Tuesday December 17: second day off. For the first time since his designation as T1, David Hubert manages to give his group two consecutive days off. For eight weeks in a row, there were either matches in the European Cup, the Belgian Cup, or national team obligations. “It was good for them to recharge their batteries.”said Hubert.
David Hubert finally has good news from the increasingly empty Anderlecht medical office: “It's nice to see Vertonghen back on the field”
Wednesday December 18: Pairi Daiza welcomes families. Marc Coucke was not present in his zoo, but that did not prevent the players from spending a wonderful time with their families after the morning training. “Our team manager organized this very well”said David Hubert, who was also present with his two children. Obviously, the elephants impressed the players' children the most since they could feed them. This is the first time this season that the Mauves have found time to do an activity with families. The leaders of the group – Vertonghen, Coosemans and Rits – attach great importance to team building activities. Last season, they did curling.
Thursday December 19. Vertonghen positive, Hazard impatient. The infirmary is becoming more and more empty. Degreef is training without problem and will be able to play at Genk, Sardella is gradually recovering. And what about the two long-term injured? During a visit to a hospital as part of his foundation, Jan Vertonghen finally sent an encouraging message: “I have trained well and I am very optimistic. I will still be able to help Anderlecht and my teammates.” Even if caution is required, the message marks an evolution. Thorgan Hazard is impatient at the idea of playing again. “He trains almost without the slightest apprehensionsaid his coach. Genk comes a little too early, we'll see against Dender. Too bad the Futures match against Deinze was canceled, it would have been a good test for him.”
Anderlecht takes advantage of the week without a European match: they are at Pairi Daiza for Christmas
Friday December 20. Will the 7th time be the charm? It is with a smile that David Hubert presents himself at the press conference. “We were finally able to work more specifically for three days.” he said. And when we confront him with the series of six games without a victory in Genk – the last one dates from February 2021 when Anouar Aït El Hadj scored the 1-2 on a pass from Sambi Lokonga – he does not panic. “I'm not a statistics guy.”