That is easier said than done against coach Muslic’s enthusiastic team, his Genk colleague realizes. “A lot of respect for the way in which he makes it difficult for every opponent with Cercle,” said Vrancken. “You have to put your foot next to theirs in terms of intensity. You won’t make it with a few percent less. But on top of that you also have to be clean with the ball. There are spaces, but you have to dare to take responsibility by taking initiative with the ball. Just like we did in our home match in these play-offs. We did very well, especially before half time, but from the moment we became less pure, things became a little more difficult.”
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Turn the page
KRC Genk took two blows against Club, zero-seven was the tough verdict in two games. “Yet you cannot compare the 0-3 at home with the 4-0 there,” Vrancken claims. “We were not at the appointment in Bruges. I was very pleased with our response here at home. However, we did not take our chances and were very unfortunate to fall behind. In the end we conceded three very avoidable goals, although that is partly due to their quality. We have analyzed everything extensively, but at the same time in the play-offs, in which the top matches continue to follow each other, you also have to be able to turn the page quickly.”
Vrancken realizes that his team has not shown its most productive side with five goals in six matches, but at the same time puts that statistic into perspective. “In the four games for Club we were efficient and showed stability. It is important to pick up on that again. We are going all out for the win over Cercle, in this way we would take a very big step towards fourth place. That is now our first goal, we want to get a European ticket. Only once that is in can you possibly look even further up at the end of these play-offs.”
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Arokodare ready to play
Compared to the home match against Club Brugge, Wouter Vrancken has a fit Karetsas on the bench. He replaces Claes in the competition team, who was hampered by a minor injury last week.
Tolu Arokodare is match fit. The Nigerian striker underwent extensive neurological examinations after his collision on Tuesday, which showed that he suffered no damage. He has trained fully in recent days and wore a helmet, with which he will probably also start the match on Saturday. Arokodare already played and scored with a helmet against Eupen earlier this season, one week after a collision with Hugo Cuypers of AA Gent.
De verdijskern voor Cercle: Vandevoordt, Van Crombrugge, Pieklak, El Ouahdi, Sadick, Cuesta, McKenzie, Nkuba, Kongolo, Sobol, Kayembe, Galarza, Hrosovsky, Bangoura, Karetsas, Adedeji-Sternberg, Bonsu Baah, El Khannouss, Ait El Hadj , Arokodare, Fadera, Zeqiri. (mg)