Marked for Noah Lassen
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings10 Sep 2029
Successful dribbles: 23. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad10 Sep 2029
Anton Tanghe 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.
Match8 Sep 2029
It finished 3‑2, and it was Anton Tanghe’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Zulte Waregem.
Player ratings10 Sep 2029
A performance of 9.34 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad10 Sep 2029
“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.
Player ratings10 Sep 2029
One of those days for Marley Aké
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.89, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings10 Sep 2029
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.77, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad10 Sep 2029
“The easiest signature of my career.” Nikola Mituljikić and Zulte Waregem agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad10 Sep 2029
35 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad12 Feb 2029
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 13 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Squad12 Feb 2029
Thomas Claes is in the form of his life
A season average of 7.52 with 10 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Squad12 Feb 2029
Anton Tanghe in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zulte Waregem this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings12 Feb 2029
Marley Aké runs at them all day
Successful dribbles: 20. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings12 Feb 2029
A performance of 8.99 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad12 Feb 2029
The manager makes an example of Joseph Opoku
“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.
Player ratings12 Feb 2029
Marked 8.69 — 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.
Match10 Feb 2029
It finished 2‑2, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
The terraces12 Feb 2029
The spotlight tightens on Joseph Opoku
Every touch is being weighed now, in print and everywhere else. Some players grow into that and some are quietly ruined by it, and nobody knows which in advance.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad11 Sep 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Zulte Waregem this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings11 Sep 2028
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 9.44, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings11 Sep 2028
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 9.10, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad11 Sep 2028
“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.
Player ratings11 Sep 2028
Successful dribbles: 18. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad11 Sep 2028
An error at the back is a moment; an error in goal is a goal. Ennio van der Gouw knows it, the crowd knew it instantly, and there was nobody behind him to make it anything else.
Squad11 Sep 2028
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Noam Strotz commits to Zulte Waregem for another 4 years.
Market11 Sep 2028
The Anton Tanghe story refuses to die
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Anton Tanghe signs something — a contract at Zulte Waregem or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad21 Aug 2028
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Zulte Waregem have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad21 Aug 2028
Jakob Kiilerich 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.
Market21 Aug 2028
As if he never left: Noa Kapo returns
Some transfers need a press campaign. This one needed a shirt with the old number on it. Noa Kapo is a Zulte Waregem player again, and the town has its story of the summer.
Squad21 Aug 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Jakob Kiilerich, and the manager let it.
Player ratings21 Aug 2028
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.13, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings21 Aug 2028
Defensive actions: 17, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Squad21 Aug 2028
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Zulte Waregem are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Player ratings21 Aug 2028
Shots: 6, not one of them in. A centre forward is paid for one thing, and on this evidence he has forgotten which thing it is.
Match19 Aug 2028
Point won or two lost for Zulte Waregem?
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against OH Leuven? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad7 Feb 2028
Tomáš Holeš in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at OB this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad7 Feb 2028
David Látal gets it from the manager
“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.
Squad7 Feb 2028
OB will explain it as a decision about the team, and it may well be one. A dressing room has never once read it that way.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market24 Jan 2028
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what OB can pretend not to have heard.
Squad24 Jan 2028
Jona Niemiec: 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.” OB have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad24 Jan 2028
33 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Squad24 Jan 2028
Fiete Arp in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at OB this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad24 Jan 2028
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Noah Lassen and OB agree another 4 years.
Market24 Jan 2028
At 33, he has seen every situation this season can produce, twice. The legs will be managed; the head is the purchase.