The retirement of Alex Taylor

Despite the game in midweek and another midweek one coming up Alex named a heavily rotated side as Brugge played host to second place rivals who rocked up playing their usual strange formation. Alex couldn’t deny it worked for them though and hoped his side could eke out a bigger lead in the upcoming Championship Group with a win.

Just after ten minutes passed Standard got the ball wide to M’Poku who had to much space for Alex’s liking. He was closed down and passed inside to Alpasan who played it to Milec on the other wing. His run had got him past Schonheim and into the box. He squared the ball to Santini who had checked his run to get space and from 8 yards out fired powerfully into the bottom corner to give Butelle no chance and put Standard up to first place as it stood.

After 14 minutes Butelle pulled off a good save from Yattara from a tight angle holding onto the ball. He played the ball long up the pitch to Vanaken who got it wide to Centurion was quickly as he could. Centurion beat a man but facing two more defenders passed the ball inside to Vanaken who cushioned the ball for Martins to play wide to Meunier. In space inside the box Meunier who took a touch and placed his effort precisely just inside the far post to level the scores up again within a couple of minutes.

The game was moving towards halftime with not much else to report until Alpasan chipped a pass up for Yattara who was in behind Cools. There was a clash of legs and Yatara went down in the box and to Alex’s annoyance the referee pointed for a penalty. He made the usual complaints and stopped as Kosanovic stepped up to take the penalty. It was a short three step run up and he hit the penalty just to the left of Butelle who went low to his left and pushed the shot away and out well wide of the goal so that no one had a chance to score the rebound and the ball was cleared by Cools.

At half time Alex was a bit pleased to be in with the scores level after the late penalty save. He didn’t want to make many changes with a big game coming up in midweek, although he still wanted to get the win.

Five minutes after half time Standard went on the attack and got the ball wide to Milec. He played a 1-2 with Yattara to get further up the wing. The ball was played inside to Alpasan who got it wide to M’Poku. He cut inside from 20 yards out and got central in front of goal, and faked a shot before slipping in Yattara who easily slipped a low shot past Butelle to put Standard back in front.

A couple of minutes later Standard got a free kick out wide and Milec whipped the ball into the box. Yattara got free of his man and flicked the ball towards goal. Butelle was beating and the ball bounced of the post and then hit the back of hand and everyone watched as it rolled slowly and ended up going just wide of the post for a corner to Alex’s relief.

After 65 minutes Standard launched a counter attack from a Brugge free kick. Cezar got the ball up to Yattara just inside the Standard half and played the ball square to Santini. Who took a touch and then slipped in M’Poku who was in on goal with half the ptuch still to cover. He cut inside and one on one with Butelle who came out tried to chip him and Butelle got his finger tips to the ball to slow it down before Denswil hooked the ball away before it crossed the line to save a goal.

After 72 minutes Engels flicked on a Butelle free kick. Martins got to the ball and then turned to chip the ball up to Thiago Ribeiro but, was headed out wide to Centurion by Cezar on accident. Centurion took the ball in his stride and got to the by-line before cutting inside. His hit in a low cutback that was deflected to fall perfectly for Ribeiro who fired the ball into the roof of the net to get Brugge level and Alex hoped they would push for a winner.

The game ended with the two sides level and Alex was pleased to get a point out of the game as he had generally picked back up options for the game as he wanted his side fresh for the Liverpool game.



Brugge had a three point lead with one match left before the split and Westerlo were confirmed as being relegated to the second division. Standard, AA Gent and Oostende were all three points behind Brugge and any one of them would look to make up ground on Brugge if they could.

Good to see the rotation squad is capable of getting positive results! Goos luck for the Liverpool clash!

mgrif yeah good to see that the depth is good, thanks going to need it

Alex looked on his phone when it buzzed and saw that yet another manager had been sacked and Westerlo lost the second manager of the season after they were confirmed to be relegated. Alex sent a commiserating text to Van Wijk and did feel sorry for him as he had taken over a squad with very few prospects and had given them a half chance of safety and done well but, got the sack none the less.

