OK that makes sense, but if they thought he was the right man to rebuild the club and improve the culture it beats me why they didn’t get him in much earlier. To put it this way: whatever Pearson’s limitations as a manager, the players proved during that opening spell that they were more than capable of winning/drawing enough games to stay up - the bar was not exactly high. Now presumably Ivic was brought in as an improvement on Pearson, which suggests he would have made the winning run sustainable or at least not let the team slip back into losing ways, even with the losses of Sarr and Deulofeu. Was there no chance he could have been appointed at the start of last season, or instead of Flores or Pearson?
Presume its up to Big Vlad to choose his captain? If so, will we see the Big Vlad and Big Lad (Troy) combo?
We’re a very different club today, to the one that Pearson inherited. By virtue of our relegation, we’re instantly fishing in a completely different pond. It was also widely reported there was a group of senior players who requested/believed a British coach was needed. It’s been noted that he’s somebody we’ve been watching closely in previous years, and given our form for hiring coaches who’ve had experience in Israel, I’m inclined to believe it’s true. That said, I doubt he’d have been our choice to replace Pearson at this current time had we remained in the Premier League. I believe we’d have replaced Pearson with a higher profile coach, simply because being a Premier League club would open doors that are now closed. All said though, I think he ticks a lot of the boxes we need right now. I’m excited by his appointment, and his winning mentality is exactly what require.
Regarding the exit from the EL. Maccabi lost to Suduva 4-2 on aggregate. Not inspiring on paper but they dominated looking at the statistics in chances created and possession. Just could not take the chances. Here is the second leg where Shechter misses an early sitter. The most important thing is that we as supporters give him and his team a chance. There is a lot for him to do in reversing the failing confidence in the dressing room and urgency often on show and the negativity on the pitch. He may succeed or fail but let us not jump on his back. I just hope that Gino recognizes how important it is for him to make clear to everyone that what Ivic says goes. Not Giraldi or some other minion. He has a decent mindset and tactical nowse for a coach and will have a far better squad than Maccabi to implement his ideas. There would be no greater pleasure than seeing the ill spoken words spouted by clueless pundits, opposition fans especially those from up the road rammed back down their throats. Hopefully we hand out a few drubbings. What Ivic will be need to be careful of is that the Chump is a higher standard and longer duration and to temper the continual pressing game, draft in defenders with speed and the need for patience as most teams will sit deep and play the counter on us.
Agreed. Though he will only last less than 10 games, at this point in time he looks a great appointment. Assuming he's not sacked before he joins...if he joins...
Didn’t Foster and others make a great play about us needing a British Manager? Maybe this guy said he wanted to complete the season in Israel and would not come earlier. Pearson came in had a great initial impact, but quickly with the exception of the Liverpool result, that seemed to wear off. We then had lock down and maybe by then the club made it clear to Pearson he would not be staying. Certainly after Leicester at home, the lockdown performances got worse. We did scrape wins against Newcastle and Norwich (but did either of them win after those games?) The big thing for this new Head Ciach is to change the mentality. To instal some resilience. To stop the team expecting to lose. Against Man City we look like Audley Harrison seeking the comfort and certainty of the canvas. Now other team routinely gets battered like that without something wrong with the group psyche. If this new guy can achieve that then maybe we will have two successful years under his leadership.
I presume Ivic was under contract until the end of the season? We’d don’t go after managers already in jobs, especially not after the stance we took with Silva. Hence why we had both QSF and Pearson appointed, neither were ideal or perfect but you have to take what it’s available once the season has started.
Yes I'm boring because I have an opinion different to yours. What do you consider not boring? Drinking 5 nights a week like most other people in this country?
Haven't done any analysis on it but the numbers look good - Maccabi Tel Aviv have scored the 2nd most corner goals in the leaague with 6 (9 is the most), last season they finished with the 2nd most corner goals in the league with 7 (10 was the highest)
I’m quite excited about next season now after the disappointment of relegation. I hope Vlad impales the Luton scum. Err, like 7 nights.
It's more like the oddly aggressive hectoring that's boring, but if you're telling me that you're drinking fewer than eight nights a week, then I'm snoozing for sure.
I suspect you’re looking at the UEFA international team coefficients, rather than the UEFA league coefficients - obviously the Israeli League is far superior to those of Northern Ireland, Wales, Albania etc. https://www.uefa.com/memberassociations/uefarankings/country/#/yr/2020 If we were to try and guesstimate where PAOK and Maccabi Tel Aviv as club sides would rank in terms of the English league system, I’d suggest mid-Championship.
I hope this isn’t the managerial equivalent of Papa Gueye or Holebas . Ie we’ve kind of kidnapped him in the hope he’ll actually sign
I'm just hearing that Struber has lost his assistant and that may make him less attractive to the Pozzos. It's now advantage Ivic despite him not being able to speak a word of english*. * This is still to be confirmed.
Well they better get him to the UK soon before the government announce a 2 week quarantine for people travelling from Greece.
This was the concern I raised last night. I hope the delay in an announcement is because they want him on UK soil to be unveiled and have given him 24hrs (From Wednesday when the deal was agreed) to get affairs in order before leaving or something similar. The club may not have been keen to announce the deal and him be in another country when doing so. I also suspect they wanted yesterday to be all about the new kit so they could tweet about it umpteen times without a new manager announcement taking the focus away from it.
