Six matches, six wins. Royal Charleroi Sporting Club is the big surprise in the Belgian Jupiler Pro League this season and set a club record winning their first six matches of the season. Charleroi played Beerschot, who currently are second in the league, and never looked like they were going to lose this match. Karim Belhocine’s played a very defensive 4-4-1-1 against Beerschot and gave the initiative to the visitors. After 30 minutes with barely any chances Kaveh Rezaei opened the score for the hosts after a smart through ball from Morioka. Charleroi could play even more defensive after this and managed to score the second goal of the game just after the second half started through Gholizadeh. In the final minutes of the game Rezaei scored a penalty which meant Charleroi kept the three points at home even though Beerschot scored a late goal.
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
Maxime Busi
Player profile:
- Nationality: Belgian
- Age: 20
- Date of birth: 14/10/1999
- Current club: Charleroi
- Career: Charleroi
- Position: Right Back
- Preferred foot: Right
The 20-year old Maxi Busi played as the right back for Charleroi and played a very good game for them. The right back didn’t get involved in the game too much as both Charleroi full-backs didn’t get forward that often, but had to stay back. Charleroi looked very good defending as a team, barely giving away any chances in the first 80 minutes, and on an individual level Busi did very well. In his duels on the right Busi was unbeatable. The right back won all of his nine defensive duels and also won both of his aerial duels. He was quite patient in his duels looking at the ball very well at all times and only trying to tackle when it was possible. Physically Busi didn’t have too many problems. The 6 foot tall defender doesn’t look like the strongest defender, but he actually did very well in the more physical duels.
On the ball it was a little harder for Maxime Busi, but he still did okay considering the options he had. When he got the ball in build up there weren’t that many options for him. Most of the times he could either play the ball back or he had to look for a ball forward. The two defensive midfielders weren’t often available to receive the ball, which made it hard for Busi. He had the option to dribble to create space, but he either wasn’t allowed to or we didn’t feel confident enough to do so. But looking back his passing was alright. He tried a lot of long balls, which weren’t accurate that often, but his short passing was much better.
The couple of times Busi went forward he actually did quite well. He showed some good technique and his crosses weren’t that bad. They had good power behind them, but I felt like he wasn’t really looking well where they were actually going or where his teammates were positioned. If he just took the time to look up for a moment before putting the cross in, he could probably be more dangerous with them.
Rating: B1
It was hard to judge his abilities going forward, but defensively he did very good. He was a little nonchalant at times, which could cause some dangerous moments.
Ali Gholizadeh
Player profile:
- Nationality: Iranian
- Age: 24
- Date of birth: 10/03/1996
- Current club: Charleroi
- Career: Saipa F.C., Charleroi
- Position: Right Wing
- Secondary position: Left Wing
- Preferred foot: Left
Ali Gholizadeh mainly played as the right midfielder, but was switching a lot with Mamadou Fall, who also had a lot of freedom. Gholizadeh was one of the few Charleroi players who had some creativity in him, but didn’t that good of a game overall. In the 55th minute however everything seemed to work for a moment. After playing a lovely chipped pass to Nicholson on the right Gholizadeh made a huge run into the box and got the ball back from Nicholson. Gholizadeh took a heavy first touch which allowed him to easily beat the only defender near him and rocketed the ball in the back of the net scoring the 2-0. In the 85th minute Gholizadeh also played a big part in the 3-0. After getting a ball headed to him on the edge of the box, he played a good first touch pass in the box to Fall, who got taken down and won a penalty.
Gholizadeh provided some much needed creativity, but surely didn’t play a brilliant game besides these couple of moments. He attempted a few dribbles and seemed to have great ball control, but barely succeeded his dribbles. He also tried to play quite some risky passes trying to force something in the final third, but also with little success. It mostly seemed like he wanted to do too much instead of choosing for the simpler decisions. He tried to take on opponents when he really shouldn’t and rarely got in a situation where he had a 1v1 with a defender. He showed that his technique is fine with some good first touches and passing with his left foot. Whilst his finishing was absolutely perfect when he scored the 2-0 he had another chance which should’ve been even easier to score, but he missed after a poor shot with his left foot.
The 24-year old also doesn’t strike me as the most athletic player. Standing at 5’9” with quite a slim physical build Gholizadeh was quite vulnerable in ground and aerial duels. He tried to beat his man for pace a couple of times, but isn’t the fastest. He is okay on the first few meters, but doesn’t seem to have a very high top speed.
Rating: B2
The fact that Charleroi is top of the league has more to do with their performance as a team than with the individual performances of the team. Gholizadeh is a decent player, but I don’t think he would start for a team that would usually finish higher than Charleroi.
Shamar Nicholson
Player profile:
- Nationality: Jamaican
- Age: 23
- Date of birth: 16/03/1997
- Current club: Charleroi
- Career: Boy’s Town FC, NK Domzale, Charleroi
- Position: Striker
- Preferred foot: Right
If Shamar Nicholson showed one thing this game it was that he is very strong. The 6’4” Jamaican striker played a little behind Rezaei as the second striker and was clearly the target man who had to hold up the ball. Nicholson played most of the match with his back towards Beerschot’s goal, but made a couple of nice runs. In the 55th minute he combined well with Gholizadeh and got the ball on the right side of the pitch, just outside the box. Nicholson looked around patiently and then spotted the run of Gholizadeh and played a very good pass assisting the 2-0.
Overall Nicholson’s performance was not one to write home about. He was not involved enough and didn’t do enough to be able to receive the ball. The few times he got the ball in his feet as he took often took too long to make his move and this ended up in him losing quite a lot of duels. He also didn’t seem very aware of his surroundings as he made a couple of weird decisions trying to turn when there was not space. Nicholson had a lot of aerial duels as well and in those he did very well as he won almost all of his aerial duels.
Nicholson got a lot more dangerous when he got some freedom to move around more and make runs behind the defense. Besides his assist he also created another huge chance after a quick break in the 81st minute. Nicholson got the ball on the right again and played in Gholizadeh, but the Iranian failed in front of the goalkeeper.
Rating: B2
If Nicholson gets more freedom and pace to roam around he could be a real threat with his length and strength. Against Beerschot he only showed this a few times sadly.