Big surprise when discovering the line-up of RSC Anderlecht to top it: Ali Maamar is playing his first minutes in the Jupiler Pro League, starting at left back. What a baptism of fire for the one who is… right back with the Futures.
But who is then Ali Maamar ? For casual observers of RSC Anderlecht, the name of Neerpede’s ‘ket’ which started on Sunday was completely unknown. And in reality, only those who follow the U23 team in Challenger Pro League from time to time really know this young right-back, who once took his place on the bench in JPL last November, three days after making the trip to Riga in the Europa League.
A first tenure, therefore, and debut in A… on the wrong foot, in a left-back role that he only occupies occasionally with the RSCA Futures. Occasionally, but not strictly speaking rarely – 4 starts left this season in Jelle Coen’s team. Better still, Maamar had his best matches there, at least on a statistical level, since his two assists in D1B were delivered from the left flank.
A message to Thomas Foket?
But performing against RWDM and AS Eupen is something other than holding off Chemsdine Talbi and Ferran Jutgla, of course. Aligning Maamar at the same time as Amando Lapage (on the same side of the defense, what’s more) could have gone very badly. It is clear that the two youngsters from Neerpede do not have much to reproach themselves for, even if on the first goal, Talbi’s cross came from Maamar’s side – but Mats Rits lost a fatal ball a few seconds before.
Ali Maamar is a good, elegant player, who achieved some good things this Sunday, but he is not one of Neerpede’s “nuggets”; we don’t talk about him behind the scenes like Nunzio Engwanda or Nathan De Cat, or even Anas Tajaouart (who is awaiting his debut in the A team).
This of course does not mean that he will not succeed – certain Anderlecht successes were not predestined, like those of Killian Sardella or even, at the time, of Leander Dendoncker. But it remains quite surprising that Maamar took precedence over Thomas Foket, whether by putting the latter on the left (he has already done it in his career) or by moving Sardella.
Daring to make this kind of decision in a topper is a clear message from David Hubert. Foket has not yet really managed to convince, and his entry against Beerschot in the Cup was quite catastrophic…
