Honor where credit is due. After the much-discussed dismissal of Yves Vanderhaeghe, the board of Cercle Brugge received a lot of criticism. Who would have thought that since then the club would steam from 13 out of 48 under Vanderhaeghe to 21 out of 24 under his successor? “This team was built to play a different kind of football.”
The big right of Cercle Brugge?
“Am I that smart or are you that stupid?” Not that anyone at Cercle Brugge would dare to say the legendary words of Louis van Gaal from 1996 out loud, but wouldn’t anyone on the board have thought them at least since November 28, the day Yves Vanderhaeghe was fired?
The appointment of Austrian Dominik Thalhammer (51) proves for the time being that the board of Cercle is right. Since his arrival, the club has won seven of its eight matches. Only competition leader Union was too strong.
The coach change was an important piece in the puzzle.
Red Bull puzzle piece: “Austrian” pressing and intensity
Dominik Thalhammer is an Austrian. More important in his appointment was that he belongs to the network of Paul Mitchell, the overarching sporting director of Monaco and Cercle.
Mitchell worked for Red Bull Leipzig and the umbrella football network of the Austrian energy drink until the summer of 2020. When Thalhammer was appointed, it was immediately said that he had been brought in to allow Cercle to play with more pressure and more intensity.
It must be said, Thalhammer kept his word. Only Anderlecht runs more meters on average per competition match, but Cercle is the best in class when it comes to “high intensity runs” (the distance covered at 20-25 km/h).
“We now do other types of exercises in training and players are often faster in the red,” says striker Thibo Somers. “You can see that in the last 20 minutes of a match we are still fresh enough to keep the pressure on.”
Now we play according to the strengths of our players.
The ranking proves that the new approach works.
“This team was built to play this kind of football,” said Aviña’s technical director. “Now we play according to the strengths of our players. If you want to run a marathon, you don’t have to train 100m sprint training.”
“The coaching change was an important piece in the puzzle. Now everything is in line with how our philosophy is. We want to play dynamic, aggressive and athletic football.”
|
Average distance High Intensity Runs per duel |
||
|---|---|---|
|
1 |
Cercle Bruges |
12,9 km |
|
2 |
KV Ostend |
11,8 km |
|
3 |
Club Brugge |
11,6 km |
|
4 |
KAA Gent |
11,5 km |
|
5 |
Royal Antwerp |
11,3 km |
Puzzle piece Monaco: Cercle has the youngest team in Europe
There is a stigma on Cercle Brugge. Cercle would be the barracks where Monaco drops a mercenary army every year.
That death eater hasn’t been right for a long time. The number of mercenaries gradually decreased and this season not even a single mercenary from Monaco is playing in Bruges.
The influence of AS Monaco is felt in a different way. Monaco has a tradition of training top young talents (to sell them for a big profit).
Kylian Mbappé, James Rodriguez, Thomas Lemar, Anthony Martial, Bernardo Silva, Youri Tielemans,….
I’m saying we’re winning right now, just because we’re young.
This season, Cercle is also betting on youth more than ever. Cercle has a strong statistic. It has the youngest base squad of all clubs from the big five European competitions, plus the Netherlands and Belgium.
Average age: 23.5 years. Monaco just falls out of the top ten at 24.8 years.
“Your football philosophy is also a reflection of who owns you,” technical director Carlos Aviña tells us. “Young and energetic is something Monaco and Cercle want to radiate.”
“I have often heard that clubs do not win because the team is too young. Rarely have I heard it said that a team wins because it is young. I do say at the moment that we win because we are young. This allows us to play so dynamically and intensively.”
Puzzle piece Belgian and individual talent
In the derby against Club Brugge just before the winter break, Cercle played with six Belgians in the base, four of which come from their own youth. Four or five Belgians starting a match is no exception.
It will please the fans. In the past they saw youth products such as Mathieu Maertens (OHL) and Gilles Dewaele (Standard) leave.
In addition, the stars at the moment are turntable Dino Hotic (26) and speed train Rabbi Matondo (21). Matondo dribbles and scores on the assembly line after a rough start.
I see in Hotic as a combination of Shaqiri and Mercier.
“I think Rabbi is on the radar of all clubs right now,” said Carlos Aviña. “He is terrifying to any opponent.”
Hotic is a role model together with the Belgians in the selection. The number ten also received praise from Filip Joos in Extra Time. “I see him as a combination of Xherdan Shaqiri and Xavier Mercier.”
“With corner kicks, it is also striking how he always lays the ball well. That is not obvious these days and it provides Cercle goals and therefore points in the standings.”
