Coaches Simon Davies and Vincent Kompany are under immense pressure these days as they started out with a dreadfull 2 points out of 5 games. And just then the all-time rivals of Standard de Liège came to the Lotto Park. No Samir Nasri in the starting eleven, nor on the bench. He was ill all week, and has not yet recovered enough. Kompany himself pulled a hamstring last game, and is out of the selection too. Elias Cobbaut replaces him in the centre of the defense. Vlap starts on the bench for the first time, Saelemaekers gets his first starting game of the season.
Anderlecht starts with a lot of positional play and ball possession, as it has been drilled by Vincent Kompany. That has been the case in the previous games too, but scoring is oh so hard these days at Anderlecht. Can they finish today? Standard disappoints, especially when they have the ball, they do very little with it. It's like they left their creativity at home.
After 35 minutes Anderlecht scores after a smart heel of Chadli onto Saelemaekers, who scored with his tip in the far corner. Anderlecht should have had a penalty earlier after a clear foul of Bokadi on Gerkens. But even the VAR didn't correct the referee here, strange. Just before half time Anderlecht could have scored the 2-0 through Vlap, who replaced the injured Gerkens. But Vlap missed the chance.
The second half was less enjoyable to watch, but Standard became better, and had 2 chances, but Van Crombrugge kept his goal clear on chances from Cimirot and Mpoku. Both teams get chances to score, but nobody does it eventually. A long awaited and hard fought victory for new-style Anderlecht. Finally they can look in front of them instead of behind. Standard disappointed after a very good start in this season.
If Anderlecht can land a decent striker just before the end of the transfer window, then maybe, even the near future can be bright.
Sincerely,
Pele23
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