Getting to know Villarreal’s Conference League opponents Hapoel Be’er Sheva

Looking at today’s fixture against Hapoel Be’er Sheva, let’s take a look at Ha Gmalim (the camels) as they are nicknamed.

Be’er Sheva (also Beersheba and Beer Sheva) is a town both near the Gaza Strip and the West Bank on the Negev desert.

Interestingly, the town was populated by Soviet Jews, and they are an important place for chess, having provided more than 50 Grand Masters.

The Stadium

They play in the modern Turner Stadium. Something of note are the stands, which are close to the pitch, giving the matches a sort of hell-like experience for the away team.

That’s why the team has had some great results on the European stage, like against Inter, Southampton or Nice.

The manager

Elyaniv Barda is their current coach, and has been since March 2022, being a legend by his own right.

A native of Be’er Sheva, he is 5th top scorer of the club, having played for them in two stints.

Since taking charge of the team, he has helped them become more competitive, and has gone for a more offensive approach. Thus, he goes with a 4-3-3 and a 3-4-1-2 as his main choices.

The tactics

We will talk about their 4-3-3 mainly. His approach is very counter-attacking minded, so it’s possible to have a doble pivote in the field, with an attacking midfielder being a bit more free - along with three attackers. The fullbacks tend to join the attack, leaving a 3-man back line.

Considering the rival they are up against, Villarreal, I expect his more experienced players to be on the field - unless injured - as the backbone, leaving the attack to some of their more in form players . Thus, my choice of line-up would be:

Glazer; Dadia, Abaid, Tibi, Miguel Vitor; Bareiro and André Martins as doble pivote, Micha as attacking midfield; right wing for Suleymanov, Selmani in the center and left for Ansah.

There’s also some possibilities of having Hemed (former Mallorca player) or Shechter on the field, who are the vets in the team, but I expect them more on the second half near the end.