Manager put him 90 against Lokeren, one of the bottom feeders in the Jupiler. In the big game vs. Brugge he played 20 minutes. He got his shot in the Europa at home vs. Fenerbahce and didn't do enough, all their attacks came through their right (Kenny was LW). Manager has slowly but surely lost confidence in him, and I see Saief being used mainly against weaker rivals and to kill a game already won against stronger ones, from now on.
Kenny is, to be perfectly honest, in really bad form at the moment. His last few games for RSC have been kinda bad, and after today's result I think Vanhaezebrouck is probably under a lot of pressure to improve results. I'm not sure anyone has lost faith in him, simply because it took him so long to return to action after his injury. But his minutes are probably gonna remain limited until he shows he can play better.
Apparently Saief was carrying an injury coming into camp. Since he wasn’t going to be on the game day roster, decision was made to send him back to Anderlecht. #usmnt https://t.co/XWip0Nc1vU— Jeff Carlisle (@JeffreyCarlisle) November 19, 2018 Departs NT camp with an injury that he came into camp with... so, yeah, I don't think Kenny's lost any ability, but he's really struggled to get over the injury he picked up in camp way back in May.
Why was he called at all? It was not a mystery he was still recovering from injury and that's why he only played 9' before the friendlies. Saief is another guy who's having problem with recurring injuries, and has not been himself since the Colombia game.
Kenny didn't make the bench in RSC's league match on Sunday, which was to be expected. Belgian sources described Kenny's fitness as "unclear", but this source claims he resumed training with the team today. Anderlecht have a huge injury problem right now, which is costing them (Sunday's match was a 4-2 loss away from home), so if Kenny is healthy, he will probably get minutes no matter how badly he's playing.
Starts: Hier vind je het basiselftal van coach Vanhaezebrouck! Voici le onze de base du coach Vanhaezebrouck! ⚽️ #ANDTRN #UEL #COYM pic.twitter.com/Gt5qKRrd55— RSC Anderlecht (@rscanderlecht) November 29, 2018
ooof... the reviews on twitter are very harsh. Not that Kenny can shoulder all of the blame, a 0-0 with 70% of the possession and only 2 shots on target (one of which came from our guy) is a real team effort, but Kenny is being savaged by Anderlecht supporters. FWIW, WhoScored has him at a 6.68 (on the lower side of the 14 that played) and credits him with 2 key passes and the aforementioned shot on target. Anderlecht are out of the EL and will likely finish bottom of the group unless they can win at Zagreb next week. I'm curious to see if RSC will abandon the 3-man back-line in favor of this 4-2-3-1 (looks like a 4-3-3 on their graphic, but didn't function like one), which would see Saief higher up the pitch.
I am a big believer in Kenny's talent - when he's on his game. Unfortunately, something is really wrong with Kenny since that botched hernia surgery in July 2017. He's just not close to the level he was at up to that point. He had a few decent games for Anderlecht earlier in this year but it was short lived. I hope he gets it back. At his best, he's a very good player. But clearly he's off.
Agreed. He was coming on very strong and things were looking great until that injury on USMNT duty. His career has sputtered hard ever since.
He wasn't very good to begin with, now he's just anonymous. Maybe he should go for that modelling career before he gets too old for that too.
I translated articles from 3 different sources that predicted that Kenny would be starting against Charleroi, but he doesn't even make the bench: Hier vind je het basiselftal van coach Vanhaezebrouck! Voici le onze de base du coach Vanhaezebrouck! ⚽️ #ANDCHA #RSCA #COYM pic.twitter.com/OClz5c15Sm— RSC Anderlecht (@rscanderlecht) December 9, 2018 No injury reported, so feels like a decent chance that Vanhaezebrouck is fed up with him. On the other hand, he's apparently been chillin with Ben Lederman: Pretty cool that Ben Lederman And Kenny Saief are homies in Belgium #USMNT pic.twitter.com/C1JkZt5A6G— Hunter (@HUNTINGTON12345) December 8, 2018
A number of outlets are reporting that Kenny is starting in a lame-duck Europa League match vs. Zagreb. One outlet says that Vanhaezebrouck is "spoiling" players like Kenny: https://sporza.be/nl/matches/voetba...018-2019/groep-d/06/dinamo-zagreb-anderlecht/
Hier vind je het basiselftal van coach Vanhaezebrouck! Voici le onze de base du coach Vanhaezebrouck! ⚽️ #ZAGAND #UEL #COYM pic.twitter.com/BhITThxxzH— RSC Anderlecht (@rscanderlecht) December 13, 2018
Well Zagreb is also playing several second stringers. This game is basically a practice session: even if Zagreb lost, they won the group; even if Anderlecht won, they're last in the group.
Kenny wound up going 69' (nice) and had a mediocre-to-forgettable game: #USMNT Kenny Saief went 69 minutes for Anderlecht and had 69% passing, his single shot was blocked, he had 1 cross, 3 long balls, won 3/6 duels, and had 2 successful dribbles. The match is in the 80th minute and still a scoreless draw.— Mr. Silence Dogood (@POTP_Silence) December 13, 2018 Meanwhile, Votebal claims that Saief is on a "for sale" list: https://www.voetbal24.be/news/ander...bakkali?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter And Sporza says that Vanhaezebrouck thinks he isn't working hard enough in training: https://sporza.be/nl/2018/12/10/hein-over-bakkali-saief/ Some fans on twitter and smaller Belgian outlets claimed that today would be used as a test of sorts. Apparently RSC is going to open up the coffers during the winter window, and some current players will need to make way for the incoming players. Seems like Saief might be on the move soon...
On the bench: Voici le onze de base du coach Belhocine! Hier vind je het basiselftal van coach Belhocine! ⚽️ #ANDWBE #RSCA #COYM pic.twitter.com/aFjwFZ9EN6— RSC Anderlecht (@rscanderlecht) December 27, 2018