JPL Gameweek 5: Anderlecht 1-0 Lokeren, Match Review

Anderlecht’s stuttering 1-0 victory over Lokeren will feel like a deep sigh of relief for the club, after a week in which off-field drama may have sent Anderlecht’s jittery start to the campaign into a tailspin.

Les Mauves' performance left a lot to be desired and most watching the game will feel that they still need to be more clinical in front of goal. Lokeren came to the Constant Vanden Stock as a well-organised unit that made life tough for a shaky Anderlecht. 

For the most part it was a poor game, however, there were some distinct positives coming from the game for Anderlecht, most notably in the performance of Kara Mbodj, who looked very assured alongside Olivier Deschacht in the centre of defence - an encouraging sign of an immediate response to his shaky start to his life at Anderlecht last week against KV Oostende. Additionally, the performance of Stefano Okaka, who came on as a second-half substitute, and Dennis Praet’s persistence will give Besnik Hasi some positive reassurance after a dispiriting week.

Anderlecht started the brighter of the two sides and, in truth, should’ve been 1-0 up after 10 minutes, when Andy Najar’s pass found Praet free in the box after a good run, but the young midfielder fluffed his chance. Lokeren’s Patosi caused Anderlecht problems with his movement, preoccupying both Defour and Tielemans, in turns. Defour and Najar in Anderlecht’s midfield pulled the strings for most of the first half, but the team lacked any cutting edge. This was most evident in Matias Suarez who over the course of the game was caught offside three times and looked distinctly off the pace. As the referee’s whistle blew for half-time, though, the dejected whistles and boos from the crowd, as well as plentiful empty seats in vision captured all of the frustrations at Belgium’s biggest club.

The second-half saw Lokeren start much the brighter of the two sides, but it was Anderlecht against the run of play that made the best chance in the early-stages of the second-half, hitting the post within five minutes of the restart. Certain second-half moments typified the worst side of Anderlecht’s game: Praet getting caught offside when looking directly across the line at the linesman from Defour’s pass, Obradovic taking a foul throw-in, and Steven Defour taking a free-kick twice in two different positions, not to mention the referee ordering Proto to take a goal-kick again after initially distributing to Deschacht who was still inside the 16-yard box. It was frustrating to watch.

The turning points in the game, however, happily - for him at least - came in time with Hasi's substitutions: on the hour-mark Okaka and Acheampong replaced Sylla and Najar, and just before the 90 minutes were up Imoh Ezekiel came on for Obradovic. Okaka’s strength and directness made for a refreshing change to the spectacle and he forced a good save from Lokeren’s Barry on the 73^rd minute after a surging run. 

As much as Anderlecht grew into the game, Lokeren grew tired, and the one time their organisation faltered came in the dying minutes of the match. Ezekiel’s first major contribution to the game was a neat one-two with Praet, who intelligently found space in the box after losing his man and deftly rolling the ball home in the first-minute of stoppage-time. Praet celebrated by running over to hug his manager and the rest of the team soon joined in. The display of solidarity in the celebrations was as important as the victory itself, and demonstrates, above all, that this team is able to get over a dramatic week. Just.