Both teams scored headed-goals from roughly the same position at the same end of the pitch, both in the beginning third of either half. Idrissa Sylla’s looping header on 12 minutes - his third league goal in three games, and an early bet for this year's top-scorer - came from a lovely cross from Steven Defour. Sylla took full advantage of Sels getting caught in two minds over whether to commit to meeting the cross. Laurent Depoitre’s near-post flicked-header on 60-minutes came from a great cross from Thomas Foket.
While Anderlecht had the better of the first-half, Gent were much better in the second-half. The introduction of Moses Simon, who replaced Rafinha, stretched Anderlecht’s defence and created more space for Depoitre. In turn, Depoitre’s movement improved and Dejaegere and Milicevic dictated play much more commandingly than Anderlecht’s midfield were able to in the first-half.
Anderlecht possess a veritable coterie of attacking options, which was demonstrated in the introductions of Imoh Ezekiel and Stefano Okaka in the second-half. But in truth, the team lacks a balance and seem to lack a transitional player in spite of Defour-Gillet-Praet-Tielemans all purporting to fill this job description. In the post-match interview, I believe I heard coach Besnik Hasi bemoan the number of long balls his team played, which gives some insight into the problems they had when they were inferior to their visitors for large parts of the second-half.
The scoreline may suggest there was not much separating the sides on the day, which is only part of the story. Gent’s slow start to the season continued in the form of their slow start to this game, but later came signs of encouragement, and Asare & Simon on the left-hand side of the team look like a good combination. Anderlecht’s first real challenge in an opponent revealed the work they still have to do in terms of making the in-game transitions from defence-to-attack. Also, their defence still looks suspect.
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