KV Mechelen have had a terrible start to the Belgian Pro League season. Last season, the side qualified for the top six play offs for the first time and were hoping to build on that this season. However, after seven games, the side sit rock bottom with just three points and no wins. However, Fred Vanderbiest will remain, for now at least, in charge of KV Mechelen. As reported by Sporza, there is currently no panic at KV Mechelen who remain confident that Vanderbiest can turn things around.
This may well be an acknowledgement on the part of the board that recruitment has, so far, not been great. Very few of the players signed in the summer have been able to make much of an impact on the side, who still remain reliant on Myron van Brederode for inspiration. The 23-year-old Dutch winger is the sides top scorer with three goals, building on his strong season last year where he managed 10 goals and five assists in 36 games for the club.
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Outside of van Brederode, the side have only scored two other goals. That is a real concern, with 14 shipped at the other end in seven games. What is equally concerning for KV Mechelen fans is that the midfield duo of Denis Praet and Frederik Hammar has yet to come to fruition. Last season, Hammer was fantastic in the midfield, and there was hope that Praet would add an extra level of quality to the central midfield. This has yet to happen.
The side could also do with finding a way to get either Bouke Boersma or Benito Raman scoring. Boersma joined midway through last season to replace Lion Lauberbach, who joined Venezia. Boersma had scored 11 goals in 23 games for De Graafschap in the Dutch second tier, and had a decent start to his KV Mechelen career with three goals and three assists in 17 games. He has struggled so far this season. Raman has struggled to make an impact under Vanderbiest. Prior to the coach taking over, Raman had scored 15 goals in 34 games for KV Mechelen. Under Vanderbiest last season he managed only three goals in 31 games. So far this season he is scoreless in six. It does feel that Raman is not the sort of striker Vanderbiest wants up top, as the likes of Lauberbach were much more suited to his style of play with his physicality, even if he was not technically that great.
Vanderbiest now has a long international break to try and work things out at KV Mechelen. One would imagine that the next four games are crucial for him to remain head coach of KV Mechelen. If the side fail to beat Kortrijk or OH Leuven in their next four matches, its hard to imagine Vanderbiest being able to remain as the sides head coach.
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: Sports.yahoo.com
