After the topper against Anderlecht, we gathered reactions from Simon Mignolet, Hans Vanaken, Bjorn Meijer and coach Ronny Deila.
Simon Mignolet: "No surprise that it happened again"
Simon Mignolet swallowed a second goal in the closing stages in this topper against Anderlecht. Club lost 1-2 and urgently needs to find a solution for the late counter-goals.
"It's a disappointment and a disappointment," were Simon Mignolet's first words in the mixed zone. "Once again we don't get what we deserve, but on the other hand it's no surprise that it happened again. There is a reason for it and it has to be addressed to prevent it. Getting goals in the last minutes and not holding on to a lead. This is not the first time. This was also the case against Antwerp and Kortrijk. This has to change, otherwise you don't win top games. When we have a lead it is difficult to keep the ball in front. If you don't want to give the chances to the opponent, you have to keep the ball in the team. You also know they have guys sitting on the bench that they can bring in in the last ten minutes. We are at our gums with the amount of games, we have to accept that. We tried to keep the lead and at the equalizer we try to change something. Maybe we should hold that 1-1 instead of taking that counter goal. We have to recharge quickly because we have another important match on Wednesday. There we want to achieve another goal to get to that cup final. That's the positive thing about it that you play a lot of matches to switch quickly. You can talk about the title and the position in the standings, but now we have to make sure we win games and take points. Then the rest will come naturally, not the other way around."
It's putting our heads together to come to a solution together. "We have to look at things realistically and objectively to get a solution to this. Crisis is looking from the negative, that's not how we are in life. In the other two leagues we are in good shape, but in the league now it's just picking up points. Then you have to be effective and efficient. Everyone plays a role in this, we have to solve this together. This is not the first time, this has happened in the past. We have to put right where we have control. For the title, we depend on other teams." (KN)
Hans Vanaken: "Another unnecessary points loss"
As already earlier this season, Club Brugge got the lid on the nose in the absolute closing stages. Hans Vanaken was therefore heavily resentful when speaking to the press.
"This is obviously very sour and will be hard to deal with, especially because we once again suffer an unnecessary points loss. How come? I had the feeling that after the hour we kept putting too little pressure forward and that we crawled backwards too much. Then you know Anderlecht will pump the ball into our box and that's what happened with Vazquez' equalizer. They got the ball just right while we did not. After the 1-1 draw we had a few chances through Nusa and Skov Olsen, but in the end it was too little.
When asked whether Club were tactically surprised by Anderlecht, the Bruges captain was clear : "I didn't think so because we had analyzed them very well beforehand. In general, there were few clear-cut chances, even for us. Although we did get ahead 1-0 but once again we couldn't hold on to it due to not putting enough pressure forward. Still, we have to try to put this behind us and move on because next Wednesday another difficult match awaits us visiting Union." (MV)
Bjorn Meijer: "We have to play our own game."
Just like Hans Vanaken, Bjorn Meijer also had disappointment on his face : "Well, what can I say about this? I think we had reasonable control of the game, although we couldn't create real danger ourselves often enough. And in the added time we were dealt yet another blow. Incomprehensible that this happened to us again. How did it happen? Once again we failed to keep playing our own game, we didn't put enough pressure forward and ended up playing too much backwards. Will this defeat have consequences? It may sound cliché, but we have no choice but to move on towards the play-offs. Moreover, we can still advance to the finals in the Croky Cup, although we realize that a tough match awaits us next Wednesday. But we start with a 2-1 bonus, so we still have everything in our own hands. It just comes down to playing our own game." (MV)
Ronny Deila: "Breast forward to Union on Wednesday"
Ronny Deila saw his team go down in extremis against Anderlecht. A heavy blow for Club that thus sees its title ambitions get a big dent.
"It was a very intense match between two good footballing teams. With a great atmosphere. The support from the fans was immense, so it certainly wasn't down to them today. It is therefore a great pity that we could not reward them. We sometimes slumped a little too much, which caused problems for ourselves. So at halftime we adjusted some things and it became more balanced. We had to play better soccer from behind, because when you kick a lot of long balls, it's often fifty-fifty. I felt we were in control of the match, but at the end we make too easy mistakes, so we still end up losing. It was a very exciting match that could have gone either way, but unfortunately it has happened too many times now that we let it slip at the end of the match. That's a bummer, but we have to gather our courage and face Union again on Wednesday. Every match we play is balanced. That was true against Union, at Anderlecht, against Genk and Gent. It's often a dime on its side, but it disappoints just a little too often. However, I fully believe in this group. The worst thing we can do now is start doubting or blaming each other. We just have to keep the togetherness and keep working really hard."
This defeat, however, makes it a lot harder to still take the title. "It's a blow, but we have to keep believing in it. We wanted to go for the win, but in the end we are left empty-handed. However, you must not forget that after three years of success last year came a difficult season. There are many young talents, but it is a process to improve them. However, this does not happen overnight. However, I can't blame my players for anything. They work very hard every day. This team has a great future and I fully believe in that." (SF)
Watch the press conference here: