Charleroi opens the 22nd day of the Pro League with a trip to La Gantoise this evening. Rik De Mil appeared before the press in a rather tense context.
It’s been a hectic week at Mambourg. The interrupted, and ultimately lost, match against Union left its mark, the divide seems greater than ever between the club and some of its supporters. The Zebras are preparing to challenge the Buffalos without the support of Block 22 and the Storm Ultras 2001, the two groups of supporters banned from traveling.
It is in this context that Rik De Mil presented himself to the press. The events of last weekend were obviously one of the main topics of discussion: “Yes, we talked about it again. Because I would like to say that we cannot generalize, most of the supporters of Charleroi are incredible” he declared, in comments relayed by RTBF.
The Zebras coach doesn’t want to lose his supporters, he calls on everyone to stay behind the team: “There are people who did something that wasn’t really intelligent. But afterward, we have to stay united and that’s the most important thing.
-Refocus on the field
De Mil also wants to look at himself in the mirror and has not forgotten the two goals conceded after the restart against the Unionists: “I also spoke about us because I think we have to learn a lot from this situation. In football we have to manage to stay very strong in the head no matter what happens. We have work to do on that.
However, it is difficult to ignore the events in the stands, to start from a blank page: “In football, excuses are not good. We have to look at ourselves because it is too easy to say that It’s only because of the supporters. Yes, it affected us and it’s because there are things that happened in the past that really affected the players. But we can’t look for excuses. we have to look at ourselves and do everything to win every match.
Rik De Mil also spoke about the transfer window: “I have discussions with the management. They know what we need to achieve our goal. And now I have to wait until the moment when it happens”. Last summer, Charleroi signed a large part of these recruits at the start of the transfer window, but the winter transfer window often took shape in its home stretch at Mambourg.
