Once in a Blue Moon

[RichardAbbott18]

Once in a blue moon

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Belgium. The land of chips, Stella Artois and European Champions…
Okay, okay…so I made that last bit up. In reality the best performance from a Belgian club in European competition belongs to RSC Anderlercht after winning the UEFA Cup (modern day Europa League) in 1983. Closely followed by Club Brugge who finished runners up in the 1978 edition of the European Cup (modern day Champions League).

It’s my job to change the path of the future. Having been appointed manager of KRC Genk, I’m setting out a series of challenges which I intend to tick off one-by-one. These lovely targets are listed below;

KRC Genk
· Win the Belgian Pro League
· Win the Belgian Cup
· Win the Belgian Super Cup
· Win the Belgian Pro League with a home-grown side
· Win the Belgian Cup with a home-grown side
· Win the Belgian Super Cup with a home-grown side
· Win the Europa Cup/Champions League (preferably both)
· Win the European Super Cup
· Win the Club World Cup
· Win the Europa Cup/Champions League (preferably both) with a home-grown side
· Win the European Super Cup with a home-grown side
· Win the Club World Cup with a home-grown side
· Have the World Golden Boy
· Have the Ballon D’or winner
· Have the top goalscorer in Europe

Belgium
· Win the European Championships
· Win the World Cup
· Win the Confederations Cup
· Win the European Championships with an entire Genk squad
· Win the World Cup with an entire Genk squad
· Win the Confederations Cup with an entire Genk squad

As you can see, I like doing easy things…

So, who actually is the madman undertaking this attempt to make Belgium live up to their international promise? Well, my is Robby Francois and I’m a 32 year old former Belgian international. I retired from football at the end of last season as my knees decided that running wasn’t for them, Genk kindly offered me the job after they sacked Peter Maes. The rest, as they say, is history.
View attachment 99657Pre-season and Transfers
I don’t like pre-season. It bores me. However, we spent it strengthening an already strong squad and getting used to my tactics. Speaking of which, here they are;

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The 4-5-1 will be used mostly away from home, and the 4-2-3-1 will be mostly used at home, unless everyone beats me in which case I’ll do something very very different. In terms of transfers we only added two players Fabian Bredlow and Andrei Ivan from Hallescher FC and CS Craiova respectively. Fabian joined for 1.3 Million Euros, while Andrei cost me 2.9 Millions Euros. With no outgoings, despite loan interest in a couple of players, we moved onto the opening game away at KVC Westerlo...

 

[RichardAbbott18]

Once in a Blue Moon - August, September, October

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Jupiler Pro League

A brilliant start in the league has left us unbeaten after 12 games. Draws against the last two winners of the league (AA Gent and Club Brugge) have helped us to concede only four goals all season which is by far and away the best in the league. However, we haven't taken advantage of weaker opposition, games against Saint-Truidense and KVC Westerlo should have given us more goals, but I can't complain too much as we're top of the league.

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Cofidis Cup

Only one played in the Cofidis Cup - Belgiums answer to the FA Cup - which was a comfortable dispatching of Dessel Sport. Unfortunately a pretty nasty draw has handed us a tie against Club Brugge (thankfully at home).

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Europa League

The competition which feature both the worst result I've witnessed and the best result I've witnessed. Starting our campaign with a fairly easy victory over Bokelj Kotor from Montenegro, followed by a nervy away goal win over Grasshoppers Zurich. The Playoff round then took us to one of the best teams in Eastern Europe and former European Champions - Red Star Belgrade (Crvena Zvezda). A horrifc 2-1 defeat at home left it all to do in the second leg, but a 4-1 win in Serbia was enough to put us through to the Europa League group stages. An interesting group draw gave us two heavyweights in Schalke and West Ham, and a minnow who we should beat in Konyaspor. A draw against West Ham, a win against Konyaspor and a defeat against Schalke left us with a sizable amount to do - with a must win in London coming up soon. The best news being that Greek international Nikos Karelis is the competitions top scorer with 7.

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[RichardAbbott18]

Once in a Blue Moon - November, December, January​

Jupiler Pro League

A brilliant last three months in the league has left us four points clear of Club Brugge with a game in hand. The issue that caused us so many issues over the last three months (not battering teams) came to an end spectacularly with a fair few goals going in. However, there's always a negative and that came from disappointing draws at home to KSC Lokeren and KVC Westerlo - hopefully they won't cost us in the long run. Thankfully we remain unbeaten, stretching the run to 23 games in total.

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Cofidis Cup

Two more games played in the cup, with two wins and no goals conceded setting up a semi final clash against the local rivals of Saint-Truidense, with the winners facing either AA Gent or AFC Tubize.

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Europa League

A disapointment of a last three games with poor defeats against Schalke and West Ham confirming third place before the final group game, giving me a chance to rest and rotate against Konyaspor. A solid point meant we finished on 5 points and gained a decent boost towards our UEFA co-efficient - helpful for future years.

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January Transfers

Only one transfer to mention, with Sebastien Dewaest going to EA Guingamp for 625,000 Euros. This worked well for all involved as he wasn't playing and has given us room to play youth players when needed.