Almog Cohen couldn’t have imagined a worse debut in his wildest dreams as Beitar Jerusalem’s head coach saw his side dominated from top to bottom and from right to left by Maccabi Netanya in a 4-1 nightmarish defeat. His squad looked nervous, contrite and never quite in control despite making it through the first half unscathed when the match could have easily been out of control by the break.

In fact, the yellow-and-black actually took the lead just minutes into the second half when perhaps Cohen’s only correct decision of the clash saw Daniel Worko come on and score a scorcher of a goal. However, that was that as Matheus Davo scored, one, two and three goals in quick order while Maor Levy added the cherry on top of the ice cream sundae that was loaded with whipped cream.

The goal scoring spree left the Beitar faithful stunned and shocked with what they had witnessed; a total dismantling of their team that just fell apart and was left to the wolves or in this case, Davo and his Netanya teammates.

The whistling and catcalling could be heard throughout the stadium and there was also the obligatory “we want Barak Itzhaki on the sidelines and Almog Cohen out” chant from a few that was just too predictable after the former’s contract was not extended and the latter moved down from the front office to take over the reins. Of course after just one match, everyone needs to take a deep breath and stay grounded, the world hasn’t come an end, at least not yet.

Cohen had spoken about how he didn’t realize how much fun he was going to have coaching after he had guided the team in Europe and the Toto Cup earlier in the summer. Well this result certainly wasn’t on his bingo card when he said that at the pre-match press conference at Bayit Vegan.

Following the game the Beitar bench boss had really no idea as to what had happened to his team as they totally fell apart. After Davo’s second goal, the yellow-and-black fans started to come down from the stands behind the goal that Netanya had scored on creating even more chaos for the players themselves as they ran towards the supporters and begged them not to step foot on the field of play.

There’s no question that this couldn’t have helped matters for those on the pitch. If they hadn’t been shaken up yet by the two goals and with the threat of fans with fire in their eyes about to force the abandonment of the game, who could have blamed Beitar from totally coming apart at the seams.

From the first minute Cohen stated he felt that his team was just not in the game and from the very first second this was not the Beitar he had wanted to see. The head coach didn’t shy away from the blame and you could see the devastation in his eyes when he spoke about the match that was and one that he wished hadn’t have been.

“I knew that when I decided to become a coach, the spotlight would be on me,” Cohen said. “I said that people would get to know me and my character. Ultimately, these are the difficult moments. They’re the moments when you have to swallow a pill that’s too big and gets stuck in your throat and you try to drink more water to get it down. That’s how I feel right now.”

Disappointed and devastated would be how best to describe Cohen. But you can also throw in the term shell-shocked as well. As he attempted to answer questions from the press it was clear that this loss, this result was far, far from what he had thought would be the result and more importantly how his team would play. He really had no answers as to why Roni Levy’s Netanya ran all over Beitar and cut through the pitch like a hot knife through butter.

Was it Nevo Shedo whose side was picked on by Oz Bilu for all three of his assists? Would have the result been different had Yarden Cohen, who had been the starting left back been healthy and able to play? Was it the small details from the simple pass to turning the ball over time and time again? Was it playing a home game at Bloomfield and not Teddy Stadium due to renovations that was a problem? Was it not having Captain Yarden Shua or Daniel Worko starting the game? Was it not having that #6 that has been discussed time and time again?

Well, it’s probably all of the above all wrapped up into one nice tidy package that did Beitar Jerusalem and their coach Almog Cohen in.

Cohen will need to take a very, very good look at the video tape (do they make those anymore?) and analyze the game to see where the issues were and then make those corrections ASAP as Beitar has very little time to sit back and drown themselves in sorrow.

They have to get right back at it as Hapoel Tel Aviv awaits on Thursday night in a match that had been pushed off from last week due to the Reds playing in Europe. Beitar will be back at Bloomfield for a game that will not be simple and where they will be the visitors. Last season the yellow-and-black lost a heart breaker against Hapoel in the first month of the season, but that perhaps was the turning point for Barak Itzhaki’s team as Luka Gadrani came on board and from then on in it was off to races for Beitar who competed for the championship the way into May.

Cohen obviously hopes that his team will pick up the 3-points because on Matchday 3 they will have to take a trip up to Bnei Sakhnin in a game that will not have any away support at one of the toughest pitches in the country and one that will not be any sort of friendly confines for Beitar.

An 0-3 start to the season would for all intents and purposes be disastrous for Cohen and Beitar and those few who yelled out bring back Barak Itzhaki will become louder and louder.
However, as we know in the sport of football, you’re only as good as your last result and if Beitar can pull it together and get that win over Hapoel Tel Aviv, then all will be good and fine for the lives of the yellow-and-black and the 4-1 loss to Maccabi Netanya will be long, long forgotten.

As Cohen put it, “We are a very strong team. The way we played today does not reflect who we are or what we are capable of. It doesn’t reflect us. Don’t write us off so quickly.”

The next test for Beitar is coming up fast and furious and we’ll know fairly quickly how much the result against Netanya will play into their date with Hapoel Tel Aviv. Will the game on Thursday reflect who Cohen’s team really is and what they are capable of, or will the clash be a repeat performance of Sunday’s loss to Netanya.

Or perhaps, will it be something in between.