RSC Anderlecht – KVC Westerlo

You score a goal after a clever action or an individual error by the opponent. Against Gent, we got ahead – again – but eventually had to lose after three small mistakes by our boys, which a top team like Gent is only too happy to cash in on. For the third time in a row, we play a team from the G6 on Sunday.

KVC Westerlo

There was also transfer news to report from the Kuipje this week. The most famous name is of course Nacer Chadli. The 34-year-old former Red Devil will make a permanent transfer from Turkish club Basaksehir this time around. Nacer proved his worth on the pitch and in the (young) dressing room last season.

A second name may sound less familiar: Josimar Alcocer. This Costa Rican was noticed by his club LD Alajuelense and the Los Ticos , the national team, with whom he recently played the Gold Cup and fell in the quarter-finals against the later winner Mexico. Josimar had a starting place in each of the 4 games played.

After three playing days, seven players have been in the starting line-up each time: goalkeeper Bolat, defenders Neustädter and Bos, midfielders Madsen, Van den Keybus and Fixelles and striker Matsuo.

21 players were already given playing opportunities by our coach and two players found their way to the goal. Nicolas Madsen did so twice from the spot and Lucas Stassin’s last-minute goal in Eupen, every Kemphaan will also remember.

The 1 in 9 looks meagre, although some sometimes forget that last season we also only managed a 2 in 9 in those same matches and our Kemphans are usually slow to get going.

By the way: the previous edition of Anderlecht vs Westerlo ended in a scoreless draw. Adding statistics of both goalkeepers, we saw that Anderlecht’s Bart Verbruggen had to stop no fewer than 10 shots, while on the other side Sinan Bolat had to do so none.

RSC Anderlecht

In Brussels, we also noted a lot of transfer activity. Frenchman Alexis Flips, who can play either as a number 10 or on as a winger, came over from Stade Reims. Swedish left-back Ludwig Augustinsson has been a regular in Sweden’s national team for years and you could find him in the core of no less than four club teams in the past two years: Germany’s Werder Bremen, Spanish clubs Sevilla FC and RCD Mallorca and English side Aston Villa. The third transfer comes from our own Jupiler Pro League and was a guest at Kuipje with Club Brugge just a fortnight ago. Indeed, Mats Rits opted for the sensitive switch from one top club to another and he will be seen in the purple-white shirt for the next three years.

Anderlecht got off to a good start this season, on the opening day of play they did lose the derby against Union, but this was followed by two wins (at home against Antwerp and at STVV) with the smallest score.

Compared to. last season, Anderlecht reinforced themselves in several places: in goal, Frenchman Maxime Dupé replaced Bart Verbruggen who left for Brighton, in defence Louis Patris made the transfer from OHL to Anderlecht, in midfield Dutchman Justin Lonwijk of Dynamo Kyiv joined Anderlecht and especially in the front line we noted three new names: Dane Kasper Dolberg, who had a market value of €20 million four years ago, Argentine Luis Vazquez, who was found at Argentinian top club Boca Juniors, and young Englishman Tudor Mendel-Idowu, who has played in Chelsea’s youth teams.

Referee