Words at Maccabi Haifa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Pedrão 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.
Sarel Cohen and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
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.
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.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Maccabi Haifa has been clear about where Jonathan Agyapong stands, which is more than many ever get.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Maccabi Haifa know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Hapoel Haifa next, and one man in the Maccabi Haifa dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Maccabi Haifa has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Maccabi Haifa. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
7 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.
Match6 Nov 2027
Another one collected away from home
4 on the bounce on the road for Maccabi Haifa. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.
“I watch every Maccabi Haifa game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Hapoel Haifa runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
He is 22 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Successful dribbles: 17. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Squad8 Nov 2027
Goni Naor 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.
6 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.
1 for Ethane Azoulay, marked 7.57, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
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.
Hapoel Kfar Saba will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Maccabi Haifa were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Zohar Zasano will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Maccabi Haifa the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Show and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match23 Oct 2027
Another one collected away from home
3 on the bounce on the road for Maccabi Haifa. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.
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.
4 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.
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.70 for the rest of it.
“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.
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.
Player ratings18 Oct 2027
Yarin Levi was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.24. 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.
Player ratings18 Oct 2027
Pierre Cornud was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.02. 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.
Chances created: 13. Not on the scoresheet and not remotely anonymous — a passing performance that pulled a defence apart without leaving a mark on the column that gets read.
Squad18 Oct 2027
Words at Maccabi Haifa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Goni Naor 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.
“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.
Pierre Cornud and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Pedrão was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Maccabi Haifa, and 0 appearances in 5 say he has earned the hearing.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Maccabi Haifa told Yarin Levi something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Omri Glazer is on it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Maccabi Haifa know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
1 for Yarin Levi, marked 7.65, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
3 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.
At 23 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.
Squad4 Oct 2027
Words at Maccabi Haifa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Pedrão 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.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Yarin Levi, and the manager let it.
The dugout4 Oct 2027
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Eitan Benayoun, on a 3‑1 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Zohar Zasano will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Maccabi Haifa the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Goni Naor was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Marked 7.20. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
The dugout27 Sep 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Eitan Benayoun kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
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.
Somebody watched every match in the division at the weekend and decided he was the best thing in any of them. A small honour, and most careers end without one.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Cédric Don signs something — a contract at Maccabi Haifa or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Maccabi Petach Tikva moved on, Amit Arazi reports back to Maccabi Haifa, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Hapoel Beer Sheva have kept their man, and Maccabi Haifa go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Pedrão was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout20 Sep 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Eitan Benayoun kept it short after the 4‑1 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
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
SquadThe division's best last weekend was a Maccabi Haifa man
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Hapoel Kfar Saba had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Silva Kani reports back to Maccabi Haifa with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Maccabi Netanya have kept their man, and Maccabi Haifa go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Yarin Levi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad13 Sep 2027
Words at Maccabi Haifa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Pedrão 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 clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Maccabi Haifa people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The name of Trivante Stewart has come up in conversations Maccabi Haifa were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Boardroom6 Sep 2027
Maccabi Haifa close the window on a squad of their own making
6 in and 20 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Maccabi Haifa can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Maccabi Haifa asked and Milton Keynes Dons said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Words at Maccabi Haifa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Goni Naor 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.
“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 clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Maccabi Haifa people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The offer from Maccabi Tel Aviv for Jelle Bataille 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Zohar Zasano will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Maccabi Haifa the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Maccabi Haifa moved before anybody else could: a new deal for Eitan Benayoun, agreed quietly and announced loudly. Boards extend managers for many reasons; the good one is the one this looks like.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Maccabi Haifa are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Boardroom30 Aug 2027
5 academy players handed senior numbers at Maccabi Haifa
The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Estudiantes have kept their man, and Maccabi Haifa go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
In brief
SquadWords at Maccabi Haifa training over how hard people work
Pierre Cornud and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad23 Aug 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.
