Plenty of storylines littered the Israel Football League this past week and The Sports Rabbi has them right here for you!

1) It seems that Patrick van Leeuwen has settled the Maccabi Tel Aviv ship very nicely the last few weeks and he’s been able to start getting proper results out of his players as well as accountability and having training sessions back to where they need. That’s good news for the Yellow & Blue as they will try to inch back towards the top of the league and Maccabi Haifa. I see no reason whatsoever to bring in another coach at this point of the season and I would place all of my trust behind him as we head into 2021. Let’s see how far PVL can take them.

2) Speaking of Maccabi Haifa, they just keep on winning and winning and winning. Tjaron Chery made sure of that with the lone goal of the game against Hapoel Hadera just days after stating that he was going to remain in Israel for the long term which is super news for the Greens. It’s clear that owner Yakov Shachar has a plan in place with Barak Bachar steering the ship which has been working out very nicely so far this campaign. With an offer on the table for Neta Lavi from CSKA Moscow, the owner said, no thanks. Now of course Lavi wasn’t happy about it but you know what? He’s putting his fans and team at the forefront as they try to win the league title for the first time in a decade. That to me is what’s most important, Lavi can head out in the summer to what he believes may be greener pastures.

3) We got a helluva game at Teddy Stadium as Beitar Jerusalem and Hapoel Haifa treated us to not only a 3-3 Goalfest but also a pair of comebacks including two late strikes by former capital city squader Hanan Maman. Haifa takes the 1-0 lead and then the floodgates open with 3 Jerusalem goals but as always it seems with Beitar one of the Ex’s do them in. This time Maman really did a number on the Yellow & Black with his goals, the second quite the stunner. Haim Silvas I’m sure was a happy camper while the Beitar coaching duo of Slobodan Drapic and Shay Barda, well not so much.

4) The dynamic duo were called to owner Moshe Hogeg’s home before the game for a talk about the team which is underperforming to say the least. However, I wonder what the owner thinks after his team blew a two goal lead late to split the points with Beitar precariously hovering over the relegation zone. Should they lose against Hadera, boy oh boy I wouldn’t want to be in their shoes as they may be given a one way ticket out of Jerusalem, destination unknown.

5) Another player that is rumored to be heading to greener pastures is youngster Liel Abada from Maccabi Petah Tikva who has an offer from Dynamo Kyiv. Except we don’t know if the deal will be closed and Roma has seemed to have swooped into the picture as well. It’s great that a team like MPT can produce players like Abada and of course Manor Solomon who is playing with Shakhtar Donetsk whose stock just keeps going up and up and up with his wonder goals against Real Madrid. Let’s see how many more players can come out of the youth systems in Israel, there haven’t been many superstars but out seems that Petah Tikva is young something right.

6) Last but not least, there’s something wrong at Maccabi Netanya as the club has only won once in 10 games as after a strong start to the season. Not sure exactly what it is, but Raymond Atteveld I am sure would like to find out as fast as possible to get back onto the right track.