Preud'homme: "Our players are less naive than at the beginning of the season"

Europa League

Michel Preud'homme has selected 21 players, including three goalkeepers, for the match of the fifth round of the Europa League (group J), Thursday evening (21h) in Sclessin. Razvan Marin is one of them, as are Cimirot and Bastien.

"Marin trained only part of Monday and Tuesday but he took part in the whole Wednesday session," said the Standard coach in a press conference on Wednesday.

If successful, combined with a defeat of Krasnodar in Akhisar, Standard can climb to the top two. "But for that, we must make the perfect match and hope that the opponent is a little less strong," said Michel Preud'homme. "It will have to be well focused and positioned in loss of ball, which already requires a lot of energy.But it will also have to keep enough to hurt their ball foot.That's why this kind of match is very interesting in the evolution of each, at all levels. "

Preud'homme believes that his team has already made a lot of progress in terms of efficiency over the last few weeks. "Our players are less naïve, and not just at the end, we had opportunities in the first leg, but we missed them, and we have to do better this time against a team that is still able to put a goal on target. franc or on a shot of 30 meters in the skylight. "

The Standard coach is not surprised to see Seville take the lead in the Spanish league. "When I said after the 5-1 in the first leg that it was a very good team, we smiled, the same when I said that Ajax, who had eliminated us in the Champions League, would be very strong But look where these teams are today When I say something, it's based on badysis, not on wind Sevilla does not have the reputation of Real or Barcelona yet but its players have so much quality and they work just as well. "

Seville was however beaten in Krasnodar and he suffered in Akhisar. A sign that he is less strong on the move? "Let's hope it," says Preud'homme. "But in these meetings, the Andalusian club still had control of the match."

At present, just over 12,000 seats have been sold for this match. "I still hope there will be 17 or 18,000 people," says Preud'homme. "Of course, I would have preferred a full stadium but the past has shown that in Sclessin, even 17,000 spectators could make noise."

In the group standings, Sevilla are second with 9 points, tied with Krasnodar. Standard, 3rd with 6 units, can still believe in the qualification.

For Paul-José Mpoku, the Standard will have to be more efficient than the first

"We have the art to put our opponents in confidence," Wednesday smiled Paul-Jose Mpoku in a press conference on the eve of the game Standard-Sevilla, counting for the fifth day of Europa League, Thursday (21h). Sevilla was in crisis but had won 5-1, now he is the leader of La Liga, like Eupen, Mouscron and Zulte Waregem in the league. everything can go very fast because Standard is better too. "

Of the first leg, Paul-José Mpoku retains that the Standard will have to be more efficient. "First of all, to carry out the defensive instructions but also to take advantage of the opportunities that will be presented to us, which we have not done enough there, we have to be careful of stupid ball losses because they leave very quickly."

Paul-José Mpoku does not think that Sevilla will snub the Europa League to better focus on the Spanish league. "The big clubs do not think this way: they have won the Europa League several times, it's proof that it's an important competition for them."

In the group standings, Sevilla are second with 9 points, tied with Krasnodar. Standard, 3rd with 6 units, can still believe in the qualification.

The selection of Standard

Guardians (3): Ochoa, Gillet, Galje

Defenders (7): Goreux, Vanheusden, Kosanovic, Pocognoli, Fai, Luyindama, Laifis

Midwayers (8): Agbo, Cimirot, Carcela, Marin, Djenepo, Lestienne, Bastien, Mpoku.

Attackers (3): Sá, Emond, Oulare.