Maccabi Haifa asked and Dinamo Moscow said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Maccabi Haifa have made the call to Maccabi Netanya. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Maccabi Haifa know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
He is going to Hapoel Beer Sheva, the club has $4.4M it did not have on Friday, and the phone-ins have already decided how they feel about that. Selling well and selling somebody they loved are not the same skill.
Hapoel Beer Sheva pay $4.4M, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Maccabi Netanya have kept their man, and Maccabi Haifa go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Maccabi Haifa can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
The name of Silva Kani has come up in conversations Maccabi Haifa were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Cédric Don was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
10 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Maccabi Haifa are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Words at Maccabi Haifa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Pedrão 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 easiest signature of my career.” Michael Ohana and Maccabi Haifa agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
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.
“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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Hapoel Raanana waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Maccabi Haifa is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
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.
Squad2 Aug 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.
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.
Sarel Cohen 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 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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Omri Glazer signs something — a contract at Maccabi Haifa or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad26 Jul 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.
Yarin Levi and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Jelle Bataille is on it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Maccabi Haifa know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Xander Severina trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Maccabi Haifa has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Maccabi Haifa people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The name of Silva Kani has come up in conversations Maccabi Haifa were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Show 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Pedrão was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
10 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
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.
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Maccabi Haifa would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Maccabi Haifa will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Cédric Don was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The phone has started ringing about Hamza Shibli again, and this time the name on the line is Bnei Sakhnin. Maccabi Haifa are listening politely and promising nothing.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Maccabi Haifa will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Hapoel Acre waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Maccabi Haifa is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
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.
Squad5 Jul 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.
30 appearances and 3 goals away from here, and a player the manager did not have in August. Loans are sent out hoping for exactly this and most of them do not deliver it.
9 arrivals, an average age nobody would call a squad, and a set of parents being shown around a building their sons will spend more time in than at home. The scouting has already happened; today is only the paperwork.
“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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Maccabi Haifa will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Position 3, 51 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 approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Words at Maccabi Haifa training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Pedrão 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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Hapoel Raanana waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Maccabi Haifa is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 42 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Cédric Don was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
6 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Maccabi Haifa will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Shakhtar keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
“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.
The phone has started ringing about Silva Kani again, and this time the name on the line is Hapoel Raanana. Maccabi Haifa are listening politely and promising nothing.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Hamza Shibli and Maccabi Haifa agree another 4 years.
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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 59 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Maccabi Petach Tikva have kept their man, and Maccabi Haifa go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Maccabi Haifa are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Yarin Levi 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Pedrão was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Maccabi Haifa have made the call to Shakhtar. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Maccabi Haifa will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Position 3, 51 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.
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.
22 games, 3 goals, and a squad option that has arrived without a fee attached. The interesting question at Maccabi Haifa now is not whether he plays but who he displaces.
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.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Maccabi Haifa has been clear about where Shareef Kayouf stands, which is more than many ever get.
This is the season the town will measure the next twenty against. The trophy travels home with the squad, and the route through the streets was agreed days ago.
Qualification is done, and next season the floodlights come on for something bigger. A stage for the players, oxygen for the accounts and a passport for everybody else.
A 3‑2 win over Hapoel Tel Aviv, a place in the next round, and the quiet arithmetic every supporter does on the walk home: how many more until a final?
The board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 115th minute. Hapoel Tel Aviv will replay every second of the added time for a week.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Maccabi Haifa will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The kind of year that ends with a name being read out in a hall. Maccabi Haifa had the benefit of it every week and now have the problem of everybody else knowing.
Squad24 May 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 80 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Ethane Azoulay and Maccabi Haifa agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad17 May 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.
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.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Pierre Cornud is on it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Jelle Bataille signs something — a contract at Maccabi Haifa or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
5 goals in 26 games at Hapoel Kiryat Shmona — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Maccabi Haifa updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Maccabi Haifa will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Maccabi Haifa know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
5 goals in 29 games at Gaziantep — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Maccabi Haifa updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
“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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Maccabi Haifa will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Silva Kani will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Maccabi Haifa the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad3 May 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.
