Today’s featured game is the Israeli Ligat Ha’al encounter between Hapoel Be’er Sheva and Maccabi Haifa.
On a good day, Hapoel Be’er Sheva should be able to control this game and nullify their mentally weak opponents. However, Hapoel Be’er Sheva haven’t had many “good days” this season for one reason or another. Some players are getting older. They’ve had numerous injury problems (e.g. Vitor). They’ve had a lot of games. It was impossible for them to maintain the high level they’ve been at for the past two years for a third consecutive year, basically.
Still, Hapoel Be’er Sheva remain one of Israel’s top two teams. They’re still in this title race, largely because Maccabi Tel-Aviv are even more unpredictable than they are with much more political problems to boot. The absence of Nigerian powerhouse Nwakaeme threatens to derail Hapoel Be’er Sheva’s title push somewhat but I like the spirit of this team in the face of adversity. Their togetherness is the best you’ll find in the Ligat Ha’al, in my view, and they’re fortunate enough to possess a number of dangerous attacking options so they should be able to cope with Maccabi Haifa here.
Having said that, the main issue Hapoel Be’er Sheva have had this season is keeping teams out. Vitor’s injury didn’t help, nor did trying to introduce new faces after the season had started, but it’s more than that. It’s like they have these “lapses” at the back and they do inexplicably stupid things despite being in a strong position at the time. I don’t know how else to explain it. Whichever way you interpret it, though, you can pretty much bank on Hapoel Be’er Sheva conceding at least once in a Ligat Ha’al game right now.
Fortunately for the home team, they’re facing Maccabi Haifa. On paper, I could not blame anybody for contemplating the away win with draw no bet here – that’s how good Maccabi Haifa have the potential to be. However, in reality, they’re utterly spineless and that makes them horribly inconsistent. This team will concede plenty of goals against every team for that reason but their attack should not be underestimated. Sure, they only perform when they want to, but if they were to turn up here, then Hapoel Be’er Sheva would be in for a tough game, I assure you.
Still, you do have to favour the home side to pick up three points here. They’re at least grinding out results; Maccabi Haifa are getting nowhere fast. They’ve already changed manager this season – shocker(!) – and miss a number of players for this game. Expect playmaker Buzaglo to impress against his former club to prove that he was right to demand higher wages (hence his eventual departure) and with Damari and Rukavytsya likely to start too, it’s hard to imagine Hapoel Be’er Sheva being able to keep a lid on Maccabi Haifa. The visitors are short on confidence, though, and they’re not playing with any real belief as a result. That makes me doubt them a lot here.
It’s safe to say that Maccabi Haifa will enjoy elements of this game more than they enjoy most others at this level though. They lack the patience to break down “bunker” teams but will be afforded space to break by an attack-minded Hapoel Be’er Sheva, which will allow Rukavytsya in particular to stretch his legs. They’ll enjoy that side of things but they’re going to struggle like crazy when it comes to containing Pekhart, Barda, and even the out-of-sorts Cuenca. Maccabi Haifa are lacking togetherness and pride in a big way so I don’t tend to trust them to pick up a positive result in a big game. However, I do recognise how good they actually have the potential to be so I find it hard to oppose them heavily too.
The bookies have got the 1×2 market spot-on here; there’s no value in it for me. However, I think they’ve read too much into Maccabi Haifa’s recent results as far as the goals market goes. They’re very much an over 2.5 goals team and so are Hapoel Be’er Sheva right now. I expect this one to contain goals, one way or another.
