Milan Jovanovic – I hate the playoffs, get me out of here
The Jupiler Pro League ended on Saturday night and the playoffs will start at the end of the month. I don’t always approve of Milan Jovanovic’s comments as he tends to ‘talk the talk’ a little too much; however he was spot on when he said that he hated the playoff system. The Serb added that was one of the reasons why he was thinking of leaving Anderlecht. But don’t hold your breath on that one, unless Anderlecht don’t win the title.
With the points gained in the classic season being halved, the title race is more open that it was a few days ago. Anderlecht have lost form in the last few weeks and are now just two points ahead of Zulte Waregem. Their biggest rivals are likely to be Genk, just six points behind and playing with some assurance. The first round of playoff games sees Genk visit Anderlecht and that match could have a major impact on the title race. Here’s how the top six looks going into the playoffs; you can see the schedule here.
Playoff standings
Anderlecht 34 points, Zulte Waregem 32, Racing Genk 28, Club Brugge 27, Lokeren 26, Standard Liege 25
Vincent Kompany – major doubt for Macedonia
In the international break, Belgium will play Macedonia twice and the country expects nothing less than six points. There’s only bad news about Vincent Kompany. It looks like he won’t make the team for the match in Macedonia on Friday and he’ll be sorely missed. I would expect Marc Wilmots to bring in veteran Daniel Van Buyten, who’s been having an excellent season with Bayern Munich, alongside Thomas Vermaelen. That would allow Jan Vertonghen to continue his marauding from the left back spot. Marouane Fellaini could also get the nod, at least in the away game, over Moussa Dembele. Finally, Christian Benteke will probably have the edge over Romelu Lukaku in Macedonia, due to his ability to hold the ball up for De Bruyne, Hazard and Mirallas. At the same time, on Friday, Croatia play Serbia in Zagreb. By Saturday morning, the outlook could be completely different.
Group A standings
Belgium 10 points, Croatia 10, Serbia 4, Macedonia 4, Wales 3, Scotland 2
Friday games
Croatia-Serbia, Scotland-Wales, Macedonia-Belgium
Tuesday games
Wales-Croatia, Serbia-Scotland, Belgium-Macedonia
