With the ongoing situation in Israel, Robbie Keane has not been able to continue the strong start he made to life as Maccabi Tel Aviv manager in the country's Premier League.
The club sat top of the division before the halt of play, taking 13 points from their first five league fixtures. However, they have not played a fixture in any competition since the current conflict in the country got underway on October 7th.
It remains unclear when the Israeli Premier League will resume play, although Maccabi Tel Aviv will return to Europa Conference League action when they take on Ukrainian side Zorya Luhansk in the neutral setting of Poland this evening.
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Robbie Keane avoids political questions ahead of Maccabi Tel Aviv return
Robbie Keane and assistant manager Rory Delap were placed in a panic room when the initial conflict broke out, before being ushered out of the country and moved to Greece.
The Irishman had been hesitant to address the political situation in the country soon after his arrival, saying at the time 'this is the last time I will say it, I certainly don't want to get into politics'.
While Robbie Keane may not want to speak about such matters, it was always likely that he would be asked about the subject again this week in light of the current situation in Gaza. He once again declined the opportunity to do so.
Instead, he would speak up the mood in the camp ahead of their return to action on Thursday evening.
Obviously the circumstances are difficult, but as soon as we all came back together it was like a few weeks ago.
It just shows the togetherness that the team has had since I arrived and it will always accompany us. I have been very pleased with the attitude of everyone and their application. So far it's been a good week for us and I think for everyone now, this game can't come around quick enough.
Obviously we have been waiting to see the players, we have been in contact with them in the last few weeks, a lot. They have trained very well, they are in good shape, that’s every player.
The mood in the last few days is very good. This is the essence of a team, what a team is all about, when people really want to play for each other.
Maccabi Tel Aviv are in need of a positive result this evening in order to maintain their hopes of progressing in the Europa Conference League. While they have only played two games up this point, a defeat in this fixture would leave them four points adrift of the top two teams in the group.
Robbie Keane and his side will also have games against Belgium's Gent and Iceland's Breidablik to come over the coming weeks.
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