Jordi Cruyff, the Maccabi Tel Aviv Head Coach looked back at his side’s 3:1 win over Reykjavik in the first leg of the Europa League second round qualifying tie. The boss discussed playing two strikers together, the status of various players and his dissatisfaction by the squad’s performance:
Jordi Cruyff Press Conference https://t.co/Cv1betuvn3
— Maccabi Tel-Aviv (@MaccabiTLVFC) July 13, 2017
“We played very sloppy and lost a lot of easy passes that we don’t normally lose. We had difficulties creating chances and crosses weren’t good, but once the goal came we showed character and then scored three goals. But we can’t be happy with the performance.”
Building anew:
“We are in a rebuilding process and lost a number of players and are signing others. Once the group is complete we will see more competition in the squad. Once the transfer period is over we will be where we need to be. I feel good about that. It’s always a risk to wait late into the transfer period but we will see. We won’t wait until the end of the transfer period and we hope players will want to come to israel.
Playing at 18:00 and will it happen again:
“It depends on the circumstances and the fans that came were great. There was good union between the fans and players and we thank them for coming. We may play at this time in the future but we will see. We train at this time a lot so 18:00 is fine as last week we played in Tirana at 17:00.”
About Omer Atzily:
“When you are a creative player you need to be sharp and creative in your head. You have to know what to do with the ball before you get it.”
Is a 3:1 home win enough?
“We will see, any time you give up an away goal it’s always dangerous. We will have a physical battle next week.”
The status of Marcelo dos Santos:
“I feel that there are other players who should play before. Sometimes it’s a question of adaptation. We wish they would but sometimes it just takes time.”
About Sagiv Yehezkel:
“He was injured yesterday and was going to be in the squad.”
Oscar Scarione moving to Turkey:
“His statistics as a football player are amazing. He gave us a very good 4-5 months, he always has stats and in 35 games scored 10 goals. He was unlucky with injuries, we received a good offer and he did as well so it was a business transaction. He was the ultimate professional while he was here.”
Playing Schoenfeld and Kjartansson together:
“I am a believer that you might need the contribution by both strikers.”
