Barak Bakhar sat down alongside sport director Lior Refaelov on the eve of Maccabi Haifa's 2026/27 campaign and reached for the club's oldest asset when the question of expectations came up: the crest on the shirt.
"The club's crest speaks for itself, I don't need to talk about expectations," Bakhar said, according to ONE, brushing aside a direct question about whether this squad is built to challenge for the championship.
The comment set the tone for a press conference otherwise focused on the here and now: Saturday's Toto Cup opener against city rivals Hapoel Haifa, kicking off at 20:30 in the first instalment of this season's Haifa derby.
Bakhar framed the season ahead in blunt terms. "Every season is a test," he said, arguing that judging a campaign purely by trophies misses the daily grind of squad-building, form and fitness that any Israeli top-flight coach has to manage.
He pointed to what he called a deliberate close-season priority: adding character to the dressing room. "We brought in three or four players with personality that was missing," Bakhar said, without naming all of them individually in the quotes ONE published.
One arrival he did single out was Bruninho, the club's new attacking recruit. "He's a player the fans will love, he searches for goals, and we're giving him time to adapt," Bakhar said, tempering hype with a reminder that integration takes patience.
The coach also praised the development of Yarin Levi, saying the young player "made tremendous progress" over the close season and "knows he's not perfect" but has worked diligently to close the gap. Pedrão was described as continuing his recovery from injury.
On the balance between youth and experience, Bakhar was cautious rather than triumphant, saying the club needs "to balance things, not throw everyone in at once" as academy graduates push for minutes alongside senior professionals.
Defensively, Bakhar was candid about last season's shortcomings. "We weren't balanced last season. Our goal is to be much better defensively," he said, identifying it as the clearest area for improvement heading into the new campaign.
Behind the scenes, the club has also refreshed its coaching staff, bringing in David Marten as assistant coach and Lidor Ganon as fitness coach, while winger Dolev Haziza has left the club during the transfer window.
Saturday's fixture at Sammy Ofer Stadium is a Toto Cup group match rather than a league fixture, but as the traditional season curtain-raiser and a derby against Hapoel Haifa, it gives Bakhar an early public test of the retooled squad he described in Haifa on Thursday.
