three key passes in the first match, along with one very dangerous pass and put two balls into the key area out of four attempts. It will be interesting to see where the bulk of the Maccabi attacks from the wings will come from and how it will be reflected on the amount of the offensive actions that will come from the sides.
The “Poljud” Effect:
36,000 people can enter the home stadium of Hajduk Split, an old style facility with an athletic track and an athletic club right next door, however, the Torcida supporters group makes sure that there is a good atmosphere for football. Interestingly enough the fans are not just the only factor that will play a part at the stadium.
Last night the players had their final pre-match training session and they had a chance to see what kind of poor state the Hajduk home pitch was in to say the least. This was due to a concert series last month that took place on the field. The damage in turn resulted in a ban of any future events at the stadium other than football as it still may take another one to two months for the pitch to be back up to par.
How will it play a factor? A number of balls changed direction due to the lumps on the field and the style of play may change a bit where long passes may play a key factor, a style that is found quite often on pitches of this type.
Maccabi’s technical players that base their play on ball possession will have to come into the match fully focussed and concentrated in order to not only battle their rivals and the fans but also the pitch as well.
The small details:
Counterattack – Marijan Pusnik’s side had 12 fast-break/counterattacks in the first match against Maccabi Tel Aviv. It’s likely that this game will be played similarly with the speedy Bosnian Tino Susic and the rest of his teammates. Interestingly, Susic received the most passes from any one player and that was from keeper Lovre Kalinic.
Taking advantage of the situation – Shota Arveladze’s squad can come into this game a bit more comfortably than they did in the first encounter. Even though the away goal that they gave up changed the game plan, if Maccabi can convert more of their chances (that included 14 shots on goal with six on target last match) then the away goal will not play a big factor.
Crossing accuracy – The Yellow & Blue need to improve their crossing accuracy from the wings. In the last match only 3 of 15 crosses hit their mark, a stat that needs some improvement.
