Percy Tau was understandably disappointed to be hauled off in the first half of Club Brugge's 1-1 draw with KAA Gent, and his head coach was asked to explain the decision…
Tau has already made an impact at Brugge, having contributed with a handful of goals and assists during his first season in European top-flight football, however he's had a tough end to 2019 with some niggling injuries and a bit of time sat on the bench.
The Bafana Bafana star has started to get back into Philippe Clement's side of late though, and was given a place in XI for their penultimate game of the year as they sought to extend their lead at the top of the Belgian Pro League.
It wasn't a good day at the office for the 25-year-old though, and Clement pulled him off just 35 minutes into the encounter – before two second half goals saw the game end 1-1 – and the coach has said that it was the conditions that led to his decision to swap the South African favourite.
Belgian website, voetbalnieuws.be, quoted him as saying, "They were circumstances we had not expected… We ended up here in a mud pool. Little can be played on the ground, and a lot of body-to-body fighting takes place. That was not foreseen because we have the same amount of rain and Jan Breydel is still in perfect shape.
"Perhaps I should have already made that choice for the match, but Percy just had a very difficult time with this field, that is not his kind of football. In the front, we were unable to keep up with the ball that put us under pressure. Hence that switch."
Meanwhile, his teammate, Hans Vanaken, urged the Bafana player not to let the decision affect him, telling voetbalkrant.com, "Percy has already played very good games for us this season. This time it was a bit less on this pitch, this should not be a crisis of confidence for him."
Brugge's last game of 2019 sees them face Zulte-Waregem, and they could go 11 points clear come the end of Boxing Day should other results go their way.
