Anderlecht won 1-2 away at Cercle Bruges. I wrote the score in my notebook, tab “results”. Then I read Marc Degryse’s analysis in Het Laatste Nieuws (a Flemish daily), and I had to open a new tab.
He starts with a question: “How is it possible that Anderlecht still took the three points?” Silly question, but if the pundit doesn’t know, who does? He goes on: it was, in his view, the worst Anderlecht of the season, “dramatic football”. And almost everyone agreed, the article says. So the team that won was bad. I read that twice on the 7:32 train.
Then he explains the “law of football”: you can be much better than your opponent, but if you don’t deliver the killer blow, you pay for it in cash. Cercle forgot to score the 2-0. They stuck to their intentions, high pressing, no efficiency. And they fell into the trap twice late in the game. In basketball, you count the baskets and go home. Here there is a law, and it isn’t written down anywhere. I checked.
The best part comes next. Degryse praises Vítor Bruno, Anderlecht’s coach, who decided to play “old-fashioned” with as many strikers as possible. He calls it “casino”. Up front at the end: Cvetkovic, Bentayeb, Bertaccini, plus Antman. Four names, I counted. According to him, many coaches wouldn’t do it, they stay loyal to their principles. The article puts Pep Guardiola among them.
So I now have a tab “very bad”, a tab “won” and a tab “better than Pep”. They are all about the same match. I’m told it’s always been like this, fine, but what does that mean?
Four strikers at the end, I do that every Sunday. Not by choice: the defenders have gone to pick up the kids.
Anyway, I still have a lot to learn.
It’s true, we checked: Voetbalkrant.
