Topic: Belgian Jupiler league 21/22 - discussion (Read 2072 times)

they already secured Championship group, 7 rounds to go, and have 10 points clear lead on top
in this round will have a tough challenge against Genk, that is pushing hard to secure place in Championship group as well, but their form is not at top

@2.45 maybe a good opportunity to try Union to win, although far from secure that it will happen

My favorite in this league is U.S Gilloise. In the previous 2 years, it always finished the regular season as a leader, but lost the championship in the championship group.
This year, it is 11 points ahead of its closest follower, Anderlecht (Anderlecht has one game less).
In the match played yesterday, they were leading 3-0 against the RWDM47 team, but barely won the match 3-2 with the goal they conceded in the last minutes. There are 7 games left in the regular season and I hope they don't repeat the mistakes they made in previous years. The more points difference they have, the more comfortable they will be when entering the championship group. Because the team cannot handle the stress of the championship.

Saw this game yesterday. When goalkeeper got red card, they had no substitutions remaining, so, one of their players took gloves. But there wasn't much time remaining and just one free kick from Brugge which didn't even ended with shot.
9 points looks safe, but with points halved it's always tricky, I don't really like this format.
And got burned my bet on Genk - Antwerp game. Had BTTS, but Genk smashed opponents 3:0.

Royale survived yesterday against Brugge, with a red card in last minute
but still, 9 point lead in front of Anderlecht should be solid to have first point prior to Championship group, although it will be halved in Championship, and all other teams will have their fair chance to reach the title

last season was no short of last minute drama, with Antwerp reaching the title in last seconds, it will be interesting to see will this season be different, last season Gent missed on their advantage, maybe Royale can stick to it

We hope U.SGilloise will achieve this this year. Even though they finished the regular season at the top last year, they missed the championship in the play-offs. There is currently a 9-point difference between them and Anderlecht, who have one match missing this season. Anderlecht easily defeated its weak rival Cercle Brugge today and the point difference between them decreased to 6.
There are not many people in the world who follow this league, but due to the intensity of the football played and the equality of the teams, it is possible to watch matches with many goals, better than the current Spanish League.
If they don't make mistakes in the play-offs, U.S.Gilloise will be my favorite in the championship this year.

Antwerp is chasing first away win this season against Leuven, and Jensen just scored (it was a plan to wait for half-time to decide will I put something on them, if still in goalless draw, but that is history now)
unlike usual seasons in Belgium, favorites started good this season, and top5 teams are all well known (if we count Royale Union now as well known, they fought for title last two seasons)

no special match this round, but Gent, Genk, Brugge home wins make it a good combo

as expected from union, they won in yesterday's game, although they had more possession of the ball, but they need to improve in some things, for example they made 24 shots but only 8 shots were on target, honestly it's something very bad, having too many shots off-target shots is not a good sign especially for a team that had the most possession of the ball and were playing against a very weak opponent, to make matters worse and that the union only managed to score only 1 goal, in 2 games that the union played only managed to score 3 goals, although they haven't conceded any goals yet, this shows that it's a team that doesn't score many goals

after losing in their first game against antwerp, cercle brugge managed to win in their second game, it was a game in which they scored 2 goals, the second goal was thanks to a penalty, their third game will be against racing genk who lost against kas eupen. and speaking of racing genk, today they lost in a game in which they had 75% possession of the ball, and surprisingly they made 28 shots that only 3 shots were on target, seriously and something difficult to understand, it looks like they took players with no talent and put to play, that number is not normal, while your opponent only made 5 shots and 2 were on target and scored a goal after 2 minutes and won the game.

I keep asking myself how racing genk fans must have been in the face of all this. today there is still the leuven game against rwdm, it is a very unpredictable game and I would not bet on it, tomorrow there is an interesting game which is anderlecht against antwerp, for me antwerp will win this game

Watched a bit of game. Liege left with 10 men quite early when Balikwisha got second yellow card already in 1st half. It obviously didn't helped them as they were already down 0:1. They tried to equalize score, but in general, Union were better and achieved difficult win.
Sunday's games sounds good to watch, especially when big leagus still haven't started.

bump

Royale is set to play another Friday encounter, against Standard this time
Standard Liege is not as good as previous seasons, and will have quite a hard time to get something there

from other matches, Anderlecht is playing current champions Antwerp, and Mechelen is hosting Gent, both on Sunday

Genk started great over new team in top flight, Molenbeek, 0:4 away win, although hosts have beaten Lyon in friendly match just before this round

