“We will not change our philosophy”: Al-Ittihad does not panic after conceding eight goals in the last two matches | soccer

Union’s defensive stats in their last two league matches in a 4–2 loss at home against Standard Westerlo hit like pincers on a pig over the stability that mainly characterizes defence. Just to say: In the first nine matches after the winter break, Al-Ittihad received praise for barely three goals conceded. To suddenly swallow a quarter of all goals conceded (8 out of 33) in Belgium’s entire competition over 27 match days in eight days. It makes sense for alarm bells to go off, right?

Especially now with the crucial cup back at the start in Antwerp. Al-Ittihad must rely on its defense to reach a historic final after the war. So, perhaps the staff and players got together for a bit longer this week to discuss traditional matches, with more focus on defence. But the result after Standard and Westerlo has not changed: too many individual mistakes caused a defensive disorder, and a high-quality opponent was able to punish for this.

“Unfortunately, this happens in football,” said Al Ittihad coach Karel Gerarts in his presentation of the trophy’s return. “But we must not panic /. Two weeks ago at Club Brugge our organization was still very good. I also saw a good reaction against Standard Westerlo: we are not a dead team. Now people seem to forget all about the past. The union is still in half The cup final, we are still second in the league and we are in the eighth finals in the European League. There was no talk of a crisis here.

As the leader of the defence, Christian Burgess feels the responsibility. He tries to put his finger on the wound: “It’s a mix: individual fouls, less organization, chasing a goal a little too ferociously and decisions (by the referee or VAR, ref) that don’t appear in our favor. Maybe we took it a bit quiet after the previous strong months “But we don’t need to despair. The cup is a great opportunity in another league to fight back.”

Perhaps the return of Seppe van der Heyden – who suspended the previous two matches – will restore defensive stability. But Gerarts didn’t want to say that. He protects Kouki Machida: “I can count on five to six good defenders.”

And what face will the union show? Antwerp looked the cat out of the tree in the first game with some “ironic” football, but will now have to make up a 1-0 deficit. Al-Ittihad can play football efficiently, dominantly and effectively this season. It is not said that the union will pour concrete as a strategy. “We’re not going to change our philosophy,” Gererts says. But we will not ignore the circumstances either. In the first leg against Antwerp, we also didn’t fall into their trap of letting us come on. I expect the match to start sooner or later.”

Burgess sees the same scenario: “The first match was very strategic. Now Antwerp will have to take risks more quickly. It is up to us to exploit that.”