Standard Liege ultimately produced an underwhelming season amidst the huge expectations at the start and will have to settle for Europa League football, which they earned rather fortuitously at the end.
Michel Preud'homme was under immediate pressure to produce when returning to the club where he made his name as a player, following on from Ricardo Sa Pinto, who was a sensation in the second half of the previous season, but the team generally lacked vibrancy and attacking edge for most of the regular season.
They dropped too many points on the road to mediocre teams to keep the pace up at the top end of the table. Home form was impressive, getting some good wins over Club Brugge and Gent in the opening months, and the team was anchored by a very solid and assured midfield duo of Razvan Marin and Gojko Cimirot.
Yet the likes of Mehdi Carcela and Paul Jose M'Poku disappointed more than they impressed, failing to meet the expectations as the team starts. The emergence of young winger Moussa Djenepo, who was a constant game-change, was a definite plus though.
Standard secured a top-six berth without too many worries, with their form not wavering too much, and actually looked good initially in the play-offs.
Yet, they dropped off soon after that and at the end seemed destined for a Europa League play-off, only for a late collapse by Antwerp to see them stumble into third place by the thinnest of margins.
There is lots of ground for improvement at Standard and they will definitely struggle to replace the superb Marin, who is moving to Ajax.