Antwerp is also starting solid, have advantage at home against Cercle Brugge, 1:0 at the moment, few minutes to go

Club Brugge yet to play against Mechelen, should be a home win

Antwerp started game very powerful and it looked that it will be easy game for them. But their 2nd goal was cancelled after VAR review and things changed a bit in 2nd half.
Brussels derby wasn't most exciting, Anderlecht didn't managed to show anything serious today and Union justified their favorite status.

it was intense, penalties in the end, but Antwerp secured another trophy

league starts tonight, Anderlecht is playing Royale Union, Royale was a surprise two seasons ago, but now they are title favorites from the start, and favorites against well-known Anderlecht

Brugge has a tough match against Mechelen, and Gent against Kortrijk, would probably avoid betting in first round, maybe goals tonight, over 2.5

In about less than 30 minutes Belgian season opener will be played - Super Cup game between Antwerp and Mechelen. Both teams aren't common to play for this trophy, but Antwerp unexpected took domestic double last season - cup and league. While Mechelen is cup runner-up.
Antwerp is significant favorite and also game will be played at their stadium - usually such games is held in neutral location.

and what a goal that was, great shot from Alderweireld, just before the final buzzer
Antwerp was a bit lucky, but they were also fighting till last minute to get this title, and they deserved it, as well as direct group placement in CL

Brugge, that was a Champion for several years in a row, will have to settle with Conference league (similar to Ajax, but Ajax will get into Europa league), unusual seasons in those two countries

It's one of craziest season ending that I saw for a while. All 3 contenders were leading table at different time of match. It's unbeleavable how Royale bottled title again, they had everything in their hands until 89th minute, but then conceded 3 goals against Brugge - team which fight for nothing in last round.
Other game where title winner was decided was exciting too. After Brugge took a lead in other game, title was in Genk hands, but Alderweireld goal on 64th minute brings first league title for Antwerp since 1956-57 season. Full stadium of specators in Antwerp was watching game of their team in large screens and I'm trying to imagine what going on in Antwerp now.

Well, not every league can be Top 5 league. Blegian league role is development of young players and veterans coming here to end their career - something similar like Eredivisie, just smaller scale.

It would be nice to see some more big players in this league. A number of big Belgian names have reached the absolute world top, such as De Bruijne and Lukaku, but Hazard was also here. They all started in the Belgian league, but unfortunately there is not enough money to keep those players in this league. I think it mainly has to do with the sponsors present. If you want to keep or attract big players, you will have to look for bigger sponsors and not what is current. Mark van Bommel has of course done an excellent job with Antwerp this season.

what a round, what a finish

if someone thought that Arsenal or Dortmund are major bottlers this season, Royale (but also Genk) gave everything to ditch them
had title in the pocket until minute 89, then conceived and still were up to position 2, behind Genk at that point, but conceived one more in extra-time to lose the match and CL spot as well
in other match, Antwerp scored in 90+4 to secure a draw and take the title from Genk, who should be satisfied due to secure CL qualification spot

congrats to Antwerp on winning title, they were third after regular season, but came on top in the end

Very interesting last round, not often there 3 teams still in fight for title on last matchday. Odds for Royale isn't something special, but probably worth some money, as they play Brugge who are irrelevant in this fight. Last year Union were leading league, but wasted title in Championship group, now they have great chance.
Genk - Antwerp is difficult to predict, I'll go with BTTS there.

one of most interesting finishing in European football is going down today in Jupiler league
Antwerp, Genk and Royale are all in Championship fight, but also fighting for top2 positions, that are CL spots, with third having to settle with Europa league

at the moment, Antwerp on top with 46, same as Royale, with Genk on 45 points
last round, Genk is playing Antwerp at home, while Royale is host to Brugge, that is without chances to win title, Royale chances are best, since Brugge is out of form (Royale @1.6 win is a good pick, but low value), but will be all interesting from 18:30 today

in the last 5 matches, Genk has performed poorly (got 3 draws - 1 loss - 1 win), yesterday Genk vs Cercle Brugge ended in a 1-1 draw (the hosts successfully held Genk). even though they are still at the top of the standings with 68 points, if they continue to play badly then US-G, which is currently in 2nd place in the standings, has the opportunity to shift Genk.

live: antwerp vs charleroi -- temporary results charleroi winning 1-0 through a goal made by badji in the 15th minute, if you lose this match then antwerp fails to be in 2nd place (shifting US-G which is currently in 2nd place in the standings belgium pro league).