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Carl Hoefkens is not a coach who paints a darker picture than necessary. He tends to focus on the positive, even in challenging moments. But after the rout at Antwerp, it was difficult to find anything encouraging. “When you concede after three minutes, a penalty, and a third goal in less than half an hour, it’s complicated,” the coach analyzed. “But when we’re in difficulty, we have to compensate with other qualities, the club’s qualities: passion, pride, and fervor. We were not able to showcase these qualities.”
Hoefkens also notes that his team plays halftime, once forward, once backward, or vice versa. Like in Ghent, the first half was bad, while it was the opposite against Malines. “We present two faces, and we really have to work on this aspect to improve things,” he noted. But true to his principles, he does not want to see everything in a negative light. “After Bruges and Anderlecht, everything was great; after two defeats everything will be negative, we know that. But there is a middle ground.”
Meanwhile, Standard is moving further away from the top 6, and the two matches in Ghent and Antwerp raise questions about the quality of a team capable of competing for the top six spots. “We probably don’t have the (athletic) qualities, but we must be able to compensate with our mentality.”
Regarding the injuries to Bokadi and Vanheusden, Hoefkens also said: “We’ll assess tomorrow (Sunday), but it seems more troubling for Merveille than for Zinho.”
#Carl #Hoefkens #après #Antwerp #Standard #pas #passion #fierté #ferveur
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