“Ra’anana are a good club, they make life difficult for all their favoured opponents but I hope we will deliver the goods,” Maccabi Tel Aviv central defender Eitan Tibi said ahead of Saturday’s TASE Premier League clash with the team from the Sharon region.
Maccabi have not conceded a goal in nine consecutive league matches and when asked about Maccabi’s solid defensive wall, Tibi said: “There is a great commitment by all the team to defence, we display tactical discipline and I’m happy that this is the case and hope it will continue.”
By keeping a clean sheet for eight straight matches on Monday when they beat Hapoel Beersheba 2-0, Maccabi set a new record for not conceding a goal since the start of a season, a record hitherto held by Hapoel Yahud who achieved the feat in 1981-82. The series of clean sheets actually began in the last round of last season when Maccabi beat Hapoel Beersheba 4-0, so the string stands at nine.
Tibi talked of his difficult period last season and at the start of the current campaign but said he continued to work hard and devote himself to the task he was expecting to do.
“It has not been easy but even when I was not playing and not even a member of the squad, what was most important for me and the team was to continue to be ready for the moment I would be needed and to help the club succeed. I’m pleased that I took the decision to stay with Maccabi because this is the best place for me and I’m happy to be here.”
