Marked for Adnan Batshuayi
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings1 Mar 2027
Successful dribbles: 32. 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.
Match25 Feb 2027
1‑3 against FC Copenhagen. Continental football is unforgiving about the things a domestic league lets a side get away with, and this was a night spent finding out which of those the club still has.
Player ratings1 Mar 2027
A defender's goal wins it for KV Oostende — 7.96
1 for Dirk Asare, marked 7.96, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Dedryck Lukaku 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 dugout1 Mar 2027
“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 terraces1 Mar 2027
The crowd has taken to Dirk Asare
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.
Match28 Feb 2027
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Dirk Asare. 1‑0 against Mouscron, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Adnan De Bruyne 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.
Squad1 Mar 2027
“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 KV Oostende will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market1 Feb 2027
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Lokeren waiting with a shirt. Nobody at KV Oostende is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
KV Oostende close the window on a squad of their own making
4 in and 3 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Match30 Jan 2027
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now KV Oostende have 3 straight wins of it.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Words at KV Oostende training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dedryck Lukaku 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.
Transfer targets1 Feb 2027
KV Oostende asked and Charleroi said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Match30 Jan 2027
Charleroi made KV Oostende work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Somebody has moved past him. It is not a dropping and it is worse than one, because a dropping is about a Saturday and this is about where he stands.
Squad1 Feb 2027
The formation has left Benito Raman behind
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. KV Oostende will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
Squad1 Feb 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at KV Oostende this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market25 Jan 2027
Jason Meunier hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what KV Oostende can pretend not to have heard.
Market25 Jan 2027
The fee is $1.6M, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. KV Mechelen drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
Transfer targets25 Jan 2027
KV Oostende asked and KV Mechelen said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Market25 Jan 2027
Everyone has stopped pretending: Lokeren will make the call about Adnan De Bruyne this week. KV Oostende have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
The terraces25 Jan 2027
He is 22 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Match23 Jan 2027
A 1‑0 win over Sint-Truiden, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Words at KV Oostende training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Adnan De Bruyne 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.
The dugout25 Jan 2027
“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.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Hérold Goulon and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.