Gal Alberman, Maccabi Tel Aviv’s defensive midfielder spoke to the press following last night’s State Cup second leg Quarterfinal win over Maccabi Petah Tikva as the Club advanced to the semifinals for thee third straight season:
“There’s never an easy State Cup match but we wanted to advance to the next round and that was our main goal. I’m happy we did what we needed to.”
Changes coaches:
“We’re veteran players and we’ve gone through these types of things more than once the last few seasons. It’s the situation that we’re in and we know that changes can occur during the course of the campaign. This time it happened at a very critical moment of the season and we had to adjust quickly especially after dropping a lot of points where we shouldn’t have. We have no room for error.”
Playing well for the full 90 minutes:
“There’s no question that during some minutes of a match we don’t play as well as we should. We understand that and we have to play good football over the course of the full match. I’ve said it a bunch of times that we still have to improve our football.”
Being a leader:
“You know that I’m not someone that speaks about myself but I look for us to do the best as we can as a team.”
Midfielders having more responsibility:
“We’ve seen over the last few matches that our midfielders are becoming more a part of the match. But we are doing our job be it on the defensive or offensive side of the game.”
Handing over the Captain’s armband to Sheran Yeini:
“I haven’t addressed this until today, but I believe that one of the roles of a captain is to set an example. The minute that Sheran Yeini came back I only saw it fit that he should take the Captain’s armband as he was the most capable person for the role. He knows how to encourage his teammates and I decided to put my ego on the side for the best of the team and did it with all of my heart. To work as a team is the most important thing for any club and I’m happy to be his assistant, he’s really the best person for the job.”
Contact status:
“In the seven years I’ve been here, this is the 3rd time my contract is coming up. The last two times everything went fairly easy and I believe that there is interest from both sides. But right now we are so busy with so many tasks ahead, the league and the Cup and I’m sure we will come to some sort of agreement.”
