
“I saw a hungry group today. That quickly resulted in the opening goal of Balanta. Playing in a full house for the first time this season gave us an enormous boost. We wanted to give everything from the beginning of the match onwards and we started well. You then have to score a second goal and we did so. That second goal fell after a beautiful combination between Noa and Charles. You saw things still need to go smoother on the wings which is completely normal since Tibo Persyn, for instance, started from kickoff for the first time. Beerschot still scored before halftime with a wonderful kick that was impossible to catch. That changes your feeling when going into the dressing room at halftime. Our start of the second half was better again and Tibo scored our third goal. Some substitutes were made because I found it very important to end the match with eleven players. Unfortunately, we ended the match with ten players due to a youth sin. We need to try to understand that because you may not forget the age of Stanley Nsoki. He is still very young and he was also a bit impressed by the circumstances. Beerschot then scored a second time and the end of the match was still tough in that way. I am happy we kept the three points home. To conclude, the fans were actually the best today."
The coach still had something to say about the injury of Bas Dost and the performance of Tibo Persyn. "Bas had some pain but he could keep on playing. However, I chose to replace him in order to certainly end the match with ten players on the field. I am very happy for Tibo. The first half was a bit tough but it went better in the second half. It is of course fantastic for him to score immediately. He has been dreaming about playing here in Jan Breydel since he was a child."
The final word was about the next couple of weeks. "I am absolutely not thinking about the Champions League drawing of Thursday. We will see which teams we will face but it will of course be three very strong opponents. I am also very confident that some transfers will still be made and that we will be able to welcome some new players. However, I only focus on the players that are here now and I will not spend energy on players that don't come." (TM)