Uninspired Malinwa crashes heavily in Kortrijk

READ ALSO. OUR VERDICT. Complete off day in Kortrijk, KV Mechelen can no longer overcome José Marsà’s blunder

An excellent fifth place, together with RC Genk, the most productive team in the Jupiler Pro League with 31 goals, six clean sheets that put them in the sub-top of this secondary ranking and a series of six unbeaten games at home. See the nice report from KV Mechelen of a first round that did not start optimally with a two out of twelve, although the opposition with Club Brugge, Westerlo, Standard and Anderlecht was not bad. With 24 points, Malinwa took six points more than last season. the first round.

The world looked a little less rosy for the people of Kortrijk. Due to the recent nine zero on nine, he continues to feel the warm – not yet hot – breath of Beerschot on his neck. Coach Freyr Alexandersson reacted with great frustration last week after the 4-0 disgrace against Westerlo. With the pronunciation “Kortrijk is my life, I do everything I can 24 hours a day, seven days a week to save the club”he sounded combative again on the eve of the match against KV Mechelen.

Lots of changes

Despite the win against Beerschot, coach Besnik Hasi made four changes. One out of necessity: Vanheusden suffered another back problem yesterday and was not ready to play. Raemaekers again made his appearance in the starting eleven. Belghali, Bafdili and Raman were sacrificed for the trio Ouattara, Pflücke and Lauberbach. Freyr Alexandersson also changed three names: Kadri, Ferri and Lagae entered the team at the expense of Sissako, Kaneko and Ambrose.

In a cold Guldenspoorstadion we had to wait a while for the first moment where the supporters present could warm up. It came in the ninth minute. Pflücke – who scored from a free kick last Sunday – saw his attempt saved this time by Vandenberghe. Barely recovered, Lauberbach pushed through well on the left, and again Pflücke kicked his deviated cross wide. Suddenly things happened quickly: Ouattara seemed to kick the ball over the goal line, after which an attempt by Schoofs only missed Vandenberghe’s goal. Referee Verboomen went to look at the images, but did not validate Ouattara’s goal. He probably saw a previous mistake by Lauberbach on Vandenberghe, who could no longer make a save.

Flattered lead

The home team gasped, but then managed to escape the entrapment. Lagae tried in vain with a long shot. A warning, because moments later Kadri dribbled through the Mechelen defense belt. An attempt by Ferri was saved, but De Wolf had no recourse against De Neve’s resumption. Somewhat against the flow of the game, Kortrijk suddenly found itself at 1-0. Now it was KV Mechelen that was a bit upset. Messaoudi saw the 2-0 narrowly miss De Wolf’s cage.

Around the half hour mark we witnessed about a minute and a half of endless chatter by KVM in the Kortrijk half. Malinwa had missed his momentum, the West Flemish had taken their lead and had no intention of simply throwing it away. The visitors pricked once. Lauberbach got into a good shooting position, but shot wide. Unfortunately for Malinwa it was not the final chord of the first half. It had been a while, but just before half time another slip by Marsà cost Malinwa a double deficit. The Spaniard had to lose in a duel with Ferri and saw how his compatriot did not fail alone for De Wolf: 2-0 despite 66% possession of the ball.

There is no change

Belghali, Hairemans and fifteen minutes later Raman had to at least bring yellow-red alongside. KVK goalkeeper Vandenberghe was never worried in the third quarter of the game. Malinwa continued to act uninspired and seemed to accept defeat more than twenty minutes before the whistle. With Dahl for Marsà, Hasi laid the next card on the table. The visitors did not get further than a parried shot from Lauberbach, although they were increasingly in the Kortrijk half. Still, the ball wouldn’t go in. A deflected shot from Mrabti narrowly ended in a corner, and a header from Dahl flew over.

No, the loot was won for the home team. Ferri put the icing on the cake with his second of the evening, Raman’s 3-1 was no more than a footnote. An important three-pointer for KVK, which puts Beerschot on ten points at least until Sunday afternoon. Malinwa is in danger of falling out of the top five due to the defeat and will have to look for rehabilitation at home against national champion Club Brugge next Saturday.