Alex was looking over the scout reports that he got and they did give him some reason for optimism. The main point being that Liverpool currently had no fit senior striker that he could use Firmino was being used there and Alex felt confident that Engels and Denswil had the physicality and brains to deal with his threat.

Isco playing in behind Firmino most likely was far more of a concern for Alex and he decided that Fejsa would simply mark him the entire game whether or no Brugge had the ball as Isco was a game changer of the highest quality and really to good for the Europa League and anyone in Alex’s squad to match technically so he would just try and make sure that the ball would never get to him.

Alex was only concerned by Coutinho out of Liverpool’s midfield as he could produce a moment of magic but, he would just have to hope that whoever he chose at right back could keep him under wraps. Thanks to injuries that seemed to have plagued Liverpool they could only really pick less offensive players so Alex would look to try and allow his two midfielders to try and press them back as he didn’t think that any Liverpool central midfielder could hurt them to much in terms of scoring or assisting.

Liverpool’s defence was what gave Alex some hope Alex Moreno was still in the team for some reason so Alex would have a winger with a great chance against him. Sakho had also run afoul of Klopp so Skrtel would likely start and he could give away a penalty or get sent off to help the Brugge cause and Alex would make sure that his players did what they could to get under his skin and provoke something stupid from Skrtel.

Turning his attention to his own team Alex had most of his players picked. Butelle would be in goal with Emerson, Engels and Denswil ahead of them while Alex still had to pick a right back out of Cools and Meunier. Fejsa would be the defensive midfielder with Martins and Vanaken ahead of him. Gedoz would be on the right wing and Luciano up front. Left wing would be between Izquierdo who had been in great form which had begun to taper off recently while Centurion had started his career at Brugge in some very good form with a good display at the weekend adding some more credence to his claim to start the game.



Alex’s mind for right back was made up the next day as Meunier picked up an injury which would rule him out of both legs of the tie after he landed awkwardly on his head competing for a header.

He was no closer to deciding who should play on the left win with both his options training well. Alex decided in the end that Izquierdo would be more fit as he hadn’t played at the weekend and would get the start but, Alex would take him off at half time if he hadn’t done well.

Alex named the team that he had planned and was pleased to see that the Liverpool side were strong but not as strong as they could have been or did in the past. The formatiosn matched up well defensively for Brugge and Alex was determined to try and go to Anfield without having let in an away goal.

Just after two minutes Liverpool had a corner and Henderson stood over it. Engels headed the ball away and Isco got it on the edge of the box. Fejsa tackled him and hit the ball long to Luciano out wide. He took the ball in and ran down the wing to the edge of the box. A second after Luciano was past Moreno tried to make a tackle and mistimed it by a mile. Luciano cut inside and chipped a ball to Gedoz at the back post. Coutinho knocked the ball away to Cools outside the box. He whipped the ball in and Moreno fell asleep to let Izquierdo get past him and he tapped the ball in at the back post to give Brugge an early lead which was perfect.

Just after the half hour Vanaken passed to Izquierdo who cut inside and ran forwardand thirty yards out in front of goal he let fly. The shot was just over the bar with Mingolet watching relieved as his dive couldn’t quite reach the ball as it just went over.

Brugge went in at half time level and Alex decided to pull Gedoz for Centurion to give them a new look going forward as Gedoz wasn’t great so far and Alex wanted some more threat when they went forward.

After 52 minutes Vanaken passed to Martins in the Liverpool half. He passed back to Fejsa who played it up to Vanaken. He turned and passed to Cools out wide in space as Coutinho hadn’t tracked back. Cools then got past Moreno and then passed to Centurion in the box. He faked a turn inside and ran to the goal line. From just wide of the corner of the box Centurion hit a shot that was high out of the reach of Mingolet and just inside the top corner to double Brugge’s lead. Alex set his team up more defensively as he wanted to stop an away goal that would make a big dent in the lead.