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.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Maccabi Haifa. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
He looks like a man who lives here now rather than one who is working here. It took most of a season, and at Maccabi Haifa the difference is visible from the back of the stand.
Bruninho and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad26 Apr 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.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Kervin Andrade is on it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Ethane Azoulay trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Maccabi Haifa know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
3 goals in 29 games at Kocaelispor — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Maccabi Haifa updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Pierre Cornud is on it.
“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.
6 goals in 4 games at Saba — 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
Loan watchThe goals keep arriving from Niv Gabay’s exile
Loan watchThe goals keep arriving from Omer Dahan’s exile
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Maccabi Haifa can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Cédric Don was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Kenji Gorré has written the date down.
In brief
The dugoutOmer Nir'on knocks on the manager's door
SquadKenny Saief is training like a man with a point to make
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.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Maccabi Haifa can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Squad5 Apr 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.
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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Zohar Zasano and Maccabi Haifa agree another 4 years.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Pedrão is on it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Cédric Don signs something — a contract at Maccabi Haifa or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Cédric Don and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
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 conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Kenji Gorré has written the date down.
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room and never have. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and at Maccabi Haifa that is a harder question to answer.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Silva Kani trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
3 goals in 22 games at Beitar Jerusalem — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Maccabi Haifa updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 18 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.
Squad22 Mar 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.
Something was said to Kervin Andrade and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
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.
A call-up flatters the player and the club that produced him in the same breath. Maccabi Haifa would like him back in one piece and know they will not be consulted.
The last league game has been played and the table has stopped moving: 51 points. The summer begins on Monday, and so does the argument about what it all meant.
Successful dribbles: 31. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
“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.
Squad15 Mar 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 board was up, the win was priced in, and then Bnei Sakhnin scored. There is no worse minute to concede in and the ground emptied in the silence that follows one.
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.
Position 3, 50 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 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.
“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.
Bruninho 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 easiest signature of my career.” Guy Melamed and Maccabi Haifa agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Player ratings8 Mar 2027
Cédric Don was on a different afternoon to everybody else
9.15. 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.
Two goals and a mark of 8.17 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Two goals and a mark of 8.14 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Maccabi Haifa can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
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.
8 goals in one match, Kenji Gorré on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Maccabi Haifa and Beitar Jerusalem.
Squad1 Mar 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.
At 21 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Cédric Don was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Marked 6.79 on 9 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Eitan Benayoun was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Maccabi Haifa dressing room was either.
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.
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.
Successful dribbles: 23. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Peter Agba and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Eitan Benayoun left the room before anybody could ask which.
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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Peter Agba trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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.
“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.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Pedrão and Maccabi Haifa agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad8 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.
“I did not go to Hapoel Tel Aviv to sit and watch. I want to come back to Maccabi Haifa and fight for my place.” 6 appearances in 23 matches say the rest.
4‑1, and Cédric Don took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Maccabi Haifa tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Player ratings1 Feb 2027
Kervin Andrade, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.90
A mark of 7.90 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 1 arrived, 3 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Hapoel Kfar Saba paid $1.8M and Maccabi Haifa took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
“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.
The phone has started ringing about Silva Kani again, and this time the name on the line is Hapoel Raanana. Maccabi Haifa are listening politely and promising nothing.
Squad1 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.
“I did not go to Maccabi Petach Tikva to sit and watch. I want to come back to Maccabi Haifa and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 24 matches say the rest.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Maccabi Haifa people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The offer from Hapoel Tel Aviv for Silva Kani 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.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Maccabi Netanya keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Yagel Tarshish and Maccabi Haifa agree another 3 years.
Marked 7.92. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
The dugout25 Jan 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Eitan Benayoun kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
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 8.85 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Bruninho and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
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.
