Marked for Christian Mignolet
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match7 Nov 2026
1‑1 against Malmo FF, and a performance that will be described to people who were not there for the rest of the season. Romelu De Ketelaere was at the centre of the description.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 17 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Romelu De Ketelaere did not need any: 8.19, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
The terraces9 Nov 2026
The boos come down from three sides
“We pay for this every fortnight. The least we want is somebody who looks like he cares.” 5 of the 25 senior players walked off into it; the rest were not playing.
Match7 Nov 2026
4 matches without a win for KV Oostende
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around KV Oostende are no longer polite ones.
Squad9 Nov 2026
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.
Match7 Nov 2026
Jason Openda scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑2 to OH Leuven, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
Squad9 Nov 2026
“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 terraces9 Nov 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Romelu De Ketelaere 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad2 Nov 2026
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason KV Oostende will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Radja Fellaini 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.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
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.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Words at KV Oostende training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lindrit Kamberi 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.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Ninety minutes of Jason Openda at his very best
Marked 8.12. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at KV Oostende.
Loan watch2 Nov 2026
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at KV Oostende, and 8 appearances in 11 say he has earned the hearing.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Laurent Hazard 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.
Match31 Oct 2026
A 1‑1 draw with Zulte Waregem leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Marked 5.04. Nothing he attempted worked and by the hour mark he had stopped attempting much, which is the part a manager notices rather than the mistakes.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market26 Oct 2026
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Match24 Oct 2026
KV Oostende come up short in Europe
1‑2 away to the standard of Malmo FF. Nobody will pretend this was a scandal; the gap is real, it is measurable, and closing it is a project rather than a team talk.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason KV Oostende will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad26 Oct 2026
3 goals in one game. The first was taken well, the second was taken greedily, and by the third the crowd were simply waiting for him to get the ball.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
No sign of nerves from Charles Doku at 19 — 8.10
The hardest thing about being 19 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Charles Doku did not need any: 8.10, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Match24 Oct 2026
A 5‑3 win over Mouscron, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Marked 10.00 — 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.
Match24 Oct 2026
8 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about KV Oostende and Mouscron in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.