A couple of minutes later Engels headed a Clyne cross out of the box and Fejsa headed the ball further up the pitch to Luciano. With a good change of pace he got past Matip to run at Skrtel and then noticed that Moreno hadn’t got back to cover Centurion. He chested the ball down and pulled back to let Moreno go past him and then cut inside and ran at goal. He took a couple of strides and then from the same spot as he first goal he let loose and his shot went up past Mingolet and hit the bottom of the bar and went in to give Brugge a three goal lead and Alex was ecstatic and did all that he could to make sure his team didn’t get carried to far away and set up well defensively.

At the hour mark Milner stood over a free kick out wide and whipped a ball into the Brugge box. Isco ran at the back post and rose up high at the back post. Butelle took a couple of steps and realised that he couldn’t get the ball and stood there. Isco powered a header past him and everyone could only watch as the ball smacked off the post and bounced into the middle of the box. Emerson reacted first to smash the ball miles away from goal.

Brugge saw the game out professionally and had a three goal lead to take to Anfield and had a foot in the next round. Alex was amazed by the size of the win they got and Centurion had a great impact when he came on to score two near identical goals that gave Brugge a huge advantage.



Alex’s side also pulled off the second biggest win of the round after Man Utd’s win over Hoffenhiem. It was really the only shock of the round with most sides expected to win managing to do so.

A top home result mate but now you gotta hold em off away. GL

Walkinshaw Yeah sit deep and hit them on the counter is the plan. Thanks.

The next day after training Alex heard a knock on his door and called whoever it was in. He was surprised to see that it was Dion Cools who had been playing a lot recently and doing very well. A great performance in midweek having been one of his highlights.



“I want a new deal with the club, I’m no longer a youngster. I’ve played a lot of games and I feel that my contract should reflect that, I’m not a hot prospect any more I feel I’ve been playing consistently over Meunier who is one of the best right backs in the league.”

Alex listened to it and thought it over for a few seconds before deciding to buy himself some more time. “I’ll think over what you’ve said and tell you about my decision tomorrow.” That got a satisfied nod from Cools before he left.



Alex had a look over his most recent report on Cools. He was a quality young player with the right mentality, a love of the big moments and great quality going forwards and defending. All of his coaches seemed to agree with him and Alex knew that they would not be pleased with him if he annoyed him over a contract.

There was one thing that Alex had to do before he would be able to give Dion Cools some good news. He put in a call to Dion’s agent to see what he would be wanting in his new contract. Around ten thousand a week was what was quoted and Alex figured that Roel could get it down even further so that the deal would be good for Brugge if they could make it a long term deal with no buy out clause allowed so that if Cools left the club would get as much as possible.

The next day Alex gave Dion the news and told him to have his agent get in contact with Roel and they could hash out a deal that would work for everyone. Dion looked pleased and Alex was happy as the last ting he wanted was an unhappy player denting the sky high morale of the team which helped them win games in Alex’s opinion as he knew the impact division between the squad could have on results.



It only took a day and a half for Roel to end the negotiations with the agent and get a deal that Alex was more than pleased with as it put Dion up in what he earned but, not so high as to where other players in the squad would be annoyed with the money going to him.



The deal was signed off by both sides and then announced ahead oft he final game before the Championship Group, against Lokeren, the deal for 8 grand a week for three years was a good one for both sides as Cools got more money and a great chance to develop at the club which could help Brugge in the long run.

Outstanding result against Liverpool! If you can snatch one goal, they would require at least five!

That result against Liverpool...

Justice Thanks, one goal and we are all but in the next round which is great and unexpected.

mgriff My thoughts exactly Moreno had a shocker and we took full advantage

Alex made a few changes after the midweek game, replacing all of the players that he felt were to tired with some fitter players ahead of the final game before the league split so really just 1.5 points were on offer in this game. Both teams went for the same formation with Lokeren likely to sit a bit deeper and let Brugge take the game to them.

