After the pleasing victory against KRC Genk, we gleaned reactions from Jackers, Odoi, De Cuyper and coach Deila.
Nordin Jackers: "I was able to help the team"
It was precisely against the club where he received his youth training that Nordin Jackers made his debut for Blauw-Zwart. The Limburger had a large share in the 0-3 away win at KRC Genk.
"I indeed had to wait a long time for it, but at the time I made the choice myself to become second goalkeeper at Club Brugge. I don't have to whine about that. But honestly : I feel good at Brugge, there is a good mutual contact and respect between Simon and myself, where we always try to push each other. We are each other's first competitors, but at the same time also each other's first supporters. About my game today I can be quite satisfied, because in difficult circumstances I was still able to help my team a lot with two crucial saves. But the victory was certainly not just down to me. In itself it was probably not the most exciting match, because the stakes were too high for both teams. We started the game best and after Hugo Vetlesen's 0-1, the home team tried to put us under pressure, but without really creating many big chances. Whether I have now been launched? It's far too early for that. Although I cannot deny that this tastes like more. We'll see what the future holds for myself." (MV)
Denis Odoi: "Three important points"
Club Brugge ended a turbulent week at the Genk Cegeka Arena with a pleasing three-point win. Denis Odoi also picked up his goal, celebrating with a backward somersault. "I still manage it well at 35, because that somersault went well, right? No kidding, of course, because as a team we really needed this win. It wasn't pretty, but that is irrelevant now and the three points were the most important thing. Whether I choose my moments to score? Not really, but since I am not the biggest, it is important to time the ball well and attack aggressively. And then a header like that does fall nicely over the goalkeeper into goal. My goal fell at the right moment, by the way, because at that moment we were under pressure and didn't have much grip on the game. Thanks to the substitutions the coach made, our battle plan still worked out well."
When asked if he didn't actually deserve a red card for an alleged elbow strike, Odoi looked odd at first : "In certain stationary phases, there is always contact from both sides, but in all honesty, I never felt I hit anyone. And if anything, it was completely unconscious. Neither the referee nor the VAR went any further into it either, so there must not have been that much going on." (MV)
Maxim De Cuyper: "Does an enormous amount of good!"
For this very important league match, Maxim De Cuyper was once again allowed to play at his familiar left-back position and this to the detriment of Bjorn Meijer. Naturally, he was somewhat pleased afterwards with the 0-3 victory over Racing Genk.
"With this very important victory for us, I hope the Champion's Play-offs are in," were Maxim's first words. "The result of Cercle and Gent (yesterday both lost, nvdr) were already in our favor, so if we won today we could do a very good thing with a view to the Champion's Play-offs and so it happened. The team was mixed up by our coach for all sorts of reasons, but I personally have no opinion on that. We just have to accept that, agree or disagree, but everything fell into the right fold today and this is immensely gratifying. Of course I am happy with my seventh assist of the season, but they can be stolen from me for now. I repeat that this 0-3 victory on the field of direct competitor Racing Genk is enormously gratifying, especially after what happened to us in the two previous games. Those defeats and all the comments afterwards hurt both us and the coach a lot, but we have just proved that we are definitely still there as a team and that too is not to be underestimated." (FDC)
Ronny Deila: "Very proud of the boys and the staff."
Coach Deila was somewhat in the eye of the storm the past few weeks and was obviously very pleased now with the clear win on the Genk field.
"I am very proud of the way the boys and staff have dealt with the difficult situation of the past few weeks," the coach began. "There is always a lot of pressure and it takes a lot of energy to always perform and win. It's not obvious to deal with that all the time. We maybe didn't deserve to win 0-3 today, but maybe we were lucky today that we didn't have in other games. We fought for each other and I also like to emphasize that Nordin(Jackers) also put in a very strong performance. In the second half we had a very difficult first quarter. After some substitutions, we controlled the center more and more. Now we have to look ahead, because a lot can still happen."
The coach also commented a bit on Jutglà's substitution. "Ferran was tired, because he started the last 4 games. At that point we also had to control the midfield especially. You can put as many attacking players on the field as possible, but you also have to defend. If you no longer have control of the game, it is a matter of time before something is about to happen. Consequently, I do things I believe in and then we score 2 more goals," concluded a satisfied Bruges coach. (TM)