Reactions after ACF Fiorentina - Club Brugge

Hans Vanaken: "Analyse this game well"

An injury time defeat for Club Brugge, and that won't make next Wednesday's return match any easier. That was also Hans Vanaken's conclusion.

"I have mixed feelings about that late third goal for the Italians. Especially after the red card for Onyedika, you realize that it will be a matter of survival. And for a long time it looked like we would succeed, but then you still get that late goal and that is always bitter," the Bruges captain said in a first reaction. "The red card for Onyedika could have been avoided, because at that place on the pitch you don't have to tackle like that. By the way, I don't know if he knew he had already run into a yellow. Nonetheless, we did come alongside a second time through Thiago, but you also know that towards the end they will drop the necessary long balls into our box. Especially since they do have a number of strong headers. It will now be important to analyse this match well, because we didn't get out of it enough ourselves. Just like Genk last weekend, Fiorentina put a lot of pressure. And because we were perhaps not connecting enough, most of the second balls were for them, so we were not able to play our usual game ourselves," said Vanaken, who also commented on his penalty kick. "I am number one on the list of penalty takers and in such circumstances it is important to just stay icily calm. Moreover, it came with perfect timing, because we conceded that 1-0 very early on. Then it's good to hang the signs back in balance just as quickly."
In conclusion, the Limburg midfielder was asked to offer his two cents on next week's return. "I would have preferred to take home that 2-2 draw, so it will be a catch-up game against what is bound to be a very well-organised opponent. Italian teams are known to be very strong tactically, so it will be a matter of picking up the thread of the past few weeks and playing better football ourselves. It won't be easy by any means, but hopefully with the support of our crowd we can still rise above ourselves." (MV)

Denis Odoi: "Put everything into perspective."

Club swallowed another goal in the closing stages, but Denis Odoi also realized it could well have been worse.

"I think you have to take things in perspective a bit," Odoi indicated. "You have to look at how the game evolves and see what we did well and what we could have done better. I think a good team can always adjust. I think the first half was very difficult, but we were still able to make the necessary adjustments at halftime. Then you still saw that we started the second half better and especially in possession we made things harder on them," Denis concluded. (TM)

Kyriani Sabbe: "1-0 in Bruges? Try it..."

After the 3-2 defeat against Fiorentina, Sabbe also commented briefly.

"From the moment they scored the 3-2, they felt that maybe a 4-2 was still in it and then they would have had a better starting position. But I think now that 1-0 in Bruges... Let's go for it," the youngster indicated with a telling look. (TM)

Nicky Hayen: "Need a complete performance for the return game"

Club still went down in the final minutes of the game against Fiorentina, but interim coach Hayen is hopeful for the return match.

"I think it was mainly a depressed atmosphere in the dressing room," Hayen began his account. "On the one hand because you still swallow that goal in the last minutes, because otherwise it would have given a very good result. On the other hand because we didn't bring our game of the last few weeks 100% today and also didn't match the intensity that they brought. So I think that prevailed above all. If you see the intensity they started at, we were behind in the beginning of the game. The early goal doesn't make it any easier to do that. These are things we warned about, namely wingers coming in and scoring regularly from distance. You then have to defend forward on that and try to block that and we didn't do that. Then you fall behind and you do restore the balance in the first half without really being very dangerous. You then go into the break with a small deficit and in the second half we came out of the dressing room better and played slightly better soccer. Then you do have the feeling that you can come alongside, but then that unfortunate red card drops and then you know it's going to be survival."
The coach also wanted to return to the red card. "The player himself(Onyedika) didn't know he already had yellow and you could also see from his reaction that he is surprised. He didn't know he already had yellow and I'm going to defend him in that as well. He is a little more intelligent in that respect and then he wouldn't have made that tackle that way otherwise. It does show the aggressiveness of the team and that we don't want to give away gifts and that's why I say it was unfortunate."
There was also a look ahead to the upcoming matches. "We are not going to spare anyone and just see in the two games that we can bring both to a good conclusion. We are going to measure the damage after today and try to make the best choices towards both Sunday and Wednesday."
Fiorentina played with a lot of intensity and Club struggled with that at times. "I definitely think we can match that intensity. The early goal obviously gave them wings and made it a little more difficult for us. We had to try to find that balance as quickly as possible, but then you also have to get into your game. Today we were too static in that to create difficulties with a lot of movement. The spaces and opportunities we saw were not utilized enough. That makes it a shame, of course, because the second goal was a very good example of how it could be done. We just didn't exploit that enough today."
The question was also probed as to how Club will approach it in the return game. "We are going to try to trouble them in several ways. Just space in the back would be too easy. We just have to play better soccer and we have already proven that in recent weeks. We have to put a total performance on the mat again to put a very good Fiorentina over the knee," concluded a hopeful Nicky Hayen. (TM)