Idan Hapoel Beer Sheva and Roni Levy set off at the beginning of the week with a lot of expectations. The road there was not easy. The most difficult deliberation right at the moment of the owner’s announcement of an official return to the front of the stage, was in the position of the coach. Yossi Aboksis’ surprising resignation just before the game against Maccabi Tel Aviv in the league left Barkat with a huge dilemma.
Appoint a coach for a short period (Sharon Mimar) or a coach she may know less like Roni Levy, but in the past it is known that the two had a relationship when she consulted several times with Levy about foreign players she was considering bringing to the Negev and asked for his opinion. There was a lot of talk in those weeks about this dilemma and what Barkat should do, when the criticism of Sharon Mimar’s appointment was in the air and those around her had to “convince” that this appointment is not as terrible as one might think.
The points that did not come despite good ability or “happy football” as Barkat defined it, increased the pressure around her to make an end and go for Roni Levy. Barkat consulted a lot in the last days before the appointment and then she realized that she had to make a decision, when Ran Ben Shimon, who he really wanted, linked himself to MS. Ashdod for another 3 years, which threw future plans in the trash. Barkat was convinced in the face of the warm recommendations and decided on Roni Levy.
“He is a man of hard work, not a sucker and has been on every possible big stage in Israeli football. There is nothing more worthy of him,” said some of Barkat’s advisers, among others. Levy’s acquaintance with Aliniv Barda and Maor Melikson during that term at Maccabi Haifa, the experience of winning the championship and the trophy, a different coaching style from what she knows and the recommendation of Masi Rahamim convinced Barkat. Levy receives the mandate from Alona to take Be’er Sheva to the place that leads to Europe and at the same time start building Be’er Sheva next season, with completely different goals from the last year and a half in which it has been in a coma.
In consultation with Alona and the professional team, as well as the isolation problem, made Be’er Sheva and Roni Levy understand that the healthiest thing for the team is to let Barda and Melikson stand on the lines against Maccabi Tel Aviv in the cup and only then introduce himself to the players and hold the debut training. Levy arrived very early on Sunday and began his first acquaintance with the players, the professional team and the club people, knowing that for a hot place like Be’er Sheva, everyone’s acquaintance with everyone is extremely important.
One of the things that the club realized even before Roni Levy arrived at the Red House complex, is the difference compared to Yossi Aboksis. The current Bnei Yehuda coach would not believe in video assemblies and was very warm with his environment and the players when it was easy to feel it from the outside. The close relationship with Joshua is an example of Abacus’ connection in his teams, a kind of friend of the players when needed and with Roni Levy it will look different. By the way, the BS says that Jesse is training very hard and it seems that no problems are expected between the Portuguese and his new coach, since in the Negev they say that the contact is a player of work in training, as Roni Levy likes.
Levy, 54, has a different style. He knows who to be tough with and who not. In Levy’s training, the players do not feel the heat that Abacus brought with him. The new coach treats them harshly and according to the people of Be’er Sheva, this is exactly what the team needs in the end. “It’s nice to be a guy with the players, but in the end there is a professional football team here that wants to achieve,” said Be’er Sheva. “Roni has come to succeed with Be’er Sheva and that is the goal he sees in front of his eyes. He has his believing self, he is sure it is possible “Except for the players who are here and there are things that need to change. The players will receive reviews in the future, but it is to their advantage, if they listen they will be able to learn a lot from his experience.”
Roni Levy’s toughness in training came to strengthen team discipline. This does not mean that until Levy the team was not disciplined, but rather it is another element he wants to renovate to teach the players tactical discipline. This was also the case with Yossi Aboksis, but Roni Levy is less forgiving. His training at a higher pace and the players definitely feel it. Levy consults a lot with his two assistants Aliniv Barda and Maor Melikson and it seems that the chemistry between the trio is going to work well. According to players, Levy is much more active than his predecessor, often stopping training to explain and direct during the exercises. Less conducts one-on-one conversations with players, but advises and directs constructive comments.
Levy, so far, has not changed disciplinary matters and does not appear to have come up with his own requirements page, but rather sharpens existing procedures. An important thing that Roni Levy has brought with him, probably from situations in which we have been burned in the past, is the refinement of procedures related to conduct within the training complex, with the main emphasis being on cell phones. Levy believes that players should not mess with the mobile devices inside the training complex, mainly to prevent intentional leaks, something that Alona Barkat has a hard time accepting.
It should be said that even in the era of Yossi Aboksis and Barak Bachar, the players were forbidden to be with the mobile devices in the locker room, but only this week they received some emphasis on the subject. As far as Levy is concerned, he will not move to the agenda if he finds a player who is caught using a mobile device in the training complex, when the procedures for training delays have also been sharpened. In the Roni Levy era, players have to get on the field 5 minutes before the start of training.
Professionally, at least in the upcoming games the importance of Aliniv Barda and Maor Melikson for Roni Levy will be very great. He consults a lot with the two and tries to draw from them the character and strength of the team, in order to know how to use it in the games left until the end of the regular season. At the same time, Levy and Barkat are already winking for next season. The coach handed over to the owner a number of players he was happy to have in the summer, so that Be’er Sheva would begin the short process of returning to compete for all the titles. Even in this case, Levy is very different from his predecessor. He believes that a team that wants to go for the championship, must be based more on experienced players, who have gone through a thing or two in their careers. There is a good chance that because of the belief in experienced players who have been marked for the summer, those who will be harmed more are the young players who received minutes this season, such as Elai Madmon, Rom Alligon, Eitan Ratzon and Itamar Shabiru.
After the big change that Hapoel Beer Sheva underwent last month, from the departure of Yossi Aboksis, to the return of the hungry Alona to the appointment of a senior Israeli coach in the form of Roni Levy, it is time for the trophy holder to improve the results index and signal to the league for next season. By and large, Alona Barkat hopes that Roni Levy’s new way will be expressed as soon as possible. The top playoff may escape her hands if the points do not come as early as Sunday against Betar Jerusalem. If Levy has a great hunger to succeed with Beer Sheva already in the opening, then he also has a chance to avenge a sporting ex who fired him at the beginning of the season.