Matthijs Verhanneman is starting his second season as coach of Knack Roeselare with a team that has changed quite a lot compared to last year. With Coolman, Dermaux and Desmet, he does have to miss some very important players, and that requires some adjustments to the playing system and the integration of a number of new players.

Knack Roeselare has already played a number of friendly matches, mainly against French teams: 3-1 win against Poitiers, 3-0 loss against Tours and on Thursday evening another 1-3 loss against Tourcoing. How does the coach look at his newly assembled team, at the Supercup on Sunday, at the ambitions for the coming season and what has he learned from his first coaching period?

The recurring problem at top clubs: a preparation campaign without star players, who were active at the European Championship…
Matthijs Verhanneman: “I must say that the preparation actually went better than last year. We did not have to miss so many players. Of course you would like to have the regular setter there, but for the rest we were ready with a fairly large group of players. Only during some training sessions did I play for a while, but afterwards I definitively hung up my shoes again.”

A first evaluation?
“With the new opposite Stefani and Stijn D’Hulst back again, everything had to move a bit faster than usual. But everyone trained a lot. The core has become a bit smaller: from 14 to 13, but that will probably give everyone more playing opportunities.”

D’Hulst and the new middle blocker Colson return in full condition from the national team…
“Exactly. They played a lot with the Red Dragons, but during that period they also trained less. It was of course something special for them and a beautiful experience. They return to their club team in solid condition, but it will be clear that a period of decompression awaits them. It is up to the others to compensate for that, so that Stijn and Martijn are back there at the important moments.”

By what percentage is Knack still removed from its top level?
“Indeed, a lot of new faces have joined, who are not all yet used to playing at our level. It is difficult to attach a specific percentage to that now. I think they have all adapted fairly quickly within the group and to our way of playing. But how strong that is, the coming weeks will determine.

Will you not miss some experience without Dermaux, Coolman and Desmet?
“Deroey, D’Hulst, Van Elsen have stayed and you can hardly say that Colson and Vandecaveye have no experience. Our Italian reception-wing player Tallone may be 27 years old and opposite Stefani 25, but you can hardly say that they are still a ‘bleu’. No, I think we have a good mix of experience and younger players, who are doing excellently and can be deployed in almost all positions.”

Do you not lose a bit of serving pressure?
“Of course, the newcomers will still experience a certain pressure when they play at this level and in a hall full of enthusiastic supporters. But I think that in terms of serving we can work on a new dynamic. With the arrival of Gilles Vandecaveye, we did attract one of the best servers from the Belgian competitions.”

Where are the strong and weak points of this Roeselare?
“I think we have certainly become stronger in reception than last season. That may be offset by the fact that we may have to give up a bit physically, but that can still evolve. We have to wait and see what the dynamics will be in the group to become stronger and stronger.”

What have you learned yourself during your first season as coach?
“Mixed feelings. On the one hand, a lot of matches won in the Belgian competition, fantastic matches played in the Champions League, the BeNeLeague Cup won. However, that is offset by the fact that we lost the semi-final of the Belgian Cup and at the decisive moments in the play-offs also had to let the title go to Maaseik. We have to focus even more on that kind of match, because at those important moments we were not top.”

How do you solve something like that?
“Educate the players even more to stand mentally stronger in that kind of match. They have to learn to deal with the pressure at such moments, because it ultimately comes down to a number of moments. It will be clear that a club like Knack Roeselare has the ambition this season to write at least one of the important trophies — title or cup — back to its name.”

And do you also consider the Supercup on Sunday an important trophy?
“We have to show our home crowd what we are worth, especially with Maaseik as opponent in that Supercup. I will not say that whether or not we win the Supercup will be of enormous importance for the rest of the season, but we like winning so much, hey!”

Text: Marcel Coppens
Photo: Lotto Volley League - Bevograaf