Jupiler Pro LeagueAntwerp seems to be looking forward to the home match against Anderlecht on ‘Super Sunday’ quite relaxed. Despite the recent 6 out of 18, trainer Mark van Bommel still regularly smiled during his pre-match press chat. “It’s all still close together, isn’t it?”
There is no real crisis atmosphere at the Bosuil at the moment. The 6 out of 18 from the black October month was of course a setback for ambitious Antwerp, but the lesser results of the last few weeks have not cut it too hard. The 27 out of 27 from the first nine match days formed a solid buffer.
“If we had spread our four defeats a bit more over time, it would have given a different picture, but then we would have been in the same place in the standings”, commented Mark van Bommel during his weekly press talk. “Okay, in the past few weeks we gave up first place and a nice starting position, but how far are we now? Still second, huh. I just want to say: at the top of the standings, everything is close together.”
At the same time, Van Bommel also realizes that new slips for the World Cup can best be avoided. Otherwise Antwerp threatens to close the first major chapter of the regular competition with a wry feeling. The Great Old would do well to boost efficiency again, because that has been a pain point several times in recent weeks.
“You can’t say that we don’t create anything anymore,” emphasizes Van Bommel. “We had our chances against Kortrijk, Genk and Charleroi. I think everyone agrees – including the press – that we are actually playing better football than at the beginning of the season. Only scoring is now a little less easy. But trust me, that’s not a theme in the dressing room, it doesn’t get to your head. We don’t talk much about it either. You never have guarantees, but if you continue to play football with enough opportunities, there is a greater chance that you will start scoring smoothly again at some point.”
The fact that Anderlecht received a European boost on Thursday is also not something that keeps Mark van Bommel from sleeping. “It’s always nice for a team to win, but otherwise it doesn’t matter. Have I learned anything from Anderlecht’s match at Silkeborg? That they can also play in a different way than under the previous coach. I don’t know Robin Veldman personally, but we know how he worked with the reserves and we have already studied the three duels in which he was on the bench with the first team. So basically we know what we stand for.”
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