2013 was RFC Liege's first season back in professional football in Belgium, with me, a rookie manager given the manager's job by mistake. Our Division 3 A campaign got off to a flying start with a 3-1 victory over UR Namur at Le Pairay. We lined up with two wide men and split strikers in a 4-2-3-1 formation, with the goals coming one each from my two strikers, Foulon and Hardy, and the win sealed by my dependable midfielder Francis Sierre in front of 1,524 fans.
A week later, though and we were quickly brought back down to earth with a resounding 3-0 defeat away at Ronse.
September got off to a good start, with a come-from-behind, 10-men thrilling victory against Berchem, with an injury time winner from Thibault Hardy. A 3-1 defeat at Hasselt followed, and then a disappointing late goal meant we could only draw 2-2 with Bornem at home with Thibault Hardy scoring both goals for Les Sang et Marines, making it 4 goals in 5 games for the promising striker.
Following these few unsatisfactory results, I decided to have a fresh look at my formation, and changed to a 4-3-2-1. I felt this would play to my strengths a little bit more, although it would mean playing Blaise Makengo, a left midfielder, out of position at left back. It would also mean playing two midfielders, Serre and Leger, out of position in central midfield and attacking midfield respectively. I also decided to tighten things up, asking my team to stick to my formation more rigidly, using a direct, controlling, pressing style at home with a deeper sitting style, with counter attacking when away.
Next up were Dessel (away) who were unbeaten so far this season and remained so as a second minute goal was enough for them to win 1-0, despite a decent performance. The last game of September saw Liege face Sint-Niklaas at Le Pairay. Two penalties from Gregory Leger gave us a 2-0 win. This pleasing end to the month saw Liege finish September in 10th position in the Division 3 A table, with 10 points from 7 games. This comprised 3 wins, a draw and 3 defeats. This wasn't sufficient to please The Chairman, however. He knocked on my door after the Sint-Niklaas match and let me know he was disappointed with my start to my Liege career.
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