The game got off to a slow start and the first moment of interest was Odoi having to be taken off after a strong but fair tackle from Dion Cools after 23 minutes. Alex indicated to Martins to get the ball wide to that side to see if the sub was a bit sluggish after coming on unexpectedly.

The only action in the first half was a drive from Ribeiro from just inside the box that was easily saved by the Lokeren keeper. Alex put on Luciano for Vormer in an attempt to try and get a goal.

The game was still not great and after 75 minutes Lokeren got a chance out of nothing when Terki was played in on goal. Engels produced a great sliding bock to force the ball out for a corner.

The corner was hit well back to Patosi who was in lots of space but, thirty yards from goal. He ran forward and got into the box out wide and cut the ball back to the edge of the box. Engels had read the pass and intercepted it and pushed forward on the counter attack. He played the ball up out wide to sub Vossen. He took a couple of passes and then hit a cross field pass perfectly into the path of Luciano. He controlled the ball with one touch and was in on goal. The keeper rushed at him and Luciano calmly rolled the ball out of his reach and just inside the post to put Brugge ahead.

In injury time Overmiere played the ball out wide to Melnjak who had space to run into. He whipped in a low cross and Jean was wide open six yards out and blasted the ball on target. Butelle managed to palm the ball away and Denswil put the loose ball into row Z just before Terki was going to prod in the rebound.

It was a poor game of football but, Brugge came away with the three points that were halved as it was the start of the Championship Group to determine the winner.



Brugge were on top but, they only had a six point lead over Lokeren in last place and two points on Standard with AA Gent and Oostende a point further behind. It was going to be tight and down to the wire no matter the winner.



The game was poor and also punctuated by injuries with both Andre Martins and Ricardo Centurion picking up groin strains which would rule them out for the best part of a month in most cases. Both players were in great form and it was the business end of the season making the double whammy all the more annoying.

The squad flew into Manchester as it saved over three hours on the flight time before a short trip over to Liverpool where they would be staying the night before the game. The team were in high spirits ahead of what would likely them getting into the second leg.



Liverpool had been in some awful form in the league and Brugge had extended it into the Europa League after the convincing three nil win at the Jan Bredylstadion. They were already likely through to the next round and if they scored then Liverpool would have to score five times to get into the next round.

The team headed to Anfield the night before the game so that they could get used to the surface. As they headed down the tunnel onto the pitch Engels saw the “This is Anfield” sign and comment loudly sarcastically “Oh damn, I thought that we were at Goodison Park. Good thing they had that this sign there to remind me.”

“Well it just shows how intelligent their players are. The first hint was that they decided to play for Liverpool.” Vanaken responded with, he wasn’t a big Liverpool fan as he supported Manchester United.

“The biggest hint is that they were willing to live in Liverpool actually” Alex chipped in earning himself a massive glare from the groundsman who was heading off the pitch. “I think we should speak Flemish if we are going to insult this place” Alex added to confuse the groundsman.

The team went back on the pitch where Alex had a good scoring record as a player and hoped that some of his players could start a similar run of form thereselves. Philippe started drilling the defenders while Alex worked with the attacking players on the counter attack after the players had got used to the surface.

They looked good on the counter attack in practice and it was where Alex felt that they would get most of their chances despite having dominated the game in Bruges Alex felt that it was unlikely to happen in Liverpool.

Liverpool still lacked any fit strikers and no attacking central midfield players to attack the team so Alex felt that they would be able to hold out against Liverpool with quite a bit of ease as they lacked players to break down a team that played deep. The defence also looked weak so Alex was confident they could make something on the counter.

In contrast Alex had a near fully fit squad that was high in confidence and in good form to chose from and as long as they weren’t over confident Alex was sure that they would be in the quarter finals of the Europa League.

