Words at Maccabi Haifa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jelle Bataille is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Trivante Stewart was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Maccabi Haifa have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Maccabi Haifa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Involvement in 2 goals, from a player who spent the ninety minutes doing the thing a manager actually wants: being where the ball was going to end up. 7.95 beside his name.
Squad22 Nov 2027
Words at Maccabi Haifa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Manuel Benson is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Position 1, 31 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
2 in front and in complete control, and it finished with Hapoel Kiryat Shmona the happier side. There is no version of this afternoon that Maccabi Haifa will enjoy reviewing.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Alex Guaricuyu will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Maccabi Haifa the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Successful dribbles: 23. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad15 Nov 2027
Words at Maccabi Haifa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jelle Bataille is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
10 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Maccabi Haifa can pretend not to have heard.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Maccabi Haifa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The award is a small thing with a heavy meaning: for four weeks nobody in this division did his job better. Maccabi Haifa have the trophy on a shelf and the player in the side.
6 straight away victories. Sides that win away are usually sides that can defend and can counter, and the table has begun to reflect what those journeys have earned.
Jelle Bataille was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad1 Nov 2027
Manuel Benson falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
A 2‑0 win over Hapoel Haifa, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings1 Nov 2027
Manuel Benson was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.03. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Maccabi Haifa know it.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Maccabi Haifa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Xander Severina. 1‑0 against Bnei Yehuda, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Marked 8.24 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Maccabi Haifa know it.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Alex Guaricuyu will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Maccabi Haifa the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad18 Oct 2027
Words at Maccabi Haifa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jelle Bataille is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Trivante Stewart was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad4 Oct 2027
Words at Maccabi Haifa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jelle Bataille is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Cédric Don has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
6 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Maccabi Haifa is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Jelle Bataille was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Bruninho has improved at 27, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
There were 88 minutes on the clock and Hapoel Tel Aviv had all but banked the point. Football rarely reads the room, and Maccabi Haifa did not stop to explain themselves.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
At 25 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
A 1‑0 win over Hapoel Tel Aviv, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Mehdi Bourabia was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Maccabi Haifa has been clear about where Guy Melamed stands, which is more than many ever get.
In brief
Player ratingsOff the bench and decisive: Nahuel Leiva
At 27 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Manuel Benson. 3‑2 against Maccabi Netanya, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Ali Mohamed commits to Maccabi Haifa for another 3 years.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Words at Maccabi Haifa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jelle Bataille is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Cédric Don has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 19 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Maccabi Haifa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
5 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
Squad30 Aug 2027
Peter Agba has improved at 24, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Amit Abada is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Omer Cohen is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Tomer Benayoun has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
50 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Maccabi Haifa lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Maccabi Haifa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Words at Maccabi Haifa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Manuel Benson is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
A season-long look at somebody else’s player: Daniel Cohen arrives from Maccabi Netanya with something to prove and a return ticket in the drawer. Good loans make everybody richer; this one starts Saturday.
A season-long look at somebody else’s player: Shalev Saadia arrives from Maccabi Tel Aviv with something to prove and a return ticket in the drawer. Good loans make everybody richer; this one starts Saturday.
73 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Maccabi Haifa lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
The words a physio says slowly. 90 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Add another name to the list: Lanús have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Heorhii Yermakov. The answer from Maccabi Haifa has not changed — yet.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Words at Maccabi Haifa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jelle Bataille is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Maccabi Haifa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Nobody at Maccabi Haifa will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
114 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Maccabi Haifa lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Qualification is secured, and next season the big floodlit nights are continental ones. For the players it is a stage; for the accounts it is a lifeline; for the supporters it is passports.
1 kept out in the shoot-out, and a stadium that will still be describing them in twenty years. A goalkeeper only needs one of these to be remembered forever.
An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and Maccabi Haifa have had the benefit of it.
