Shota Arveladze, the Yellow & Blue Boss looked back at his side’s 1:0 Matchday 15 victory over Ashdod at the Netanya Stadium. The Georgian Head Coach spoke about his personnel decisions, goal scorer Barak Itzhaki and the match that was:
“We don’t always get what we deserve but I think today we started quicker with more direction to the goal and quicker shots. That was a little bit more of the Maccabi I wanted to see along with the backs playing forward. We gave up few chances and we had some opportunities to make it 2 or 3 nothing, but that’s football.”
About Barak Itzhaki:
“I’ve said it before that everybody gets their chances. Some more and some less. But this is football. You have to take advantage of the chances that you get and he did that in front of everyone. To me he was the man of the match.”
The match that was:
“I didn’t see much difference between the two halves. We didn’t lose the ball and we made some good and right choices. We pressed as quick as we could and this was more of the Maccabi that we saw in the first few months.”
Starting Egor Filipenka:
“I think everybody deserves a chance and I saw him playing in the training sessions and I saw how he was fighting for his place.”
About substituting out Vidar Kjartansson:
“He didn’t have a break and has had a long season with no rest. He didn’t have a vacation in the summer and was playing in Scandinavia. He scored some important goals for us at the start of his time with us. He will have a bit more rest because our next game is the following Monday.”
The fans:
“It’s nothing connected to the league, this or that. We saw how much they bring to the games as they did against Dundalk. The fans were very highly spoken about before I arrived and when the club is struggling they may not be happy, but we need their support and it’s very important for the boys that they are with us.”
