After the win against Anderlecht, Brandon Mechele, Simon Mignolet, Nicolo Tresoldi and Hans Vanaken looked back on the match. Read all the reactions below.
Brandon Mechele: "We'll go into next Saturday full of confidence"
Brandon Mechele couldn't wipe the smile of his face after the 4-2 victory. "We were really sharp in the first half, at Champions League level. We pressed high, created lots of chances, went 3–0 up and played some excellent football. At half-time they made a few adjustments, but that should never have such an impact on us, like it did. We dropped off too much, took our foot off the gas, and that simply can’t happen. We have to kill the game completely. It’s normal there’s a bit of a drop, but the gap between the two halves was far too big. We let them back into the game and didn’t control it well enough. That said, we’ll take the positives. We played really well and the three points are what matter in the end.”
Simon Mignolet: "We have to learn from that second half"
Goalkeeper Mignolet got his “Final Chapter” off to a strong start with a big win over Anderlecht. “We played a very good first half and we’re obviously pleased with a deserved three points. But what happened in the second half can’t happen again. We need to learn from it, especially as we caused a lot of it ourselves.
I was frustrated throughout the second half because we couldn’t keep the ball and didn’t defend as a team. For their second goal, for example, we all push forward, don’t manage it properly, and suddenly it’s 3-2 on the counter. We need to be smarter in those moments. In the end we actually rode our luck a bit, and that shouldn’t happen after such a strong first half.”
Nicolò Tresoldi: "Best first half I've ever played before"
Tresoldi didn’t get on the scoresheet but did set up the move for 3–0. “We could easily have scored more than three by that point. For me, that was probably the best first half I’ve ever played, I really enjoyed it. At 3-1 they gained a bit of confidence, so we still need to learn how to kill games earlier. In the end, though, the win is what counts.
Maybe everyone thought at half-time the game was done and that’s where we were wrong. After the 3-1 we became a bit hesitant, didn’t press enough, and dropped too deep. Then you see they’ve got quality as well. They could even have taken something from the game, but luckily we got the fourth. I don’t know why we became a bit nervous, but we’ll definitely analyse it. That’s important with nine games to go. We need to stay focused for the full 90 minutes. If we do that, we’ll always have a chance to win. So no, we’re not 100% satisfied. The second half simply wasn’t good enough.”
Hans Vanaken: "First half was just about perfect"
Hans Vanaken also enjoyed Club's dominant opening 45 minutes. “The first half was almost perfect with proper total football. Pressing, winning duels, picking up second balls, creating chances and scoring goals. The 3-0 half-time score was a fair reflection.
We actually started the second half quite well too and had another small chance, but once we conceded, you could feel their belief come back straight away. After that, we didn’t use the space well enough in possession, and then we concede a sloppy second goal at a really poor moment, with only a few minutes left. Thankfully we respond quickly with a fourth, but we should never let the opposition back into the game like that.
It calls for some self-criticism. Maybe there was a bit of doubt, maybe even a bit of fear to play, but that wasn’t needed because everything was going well. It shows how one goal can change a game. Of course, a clean sheet would’ve been nice for Simon, but the most important thing is winning and we’ve done that. We wanted to start the play-offs strongly and win our home game, and we’ve done exactly that. Next Saturday, away at Sint-Truiden, we’ll be going there to win again.”