Fredberg: "Evaluation has been made, now time to act"

THURSDAY, 27 APRIL 2023, 20:19 - lajoya
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INTERVIEWS In a more than 12-minute video interview on the club website, CEO Sports Jesper Fredberg addresses Anderlecht fans. He makes an analysis of the past months and looks ahead to what is to come. Anderlecht-Online types the whole interview. You can already read the first part here.


"When I look back on the season, this is far, far from what we want to see. I think this is a good wake-up call for everyone within the club, but oko around the club."

"A matter of quality, you have to dare to name that"

"The soccer landscape has changed and so have opponents. To get back to where we think Anderlecht should be, we have to act now. We have to make decisions now. In short: this is absolutely not what we expected and hoped for this season."

"When you finish 11th, there is an aspect of quality and you have to dare to name that. There are things we are not good enough at. That goes for the players - we have not performed as we hoped - , but also for the staff and framework. The framework has to make sure the players can perform in the best possible way." 

"So it's a lack of quality on the one hand, but in addition it's also a big lack of regularity. If you look at how the season has gone, I think the players have done everything they can. That's important to say. Since we arrived, we made extremely high demands on them. We really pushed them. In some games they overperformed. So they gave us a nice European course."

"Evaluating players and giving honest feedback."

For Fredberg, the past month is a reflection of the season. "In Europe we showed great things, but in the league we sometimes saw performances where we wondered if it was the same team. That is also important to evaluate. Who can we build on? Who can we take to the next step?"

"When we introduced the style of play, it would not have been fair of us to say after three or four weeks to certain players that they are not good enough and to others that they are. These are young people. I think we are among the 10 clubs in Europe that field the most youngsters, including this season. When you play with young people, ups and downs are inherent. It's important then to take the time to evaluate them in an honest way. And to also give them constructive feedback that they can use. Even if we come to the conclusion that it is better for both parties to stop working together."

"For me, we're at that point now. In January, it was important to do it the way we did. Now we have had time to evaluate and get input. Now it's time for us to make decisions and implement them. I will do that in the coming weeks and months. Now we have to make decisions. We no longer have the time to wait. We have all the answers we need and we will act on them."

"Quality of the team is too low"

"Objectively, right now we don't have a team that we believe is capable of competing for the top positions. I think it's fair to say that. I'm not saying that to put anyone down. It's not that one player to blame, or another. It's about a combination of all the elements I just mentioned."

"But the quality of our team is too low. That means we need to bring more quality into the team. Not only to improve performance and results, but also to make the teammates around it better. We want to attract the right players for that. That will allow the current players to get better."

"Now that we have a clear style of play, it will be easier for us and our scouts to look for what we need. What qualities are important to bring into our team? I don't think I'm telling a secret by stating that offensively we haven't performed the way we expect to do with a team like Anderlecht."

"Newcomers need to make an impact"

"So the summer mercato will be important for us. Then it's about getting value for money, especially in our situation. If we attract players, they will be players we believe in. We won't just get a lot of players and then hope that two or three will be a success. If we bring players to Anderlecht, they have to make an impact."

"Because we have an academy with young players who can help us. So we have to look at positions in a targeted way. Do we have someone from the academy who comes up and can take a certain position? If we don't have that, only then will we recruit a player. And then we will make sure that we get value for money. That it's someone who fits our style of play."

Source: © Internal source



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