After a hard-fought victory over Zenit ST. Petersburg away from home in the Champions League Club Brugge didn’t follow up with a positive result against OH Leuven. The hosts, who got promoted last season after finishing third in the Proximus League, are one of the big surprises this year currently sitting 6th in the Pro League.
In the first half OHL opened the score in the 21st minute after Sobol gave away a penalty, which their striker Henry converted into a goal. Club Brugge dominated possession in the first half, but struggled to create anything dangerous in the final third. Just before halftime the visitors started creating chances, which resulted in them also getting a penalty after Vanaken was fouled. The captain normally takes the penalties, but was in a pain so Noa Lang stepped up and scored the equalizer. In the second half Club Brugge kept dominating possession, but looked vulnerable on the counter attack. Early in the second half Xavier Mercier got the ball in the box after a good pass from Sowah and scored the winning goal for OHL.
Ratings
- A1- Very good, could play higher
- A2- Strong potential to play higher
- B1- Good, strong player at this level
- B2- Potential to be strong player at level
- C- Average for level, rewatch
- D- Below average in this match
Noa Lang
Player Profile:
- Nationality: Dutch
- Age: 21
- Date of Birth: 17/06/1999
- Current Club: Club Brugge (On loan with option to buy from Ajax)
- Career: Feyenoord (Y), Ajax, FC Twente (L), Club Brugge
- Position: Left Wing
- Secondary Position: Right Wing, Attacking Midfield
- Preferred foot: Right
Noa Lang started for the first time for Club Brugge and had a big impact on the game. Lang had a lot of freedom to roam around the pitch against OHL, as Club Brugge played without a real left winger. There were multiple players who would provide width on the left in the final third with Sobol, Ricca, Vanaken and sometimes Lang roaming to the left. Just before half time Noa Lang scored the equaliser for Club Brugge. After Vanaken went down in the box Noa Lang converted the penalty. The Dutch attacker had another huge opportunity to score again in injury time of the first half, but after he chipped the ball over the goalkeeper it hit the post. Noa Lang’s third chance to score came in the start of the second half. The youngster was suddenly one on one with OHL’s goalkeeper, but again he didn’t score his second of the game before getting substituted off after an hour.
Even though Lang should’ve scored at least one more goal this game, his performance was still quite good. He saw a lot of the ball this game, as he often dropped back to collect it and did some good things with it. Lang showed some excellent technique, with good first touches allowing him to easily turn away from opponents putting pressure on him. His dribbling was also very good, but his attempts to take on his opponents weren’t very successful. He lost the ball a little too often, sometimes being too nonchalant with his passing or just trying too much. Overall his passing looked quite good. He played a few nice long passes and also some nice balls with the outside of his right foot.
Rating – B1
Noa Lang was really eager to show his abilities today, but he over complicated things at times. He also made some errors trying to do some things a little too fancy or nonchalant. I’m sure he will be a good player for Club Brugge this year.
Krepin Diatta
Player Profile:
- Nationality: Senegalese
- Age: 21
- Date of Birth: 25/02/1999
- Current Club: Club Brugge
- Career: Sarpsborg 08, Club Brugge
- Position: Right Wing
- Secondary Position: Left Wing
- Preferred foot: Right
It looked like Krepin Diatta was going to leave Club Brugge for the Bundesliga this summer. The Belgian club wanted around 25 million euros for the Senegalese winger, who ended up staying in Brugge. His performance against OHL however was below par. There were moments where you could see that Diatta really has the potential to be a very good player, but his end product was just very poor this game. Diatta stands at 5’9” with quite a slim build and seemed really explosive on the first meters. He is also very agile with the ball at his feet easily turning away from his opponents. Often when an OHL defender was trying to get the ball of him, he would turn to the side and then quickly turn back, which often gave him a little gap.
Technically Diatta may be very good, but he still lacked on other areas. He put a couple of crosses in this game, which were very inconsistent. Some of them were just way too low and other ones went to high for anyone in the box. His decision making in the final third was questionable at times, but he did manage to create some chances for himself. His shooting let him down in this game however. He had a couple of big chances this game, but his shoots weren’t very good.
Diatta made a couple of dangerous runs in behind the defenders of Leuven, but at other times his positioning was really weird. When Lang or right back Mata went forward on the right, Diatta would sit a bit more narrow, but he would often just stand still and do nothing. Instead of trying to help them. He had the opportunities to make a run to create space or try and ask for the ball, but he would just stand and stare.
Rating – B2
I probably looked at Diatta on the wrong day. You can see that he has the technical abilities, but it just didn’t go his way this game.
Youssouph Badji
Player Profile:
- Nationality: Senegalese
- Age: 18
- Date of Birth: 20/12/2001
- Current Club: Club Brugge
- Career: Casa Sports, Club Brugge
- Position: Striker
- Preferred foot: Right
Standing at 6’4”, the 18-year old Youssouph Badji has the perfect build to be a target man. Badji roamed around quite a bit this game, often going out wide, but seemed to struggle often. His first touch seemed to be quite good, but the rest of his technical abilities seemed to lack a bit. His dribbling seemed a bit clumsy and his passing really wasn’t good enough this game. Also his decision making in the final third was really questionable. He messed up a couple of dangerous looking attacks, by just taking a weird decision or waiting too long.
Badji worked very hard however, which paid off at times. He recovered the ball six time on the half of Leuven. The striker took a couple of shots from very far out this game, which barely had chance of going in, but he did quite decent and created some danger with them. Badji did well when he had the opportunity to play simple, by just holding up the ball and finding a teammate, but he had to go out wide to the left often since Club Brugge didn’t play a left winger. This really hurt his performance in my eyes.
Rating – D
Badji didn’t play good enough this game. He tried to find space on the left, but he is not the type of player who can be dangerous by taking on his opponents. He could be a good player for Club Brugge if he has two wingers around him who can create chances for him.