Maccabi Haifa's Andrea Novakovich Debuts as Starting Striker

Maccabi Haifa will feature Andrea Novakovich in their starting lineup for the first time on Saturday when they face Hapoel Petah Tikva. Novakovich, who previously came off the bench against Hapoel Ramat Gan and in a loss to Maccabi Tel Aviv, is set to play as the team's central striker, a role he is expected to fill throughout the season. He will be joined upfront by Kenny Saief and Cedric D'on. In his earlier appearances, Novakovich demonstrated a tendency to drop back and participate in ball movement, suggesting Maccabi Haifa might adopt a more tactically flexible formation. This approach is anticipated to leverage the speed of D'on and the forward movement of Bruninho, contrasting with the style of Silva Kani, who also played as a forward but primarily moved forward. Novakovich has registered one shot on goal so far, a late header against Maccabi Tel Aviv, and won two out of three duels in that match. Last season, he started 15 games in Italy's second division, scoring five goals and providing one assist. He signed a two-year contract reportedly earning him around 300,000 euros per season. In the previous year, Novakovich averaged 1.2 key passes per 90 minutes for a lower-table Italian second-division team. The 1.92-meter tall striker is described as physical and clocked a top speed of 34 km/h last year.