That it is going to be a special match in Bruges can be felt from several factors. The recent transfer of coach De Mil, who then had assistant coach Steve and video analyst Jonas come to Westerlo in his wake, is one factor. Another is that commentator Peter Vandenbempt may take charge of this match. VDB always comments on the top match of the day, so good to know.

KVC Westerlo

On the internship in Antalya, coach De Mil continued to work on the group feeling, in which not only the players but also the entire entourage showed up as one team. The final evening in Turkey was the icing on the cake, in which the “newcomers” had to introduce themselves, and also bring out their singing talents. You saw an experienced player like Sergii Sydorchuk give a fantastic speech, in which he gave a tip to the young players, and also those slightly more timid players were put at ease by the group.  An internship also means hard work. Everything is covered and put on point. Physical, game-technical and set-pieces, time is taken to optimise everything. 

The two practice matches were an exponent of this. 2-2 against German Bocholt and 3-2 win against Romanian Rapid Bucharest. In this very potent match against the Romanians, striker Lucas Stassin suffered a rather serious injury to his fibula. The prognosis is that he will not be employable again for another two months. 

So the front line has become very thin. As a deep striker, only Erdon Daci currently remains, the rest are in hospital. Promote player Irsan Muric was flown to Turkey in a hurry, as he scored the winning goal in the match against Rapid.

In fact, due to the difficult state of the pitches in the Kempen region of the country, the players left for Ostend as early as Friday, just after noon, to train on a snow-free pitch.

Club Brugge

Everyone knows that when the Bruges guys are top, it’s hard to go there and pick up anything. Last season we were able to take the full haul to Het Kuipje there for the very first time in 25 years. Lyle Foster was our hero that night with two goals.  So the balance at the Jan Breydel Stadium is very poor: 20 games with one win, two draws and 17 defeats.

Currently, the Bridge goalkeepers are parked in fifth place in the rankings. Only a difficult October month with a 3 out of 12 ( against Standard, Kortrijk, Antwerp and Union) has ensured this place, because otherwise the results speak volumes. In total, they already played 35 games, 20 league games, 12 European games and 3 cup games.  The standings are 20 wins, five losses and 10 draws with a goal difference of 80 scored and 26 against… That’s all we have to say I guess.

This week, they went on to win 0-1 on the AA Gent pitch, putting them in the semi-finals of the Belgian Cup. We are curious to see whether coach Ronny Deila will field our Max, as on matchday 2 – the meeting at the Kuipje – the popular curly-haired forward was forced to follow the game from the side, due to the red card he incurred in the first game of the season against Mechelen.

Team against Gent: Mignolet, De Cuyper, Spileers, Mechele, Meijer, Vetlesen, Nielsen, Vanaken, Skov Olsen, Nusa and Thiago

Nicolas Laforge

• Fifa referee since 2015
• 14th game this season in the JPL
  • Once Westerlo (vs STVV at Kuipje 3-3)
  • Twice Club (vs STVV 1-1 and KV Mechelen 0-0)
• Total already whistled 15 games for Westerlo, the last 6 encounters with him ended twice in a win and four times on a draw

Text and statistics: Peter Boons