It couldn’t have been a more frustrating opener for the season for RSC Anderlecht. Anderlecht struggled a lot against the KV Mechelen and it was quite a miracle that the hosts didn’t score after getting three huge chances in the start of the first half. Surprisingly it was Anderlecht who opened the score through youngster Jérémy Doku after 64 minutes. Ten minutes later right back Murillo even scored the 0-2, which should’ve insured the three points.
The game wasn’t over at that point though. In the time span of two minutes KV Mechelen scored twice after mistakes from Sardella in the 83rd minute and Coubbaut in the 85th minute and took two points away from the visitors.
Ratings:
- A1 – Very good, could play higher
- A2 – Strong potential to play higher
- B1 – Good, strong player at level
- B2 – Potential to be strong player at level
- C – Average for the level, re-watch
- D – Below average in this match
Albert Sambi Lokonga
Player profile:
- Nationality: Belgian/Congolese
- Age: 20
- Date of birth: 22/10/1999
- Current club: RSC Anderlecht
- Career: RSC Anderlecht
- Position: Centre Midfield
- Secondary position: Defensive Midfield
- Preferred foot: Right
Albert Sambi Lokonga was probably one of the few RSC Anderlecht players who played a good game. The right sided defensive midfielder was very involved in the build-up play and created some chances with his nice long passing.
Lonkonga seemed like a very athletic player versus KV Mechelen. The 6’0” showed some good acceleration and has enough top speed to keep up with his opponents easily. Lokonga covered a lot of ground against KV Mechelen defensively, but also helping his team out in the final third in possession or when pressing high.
Technically Lokonga impressed me the most during this game. In the first few minutes he was a little sloppy, but he recovered very well. Lokonga was the heart of the build-up for Anderlecht and dealt very well with pressure. His agility allowed him to quickly turn away from his opponents, keeping the ball very close to him. He was really comfortable with the ball, picking it up in his own half and carrying it forward, but also showed to have a great passing range. He played a couple of very nice diagonal cross passes, but also created a couple of chances for his team.
Technically Lokonga impressed me the most during this game. In the first few minutes he was a little sloppy, but he recovered very well. Lokonga was the heart of the build-up for Anderlecht and dealt very well with pressure. His agility allowed him to quickly turn away from his opponents, keeping the ball very close to him. He was really comfortable with the ball, picking it up in his own half and carrying it forward.
Lokonga also showed his great passing range against Mechelen. His short passes were mostly very neat and he played a couple of very nice diagonal cross passes. The 20-year old was also involved in possession in the final third, creating a couple of chances for his team.
Defensively Lokonga didn’t really get tested this game. KV Mechelen mostly played out wide through their wingers and full backs so Lokonga didn’t have a single defensive duel on his own half.
Rating: A2
Landry Dimata
Player profile:
- Nationality: Belgian/Congolese
- Age: 22
- Date of birth: 01/09/1997
- Current club: RSC Anderlecht
- Career: Standard (Y), KV Oostende, VFL Wolfsburg
- Position: Striker
- Secondary position: Left Wing, Right Wing
- Preferred foot: Right
After a heavy injury at the start of last year, Landry Dimata started for Anderlecht in the first game of this season. The striker only lasted for 64 minutes, but showed some positive signs.
Mainly due to the lack of chances that were created for him by the likes of Vlap, Amuzu and Doku Dimata didn’t get dangerous against Mechelen. The striker didn’t get a single proper touch in the box of his opponents, only when the ball was shot against him once.
Despite that Dimata was still pretty involved for Anderlecht. The striker dropped back a little more at times to be able to receive the ball and did very well holding up the ball. The 6’0” tall striker has a lot of strength and put his body between his opponent and the ball very well. His strength combined with his good first touch and dribbling made it really hard to get Dimata off the ball.
Dimata couldn’t really show his offensive skill set, but was very energetic against Mechelen. He wasn’t fully match fit yet, but worked very hard pressing and also defensively. He only got one shot off this game with his weaker left foot, which lacked a bit of direction.
Rating: B1
Dimata looked like a good striker for the Belgian Pro League, but it was hard to properly judge him. I would have to watch him again in a game where Anderlecht does better offensively.
Jérémy Doku
Player profile:
- Nationality: Belgian/Ghanese
- Age: 18
- Date of birth: 27/05/2002
- Current club: RSC Anderlecht
- Career: RSC Anderlecht
- Position: Right Wing
- Secondary position: Left Wing
- Preferred foot: Right
Jérémy Doku ended last season with two goals and an assist against Zulte-Waregem and found the back of the net against KV Mechelen as well. In the 64th minute left back Lucas Bijker gave Doku way to much space to cut inside. With his left foot Doku slotted the ball in the left corner.
Looking at the full game however, Jérémy Doku had quite a terrible game. The winger attempted eleven dribbles and only completed four of them, which gives you an idea of how his game went. Doku struggled a lot with Bijker and just couldn’t get past him on the outside. The 18-year old over complicated things at times, which also resulted in a loss of possession.
Looking at Doku he seems to be very fast with great technique, but he was just very predictable against Mechelen. He barely used his left foot, even though he scored with it, and always tried to go for the cross with his right foot, which were too inconsistent. He tried to put in low crosses a lot, but these got clear five out of six times.
Physically he also needs to make some steps. He is very explosive and hard to keep up with on the first few meters, but lacks a bit in strength. This resulted in him losing too many duels.
Rating: C
Doku is seen as one of the biggest talents Anderlecht has, but he didn’t play a good match against Mechelen, besides the goal he scored. He had a hard time passing his opponents and his crosses were quite poor.
Killian Sardella
Player profile:
- Nationality: Belgian
- Age: 18
- Date of birth: 02/05/2002
- Current club: RSC Anderlecht
- Career: RSC Anderlecht
- Position: Right Back
- Secondary position: Centre Back, Left Back
- Preferred foot: Right
Killian Sardella looked simply lost this game. The youngster played as left back against Mechelen and was not good enough this game. When the visitors were leading 0-2 in the 83rd minute Sardella tried to clear the ball with his left foot, but instead he gave the ball away to right back Kaboré. The right back put in a nice cross to De Camargo who headed Mechelen back into the game.
Looking past this mistake Sardella still looked out of place at left back. The right footed defender didn’t have confidence in his left foot, so almost every time he got the ball he tried to cut back to his preferred foot. On of the only positive things from him this game were a couple of lovely long passes he played.
Sardella didn’t look very confident on the ball and was a little sloppy with his first touch and passes at times, but also showed that he can remain very calm under pressure. He played a couple of good passes on the left side to Amuzu, but mostly played short and simple passes.
Defensively he also looked very vulnerable against Mechelen. He got dribbled past way too easy a couple of times and was just too careful in his duels, not being aggressive enough. On the ball he showed that he is strong enough, but he didn’t show this whilst defending enough.
Rating: D
I really tried to look at the positive aspects of his game, but this was simply not good enough by Sardella.
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