The first round in the Jupiler Pro League is behind us. Genk made a statement at Anderlecht, while Club Brugge and Antwerp were unable to hide their dip in form in the top match. Peter Vandenbempt shines his light on the past matchday 17 in the Jupiler Pro League.
“Genk did what it wanted on Sunday, quo vadis Anderlecht?”
The difference between Anderlecht and Genk was many times greater than the score suggested. From the very first minute, Anderlecht were overwhelmed by Genk, which plays a kind of total football – everything that modern top football requires is there.
Anderlecht tried very hard and every now and then they also played football. At one point it even had a little more possession. But the match mainly reminded me of many matches from a distant past in the Champions League.
There Anderlecht often played against a big European club – genre PSG – and you knew all the time: this is an unequal battle, the difference in quality is just too big.
Genk did what it wanted, when it wanted to, with that perfectly managed team and with a great El Khannouss: a boy from our country, who will soon play with Morocco at the World Cup against Belgium.
Anderlecht tried very hard. But like in the Champions League back then, you knew all the time: this is an unequal battle.
Anderlecht have saved appearances in recent weeks, with two side-board games. But the balance is historically bad. The next cup round immediately after the World Cup is against Genk, so that doesn’t look great based on yesterday’s game.
Anderlecht are in eleventh place in the ranking, 5 points from Play-off II, not from Play-off I. A decision has yet to be made about the trainer, CEO Peter Verbeke is out of the game, the new sporting boss who Denmark will be delayed for a while and will need time to settle in, the finances will remain what they are…
I would say: quo vadis, Anderlecht? That is the question now after a painful evening of football lessons.
“It has gone downhill for the two major title contenders”
It is not illogical that Antwerp was happy with the 2-2 draw against Club. Antwerp seemed exhausted with that 2-0 deficit. It therefore enters the break with a better feeling than Club Brugge. But they will both have to do much better than in recent weeks if they want to keep up with Racing Genk.
For the two major pre-season title contenders, things have gone downhill in the past few weeks. Illustrative for both is the difficult cup qualification against teams from lower series. The football all in all was mediocre. So many technical mistakes, wrong choices…
Antwerp, for example, has taken 8 points from the past 8 matches. That is without a European tax. It is actually a period in which Antwerp has to take bonus points, against Club, as Genk has done.
Club and Antwerp will have to do much better than in recent weeks, if they want to keep up with Racing Genk.
Because at Club, the explanation for the dip is of course the mental and physical fatigue for the tough weeks they’ve had, with the Champions League being grueling. But then I wonder: what about Union, who played even two more games in August?
Union ran over Sclessin yesterday like it was the first game of the season. On paper it has a narrower core than Club, so that remains strange. Anyway, everyone now has about five weeks to reflect and recover.
And yet another flower for Union, in all respects and without competition. Because with that European course, they are the positive surprise of the first round for the second year in a row.
Peter Vandenbempt
