The reset carried out, the confidence rediscovered, the hope rediscovered to maintain itself, all this was confirmed from the outset on the field with positive results during Yannick Ferrera's first three matches at the helm. A more than encouraging 0-0 during the opening day of playdowns in Charleroi, where RWDM could have won if Biron had converted his penalty, and then two victories subsequently acquired against Eupen and Kortrijk. On the Kerels pitch, the Molenbeekois displayed a conquering state of mind and enormous solidarity to seek courageous success.
On the evening of this victory, the people of Brussels increased their lead to five points over their main competitor and saw the possibility of definitively securing the play-off place the following weekend by hosting Kortrijk at the Machtens stadium. But this almost assured play-off position had a perverse effect on the team. The humility advocated by Yannick Ferrera since his arrival, this desire to pull away to achieve the much-hoped-for comeback, transformed into excess confidence, almost complacency, with a failed start to the match which precipitated the Molenbeekois on the road to defeat. By losing in a match that it should never have lost, RWDM saw Kortrijk come back to two points, two days before the end of the playdowns.
The confidence accumulated during the first three playdown matches then disappeared as quickly as it had arrived, to turn into fear of doing badly on Saturday against Charleroi. “I felt my players tense, fear in their stomachs,” confirmed Yannick Ferrera after the meeting. As a result, the RWDM experienced a real debacle and its nightmare continued the next day when Kortrijk won against Eupen and took its place as play-off.
With this 0 out of 6, we went down as quickly as we came up.
In the space of a week, the RWDM went from being almost a barrier to that of almost relegated who must now hope for a miracle. “It’s football, these things happen. Sometimes you come very close to something, you have everything in your hands to achieve something good and the next week, you no longer have your fate in your hands. Football constantly shows you that everything can happen very quickly, in one direction or the other. We very quickly moved up the rankings with a 7 out of 9, we went down just as quickly with this 0 out of 6”analyzes Yannick Ferrera.
On the players' side, we assume our responsibilities. “Last week, we missed a great opportunity to validate our ticket for the play-offs and this weekend, it was the match not to lose. It’s totally our fault, we can’t hide”assumes Guillaume Hubert.
The hunted has become the hunter
After this weekend's results, the RWDM went from being the hunted to being the hunter. A delicate position since it places the RWDM in a situation where it no longer has its fate in its hands. He must hope for a misstep from Kortrijk to Charleroi, while winning at Eupen, officially relegated to D1B since Sunday. “We are not dead, we all believe in it since it is still mathematically possible. But the first step will be to win our match against Eupen before watching what happens in Charleroi-Kortrijk”launches Yannick Ferrera who has already announced that this week would be dedicated to “heart, courage, mindset and competitiveness”the only way to still hope to get out of it.
