The Bruges camp could only moderately appreciate Tissoudali’s balancing exercise in front of Brandon Mechele at 0-3 for Ghent. Bruges felt challenged. The attacker explained that that was not the intention: “I actually wanted to stand on the ball facing our own supporters.”
“But Mechele was very close to me and everything went very quickly. My hand sign was to its own supporters. I will never challenge the Bruges supporters. Why would I do that?”
Franky Van der Elst wanted to know when someone who does something like that decides: “Do you do that a minute earlier, for example?” Tissoudali: “No, no. You run to the ball and then you think about that.”
“The match is also alive with the supporters. I would not have done it at Eupen. I wanted to please our supporters a bit. I did not expect Mechele to put pressure so close to me. Then I thought: “I’m just going to do it .””
“But it was against the face of Mechele. But it was nothing against Mechele or against Club Brugge.”
Arnar Vidarsson liked it: “I think something like that is allowed. You are 0-3 in Bruges, you can be proud. Tarik is also an enthusiast and an incredibly technical player. The street comes back a bit.”
Tissoudali has learned his lesson: “I’m not going to do it anymore. The coach (Hein Vanhaezebrouck, red) was angry. He told me to just be smart and more of that.”
“I understand that people think I am trying to make fun of someone, but that was not the intention. I wanted to show something beautiful for the supporters.”
“I spoke to our defenders about it. Ngadeu told me that if I did this to him, we would both get out.”
Tissoudali came over from Beerschot last winter and has quickly become a strong holder in Ghent, for which he has already scored 20 times this season and handed out 7 assists in all competitions: “I am enjoying myself and I feel at home. That is important .”
The 28-year-old did not think last year that he would be so decisive so quickly. “Although I had the impression last year that I would get more opportunities to score at Ghent than at Beerschot. Finishing was not easy at first, but that is a matter of confidence and continuing to train. I had hoped for the entire competition between 15 and 20 goals.”
In the Vanhaezebrouck system, Tissoudali already gets a lot of freedom and the collaboration with Laurent Depoitre is going well. “Of course we have to put pressure, but we decide who is with whom.”
“I’m usually with the inept defenders and he’s with the short defenders. I actually had to go left at Bruges, but there was Mata. Depoitre can win more in the air. I would have more trouble with Mata than with a Mechele, for example. ” The Ghent strikers – Depoitre is French speaking – also communicate in Dutch.
The Moroccan international is not a cliché football player, according to an interview with Humo. For example, he does not like going on holiday to a chic hotel, but prefers a camping holiday. With his buddy Denis Prychynenko, formerly Beerschot, now Deinze.
“During the winter break, the two of us went camping to Switzerland. We were looking for the most beautiful view, so in a place where it is actually not allowed. It was so quiet there, no one was bothered by us. It was wonderful.”
