The technician, for the moment interim, had granted himself the luxury of teaching the Mauves a lesson without Mignolet, Skov Olsen, Oidoi and Vanaken. This Thursday, he recovered the latter and offered an attractive tactical move by placing Jutglà on the left wing. His predecessor, Ronny Deila, was the progenitor of this idea by placing the Spaniard six times this season on the flank.
Against PAOK, we only had to wait six minutes for it to be effective. After the unacceptable loss of the ball at this level by the former Waregemois Meite, Vanaken waited for the right moment to shift Jutglà, who entered the game, who served Vetlesen perfectly to open the scoring (6th, 1-0) .
Conference League: Club Bruges plays PAOK and takes a slight option in the semi-finals (1-0)
This is the whole advantage of placing the Catalan in this place. He can stick the line at the start of the action and then refocus when De Cuyper ventures onto his flank. This positional play disrupted the Greek defense on numerous occasions and the Vanaken-Jutglà-Vetlesen trio was also close on several occasions (37th, 58th) to offering a two-goal lead which would not have been too much before joining Thessaloniki and the heat of the Toumba stadium symbolized by the sample of 1500 hot fans present at Jan Breydel.
With this combativeness, the Blauw en Zwart must not fear anyone and we had to see the rage of Sabbe and his devastating tackle on Samatta, the former Genko player, after having lost the leather to understand that they will not let themselves be intimidated despite the penalty missed by Thiago (78th) which could be costly at the end of the double confrontation.
Good news is still likely to arrive between now and Thursday, starting with the return of Simon Mignolet. In Hayen’s philosophy, there is no question of throwing a long ball when starting from behind. Even under pressure. The problem is that Jackers doesn’t seem to have the technical qualities required for that. The young goalkeeper caused himself some scares which could be unforgivable when the level rises further.
The hardest part now begins for Hayen and his protégés. What to do between a national championship where they would certainly put themselves back in the title race, with the Brussels derby, in the event of success against a sick Antwerp on Sunday and a return leg of the Conference League which is coming very quickly?
Does the Venice of the North club have the squad to play on both counts? Spileers also came off injured shortly before the hour mark but no matter, asking the question already represents a victory whereas it seemed utopian three weeks ago.
The best thing is not to calculate at this exciting and unexpected end to the season. And go to Thessaloniki to try to get closer to Athens.