Denis Ekert Criticizes Refereeing and Fan Absence in Belgium

The Iranian striker of Standard Liège questioned the referee's decisions in his team's defeat to Charleroi in the Belgian league.

The Iranian striker of the Standard Lige football team questioned the referee's judgment in his team's defeat against Charleroi in the Belgian league.

According to the reporter of Mehr, Standard Lige and Charlevoix football teams faced each other in the eighth week of Jupiler League on Sunday, October 19, and this game ended with a score of 1-0 in favor of Charlevoix.

Denis Eckert Ainsa (Dargahi) said about this game: Naturally, it was a close game and I think both teams wanted to win and they showed this on the field. However, I believe we had more clear chances to score. I will have to review all the scenes and comment more carefully on the referee's performance, but I don't think he made a good judgment call today. Many small things happened against us.

He continued: "I didn't feel that the referee was in control of the game and during the 90 minutes, there was no feeling that he could manage the match well." At the end of the game, there were two suspected penalty scenes, I don't know if they were really penalties or not, and we have to see them again. Despite the defeat, I can't say that our team performed badly or that we were the weakest team on the field. However, three consecutive defeats have made the situation difficult and we need to get out of this situation as soon as possible.

In response to the fact that mistakes in the details of the matches, especially on free kicks, caused this team to distance themselves from Charleroi, the Iranian striker of Standard Liège said: We have talked many times about the importance of details. This week we also practiced a lot on free kicks. The players also worked on these issues in the last three weeks, even though some of them were at the disposal of the national teams, but we need to be more coherent and focused.

He added: In modern football, about one-third of the goals are scored from free kicks, but not only can we not use these opportunities to score goals, but we also score goals in this way. If you want to be a big team, you need to reduce the number of goals conceded from free kicks and score more goals yourself from these situations. During the game, I felt that our team was in a good condition and offered a close game. We had good chances to score, but we didn't use them and unfortunately we lost.

Eckert further explained about the repetition of his team's mistakes in defending free kicks and the error that occurred before the opponent's goal: This is the second match in a row that we lose because of a free kick. I think Ryan was expecting India's umpire to call a foul and that's why he lost his focus and committed a foul instead of continuing the game. We have talked about this too; If you make a foul or the referee doesn't call a foul, you should continue playing and talk about it later.

He clarified: The players may make a mistake, but they should not allow such an incident to lead to a goal. The opposition won a lot of corners today and we defended most of them well, but in football if you lose focus even for a second, teams like Charleroi in the current situation make the most of those opportunities. We failed to do so and ultimately failed.

Referring to the difficulty of defeating in the home derby, the Iranian striker of Standard Liège said: "Losing a derby at home is really difficult, especially when the fans are not in the stadium." It was a strange atmosphere and the conditions of the competition were similar to the Corona era. The absence of our fans was completely felt in such a match, because they always give us extra strength and today we felt their void.

Explaining the impact of the absence of spectators on his team's performance, he stated: Without fans, the motivation and conditions of the game are not the same. We still come out motivated and always try to win, but when you make a good move and the whole stadium is cheering you on, you get more energy. When the stadium is full and the fans are behind the team, it's like you have an extra player; The same thing that is called the twelfth friend. Without that support, you don't get that extra boost, and that's especially important in home games.

Answering a question about his feelings after the third consecutive defeat and comparing the team's current situation with the good start of the season, Eckert said: I think we had played our worst game of the season in another match, but in this match we had a relatively good performance and should not have lost at all. We had to be smart enough to hold on and get a draw.

He continued: We should not have lost in this match. We could have ended the game 0-0 or even taken a one-goal lead and then defended our result until the end of the match, but the opponent did that. They used the opportunity they had and scored. At that particular moment, the opponent acted a little more alert and precise, and this difference determined the result.

In the end, the Iranian striker of Standard Liège noted: Now we must try to change the situation and achieve more victories as possible. First, we should look for a win in the FA Cup and then prepare for the match against Gent.