Liverpool changed formation to a 4-2-3-1 for the second leg as they tried to get the goals that they would need to get into the second leg. Alex had gone for a similar formation to always and had only made two changes both enforced by injuries as Santamaria came in at central midfield and Izquierdo came in for Centurion.

After 3 minute Coutinho went on a good run and got into the box before unleashing his shot. Butelle took a step to the side and easily held onto the shot as Livepool tired to get an early goal.

A quarter of an hour into the match Douglas Santons threw the ball into Isco on the edge of the box and he turned and passed to Coutinho who was just wide of the near post 10 yards out. He hit a curling effort to the back post that left Butelle helpless and smashed into the post and the rebound evaded everyone until Emerson was finally able to blast the ball away before Liverpool attack again and the crowd roared.

Ten minutes later Santos stood over a corner. Izquierdo headed it away to Coutinho twenty five yards out. He played the ball out wide to Santos who swiped horribly at an attempted volley cross and the ball started heading towards goal and smashed off the post and with Butelle committed to the initial shot flew up into the middle of the goal three yards out Engels rose high and from close range was able to lift the ball over the crossbar and prevent an easy header to pull a goal back.

With five minutes until half time Coutinho was free out wide with the ball and whipped in a cross that Denswil headed away to Clyne. He passed the ball back up to Coutinho who drilled a low ball across the face of goal . The ball rolled all the way through to Carrasco to score a simple tap in but, he managed to take all the power off the ball and Butelle was able to dive and push the ball away before diving on it as for what seemed the hundredth time to Alex cheers in the crowd turned into disappointment.

Brugge were able to get into halftime level as Liverpool had been unable to convert with any of the twenty shots they had in the first half. Alex told the team they were defending wonderfully but, had to try and offer more of a threat on the counter so that Liverpool didn’t throw every player forward.

The second half was more sedate and there were only a couple of bookings as the game headed into the final 22 minutes. Alex decided to go with three defensive midfielders to see the game out and sent on Vormer and Simons to help soak up the pressure.



After 78 minutes Liverpool had a corner that Santos hit in and Simons headed away. Santos got the ball first out wide and whipped in a second cross. The ball bounced off Sturridge’s leg and Denswils and Butelle rushed out to try and grab the loose ball. Firmino got to the ball first and squared it to Henderson and he powered the ball in between the two men on the line to pull a goal back for Liverpool. It was their 34th shot of the game and the first time that Butelle had been beaten.

The Liverpool players tried to get the crowd going again and launched attack after attack against a blue and black wall of Brugge defenders. With three minutes of normal time left Markovic sprayed the ball wide to Lallana in the Brugge half his pass was blocked and ran to Santos on the other wing. His passed in between Henderson and Isco and Vormer intercepted the ball and passed up to Ribeiro on the halfway line who turned and played in Felipe Gedoz. He ran down on goal from a tight angle he improved with a couple of touches. As he got into the box Migolet came out and Gedoz blasted the ball past him and high inside the far post to grab Brugge an away goal that sealed a spot in the quarter finals. He shushed the Kop before being tackled down by his team mates while Alex and his staff celebrated on the touchline.

The final whistle came and the boos were deafening from the crowd to the Liverpool players who needed a win desperately. It didn’t take a genius to work out where the problem was as Liverpool managed a staggering 42 shots and only got one goal which was more a Butelle error than anything.



Luciano had picked up a bruised rib late on in the game and would be out for a week not that Alex was worrying about it on the flight back which was bouncing with celebrating players as they had now knocked out teams with 12 Champions League wins between them on they way to the Europa League Quarter Finals.



The seven other teams in the quarter finals were Manchester United, Lyon, Juventus, Dynamo Kyiv, Leicester, Inter Milan and Roma. Alex had no doubts over which team they wanted in the draw and felt that one of Lyon, Inter Milan or Leicester would be the best they could do but, they would be second favourites no matter who they drew.

Fantastic result man! Some big teams left in the competition and you're undoubtedly in for one hell of a tie in the Quarter Finals!