Standard lost on Friday night at Gent, joint leaders of the league and unbeaten this season. Two goals conceded: one from a corner, the other after a glaring defensive mistake. In between, at 1-1, Vincent Euvrard’s side worked several decent chances to go ahead. None of them went in.
In the mixed zone, Matthieu Epolo handed over the instruction manual himself. The Congolese goalkeeper asked for a Standard that is more clinical in both boxes and stops conceding from set pieces. “We have to be more solid, big teams don’t concede from set pieces every weekend,” he told Walfoot.
Freddy heard that line on the way home. Defending a corner is his favourite chapter, and he opens it on Tuesday.
Tactically, a corner is something you drill: one on the near post, one in the six-yard box, two zonal, and the tall lad staying in front of the keeper. I run that on Tuesday. When we’ve got eleven, that is. Because at my place on a Tuesday, four of them turn up at quarter past straight from work, and the club delegate (the volunteer who carries the paperwork) is still looking for the bibs in his folder. Epolo is right, mind: big teams don’t concede on those. They rehearse it with eleven players and on a flat pitch. A flat pitch away, mind you.
The goalkeeper also spoke of a big step forward compared with last season, and said he was proud of the team because it creates chances. In Freddy’s vocabulary, that is called “having the intentions but not the second goal”.
Losing at the joint leaders who hadn’t dropped a thing yet, that’s a disgrace. I’m weighing my words. But we create chances, there are positives. Now we take it one game at a time.
Freddy has blocked out Tuesday, 7.30pm, on pitch 2. The sloping one, where the floodlights take ten minutes to warm up.
It’s true, we checked: Walfoot.