The words a physio says slowly. 129 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Đorđe Jovanović was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Words at Maccabi Haifa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jelle Bataille is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
In brief
SquadCédric Don has become a man the manager trusts
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Maccabi Haifa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 19 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Manuel Benson falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
In brief
SquadCédric Don has become a man the manager trusts
Loan watchThe goals keep arriving from Nahuel Leiva’s exile
Hapoel Beer Sheva are out and Maccabi Haifa go through, 1‑0 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Maccabi Haifa can pretend not to have heard.
Jelle Bataille was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Manuel Benson falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
13 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Jelle Bataille was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. Maccabi Haifa will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Cédric Don falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Maccabi Haifa pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Hapoel Kiryat Shmona defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
10 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
Position 3, 48 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
The phone has started ringing about Omri Glazer again, and this time the name on the line is Malmo FF. Maccabi Haifa are listening politely and promising nothing.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Maccabi Haifa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Bruninho wants continental football; whether Maccabi Haifa can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Words at Maccabi Haifa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Cédric Don is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Two goals and a mark of 8.08 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
5 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
11 matches unbeaten here. Every visiting manager is asked about it in the week before, which is precisely why it keeps going.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Words at Maccabi Haifa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Cédric Don is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
Mehdi Bourabia was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
4 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Successful dribbles: 23. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Cédric Don falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
Nobody at Maccabi Haifa will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Two goals and a mark of 8.20 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Hapoel Kfar Saba moved on, Zohar Zasano reports back to Maccabi Haifa, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Maccabi Haifa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
10 matches unbeaten here. Every visiting manager is asked about it in the week before, which is precisely why it keeps going.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Words at Maccabi Haifa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Cédric Don is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Two goals and a mark of 8.26 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Maccabi Haifa they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Maccabi Haifa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
9 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Cédric Don has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Successful dribbles: 22. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Words at Maccabi Haifa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jelle Bataille is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Maccabi Haifa told Anas Mahamid something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Nobody at Maccabi Haifa will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
In brief
Player ratingsPeter Agba spends the afternoon fouling
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Maccabi Haifa have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Words at Maccabi Haifa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Cédric Don is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Mehdi Bourabia was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
8 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
A 1‑0 win over Hapoel Tel Aviv, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Cédric Don was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Bruninho wants continental football; whether Maccabi Haifa can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Jelle Bataille was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
6 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Cédric Don falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Marked 8.27 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
2 goals in 7 games at Jagiellonia — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Maccabi Haifa updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
In brief
Player ratingsThe pass was always on for Manuel Benson
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Đorđe Jovanović provided it, and the 8.85 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Maccabi Haifa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Cédric Don has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Maccabi Haifa told Kenji Gorré something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Successful dribbles: 40. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Words at Maccabi Haifa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Cédric Don is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Maccabi Haifa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Cédric Don falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.36, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
A brace, and Cédric Don takes the afternoon — 8.32
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Cédric Don provided it, and the 8.32 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Two goals and a mark of 8.22 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Maccabi Haifa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 7 goals between Maccabi Haifa and Hapoel Raanana, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Cédric Don has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
In brief
Player ratingsĐorđe Jovanović was on a different afternoon to everybody else
Two goals and a mark of 8.19 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Jelle Bataille was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
Successful dribbles: 21. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words at Maccabi Haifa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jelle Bataille is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Maccabi Haifa, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The deal that would have taken Liam Hermesh to Hapoel Tel Aviv has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Maccabi Haifa with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Peter Agba was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Cédric Don has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Maccabi Haifa, and it is not being withdrawn.
The chase for Anas Mahamid ended with $1.2M changing hands and Hapoel Tel Aviv out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
The offer from Hapoel Raanana for Roee Fucs was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Maccabi Haifa this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Maccabi Tel Aviv left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Kenji Gorré falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
In brief
Squad5 new faces, and Maccabi Haifa are still learning each other
Jelle Bataille was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Manuel Benson falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The name of Cédric Don has come up in conversations Maccabi Haifa were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Bali United moved on, Silva Kani reports back to Maccabi Haifa, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Pierre Cornud and Maccabi Haifa agree another 3 years.
Jelle Bataille was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Kenji Gorré falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.