Hapoel Kfar Saba pay $97.0K, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Maccabi Netanya have kept their man, and Maccabi Haifa go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Hapoel Acre waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Maccabi Haifa is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“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 deal with Maccabi Tel Aviv is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Yagel Tarshish is 17, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Cédric Don was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I did not go to Hapoel Tel Aviv to sit and watch. I want to come back to Maccabi Haifa and fight for my place.” 5 appearances in 19 matches say the rest.
Successful dribbles: 17. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Player ratings4 Jan 2027
A brace, and Ali Mohamed takes the afternoon — 8.19
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Ali Mohamed provided it, and the 8.19 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The kind of year that ends with a name being read out in a hall. Maccabi Haifa had the benefit of it every week and now have the problem of everybody else knowing.
At 22 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Add another name to the list: Hapoel Acre have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Silva Kani. The answer from Maccabi Haifa has not changed — yet.
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 now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Bnei Sakhnin have kept their man, and Maccabi Haifa go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Bruninho provided it, and the 8.64 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Maccabi Haifa will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.89 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Ali Mohamed 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.
Squad28 Dec 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.
Bnei Sakhnin will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Matty Cudjoe has pre-agreed a move to Maccabi Haifa, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
200 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Maccabi Haifa will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Cédric Don was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Peter Agba, and the manager let it.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Eitan Benayoun left the room before anybody could ask which.
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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Kenji Gorré trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Maccabi Haifa know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Maccabi Netanya next, and one man in the Maccabi Haifa dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Hapoel Kiryat Shmona are out and Maccabi Haifa go through, 3‑0 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.
30 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
A brace, and Michael Ohana takes the afternoon — 8.27
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Michael Ohana provided it, and the 8.27 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 13 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.50 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Yair Mordechai 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.
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 11 combined actions and a mark of 7.93, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
Two sides from the top of the table, one afternoon, and a month of talk decided in ninety minutes. Maccabi Haifa will not use the word title this week and will not stop thinking it.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Ethane Azoulay provided it, and the 8.25 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Maccabi Haifa are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
59 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Squad7 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.
“I did not go to Maccabi Petach Tikva to sit and watch. I want to come back to Maccabi Haifa and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 16 matches say the rest.
200 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.
Marked 8.04 — 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.
27 points, and the rest of the division looking up. Every side that finishes first spends the season pretending it is not thinking about it, and this one has started pretending.
“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.
Squad30 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.
A 2‑1 win over Beitar Jerusalem, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
He is 22 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
6 matches without defeat, and then Hapoel Haifa. Nobody at the ground pretended it would go on forever; nobody expected it to stop here either.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Ali Mohamed was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.14. 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.
Minute 90, against Hapoel Haifa, and a goal that felt like a win to everybody who had stayed. It was a draw. Nobody leaving the ground will describe it as one.
2‑2, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Eitan Benayoun chose the glass-half-full version of 2‑2; the supporters left with the other one.
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.
Ethane Azoulay 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.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Hapoel Haifa in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Maccabi Haifa. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Maccabi Haifa will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Ethane Azoulay scored, was marked 7.69, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Jelle Bataille and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad9 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.
3 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.
In brief
Player ratingsNinety minutes of Ali Mohamed at his very best
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Maccabi Haifa will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
5 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.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.81 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
A 2‑0 win over Maccabi Petach Tikva, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Marked 8.07 — 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.
Four weeks in which nobody in the division did his job better. The award goes on a shelf and the player goes back into the side, which is the order Maccabi Haifa prefer.
The board have answered with money instead of encouragement, which is the only answer a manager ever wants. Spending it well is now entirely his problem.
“I did not go to Hapoel Tel Aviv to sit and watch. I want to come back to Maccabi Haifa and fight for my place.” 5 appearances in 9 matches say the rest.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Maccabi Haifa will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Cédric Don was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A 1‑0 win over Hapoel Kfar Saba, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
5 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Eitan Benayoun kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 9.69 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.77 for the rest of it.
