Marked for Essien Bassey
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match24 Feb 2029
0‑3 against Club Brugge, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
The dugout26 Feb 2029
Essien Bassey: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” KV Mechelen have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Match24 Feb 2029
4 matches without a win for KV Mechelen
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around KV Mechelen are no longer polite ones.
Squad26 Feb 2029
Abdelkabir Abqar was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Match24 Feb 2029
4 matches without a goal for KV Mechelen
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 4 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Loan watch26 Feb 2029
The goals keep arriving from Bouke Boersma’s exile
16 goals in 25 games at Lommel — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at KV Mechelen updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
Squad26 Feb 2029
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Indy Boonen was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets26 Feb 2029
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
The dugout26 Feb 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Jasper Dahlhaus, and the manager let it.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings27 Nov 2028
Bill Antonio beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 27. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad27 Nov 2028
Robin Mirisola and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad27 Nov 2028
Words at KV Mechelen training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abdelkabir Abqar is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Match25 Nov 2028
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Match27 Nov 2028
Half the programme played, position 7, 20 on the board. Doubling it is the sum every supporter has done and the only one nobody at the club will do out loud.
The dugout27 Nov 2028
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Toby Doku left the room before anybody could ask which.
Player ratings27 Nov 2028
One lapse, one goal, and ninety minutes of honest work counting for nothing. That is the job at KV Mechelen, and it is a cruel one.
The dugout27 Nov 2028
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
The dugout27 Nov 2028
Massimo Decoene dropped after a run of poor form
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match13 Mar 2028
39 points, and the season has a number on it. Whatever it felt like from the inside, this is what it will look like in a book.
Squad13 Mar 2028
Essien Bassey arrives at the club he grew up with
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Essien Bassey has, at KV Mechelen, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Squad13 Mar 2028
Abdelkabir Abqar falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Squad13 Mar 2028
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at KV Mechelen can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Squad13 Mar 2028
Daniel Elfadli and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Match11 Mar 2028
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Indy Boonen. 2‑0 against OH Leuven, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings13 Mar 2028
Marked 8.32 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Player ratings13 Mar 2028
Myron van Brederode was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.24. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Player ratings13 Mar 2028
Successful dribbles: 16. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings10 Jan 2028
Two goals and a mark of 8.36 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Player ratings10 Jan 2028
Fabio Kluit, 21, steals the show — 7.79
Marked 7.79 at 21, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Player ratings10 Jan 2028
Peter Quispel goes up and wins it — 7.93
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.93 for the rest of it.
Match8 Jan 2028
It had gone 8 games. The players did not celebrate like men who had won a match; they celebrated like men who had been let out of something.
Match8 Jan 2028
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Nicolas Verkooijen. 3‑2 against Emmen, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
The terraces10 Jan 2028
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Fabio Kluit has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Squad10 Jan 2028
Jordy Bawuah falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Squad10 Jan 2028
A falling-out at Jong PSV
Essien Bassey and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout10 Jan 2028
Tijn Smolenaars asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match1 Jan 2028
The wait goes on for Jong PSV
8 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Player ratings3 Jan 2028
Marked 7.86 at 21, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Match3 Jan 2028
Jong PSV at the halfway mark
Half the programme played, position 20, 12 on the board. Doubling it is the sum every supporter has done and the only one nobody at the club will do out loud.
Squad3 Jan 2028
A falling-out at Jong PSV
Essien Bassey and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match1 Jan 2028
It needed Sam Lammers to find the net to bring anything home at all: 2‑2 against Jong Utrecht, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
Squad3 Jan 2028
The captaincy has been taken off Armando Obispo. Jong PSV will call it a decision about the team; a dressing room reads it as a verdict on a man.
Squad3 Jan 2028
One booking too many, and Armando Obispo sits out. Jong PSV lose him for the sort of avoidable reason that makes a manager's week longer.
The dugout3 Jan 2028
Jesper Uneken asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Squad3 Jan 2028
He used to be one of the options. He is now one of the men the options are picked around, and the change happened quietly enough that only the dressing room noticed on the day.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match25 Dec 2027
The wait goes on for Jong PSV
7 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Squad27 Dec 2027
A falling-out at Jong PSV
Armando Obispo and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad27 Dec 2027
Jordy Bawuah falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The dugout27 Dec 2027
The manager makes an example of Boet Mulders
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Match25 Dec 2027
Nil-nil, and few chances worth the name. MVV Maastricht came to defend and left with exactly what they came for.
The dugout27 Dec 2027
Jesper Uneken knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Jong PSV, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market27 Dec 2027
The Fabio Kluit story refuses to die
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Fabio Kluit signs something — a contract at Jong PSV or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The dugout27 Dec 2027
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
Player ratings27 Dec 2027
Successful dribbles: 11. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match30 Nov 2027
Beaten 0‑4 by Almere City, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Squad6 Dec 2027
Seb Huntelaar is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 18 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Match4 Dec 2027
4 matches without a win for Jong PSV
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Jong PSV are no longer polite ones.
Match4 Dec 2027
4 matches without a goal for Jong PSV
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 4 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
The terraces6 Dec 2027
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Squad6 Dec 2027
A row about effort at Jong PSV
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jordy Bawuah was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad6 Dec 2027
Peter Quispel was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Boardroom6 Dec 2027
The manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.
Squad6 Dec 2027
Fabio Kluit has had enough of the bench
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Jong PSV will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match22 Nov 2027
Jong PSV are in real trouble now
Position 20, 9 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Squad22 Nov 2027
There were 6 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Player ratings22 Nov 2027
Successful dribbles: 22. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Match20 Nov 2027
De Graafschap left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Looking ahead22 Nov 2027
The fixture the calendar is arranged around. Form goes out of the window, the table is not consulted, and for ninety minutes Jong PSV will be judged on one thing only.
Squad22 Nov 2027
Essien Bassey was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The dugout22 Nov 2027
Seb Huntelaar asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
The dugout22 Nov 2027
Nobody at Jong PSV is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.
Squad22 Nov 2027
“Nobody outside is coming to save us.” It was short, it was not comfortable, and by all accounts the Jong PSV squad were quieter afterwards than they had been all season.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad15 Nov 2027
A row about effort at Jong PSV
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jordy Bawuah was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad15 Nov 2027
Words exchanged at Jong PSV
Essien Bassey and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The dugout15 Nov 2027
Tijn Smolenaars asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.