After the sour defeat against Molde, we gleaned reactions from Vanaken, De Cuyper and coach Deila.
Hans Vanaken: "This unfortunately happens to us too often"
Blauw-Zwart went down 2-1 against Molde, due to a goal in the absolute closing stages of the match.
A visibly disappointed Hans Vanaken looked back on the match. "It's unfortunate, another goal in the last minutes. That shouldn't happen, but we've been saying that so often this season. However, 1-1 would not have been a wrong starting position. After our goal you think it's okay, but then you run into that one counter again. They shouldn't score so easily from that deep ball. All of a sudden they are two against one, so then something is not right."
It's yet another counter goal in the closing stages of the match. "We have to look at the footage and see where it goes wrong. It's good that we want to attack, but we also have to keep in mind that when we lose the ball we are sufficiently armed." "We are in a difficult situation at the moment," he continued. "We have to start somewhere to turn the tide, but it's hard to pinpoint an exact cause because it happens to us too often. As I said, we come up two against one on a counter and that really shouldn't happen."
"Our first half was really not good. We didn't put enough pressure which made it easier for them to play through. In the second half we were more dangerous and got into their penalty area more."
Next week there is the return at the Jan Breydel Stadium. "It's not over yet. We showed in that second half that we are better, but have to learn from that moment of conversion. Next week with the crowd behind us we should be able to still turn it around and qualify," the captain concluded disappointed but combative. (EV)
Maxim De Cuyper: "This is coming hard."
After the 2-1 loss in and against Molde, Maxim De Cuyper addressed the press quite affected. "This defeat is coming pretty hard, so I can't be happy about this at all and I'm standing here with a heavy pussy feeling," the Bruges youth product opened his account. "It's almost impossible to grasp, because week after week the same thing keeps happening to us. Too much has happened on that front in recent weeks. With a few minutes left on the clock you just have to hold that 1-1, but the way we still gave it away is again very stupid and especially unnecessary. What went wrong? We just discussed a first analysis in the dressing room and apparently a lot went wrong. But once again we couldn't keep the ball in the team and once again we ran into a razor-sharp counter. Whether I take responsibility for that second goal? In part yes, because maybe I was standing too high at that stage. It's just quite galling that we have to keep talking about the same thing."
Although De Cuyper remains hopeful European will still convert further. "This is a huge blow, but fortunately we already have the home game against OHL on Sunday, so there is not much time to worry about what happened tonight. And yes, next week there is the return game and we still have to put things right. With the support of our supporters we have to go full steam ahead from the first minute, so nothing is lost yet." (MV)
Ronny Deila: "This frustrates me a lot."
Coach Deila was obviously also a disappointed coach after the defeat in the final game.
"I thought we had good control of the match until that 92nd minute, so this makes it extremely frustrating," the coach began his analysis. "1-1 against Molde was a good result to take back to Bruges, but then we make it difficult for ourselves again. That goal in the last minutes frustrates me a lot. We have discussed this so much and I can't say how much we have already gone through this kind of situation, because it happens so often in recent weeks. If you focus too much on it, maybe it creeps into your head. In the previous games, however, we were more balanced and had more players than the opponent in our sixteen. Today, however, we were naive and stupid by going forward with too many players. We needed to talk more and organize ourselves better to be back in balance and keep that 1-1. However, we gave up an easy counter with all the consequences. It is immature and too often it happens that we lose the game in the last minutes. In that, we also had control of the game every time this happened. That has to change urgently, because this must not keep happening. I made some substitutions in the second half and we had control of the match. We also scored the equalizer, so I don't agree that the substitutions didn't work out. We also have to respect the opponent, because we do play in a European competition. You don't win so easily against these kinds of teams and Legia Warsaw was a good example of that the other day. So we have to be humble and state that 1-1 was a good result and then we had a good starting position for the return match. Now we have made it harder for ourselves, but we still have a good chance to advance. Now I hope that after tonight we can turn this feeling into energy for the return match and thus advance to the quarterfinals. I expected it to be an evenly matched match tonight anyway, because Molde is a difficult team to play. In two games we should indeed be stronger than this team and I strongly believe in that. I did think we were weak in possession in the first half. The first goal fell after we lost the ball and they started a quick counterattack. That was the biggest problem in the first half. We couldn't keep track of the ball and couldn't do anything offensively. In the second half, we had the ball more and were able to play more in their half. We didn't create a lot of big chances, but we got closer and closer. Then at the end we got that penalty and were able to equalize. Consequently, in the second half we did have control and grew into the game. I can't say anything about effort, but it's more about daring on the ball and taking more risks in it. In the second half that was better, but I certainly agree with the supporters that they are disappointed that we still lose here. The result is not good enough, because it should have just ended at 1-1 here. In this we have to be much more clinical, disciplined and organized in these moments. I also take responsibility for this again and that also frustrates me a lot and makes me angry. It has now happened again and now we have to do something with it," concluded the Blauw-Zwart coach. (TM)