Tal Ben Haim, the Yellow & Blue’s central defender and number 26 looked back at the match against Alkmaar in the Europa League groups stages while also looking ahead to Sunday’s game against Maccabi Petach Tikva:
“It’s not a terrible result, but of course when we are at home we always want to win. We played against an excellent team and no one should be fooled that they aren’t. Alkmaar is a very good side. We had plenty of chances to win two games but sometimes the ball just doesn’t go in. I was happy with our game tonight because of the many chances we had and the quality of play. I’m sure we will score going forward. Sometimes we just have days like this.”
Positives:
“I think we can be satisfied with the opportunities that we had and how we controlled the pace of the game. We also had a very good defensive effort from the whole team. We may have had results which weren’t the greatest, especially in league play but we have been playing good football. When we will score we will put in three or four goals in a game.”
Defense:
“The defensive game tonight was very good and everyone played a part in that. I think that our attacking players also chipped in on the defensive side of things like Dor Micha who ran to play defense. Yossi Benayoun played well and got into the game. All of the players took part in the defensive game which was great, but we didn’t score and we were disappointed because of that. But that’s football.”
Sunday’s match:
“It’s an important match just like every other league game. We will come into the contest in tip top shape and we look at every match as a test and we try to win each and every league game. Just like at Beer Sheva, where we played extremely well in the first half and we attacked, unfortunately we gave up a goal, but that’s football.”
Supporting the offense:
“We have enough players that deal with the offensive side of things and we’re just going through a period right now when the goals aren’t coming. But once we do finally score, the goals will start to come in a flurry.”
