If McEleney had the same drive as Horgan heād be a much better player
Dundalk poor enough tonight .
**[quote=āNembo_Kid, post:180, topic:23049, full:trueā]
Horgan has been dreadful.
[/quote]
He knows big Mick is watching**
Dundalk are lucky to only be 1 down still. They havenāt really created anything themselves in the second half. 15 minutes left.
FT 0-1.
Dundalk belatedly applied some pressure late on but nothing clear cut.
They need to win in Israel and hope AZ fail to beat Zenit at home.
One could feel that the Autumn was beginning to make its presence felt in Tallaght that Wednesday evening in September when Maccabi Tel Aviv arrived in town for a quick pre match training session the evening before they would take on Dundalk in the second round of the 2016/2017 Europa League.
As a couple of squally rain showers blew in over the Dublin mountains the well wrapped up Israeli side kept themselves entertained by placing a set of goalposts on the halfway line and standing behind it the players tried to curl the ball into the net by judging the wind.
It was a confident group that strutted about that evening and they had every reason to be. Maccabi arrived in Dublin having only lost once in 19 games (a 4-3 home collapse to Zenit St. Petersburg) and were buoyed by a 5-0 derby win over fierce rivals Hapoel that had them sitting on top of the Ligat Haāal
Just as Tal Ben Chaim had succeeded in judging the wind correctly Maccabi general manager Jordi Cruyff looked up at the darkening sky and commented to his press team āRain, I donāt like thisā.
It was indeed a stark contrast to the balmy surrounds of the Mediterranean city of Netanya where a boisterous crowd roared them to victory over their cross city rivals on a humid night only forty eight hours previousā¦the rest is history
Itās a very different looking Maccabi that Dundalk face on Thursday night in the Netanya Stadium.
Maccabi have won just once in the last eight games and that last minute victory over Kiryat Shmona that was sandwiched between six defeats was the only time Maccabi scored in those last eight games.
In fact, since their defeat to Dundalk in Tallaght, which was only their second defeat in 20 matches, Maccabi have played eleven games, winning three and losing six.
A scoreless draw at home to rock bottom Hapoel Ashkelon last Saturday night stopped a rot of three consecutive defeats that has seen them fall ten points behind league leaders Hapoel Beāer Sheva who on Saturday gave themselves the perfect warm up for the visit of Southampton by thumping SC Ashdod 5-0.
Whilst Maccabiās domestic form has nosedived, their European performances in the last three group games since the loss in Tallaght have offered slightly more encouragement.
After going down to Kieran Kilduffās strike, Maccabi followed up by taking four points from AZ Alkmaar, putting them right back in contention.
Their performance in Holland at the club where coach Shota Arvaldze began his training career in 2007 was clinical as two superb strikes from Argentinian midfielder Ezequel Sacarrione and former Maccabi Haifa and PAOK striker Eyal Golasa saw Maccabi win 2-1.
A highly entertaining scoreless draw against the same opposition in Netanya highlighted Maccabiās problems, an inability to convert a number of glorious chances whilst still looking highly vulnerable at the back.
A trip to Zenit followed and, in a game Maccabi again really could have won, a defensive error before half time and a 90th minute free kick consigned them to a two nil reversal.
Arvaladze has a wealth of attacking options at his disposal; on Saturday night against Ashkelon, Maccabi finished with five strikers on the pitch.
Eyal Golassa and Bosnian Haris Medunjanin, who impressed in Dublin, continue to carve up the opposition defensive cover with craft and vision.
owever Maccabiās attack, which is led by Vidar Kjartansson, continues to misfire.
The Icelandic international was joined up front on Saturday night by Israeli internationals Tal Ben Chaim and Eden Ben Bassat, who joined from Toulouse two years ago, but despite dominating possession Maccabi failed to convert.
Yossi Benayoun didnāt feature and remained on the bench for the duration of proceedings.
Tal Ben Haim, Maccabiās veteran central defender who played with a staggering nine different English clubs, stressed the importance of the upcoming game against Dundalk when speaking to Maccabi TV after Saturday nightās game.
These arenāt the results we wanted but thereās no choice right now and we have a very important match coming on Thursday night in the Europa League.
