After a missed start to the championship, the Brabançons regained their colours by signing a 9 out of 9. But there is still work to do in Waterloo for a team that can rejoice in hatching its young shoots.
While the victory won against Leuven will not leave lasting memories in the spans of the club, the local players have, however, pocketed three new important units during the visit of their Brabant neighbours. A 4-1 success that Alex de Paeuw also put into perspective at the final whistle. “I do think we could do a lot better. We struggle to manage the tempo of matches and we struggle to find the right rhythm. We accelerated when we needed to slow down, and the opposite sometimes. But it was the individual qualities that made the difference against Leuven. Since the start of the championship, we have lacked efficiency and, fortunately, things are already going a little better today. We have a good ratio on penalties but it’s just the rhythm that is not yet developed. The game background is not bad and, although there are not many new players, we are playing with a new system. And it takes a bit of time to settle in, especially since we have a very young team. »
Local “kids” who showed great things, like Arthur Caenen, who played his first minutes in the Division d’Honneur against the Universities, Augustin van de Kerckhof or Brieuc Petit who take their chance in this group and who really evolve without complex. “That has always been the strength of the club,” continues Tommy Willems. “The average age of this group is already very young. But it’s obvious that they don’t make a spot in the squad and that’s extremely positive for the future. They receive a lot of confidence and they show that we can trust them. »
The last four always in sight
If the departures of Gauthier Boccard and Elliot Van Strydonck to Leopold have, as expected, a significant impact on the game, Jean Willems is trying to rebuild a solid structure and refine the automatic mechanisms with the French international striker Blaise Rogeau, absent this Sunday, or Alex de Paeuw, back at Waterloo where he spent seven seasons between 2008 and 2015 with four championship titles (2009, 2012, 2013 and 2014), after a break at Orée and Ghent.
“The club’s objective is to aim for the top 4,” said the former Red Lion. “We had a disastrous start to the season but we are getting back into the game, little by little. And we are moreover only two units from Racing. The season will be very long, and even if we lost points, we are confident for the future. We wanted to achieve a 15 out of 15 after this failed start to the season and we have already won three consecutive successes. We still have to confirm against Old Club and Braxgata before finishing with two very difficult trips to Ghent and Racing. »
But before looking to these two duels which will take place after the international break to make way for the Pro League in early November, Tommy Willems and his partners want to take care of their next two outings. And to do this, we will already have to learn the lessons of the performance against Louvain. “We already have to take care of our technical level. There was a lot of waste, many lost duels, too many bad passes or failed checks. These are small things but that we cannot afford, given our ambitions and if we want to take an extra step. We know that every Sunday it will be a battle to win the three points but we have confidence in this group to achieve it. »
With this fourth success, the Waterloo Ducks have left the bottom of the ranking (7th position) and find themselves within reach of the top 6. But it is quickly that these good intentions will have to be confirmed to avoid regrets, and especially a second round. to run behind the other contenders in the last four.
