Carl Hoefkens: "Today was a collective failure"

"A game in Gent is always a special game and today was no different," the coach began. "I think we started the first quarter, until we swallowed the goal, very well. Then we were able to find the spaces we wanted to play in. Then you concede that goal and from that point on, really everything is too little. Then you get a second goal on stoppage time that is avoidable. Then a lot falls away and we just bring too little for the remaining 70 minutes, let's say. I also don't have an immediate explanation for why we couldn't pull off that good start. In the first few minutes up to the goal we managed to hold on to Gent and then we couldn't anymore. Then it was always making the wrong choice at the wrong moments and then it becomes difficult against an intense and motivated Gent who made it incredibly difficult for us at those moments."

Club is having a lesser series, but there is no reason to panic. "I'm not worried about that. First of all because you include Champions League and if you include that, of course you quickly arrive at those figures. So right now I'm not worried about that. I don't look much at numbers anyway. For me now, the next game is the most important and the one that just passed. For the rest, I absolutely don't want to waste energy in looking at rankings or numbers or what we've done in the past. And this time will be no different..."

The coach also did not want to draw too quick conclusions after the defeat. "I want to let this sink in quietly first and make the analysis with the players tomorrow. This is a collective failure today, so that's everyone (from the player group, myself, the staff) and that's today's story. We have to draw the analyses from that as soon as possible and take the next steps in that as soon as possible."

Finally, Carl Hoefkens also wanted a word about the upcoming World Cup. "I hope that the sooner the better the World Cup is behind us. Of course, I do hope for good results from Belgium (that's something else) and from every player of my selection going there. It is true that it is a very bizarre season, as I indicated before the season. A very busy season, both physically and mentally. Then you hope that that will be normalized as soon as possible. What we have done so far is not normal. There are a lot of games in a very short time, but that is not why we lost today," coach Hoefkens concluded. (TM)