Barda and Toriel spoke ahead of the upcoming match against Hapoel Jerusalem: “In this league you pay for every mistake - we’ll need to stay focused and alert”
Ahead of Saturday’s (Nov. 8, 15:00) match at Teddy Stadium against Hapoel Jerusalem, head coach Elianiv Barda and Stav Toriel spoke at a press conference.
Regarding the court’s decision following the derby events, Barda said: “The match against Hapoel Jerusalem is the only thing on our minds. There are people and a full staff dealing with the legal side, so we’re focusing on football. As far as I’m concerned, there are things we can’t control - the only thing we can is what happens on the pitch”.
As a reminder, the team won last Saturday against Ironi Tiberias. “We’re coming off a win and want to head into the international break with back-to-back victories,” Barda added. “We know the match against Tiberias wasn’t our best, but there were other matches this season where we played well and didn’t manage to win. We need to know how to win even when not at our best. We’ll take the positives, build on them, and turn them into another win against Hapoel Jerusalem”.
“High expectations have formed because of our strong start, and we embrace them - this is a big club aiming for titles and the top of the table”, he continued. “But on the other hand, this is a completely new team that just came up to the league. It’s a process - things take time”.
On the opponent: “We’re facing a tough challenge against a team that, in my opinion, should have four times as many points as they do. They’ve been in a difficult situation, but we can’t approach this as an ‘easy match.’ We’ve seen this season what happens when we do - we get punished. In this league, you pay in full for every mistake or lapse in focus. It’s going to be a tough match”.
When asked about preparing for an early kickoff: “Some of the players know this time slot from last season, but this is a completely different team, so it’s not really relevant. The players need to adjust their sleep and nutrition to handle the early hour”.
Stav Toriel added: “Of course, the disciplinary ruling is frustrating, but we’re not focusing on it - the club is handling that. As players, we would’ve liked to play, but as professionals we have to move forward. We’ll need to arrive at Teddy on Saturday focused and tactical. We take things one match at a time and aim to keep improving every week”.
