The last matchday of the first round in the Jupiler Pro League was completed with a points division between AA Gent and Union and a derby victory for Anderlecht. Analyst Peter Vandenbempt puts his magnifying glass on the top 3 of the rankings and on the surprises and disappointments.
“Half good is no longer good enough for Union”
After 8 wins in a row, leader Union has suffered another loss of points after a 1-1 draw against KAA Gent. Coach Alexander Blessin was only half satisfied, because his team’s first half was not good.
I thought it was striking how strict the coach was for the first half of his team and the players. And afterwards everyone went along with it.
Union indeed had a problem with Ghent’s pressing. The unusually high loss of ball in the defense could have ended badly if Ghent had finished better.
But it is not that Union was overrun during the entire first half or had to allow 5 big chances or did not go for it themselves. On the contrary, it would have had 1 or 2 big chances itself. They were very sloppy, but I actually thought that about AA Gent before half time.
By the way, it was a fun, intense, enjoyable match to watch.
The competition will have to come from far away to stop Union.
Peter Vandenbempt
Being strict shows how high the bar is at Union and Blessin. That’s actually good news: they are not satisfied with yet another place at the top. Union may not be a traditional top club, but there is clearly a top sports mentality. Half good is not good enough.
This was also the case last year with Karel Geraerts, who was not easily satisfied. Union not only wants to be charming and likeable anymore, but also wants to win and finally win a prize.
Union had a strong response after the break with players like Cameron Puertas – one of the better players on our pitches at the moment. With its wide core – if you can bring in strikers like Kevin Rodríguez or Gustaf Nilsson… – the competition will have to come from afar to stop Union.
“AA Gent has a striker problem”
AA Gent was again unable to win, after the 1-1 draw against Anderlecht earlier. Ghent does have a scoring problem.
When it turned out this summer that Ghent, against all expectations, would be able to start the season with three excellent strikers, it was considered the key moment to really make AA Gent a top candidate for the title. And Hugo Cuypers, and Gift Emmanuel Orban, and the return of Tarik Tissoudali.
It’s not that they don’t score. They have scored 14, 11 and 9 goals respectively, but they have mainly scored a lot in the European preliminary rounds, against mainly small teams.
In the competition it is much less: 4, 3 and 3 goals. While the efficient strikers of the other top clubs in the competition have scored 9 goals.
If only one of those three strikers had reached his level or certainly his accuracy from before, Ghent would probably be next to Union.
Everything shows that Gift Orban is a ticking time bomb at AA Gent.
Peter Vandenbempt
Because I think that, alongside Union, Ghent has proven to be one of the very best teams from the first round.
It always brings good, neat, attacking football. Often many opportunities, spectacle, dominant. Ghent is certainly a full-fledged and major title candidate, although it remains to be seen how much the absence of all internationals in January and February will have an impact, with the African Cup and the Asian Cup.
That’s a problem for later. There is currently a problem with rush hour. And as far as Gift Orban is concerned, that is a double problem. Not only does he no longer score, but everything shows that he is a ticking time bomb. He is clearly very dissatisfied with his status as a substitute.
I’m very curious to see how that will turn out. Or the goals will follow soon and there will be no problem. Either it will be a departure, and that will be through the back door and not for 30 million.
“The first round was a success for Anderlecht”
Anderlecht won the derby against RWDM, but that took a lot more effort than expected. Anderlecht made it difficult for themselves by naively accepting a goal.
Kasper Schmeichel had no response for the second week in a row. In Ghent he fell backwards, now he stayed standing. He may sometimes dive for a ball, I think in parentheses.
And afterwards it was just very difficult to find openings against RWDM, because they were parked with approximately 11 in their own sixteen.
I don’t think it’s that bad for football that a team that didn’t want to play football at all at the end loses. I thought it was really disappointing from Molenbeek. They can certainly defend, but still try to play football.
It wasn’t such a bad idea for the chairman to bring Jan Vertonghen to Brussels last year against all advice.
Peter Vandenbempt
There was little to criticize about Anderlecht’s victory. Don’t forget that with Thorgan Hazard and Kasper Dolberg, two of the three prongs of the famous trident had already been broken off before the match. And Flips was just bad.
Yet Anderlecht created a whole series of chances and goal attempts. 4.3 expected goals, as they say in the jargon, is really a lot.
It was also the victory of willpower, of perseverance. And once again a leading role for Jan Vertonghen. It is a good example of growing older with dignity in football.
He constantly stirs things up, it’s unbelievable what kind of mentality he has. It wasn’t such a bad idea for the chairman to bring him to Brussels last year against all advice.
Anderlecht has now won 7 times at home. That is already one more than last year for the entire season. The first round just seems like a success for Anderlecht.
“Club Brugge is the disappointment of the first round”
The first observation of the first round is that Club Brugge is without a doubt the disappointment, for the second year in a row actually. Reaching this level with this player material and so few points – they are only 7th – is, despite a good European campaign, simply poorly done. Fortunately for Club Brugge, everything is still possible.
On the other side of the balance is city rival Cercle Brugge, with a football that polarizes. Some analysts, who I think highly of, don’t like it at all, hate it, don’t think it’s football.
But there is life in Cercle’s matches. Moreover, they do this with a young team and a lot of homegrown players. It’s not that bad after all.
Genk and Antwerp, the two teams that gave us such a great title match, have fallen short of expectations.
Peter Vandenbempt
Furthermore, a special mention for STVV, which is nicely in the middle of the table with often better football than last year and also many boys from its own youth.
And, perhaps a bit strangely, also for Standard, which has already given us a lot in the first round. And not always what Carl Hoefkens would want: often spectacle, but in a good and bad sense. Stunt victories at home against the big ones, at the same time a beating at Antwerp. I would say “never a dull moment” with Standard.
Furthermore, the two teams that gave us such a great title match last year – Antwerp and KRC Genk – also fell below expectations. Especially in terms of results in the competition: they have only won 6 times in 15 matches.
Even though you may have often delivered really good football, such as Genk and Antwerp also often plays better football than in the title year, that is simply not good enough. But Santa has yet to come, so there is still a lot of time to make up for a lot.
2023-11-27 08:43:18
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