Norman Bassette scored the opening goal, his fourth in seven matches since his loan move from Coventry City. Then things got heated with Musliu. When a scoring striker has to come off mid-match, there’s always a real reason. Charaï put it better than I could: the defender tried to wind him up, and at one point it started working.
Right, tactically, I know this file by heart. My best Sunday goalscorer is also the one you need to pull off five minutes before he picks up a second yellow for answering back to the opposition’s number 5. You explain to him the match is won with eleven men, not from the bench sulking. Charaï did exactly that, a flat pitch away, mind you.
Protecting a striker from himself, I run that on Tuesday. When we’ve got eleven, that is. Except mine doesn’t have four goals in seven matches to negotiate with the club delegate: mostly he just wants to settle scores with their number 4, and nothing on the scoreboard to make that fly.
Charaï adds another layer: he says Bassette ranks second or third in Europe for intensity brought to the pitch. Intensity is exactly what a coach wants. The problem is when intensity and nerves get mixed up. The player who fights for every ball is the same one who explodes when his ankle gets clipped.
He adds that Westerlo had enough chances to win 3-0, that it’s their third win in a row and another clean sheet, the side remains unbeaten in four matches. Managing a striker who’s about to boil over is the kind of detail you don’t see in the stats, but it wins matches. I found that out the season my top scorer picked up two yellows in the same week. We finished ninth.
It’s true, we checked: Voetbalkrant.
