Happy Saturday – Philip is fit and firing again so can he keep Lierse doing the same?

Hallo allemaal!

Here I am again, back after a short break and ready for the final part with our unexpected 96-97 champions Lierse. I hope the lads are as ready as I am. Can we keep winning, especially when it matters the most?

We start today’s update against Mechelen. The lads didn’t forget how to score goals. We’re ready for our CL Quarter Final!

We’re off to a great start against Dortmund, but veteran Möller equalises quickly. We keep on pushing, but need a penalty to take the lead again. Compan adds another goal, but Möller, again him, denies us a 2-goal margin. That’s a bit of a bummer, but we played well and got the win.

Next we travel to the border of the Maas to face 2nd placed Standard. Eddy secures the win and it’s nothing but joy and laughter in the locker room. Who will keep us from the title?

What can we say about Sint-Truiden. They tried? Or not? Difficult to say with only 1 shot between the posts.

The moment of truth! Can we defend our slim lead? I cannot believe my eyes, we are literally nowhere. We are simply overrun. If it weren’t for Eddy we would have conceded 6 or 7 goals. The dream of winning the treble comes to an abrupt end. Dortmund is a strong team, but this is a disappointing exit.

Does this win compensate for our dramatic CL exit? Not even a little bit.

Georges Leekens, the smart and wise head coach of Belgium, finally starts understanding the potential of Lokonda. Together with his brother Mbo they rip the Denmark defence to pieces.

Lokonda Mpenza, what an amazing player. Now that makes my mood better.

A domestic loss. The lads can’t believe what just happened. They almost forgot how it feels losing in the league.

Fun fact of the day. We needed 28 league matches for a first draw. Actually, it’s not funny at all.

Lads, we failed miserably in the CL, at least make sure we reach the Cup final. They all nod in agreement: “Alright, coach!”

Ah not again, FFS!! Like last season the game engine decides to give us home advantage in the Cup final.

Champions League? Failed. Cup final? Cursed. What else is there to do besides winning the title? Let’s give some play time to our top regens Dufournet (Papin) & Requena (Colomer).

Celebrating a title is always better after a home match. CHAMPIONS! For the 5th time in a row. Where is the bottle of champagne?

Dufournet (Papin) immediately proves his value. Hope you’re not afraid of a bit of competition Lilian & Lilian.

We finish the league with 2 home games. Denderleeuw is easily put aside, but Jesus spoils the fun in our last match.

Despite this loss we finish with a record-high 89 points.

The cursed Cup Final. The lads make it to the 49th minute, but eventually the “Cup final home advantage” spell kicks in. Jesus can’t stand that much injustice and gets sent off – again.

How would I rate this season? We didn’t win the Champions League and we didn’t win the Cup. But does that make it a bad season? Not really. We were never this dominant domestically and we were unlucky in the draw of the Cup final. We just played 1 bad match. Unfortunately that happened in the Champions League.

Talking of the Champions League: the German teams dominate. Last year it was Bayern, this year it is Dortmund who wins it. And we lost against both.

Time now to tidy up the squad. Every position is well covered, but there are a few players we no longer need. Henning is the first one to go. In all honesty he wasn’t too bad, but his salary is too high for not even sitting on the bench.

Also the Russians are leaving. Do cvidanja Andrei & Andrei. Ivanov was a success and proved his value in the first seasons. Kanchelskis had a few good moment, but won’t be missed.

One Norwegian out, instead let’s bring in 2 new ones. They should add value, no?

Indeed, in the meantime the World Cup in Japan has started. It’s a bit the same old. Belgium doesn’t make it to the Second Round and similar to 1998, Brazil and Italy fight for the title. This time it is Italy that prevails.

Our CL campaign didn’t go unnoticed!

Despite all of his goals, it’s not Lokonda but Lilian Compan who wins the Footballer of the Year award.

Alright, that’s it folks, I hope you enjoyed the blog. Hold on. In 2 weeks it’s Christmas. To be honest I love the team. There is so much talent in the team that we should be able to get further than a Quarter final exit, wouldn’t you agree? I am going to give it 2 more seasons, hoping to get a bit closer to the Treble (or at least win a Belgian Cup!). I will use the yearly format @Matt_C_Wills introduced in his AFC United blog.

So see you next week for Season 6! Stay tuned!

Tot volgende week!