Léandre Kuavita is taking up more and more space at Standard. However, he was not necessarily in Ivan Leko’s plans at the start of the season.
Within a few seconds, Léandre Kuavita was the only scorer in the Walloon clash of the weekend. By infiltrating to escape the Carolo marking and put an end to the action initiated by Dennis Ayensa, the 20-year-old midfielder undoubtedly experienced the greatest moment of his young career. A great reward after several months of uncertainty.
When he started at Genk for the first match of the season. Some people frown: a young person from the house? Perfect. But field players who, like him, Henry LawrenceIbe Hautekiet or Soufiane Benjdida, were more accustomed to SL 16 matches will it be enough?
Almost five months after this courageous match to force a Genk team still in training into a draw, Kuavita has passed the stage of good surprise at the start of the season which is gradually returning to the ranks.
Already very mature for his age
If it would be wrong to write, and even unfair to expect him, to carry the team, the boy has now earned his place: “Sometimes we see players who have great technical predispositions , but who are a little behind physically, etc. And Léandre, it is perhaps less ‘sexy’ to see, but he is very valuable in the team He has a fairly exceptional volume of play, especially for his. age He already has tactical intelligence. very developed” summarizes Pierre Locht for RTL Sports.
In its perpetual quest for balanceIvan Lekohis profile turns out to be very interesting. If Standard shows a fairly obvious lack of creativity, the midfield is on the other hand in the oven and at the mill. The incessant races of the Kuavita – O’Neill – Price trio make them players capable of both lending a hand to the defense and infiltrating from the second line. “Today, Standard is playing with three number sixes, or three number eights, call it what you want” summarizes Philippe Albert on the set of La Tribune.
However, aligning the three together was not obvious. Upon his arrival, Marko Bulat immediately stood out by infiltrating himself to offer victory against Club Bruges. All with a much more ostentatious technical quality. The Croatian could/should have been the one to make others run thanks to his eye and the quality of his right foot. Already at Antwerp, Club Brugge and Sint-Truiden, Leko based its football on players capable of repeating high-intensity runs. Bulat’s nonchalance made his technical waste less and less forgivable when it came time to bring a little audacity.
Audacity, or rather lack of audacity, is precisely what Leko has been criticized for several weeks. Including internally. Which pushed Kuavita to the bench for a little while. The day after this change noticed during the match in Anderlecht, Sacha Tavolieri reported that the management of Standard and the English behind A-Cap “pushed internally so that the coach prefers Isaac Price to Léandre Kuavita in order to have a more offensive heart of the game.
It was ultimately Bulat who would subsequently bear the brunt of the tactical readjustments. Kuavita will probably never have his vista or his paw in a standing phase but seizes his chance. Beyond his increasing number of attempts on goal, his presence is also felt defensively: with him in the starting eleven, the team conceded 7 goals in 11 matches. Without him, that rises to 13 goals in 5 games. Although other factors come into play, the difference is striking.
While it could have turned out to be anecdotal, the Cup match against Lyra-Lierse was revealing of the animation of Standard: a difficulty in creating play against a low block, even against a third division opponent but goals scored via a few preferential circuits. The first results from the center of a full-back (Ilay Camara) caught in full flight by Camara. The second is the work of the emerging complementarity between Andi Zeqiri and Dennis Ayensa. The fateful goal came from an incisive pass from Kuavita deflected by O’Neill in the rectangle.
On the very first chance of the match, Standard opened the scoring with a header from Léandre Kuavita! ????⚪ #RTLsports #CrokyCup #STAKLL pic.twitter.com/ZLnK2FsRa9— RTL sports (@RTLsportsbe) https://twitter.com/RTLsportsbe/status/1851718017090228694?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Leko-style football is currently not the best, but the marriage between its philosophy and the available profiles is ultimately not the most inconsistent. Kuavita embodies him well: “I think that if we give him the confidence he deserves and let him grow, he can still improve technically, that can be very promising for the future of the Standard. I know that’s sometimes the frustration of some supporters. He is not the player who will create the difference with a gesture, but he has qualities” concludes Pierre Locht.
