Wouter Vrancken. — © Dick Demey
Wouter Vrancken was a satisfied coach after the victory of his KRC Genk against Union. “The energy was incredible and the faith was very high, then you see what you can achieve that way.”
“The boys have thrown everything into the fight,” Vrancken opened his argument. “We were missing a number of important players, which meant we had to adjust our field formation. When you play with a four-man defense against this Union, you need speed to be able to dive into the backs of their defenders. Due to injuries and suspensions we lacked that speed, so we have looked for another way to fight them over the past two weeks.”
The other way became a five-man defense with three central defenders and two offensive wingbacks and Bilal El Khannouss and Anouar Ait El Hadj who were given space as creatives behind deep striker Tolu Arokodare. “Will we also use this system in the coming weeks?” Vrancken asked the question again. “We’ll see about that. It depends on the opponent and the players we have available.”
Through the fire
Blauw-Wit played a strong first half and deservedly took the lead, but in the second half it was a fight. “Our first half was indeed very good,” nodded Vrancken. “We played forward with a lot of pressure, but we also lost a lot of strength as a result. In the second half the players showed that they were willing to go through fire for each other, which was very nice to see. The energy was incredible and the faith was very high, then you see what you can achieve.”
With the victory, Genk climbs to third place in the rankings, level with Club Brugge. “This is a very nice start and gives confidence,” Vrancken concluded. “But the road is still very long. There are nine more games to come, in which we have to put the same energy. Then we can still achieve great things in these play-offs.”
Blessin: “Terrible first half”
Union coach Alexander Blessin congratulated his colleague afterwards on the victory and readily admitted that Genk’s victory was deserved. “We showed two faces,” it said. “We played a terrible first half and then lost the game. It felt like we were playing with the handbrake on. This way we made them feel good. Our second half was better, but we didn’t create many chances. Next week should be better. This was one match, we now have nine finals ahead of us.”
Alexander Blessin. — © Dick Demey
(tomas)