"Bakhar and Refaelov shouldn't have started the season at Maccabi Haifa"

After the two losses to Hapoel Haifa and Ironi Kiryat Shmona in the Toto Cup, in which Maccabi Haifa conceded two sets of three goals and fell behind by three goals twice, the criticism surrounding the club is intensifying. Ori Uzan, Gili Vermouth, and Moshe Primo analyzed the team's situation on the 103FM sports program and did not spare criticism towards coach Barak Bakhar, sporting director Lior Refaelov, the new signings, and the club's conduct in general.

Vermouth opened and said: "This is a team that does not participate in Europe; it had the most time to prepare for the new season. They already knew in March the changes they needed to make, without time pressure. You cannot come and say 'it's just the Toto Cup'. Almost 30,000 people came to Sammy Ofer, it's a derby, and there is a queue to buy a subscription. Everyone was waiting for these changes, and there is a feeling that at Maccabi Haifa, if it doesn't go well, it's a crash. At Maccabi Tel Aviv, if it doesn't go well, it will be second place and at most third. You see the game against Ironi Kiryat Shmona and suddenly you say: 'Wow, if they make the upper playoff, it will be a success with the current squad'."

Uzan joined the criticism: "The way they looked against Ironi Kiryat Shmona, it will be a miracle. They came out with a good feeling from the derby, because they started with a secondary lineup, and in the second half, when players came on, it looked better. So you live in some illusion that you are okay. Against Kiryat Shmona it was already a show of a hopeless, disorganized team, with the same mistakes from last season. Bakhar will tell you himself that the team looks untrained. More than that, at some point you realize that the team cannot move the ball, because Kiryat Shmona presses well, so change, kick forward, change the formation. A complete blackout."

Uzan claimed that the problem is not limited to the ability on the grass: "At Maccabi Haifa, everything around is also not good. It came to the season with the whole saga around Bakhar at the end of last season. It's already arriving with red lights. I looked at Barak after the game against Ironi Kiryat Shmona, and I really like him, my heart really ached. They need to take action there. Maccabi Haifa lost to Nõmme Kalju ten years ago, and Roni Levy finished his role before the start of the season. It looks forced because Bakhar has a contract. The problem is deeper than personalities, but it must make a change."

Primo added: "If Maccabi Haifa is important to President Yaakov Shahar, he should have parted ways with Refaelov and Bakhar together at 22:30. This is not the beginning of the road; he has not been coaching Maccabi Haifa for a month, but is starting his third season. In all these three years, the team has not been trained. It has conceded at least 10 times three goals.

Bakhar can coach an excellent team whose players on the pitch are the best in the country, that's why he won championships at Hapoel Be'er Sheva and Maccabi Haifa. A team goes to a camp, it was a scandalous camp, the Toto Cup came - a humiliation against Hapoel Haifa. How did he dare to put this lineup for his crowd? Against K-Sh seven changes, and it only looks twice as bad as the game against Hapoel Haifa. There are four teams here in Europe that are good. Maccabi Tel Aviv and Hapoel Tel Aviv are playing with last season's squad. All four have caught a huge gap from Maccabi Haifa. Bakhar and Refaelov is too big for them, they shouldn't have started the season, and if Shahar doesn't understand the situation - he is in an even more difficult situation than Bakhar and Refaelov."

Uzan also referred to Bakhar's interview after the game and claimed: "In my opinion, he spoke mainly to himself; he wanted to lift himself up. He is in a situation where he is trying to convince himself that he can lift the team. I don't think he will be able to lift this team, both because of him and because of the team."

The criticism was also directed towards sporting director Lior Refaelov. Uzan continued: "It cannot be that a player who retired and was a great player, and I love Lior, I really have a warm spot for him in my heart, took the role of sporting director the moment after he retired, without any experience and without any knowledge. Management is not playing. Playing is a natural talent, and he knows how to do it almost better than any player born in Israel. He made a mistake, Yankale made a mistake, and after last year the mistake is even bigger."

Vermouth also referred to the new signings: "It seems that it no longer matters who plays there. I am always curious when foreigners arrive; it's interesting to see. And then Tsunami enters in the derby as a left back, and after a few minutes you realize that it's probably not it. He runs too upright, his connection with the ball looks problematic. You say: how do you sign someone like that? You also see the players' resume. We saw Nigel Lonwijk for the first time, and he swam after Niv Gabay, a striker on loan from Maccabi Haifa, who scored a great goal on him. He also doesn't look like a big bingo. Players with the profile of Seck and Planic should arrive."

Uzan also referred to striker Andrej Novakovich, who has yet to make his debut: "Also with him, when you look at the record - obviously I haven't seen him yet - you see a player who played in the second Italian league and scored five goals. He is 29 years old, most of the time he played in the Serbian league, and not at Red Star Belgrade. You say: Maccabi Haifa needs to bring a player with a slightly higher profile. It cannot succeed. There is a problem at Maccabi Haifa. Bruninho can still succeed, there is still hope there, and they also paid a nice amount for him."