As a priority, Ivan Leko wants to see an impeccable mentality and a solid defensive line. The Croatian coach was therefore quite satisfied with the progress of the meeting on Saturday at the Olympic stadium in Antwerp, even if he recognized that his Rouches could have done a little better, offensively.
It was once again thanks to his character that Standard managed to grab a point on the Beerschot pitch on Saturday evening. After the match, Ivan Leko was generally satisfied with the performance of his players “in a difficult context”.
“It was a difficult and intense match. Beerschot, in the first half, had much more possession and domination. We came to win, but we knew it would be complicated against an opponent in good form. We would have was able to do a little more, even if we had a few chances on the counter-attack. The split was ultimately the most logical result.”
2 shots on target and 35% possession for the red lantern
In this meeting, Standard once again did not show much on the offensive level. 35% ball possession and one shot on target in each half, a clearly insufficient record. However, Leko does not intend to change its approach which brings, almost every week, at least one point to Matricule 16.
“I recently read an interview with Arne Slot, the Liverpool manager. He said that before talking about tactics and technique, the most important thing is to win duels. He is the manager of Liverpool who say it, one of the best teams in Europe I think it’s a sentence that we can write in big red letters in the locker room.
“We need results to save the club and give someone who would like to buy it a chance to do something. It’s our eighth clean sheet of the season, it’s a source of pride,” concluded Leko with positive speech despite a more than average performance, even on the defensive level. Because without Matthieu Epolo, in the first period, Standard would never have brought home a point from their trip to the Olympic stadium in Antwerp.