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.
At 19 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Cédric Don was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is a particular helplessness in conceding 2 times before the twentieth minute. Hapoel Raanana tried to reorganise, Maccabi Haifa did not allow it, and the result was written long before it was confirmed.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Pierre Cornud and Maccabi Haifa agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Jelle Bataille signs something — a contract at Maccabi Haifa or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Hapoel Raanana next, and one man in the Maccabi Haifa dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Guy Melamed has done the arithmetic and does not like the answer. Nothing corrodes a squad faster, and no club has ever solved it by explaining the wage structure to a footballer.
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Maccabi Haifa will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Maccabi Haifa can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Cédric Don was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Maccabi Haifa, and 0 appearances in 7 say he has earned the hearing.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Maccabi Haifa can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Squad28 Sep 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.
Ethane Azoulay and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
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.
A 2‑0 win over Hapoel Beer Sheva, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Cédric Don was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.07. 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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
5 new faces, and Maccabi Haifa are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Eitan Benayoun kept it short after the 2‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
Jelle Bataille and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
At 19 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Ten men and a goalkeeper behind him, and it still finished in the net. He knew before anybody told him, and nobody at Maccabi Haifa needed to.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
The manager has not finished forgetting Ethane Azoulay's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Eitan Benayoun chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
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.
Successful dribbles: 14. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Eitan Benayoun was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Maccabi Haifa dressing room was either.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
Somebody else is better right now than Kenny Saief
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Jelle Bataille signs something — a contract at Maccabi Haifa or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Hapoel Tel Aviv next, and one man in the Maccabi Haifa dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
“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.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Deadline passes with 11 signed and 4 gone
That is the business done at Maccabi Haifa until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
$560.0K was the most the club would pay and Maccabi Tel Aviv were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Cédric Don was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Maccabi Haifa asked and Gimnasia La Plata said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Yair Mordechai has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
It will be explained as a change for the team and it may even be one. Nobody who has worn one believes that, and neither does the man who has just had it taken away.
“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 clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Flamengo keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Maccabi Haifa offered $800.0K; Maccabi Netanya said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Beitar Jerusalem have kept their man, and Maccabi Haifa go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
A 2‑1 win over Maccabi Tel Aviv, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
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.
Marked 8.08. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Maccabi Haifa.
Squad31 Aug 2026
5 new faces, and Maccabi Haifa are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
Maccabi Haifa asked and Maccabi Netanya said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
$1.2M on the table at Bnei Yehuda. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
$1.2M was the most the club would pay and Maccabi Netanya were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Maccabi Haifa have gone to Maccabi Tel Aviv with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $1.2M — a club that wants Jonathan Agyapong enough to be asked twice.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Cédric Don was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The plan went upstairs and came back down. Nothing about that will make a headline anywhere else, and everybody who works at the training ground will remember it for years.
Maccabi Netanya pay $580.0K, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
Eli Revivo 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 has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Jelle Bataille signs something — a contract at Maccabi Haifa or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
6 goals in 3 games at Saba — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Maccabi Haifa updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
Jelle Bataille has done the arithmetic and does not like the answer. Nothing corrodes a squad faster, and no club has ever solved it by explaining the wage structure to a footballer.
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Maccabi Haifa has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
Maccabi Haifa have gone to Maccabi Tel Aviv with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Maccabi Petach Tikva waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Maccabi Haifa is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
Maccabi Haifa asked and Hapoel Beer Sheva said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
$1.5M on the table at Hapoel Acre. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $1.6M — a club that wants Ange Messi enough to be asked twice.
Maccabi Haifa had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Flamengo, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
“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.
Maccabi Haifa asked and Fluminense said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
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.
Squad3 Aug 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.
Add another name to the list: Hapoel Kfar Saba have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Lior Kasa. The answer from Maccabi Haifa has not changed — yet.
Maccabi Haifa have made the call to Flamengo. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.