Maccabi Haifa and Maccabi Tel Aviv head to head

The term “game of the season” can be understood in two different ways. There are those for whom it means the biggest game of the season – and this is usually true when noted – while others see the phrase as an evening that will decide the entire season, which is not always true.

Regarding tonight’s game (20:45) in Bloomfield, the term is half correct, because a victory for Maccabi Tel Aviv means simple – and that is to keep the season alive. A victory for Maccabi Haifa, on the other hand, will determine 11 points difference between the teams, and you can say that the season will be decided. No less than eight points separate the Greens and the Yellows, a situation that Maccabi Haifa has not been in for many years, and tonight’s game can be examined from several angles.

Maccabi Tel Aviv would like to see a healthier staff for such a big game. The one who is sure to be absent tonight because of yellows is Dor Peretz. His absence conflicts with an important principle that Patrick Van Levon has been trying to introduce since he became coach – the pressure game.

Van Leven, like a good Dutchman, plays 4-3-3 and presses high. This can be easily seen. In the five games with Van Leven, Maccabi Tel Aviv managed to get the ball with 63 percent of its pressure on the opponent, the most in the league by a large margin (the number under Yorgos Donis was 51 percent, slightly less than Maccabi Haifa). In the offensive part it went up a bit, and the rivals manage to distribute on average less than five dedications each time they are with the ball, the least in the league.

The success of a pressure game depends not only on the attacking players attacking the ball, but no less – and perhaps even more so – on the link players closing down delivery options and extracting balls. Peretz, and it was possible to see it in the last game against Netanya, is critical to that. The brakes of Maccabi Haifa, as well as Jose Rodriguez, are the ones that can be pressed. In the absence of Peretz, Maccabi Tel Aviv’s most important player in this regard is Eyal Golsa, who will be the front midfielder. Golsa will also have to make wide moves instead of Peretz, as in the previous game between the teams in Sami Ofer. Golsa is the key man for the Yellows.

In Haifa, the composition is clear. It is difficult to see how Barak Bachar comes up with someone else from those 11 who scored points in almost every game before the break, that is, a link that includes Rodriguez, Neta Lavi and Muhammad Abu-Fani. So the lineup is clear, but where does Maccabi Haifa punish its rivals from? That’s a different story, since Dolev Haziza’s current fitness means she can win from any direction.

At the start of the season it was the other two, Nikita Rokavica and Charon Cherry, who won the most compliments. But in recent rounds the finger should be pointed in the direction of Haziza, the attacking player in good shape in the league along with Yonatan Cohen. Six goals and four assists have been fired so far, but his contribution is even greater.

Expected Cooks Index (xA) calculates how many cooks a particular player would have had if the players who received the ball from him had scored the amount of goals expected of them. For each valley situation, the probability in percent that will become the goal is determined by reference to various parameters such as the distance from the goal, the angle, the number of defensive players and their location, the speed of the attack and more. With the help of the calculation it is possible to determine how many goals those players were “supposed” to score, and as a result how many cooks were supposed to have those who gave them. To date, firecrackers should have no less than 12 cooks, three times the actual amount. Players who get balls from him just miss.

Haziza’s dance-cooking in the last round was beautiful and also became a gateway. In current fitness he is the most dangerous player on the field.

Two young players, just 20 years old, can be critical to the outcome of the game. These are Eden Kartzev and Eduardo Guerrero, who, if they do start in the Maccabi Tel Aviv squad, will face two of the most important tasks when facing Maccabi Haifa, defensively and offensively.

Cherry is portrayed on paper as a right-wing player at Bachar. But in practice – certainly when the team with the ball – he enters the center and does most of his actions there. Kartsev is expected to be the back midfielder on the left in yellow, meaning he is defensively responsible for exactly where Cherry moves to. It is not easy to keep the Dutchman because you have to decide when to move with him and when to stay in place and protect the area he is leaving. Kartsev is showing maturity so far, but it could be a tricky task for a young player, and it will be interesting to see if Cherry takes advantage of that.

Guerrero is the one who can surprise Maccabi Haifa on the other side. To date, he has only started once in the league, and that happened against Maccabi Haifa, a game in which he also scored. The most convenient way to attack Haifa is in the area created behind San Menachem when it is in a high position. A tow truck, with its speed, would pose a danger if placed on the right wing.

It is impossible not to refer to Omar Atzili, who already in his second game at Maccabi Haifa will meet the team that ousted him following his involvement in the “footballers and minors” affair. Noble is a loaded story, but although it does not come up in the squad it is important to also consider his professional ability, as he usually provides numbers in the big games.

Maccabi Haifa needs such a player. She has not beaten Maccabi Tel Aviv in the last 14 league games between the teams, including the season when she led with two early goals. There is a barrier there, and maybe a noble will break it. The great victory goal of Yonatan Cohen in that famous 3: 4, after a good move against Menachem (we already mentioned the area behind him.) Two years ago, he cooked against Maccabi Haifa for the head of Aron Schoenfeld.

Who are the teams that Noble has scored the most goals against in his career? Maccabi Haifa and Maccabi Tel Aviv. Yes, even as a Betar Jerusalem player he provided numbers against the big rivals. Now he meets familiar faces, including those who supported him during the affair, but in tonight’s game there are no friends, not when Maccabi Tel Aviv and Maccabi Haifa meet.