Shota Arveladze, the Yellow & Blue Head Coach summed up his side’s 2:0 defeat to Haifa on Matchday Seven of Ligat Ha’Al as Maccabi suffered their first loss of the 2016/17 campaign. The Georgian spoke about his club’s effort, the chances they had on goal and the time between matches:

“There was a huge gap of time between league games when we played before the match in Ireland and after the match in Alkmaar. I mentioned it to the players yesterday and today to make sure they refocus on the league games.”

Having 23 shots to Haifa’s 2:

“This is football. We kicked 23 times but we could have been sharper. We were squeezed to the sides in the second half. We missed the goal and we didn’t score.”

On the Starting XI:

“Decisions before the game are always right. We are smart before the game.”

The decision not to start Vidar Kjartansson:

“I was thinking that the opponent was quite organized in the back and I wanted to have more balls between the lines, which worked, but we couldn’t score. That was why we chose the type of players who could play between the lines.”

About subbing out Tal Ben Chaim:

“Nothing happened. He’s the best player in the league. He scores here and scores in the National Team. We are all allowed to have a match where we are not at our best game. Everyone has a lot of expectations and the fans come to watch him. He had some great weeks and scored some very good goals. He has played many games this season and we have to give credit to him for his wonderful performances so far.”

Busy schedule coming up:

“If we look at the game see play we have never really had a bad game. We also have to give credit to the opponents who also work hard. We had 23 shots with probably half on the target. We weren’t lucky today. If you look at the game you can see that we can play and we know what we are missing and that we can play better.”

Oscar Scarione and the rest of the team:

“We have to give him credit and the rest of the players for how hard they all work. There have been a lot of games and they are putting in a tremendous effort. We will talk about it tomorrow and we will continue on. We are grateful that we are here and the opportunities we have in all of the competitions.”