Club Brugge - Anderlecht
Every time this game is on the menu in Belgium, the press goes in overdrive. It is a game between two rivals, but also two different styles. The history of this classic has brought some incredible games with twists and turns, battles decisive for the title, etcetera...
But this time, yesterday, it was a bit different, Club Brugge is a machine at the moment, with 3 Champions League qualifications in 4 years, 2nd in the league last year and champion the year before. Anderlecht to the contrary is going through a deep depression. The club was taken over last season by multi-millionaire Marc Coucke and had some skeletons in the closet. They didn't manage to qualify for European football, for the first time in over 50 years. Vincent Kompany was appointed as player/manager this summer and wants to reform the club back to the technical European greatness they were in the seventees. He even said he wanted Anderlecht to play the football Manchester City is playing under the reigns of Pep Guardiola. Quite the standards Vince set there!
Reality check
Now, the reality after 8 league games is quite distressing, 5 points out of a possible 24, 5 league games lost and the laughing stock of Belgium with the 13th place in the league table.
Now, the loss yesterday, was not so hard to predict. Brugge is a team that is building further on the succes of the last 2 years, Anderlecht is still building with lots of youngsters in the squad and Roofe, Nasri and Kompany injured and Lokonga suspended. The game ended in 2-1 for Brugge, but it could have easily been 5-1 or 6-1. So the newspapers are burning Kompany and Anderlecht down.
The question is: is that fair? I don't think so, when you are trying to build something but the fundamentals are lacking, you need to start with the fundamentals. That is what Kompany is doing now, but he is just not allowed time, because of his status. Sad, but eventually it will work, if he is allowed to fail before he can succeed!
Good luck, Vince, and keep the courage!
Sincerely,
Pele23