On his personal feelings of arriving to a derby as a coach, Itzhaki said: “It is a good feeling. A derby is always an interesting and important match for Israeli football in general, but we are preparing like we do for every game”.
The 37-year-old Head of Football Department who will guide the team for the third time as interim coach, added: “Over the past couple of matches I also guided the side against coaches who were more experienced than me. But the derby has its’ own rules and will have to prepare in the best possible way so that we arrive prepared for the game”.
On the current unbeaten record against Hapoel: “Hapoel are a good side which is something they had shown from the start of the season as they enjoyed a good start to the campaign. Yes, they are above us in the table and we respect every opponent we play against including Hapoel Tel Aviv but positioning in the table is not something which should have any effect. I believe we will arrive focused, alert, determined and show our ability on the pitch”.
Itzhaki, guided Maccabi as interim coach to two victories in the last two matches, over Kiryat Shmona in the league (3-1) and HJK Heksinki in the Conference League, spoke of the team’s change of momentum: “The most important thing, as I have said in the past, was to restore the player’s confidence. There are very good players here, our position in the table doesn’t reflect the ability those players have. We didn’t have a good start, but now is the time to correct things. In our previous two matches I was satisfied with several things we did and there were other things I was less satisfied with. We don’t have too much time between matches but my staff and I are trying to prepare the players and correct the mistakes we did in our previous matches”.
On how he feels as interim coach, Itzhaki said: “It is a new role for me, but I am gradually adapting. This is something different, team meetings is something new for me, training sessions on the pitch is something new for me – but I the Pro-License course we are doing is very helpful, but we have a very important match as the focus should be more on the match rather than on me”.
When asked whether he is receiving advise from other people, Itzhaki added: “In general I am a person who loves to hear many opinions. I speak with people who are related to football both in Israel and abroad. I maintained contact with coaches who worked here in the past and their staff. Eighty percent of the day I talk about football”.
