After three painful matches with loss of points, Anderlecht have won again. It became 1-3 at Kortrijk thanks to Nmecha and Tau, which means that the Purple & White now have 17 out of 30. The people of Brussels played anything but superior and sometimes even shaky, but showed themselves to be extremely efficient. The fact that the lead was maintained this time is in itself positive.
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It is a problem that many men face. At least, we sometimes read that in the specialized books. The climax comes too soon. And then you quickly end up with an undesirable result. For example, Julian Alaphilippe recently suffered from it in Liège.
They also have that problem at Anderlecht. Vincent Kompany freely admitted this at his press conference on Wednesday. Well, they usually last for eighty minutes and that in itself is an achievement. Not? Maybe that’s why my wife doesn’t mind that I’m an Anderlecht watcher, but doesn’t understand what I can learn from Waasland-Beveren if I happen to stick around their match on TV.
Weak Jakubech
Anyway, Anderlecht really had to stretch it longer at Kortrijk this time. It had to score and go on for 90 minutes at the same time. Not easy, because KVK presented itself quite challenging. Anything but faded. In the first half, possession was for the home team. The Purple & White made only 47 passes on the red & white half and no fewer than 204 on their own half. That says enough. Only Kortrijk was not sharp enough to take his chances. Ocansey in particular squandered three possibilities.
The Purple & White quickly had to think of something else. Compared to last week, Kompany had made three changes. Sambi and Zulj were side by side in midfield and Bundu on the flank, but that didn’t make the team more dominant. The people of Brussels then counted on alternative ways to hit. The first corner after five minutes succeeded. The ball landed in the feet of Peter Zulj and goalkeeper Jakubech fired his shot. Nmecha was there like the chickens to push the 0-1 in. For the striker, it was his first club field goal since April 19, 2019, when he was on loan to Preston North End. Finally, although the home goalkeeper also made a serious mistake.
Jakubech gave the same uncertain impression at one of the rare counters of Anderlecht. Percy Tau was allowed to advance and blast. Okay, it was a good shot at 119 kilometers per hour, but the Slovak had no reaction whatsoever. That should have been possible. RSCA therefore proved to be super efficient, KVK too lax.
The competition developed as it has often been in recent times. The Purple & White took the lead, but could have conceded a goal at any time. After the break, KV Kortrijk had to show that the finery, the layer of make-up was not for nothing and that they could still be a bit sexier. They still tried through Mboyo, but missed their home crowd. Unfortunately, it was in the stands The Sound of Silence.
Anderlecht: 20 goals
What remained was the question whether Anderlecht would last until the last minute this time. Whether they wouldn’t break down like they had done four times before this season. Normal Kompany-time starts from the 80th minute and then it usually gets tricky. Then the goals against fall. Fortunately, the job in West Flanders was already done by then. Admittedly, it was sometimes sink or swim, but with a good counterattack, a ball bumped in front of Nmecha and he took away all doubts with his second goal: 0-3. RSCA has already scored 20 hits this season. The fact that Kortrijk scored another (unjustified?) Penalty via Mboyo did not change anything this time.
Of course the game has to be a lot better, but this result will give some courage for the coming weeks when confrontations with Antwerp, Ghent, Beerschot and Standard await. If Anderlecht can really maintain their performances longer from now on, everyone can be satisfied. But don’t cheer too soon.
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