Philippe Clement laid the foundations of his method last Sunday in Nantes (0-0). Back on his first experiences in Beveren, Genk and Bruges, and the way in which the Belgian technician quickly builds his projects.
2017: Beveren, psychological development
Not sufficiently experienced in the eyes of Bart Verhaeghe and Vincent Mannaert, president and manager of Club Bruges, while he felt capable of taking over from Michel Preud’homme in the Venice of the North, Philippe Clement responded to Beveren’s requests at the summer 2017.
It is there, in a club used to fighting for its maintenance that the Antwerp player launches his career as coach n ° 1. In the country of Waes, it restores the emblem of a displacement criticized for its minimalist and defensive game.
In less than five months, he convinced his players, initially reluctant, to adopt a forward-looking philosophy. As with ASM, he started with a draw (3-3) at Genk in July 2017.
A draw snatched from the 90 ‘+ 2 after leading 2-0. “Convincing managers that a small team like Waasland can play dominantly hasn’t been difficult – they still want to see goals. They attract the public and it’s good for the caisses. It was different with the players, explained Clément to the RTBF in November 2017. We tried things in preparation and it worked, the results followed and the train started. “
The Flemish hoists Beveren to 7e place and at the gates of the play-offs. He reveals Japanese playmaker Ryota Morioka and revives the unsuccessful striker Isaac Thelin at Anderlercht. The psychological impact he had on his players is strong.
“I changed a few things, he explained again in 2017. I had mattresses installed (at the training center, editor’s note) for players to rest. I also need to know what’s going on in the minds of my players. With psychologists, we therefore measured their ability to withstand pressure, competition or criticism. “
Since then, he has remained sensitive to the minds of his boys.
2017: Genk, maturing
After five months in East Flanders, Clément heads to Genk and Limburg. There he refined his instructions and the game he advocated, in a superior club in Beveren, and thanks to European matches.
He opened his mandate with a loss at home against Kortrijk (2-3) and a game ended ten against eleven. Not ideal. But after eighteen months, this false start is largely erased. He offered a fourth championship title at the KRC in 2019. Here again, he quickly seduced. “We worked a lot on the automatisms. Even from an individual point of view, which is often underestimated “, remembered the Belgian international medium Thomas Buffel, in the magazine sport in August 2019.
The Flemish style asserts itself: use of sides, multiplication of centers and formidable efficiency on stopped phases (especially on corners). The team presses hard and tries to kill the matches in twenty-five minutes.
And in his management, Clément remains faithful to his mentors: Aimé Anthuenishe will plebiscite “for his sense of human relations” and who was his coach in Genk (1995-98) and his coach (2002-05); Trond Sollied, son of trainer in Bruges (2000-05) of which he keeps “clarity” instructions and tactical sense; and finally Michel Preud’homme of whom he was the assistant in the Venice of the North (2013-17) and from whom he drew “thoroughness and passion “.
2019: Bruges, ego management
Back in Bruges in 2019, he obtained two new league titles, in a club where he played for ten years and was an assistant. The goals always come from the placed attacks but it also develops the transition game and the counterattack. He manages the ego of young people brought to hatch at the highest level. He shoves or protects them, as he did with the Dutch nugget Noa Lang last November.
“He’s got the attention of the press, agents and other clubs. He wants to do the maximum and I think he puts too much pressure on himself at times, he said daily TheLast hour. He thinks he has to be decisive in every game. But that’s how we tense up. Decisive players every time, that does not exist. “
To make room for the kids, he sends his captain Ruud Vormer or executives (Mats Rits and Bas Dost) to the bench. A cult of rotation that must be accepted by the collective.
“The atmosphere was more negative in the newspapers than in the locker room”, he replied during his presentation, on possible dissensions.
At the ASM, it will also have to be unanimous. In a club which hopes to see its project take as quickly as in Belgium.