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Weāre not going to put our heads down and I hope that we will win it and start down a new path.
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Unfortunately we havenāt been able to score and I donāt remember seeing a team that has gone through these types of situations for such a long period of time. I hope that on Thursday we will break out of this.
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Itās hard to put a finger on the exact problem, but I can say that our coach is doing the maximum every day at practice and we are all behind him. We havenāt been able to do our utmost as players, each one of us. We have to double our efforts and keep our heads up.
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Truthfully, we havenāt been good and we are working hard to improve. You wonāt hear me say something about an individual player, we are all in this as a team.
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We have good enough players and a good enough coach to get out of this situation together and I hope we will see this on Thursday.ā
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Youāre not seeing an apathetic team that just doesnāt care, itās exactly the opposite. You are seeing players who care, who are running hard and you can see that in the stats. Everyone is running, trying hard and we are all battling.
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The coach canāt do much more when heās playing the last 20 minutes of the match with Tal Ben Chaim, Dor Micha, Barak Itzhaki, Eden Ben Basat and Vidar Kjartansson. We played with five strikers.
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When we show our abilities and our luck will change a bit then youāll see a totally different Maccabi Tel Aviv. The coach is doing the maximum and the responsibility lies on us, the players.ā
Whilst Arvaladze continues to rotate his attacking formation, even dropping club captain Gal Alberman for last weekendās clash, he retains faith in the same goalkeeper and back four that looked less than assured against Dundalk.
Daryl Horgan exposed the weakness on the right hand side of the Maccabi back four that night, and Ben Haim and Omri Ben Harush had difficulty dealing with David Macmillan and Kilduff who are not the regular type of customer they would encounter domestically.
Predrag Rajkovic still does not inspire confidence between the sticks either and Stephen Kenny is no doubt aware that opportunities will arise.
The contrasts with their biggest rivals Hapoel Beāer Sheva couldnāt be starker, whilst Maccabi are struggling the team from the Negev who have won nine of their last ten matches, are celebrating back to back wins over Inter Milan and know that a win in Southampton will see them through to the next stage. Arvaldze in a recent interview accredited the two nil defeat at Beāer Sheva in October as the beginning of his teamās slide, anything other than a victory against Dundalk on Thursday night and a similar result away at Hapoel Haifa on Saturday could leave the under pressure Georgian in a perilous position. Maccabi have had seven different first team coaches in the last four seasons, the odds on Jordi Cruyff looking for an eight before the end of the year are looking increasingly likely
thankfully O Donnell is out, chris shields will play
O Donnell is a really poor player and an absolute liability, they play so much better w/o him
Dundalk a lot more confident and more fluent than they were coming in to the Az game
andy boyle confirmed to preston BTW
im going to the match and am in netanya
Maccabi are in some crises at the moment
Eyal Golassa is playing tho., a serious player, if him and Medunjanin click it could be a long night
ive done 2 bets - dundalk win draw 2/1
maccabi -3 - 8/1
itll be one extreme or the other with Mac TA
3 Likes
Agreed on O Donnell, not up to that level at all yet is regularly mentioned as among their better players
Expected starting lineup for Dundalk with OāDonnell out. The game is just underway on eirsport. Possibly the last time theyāll play together as a unit with some of them likely to move to England in January.
AZ Alkmaar have taken the lead at home to Zenit.
Dundalk need to match their result, is that right? MTA playing with a lot more energy than I remember from the Irish tie.
No, they were a point behind AZ at the start of play so a win for the Dutch would put Dundalk out irrespective of their own match.
1 Like
Macabbi penalty, they go one up.
1-0 down. A second away game in a row where Gartland has fucked up. Caught in possession for the first goal away to Zenit and played a sloppy pass on the edge of his box there - interception, quick pass to striker who was clean through and Rogers took him down for a penalty.
Huge disadvantage for Dundalk when your domestic league is over weeks agoā¦
1-1.
Was that an own goal in the end?
Looked it
Cmaaaaaan
Looked like it, hon Dundalk!!
I thought so and confirmed by the replay.
Horgan completely fresh-aired the roll across.