Top cuisine Anderlecht travel to Gent today and it’s a clash between the top two. These are heady days for the Buffalos, an ambitious club who play in a state-of-the-art stadium, the Ghelamco Arena, which also houses a Michelin Star restaurant. Gent have never won the title, finishing as runners-up in 1954 and 2010. Things… Read More »
As Lady Gaga once said, football is a funny old game. Going into their Champions League match with Arsenal on Tuesday night, Anderlecht were seen as lambs to the slaughter. They had won one of their last five league games and would be without Steven Defour and Matias Suarez through injury and Alexsander Mitrovic as… Read More »
A year ago I wrote the following. “It’s been called the most exciting title race in Europe, but even those using that terminology agree that the Playoffs format falsifies the championship.” “The games between the top clubs come so thick and fast, it can be too much – financially – for the fans, too much… Read More »
The infamous playoffs start this weekend. The top six (Standard Liege, Anderlecht, Racing Genk, Club Brugge, Lokeren and Zulte Waregem) will play each other twice in the next six weeks. The clubs start with half of the points gained in the “classic” season. So the clubs start as follows: Standard Liege 34 points, Club Brugge… Read More »
The Jupiler Pro League Playoffs have been controversial since their introduction in the 2009-2010 season. The system, it that’s a legitimate word, was introduced to make the league more financially viable – more games between the big clubs – but in its current format it falsifies the league and the vast majority of fans would… Read More »
In Belgium’s Jupiler Pro League (the JPL), the real race for the title – and the 15 or so millions of euros that go with direct entry to the Champions’ League – starts with the playoffs. That’s because the JPL has a structure whereby the top six after the ‘classic’ season has finished enter the… Read More »
This Monday Mash is dedicated to three Club Brugge men who could be decisive: new coach Michel Preud’homme, captain Timmy Simons and young winger Maxime Lestienne. Preud’homme’s arrival will give a massive lift to both club and league (see my thoughts from 11/2010, Simons is a real leader and has been my touchstone since the… Read More »
The ‘Top Ten Newcomers’ to the Jupiler Pro League include some youngsters with big reputations, a few returnees and a couple of relatively unknown quantities. Three of the 10 are from Anderlecht and there are two each from Standard Liege and Club Brugge. Fabien Camus (28, Racing Genk) The Franco-Tunisian midfielder was a member of… Read More »
There were no draws in the JPL this weekend. Anderlecht, Club Brugge and Kortrijk won on their travels. Anderlecht scored three second half goals at Beveren after John Van den Brom made some judicious changes. For Kortrijk, young Benito Raman looked lively while Club Brugge owed their win at Mechelen to a Timmy Simons penalty.… Read More »
Here are my ‘Top Ten Youngsters’ to follow in the Jupiler Pro League. To be included, they must have been under 20 at the start of the season. I’ve not included Dennis Praet as he’s too well known and I’ll consider him for my ‘Top Ten Players in the Jupiler Pro League’. Three of the… Read More »