Maccabi Haifa held their season opening press conference at the Kfar Galim Training Center just ahead of the club’s opening match of the season when the face Hapoel Haifa in a Toto Cup clash on Saturday night (20:30) at Sammy Ofer Stadium. Head Coach Barak Bachar and Sports Director Lior Refaalov spoke about how they see the upcoming campaign after having experienced a less than ideal year from the club’s high standards.

“It’s great to begin again anew,” Bachar began. “We had a couple of very tough seasons and we needed to learn from what went wrong and we also had to make some serious changes, both at our training center in Kfar Galim but also with our staff as well. We know that we will be judged by our results. We wanted to bring in players with a specific profile for the club and we feel that we did find the right players, but of course we will only know for sure when we are on the pitch.”

“There are are times when one needs to know how to make changes and that’s what we did. We brought in some new coaches that can raise the standards of our training sessions and being able to work with Lior Refaelov now off of the pitch as he played under me a number of years ago, we can really help build up this club once again. We both know what it means to be a part of Maccabi Haifa we will do our best to create the correct system and procedures. We all put our failures on the table after last season and we knew what we needed to do together to start making the necessary moves.”

Refaelov also gave his opening thoughts on the new season, “We’re happy and excited to begin a new season and we were able to take a lot of things form last season and learn from them as it was also my first year in the position. It was not a simple season and we really tried to get out of what was a crisis and we worked with a lot of young players. Personally I feel more prepared this season as a sports director and the beginning of my way in the position was not easy, but I did learn a lot and we started to make changes that we needed to.”

Of course the supporters will be key for the club’s success, “The connection with our fans is crucial and we can’t win any title without them. They are an enormous support for the club and we have to work together as one. I want us to stand side by side with our supporters.”

On the topic of building the squad from the bottom up, Refaelov together with the head coach worked very hard on trying to find the right group of players that could help the club succeed.

“We took time to see how we could change the team in an effort to work with Barak Bachar’s strengths and we did that with our selection of foreign players. It’s a mix of youngsters and some veterans and it’s not something that we can take for granted in a country where we are unfortunately to deal with one war after another.

“We had a deadline to put together this squad and that was the start of the Toto Cup in order to make sure we would be able to prepare our best for the season ahead. There will be a lot of hard work both on and off of the pitch. We want to really raise the bar for our success this coming campaign. We will need to be very strong inside and out.”

Bachar looked back again at last season and knows that there are expectations and that he along with Refaelov will be judged by the results on the pitch, “What occurred last season can’t repeat itself. We are aware of that and we weren’t a balanced team which was something I saw immediately when I came in. We need to play a certain way on defense which wasn’t something that happened last season which is part of my core principles.”

“I’m never one to run away from responsibility,” Rafaelov stated. “The start of last season wasn’t ideal. We didn’t play the football that we wanted to and that we wanted to be able to play. We took time now to really look at what our priorities were and we analyzed where players grew up and what youth departments they were a part of. Which players can play multiple positions and also the body type of some of the players as well to see where they can play.”

Bachar began training camp fairly early because the greens usually play in one of the European competitions qualification stages and the location abroad was booked in advance, however, many of the new players were not yet signed. Despite nor having a full complement of players the bench boss feels that the camp was a success and will potentially have another one during the course of the season.

“The training camp dates were set well in advance as we thought we’d be in Europe. It may not have been ideal that we didn’t have our entire roster closed at that point, but we still have plenty of time until the league season begins. The Toto Cup will be excellent for us in order to really prepare well for the league and that should make sure we will be ready to go at the end of August. We have a good month now to work on what we need to ahead of the season.”

With a new complement of players coming in including foreigners, Wenderson Tsunami, Nigel Lonwijk, Bruninho and Andrija Novakovich along with new Israelis such as Omri Glazer, Yair Mordechai and Yarin Levy, Bachar and Refaelov will make sure that this will be a new look Haifa.

One player that the pair are certain will make an impact is Yarin Levy who was loaned out to Beitar Jerusalem last season and flourished under then head coach Barak Itzhaki into one of the top midfielders in the country.

“I’m so happy to see him back here,” Refaelov said with a smile. “In every conversation I had with him, he said how happy he was to return and how much he wants to succeed with us. I remember that when I had just come back from Belgium to play with Haifa, he came up from the youth team to train with us.”

The sports director added, “I consider him a new signing, along with the players who have joined us and the loanees who have returned. Almost all of them will be on the pitch at the same time, and we’re building something new here. The rebuilding process is based on the young players who have already proven they can perform at this level, and that doesn’t conflict with the competitiveness we want to create. As long as Yarin is with us, I’d be delighted for him to stay here for many years to come.”

Bachar also spoke about how he sees Levy under his tutelage, “We’ve only been working together for a month, but he’s one of the players who receives the most individual attention. I regularly sit down with him for video sessions after every training session. He’s made tremendous progress over the past two years. He played for a club in Beitar, with a lot of pressure and high expectations, which is similar to what he’ll experience here. There’s still work to do with him, but he’s a wonderful kid, very eager to learn. He knows he’s not perfect and wants to improve and correct his mistakes.”

Refaelov also announced that Kenji Gorre who just returned from the World Cup would be one of the team’s captains, “We just informed him that he will be the captain for the upcoming season, together with Omri Glazer and Ali Mohamed. I think he went through a difficult season, but he integrated very quickly into the dressing room. He’s intelligent, very positive, and knows how to separate his personal interests from what’s best for the team.

“We set ourselves a number of criteria for what we wanted in a captain and we came to the conclusion that Kenji is the right person. He returned from the World Cup highly motivated, determined to channel all the energy and experience he gained there into leading the team to a better season together with our supporters, trying to achieve good results while playing enjoyable football.”

Ultimately, Bachar knows that the proof will be in the pudding as the saying goes and the Greens will need to prove that they are back and are a threat to win the league championship, get back into Europe and battle for every available title.

“The Maccabi Haifa emblem on our shirts and kits speaks for itself as to what our goals are for the upcoming season. I don’t need to say more.”