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Anderlecht need to show aggression - Gillet Anderlecht midfielder Guillaume Gillet believes his side needs to up their aggression if they are to overturn the deficit against AZ Alkmaar in their Europa League second-leg last 32 match at the Constant Vanden Stock Stadium.

AZ, who are second in the Dutch Eredivisie, took a slender 1-0 lead over the Belgian club in the first leg thanks to Adam Maher's solitary goal.

The Dutch side made tough work against their Belgian opponents at the AFAS Stadion and squandered a host of chances.

With a place in the round of 16 still in sight, Gillet is confident his side can overturn Gertjan Verbeek's side at home but admitted he had been on the receiving end of a pep talk from coach Ariel Jacobs.

"I am not satisfied with my performance," Gillet told voetbalnieuws.be.

"(Ariel Jacobs) told me before the new year the Europa League is not above my level. I have played and I will reach that level again. He emphasised that he has confidence in me. It was only a five-minute conversation, but it hit home." And Gillet is hoping to capitalise on AZ's shock 3-0 defeat by relegation-threatened FC Utrecht on Sunday - only their fifth league defeat of the season - when the two sides square up for their winner-takes-all clash.

"We are able to keep a clean sheet, we have already proven that a few times in the Europa League," Gillet said.

"Last Sunday we won and they lost, 3-0, so we cannot be at a mental disadvantage. We know we were not aggressive enough in Alkmaar and we need to fix that for our home crowd." Anderlecht approach the match on the back of a 3-1 win over Westerlo in the Belgian Pro League, and AZ captain Niklas Moisander, who was sent off during the loss against Utrecht, expects another tough encounter.

"I expect more from Anderlecht than that first game," Moisander told www.voetbalcentraal.nl.

Anderlecht vs AZ

Last modified 22:22 23/02/12

Martens on the money for AZ AZ Alkmaar moved into the last 16 of the Europa League with Maarten Martens' deflected effort securing a second 1-0 win over Anderlecht.

The Eredivisie side matched last week's home win on their trip to the Constant Vanden Stock Stadium despite a shaky start to the match that saw Matias Suarez hit the post with a superb volley from long range.

Martens brought about the only goal of the game in the 54th minute when his neat volleyed effort went in via Anderlecht's Marcin Wasilewski Just 30 seconds were on the clock when Anderlecht created the first chance from a corner, Wasilewski heading over from Lucas Biglia's delivery.

Suarez's sumptuous volley followed with just five minutes gone.

The Argentinian striker was fully 30 yards from goal when he raced on to a looping ball and drilled towards goal first time, leaving Esteban Alvarado beaten but crashing off the inside of the post.

AZ, with the lead in the bank from the previous match, were creating little of their own and absorbed another chance when Guillaume Gillet missed the target in the 13th minute.

When the Dutch side finally mustered something positive of their own, Brett Holman deposited Roy Beerens' cross over the bar.

The sides settled into a period of stalemate until five minutes before the break when Sacha Kljestan beat the wall with a free-kick that needed an athletic save from Alvarado, who tipped over the top.

AZ's Adam Maher had a wonderful chance moments into the second half, beating the offside trap and bearing down on Silvio Proto but dragging his shot wide of the far post.

Both teams seemed more open as the second period continued, Milan Jovanovic missing a headed chance and Beerens working Proto at the other end soon after.

With 54 minutes gone, AZ were ahead.

Beerens provided a glorious cross from a deep position on the right, Martens showed impressive technique to meet the ball with a side-footed volley and a heavy deflection off Wasilewski took the ball across the goalkeeper and into the far corner.