After the disappointing cup night, we gleaned reactions from captain Hans Vanaken and coach Ronny Deila.
Hans Vanaken: "We have to get out of this as a group"
Hans Vanaken was clearly stricken after another defeat. Like the loss at home against Anderlecht, this one came hard again. "Until the first goal we did get chances. There were two more opportunities through Skov Olsen and Igor Thiago. But that ball has to fall well and that was the case with Union. They pumped the balls and did grab the moments and we didn't take advantage of them. That's incredibly sour."
Until recently her looked good for Blauw-Zwart, but in recent weeks Ronny Deila's boys have experienced some setbacks. "It's very hard to put your finger on it. I'm not going to bring out the clichés but we have to move on again. Sunday awaits another difficult transfer to Genk." Vanaken certainly does not want to use the word crisis. "We do have to accept that things are not going well." Finally, the Bruges captain does know how to get out of it. "We have to do this match by match and especially as a group," the Blauw-Zwart captain concluded. (WD)
Ronny Deila: "Very big disappointment."
Like captain Vanaken, coach Deila was obviously deeply disappointed after the cup elimination against Union. "This is a very big disappointment," the coach began. "It's unbelievable that we lose here. Once again we lose the game in the 'boxes. The game was balanced until the moment they scored. We had our chances, but had to capitalize on them. They did score at the opportunity they got. They scored first and I did get disappointed with how we handled that. The way we then scored that second goal at the very end is actually inexcusable. Everyone is very disappointed now, of course. We lacked efficiency again today. When you play Union, you know it's going to be a difficult and exciting match. In these games there are always a lot of intense duels and the game is very direct. Then when you get the chances like we did today, you just have to take them. Unfortunately we fail to do that and we take goals too easily. So we put ourselves in trouble and, as I said, I didn't think we handled it well when we got that first goal against. We didn't react in the way to look for that equalizer. I also made that clear in the locker room to my group. We are very disappointed, because we really wanted to reach the cup final and it hurts when you are so close to it. 'Crisis' is a big word, but above all we are hugely disappointed."
There was also a look ahead to the upcoming matches anyway. "First of all, we now have to compete in the Jupiler Pro League with a difficult away game in Genk to start. We have to go there to turn things around and reconnect with a win. That's the most important thing right now. There is still a lot to fight for, both in the league and in the UEFA Conference League. So there is still a lot to play for in the remaining season," the coach concluded combatively. (TM)