Marked for Dries Mignolet
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad19 Oct 2026
A fracture rules Ilias Sebaoui out for 118 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Sint-Truiden will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Amjad Maidoub damages knee ligaments — 24 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 24 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Squad19 Oct 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 Sint-Truiden this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Taiga Hata 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.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
A mark of 7.18, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
4.72 on the card. Some afternoons a footballer looks like a man who has only just been introduced to the game, and this was one of them.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad12 Oct 2026
Ilias Sebaoui breaks a bone — 128 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 128 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Amjad Maidoub damages knee ligaments — 33 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 33 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Dries Mignolet 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad5 Oct 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Amjad Maidoub
41 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Sint-Truiden lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
No sign of nerves from Keisuke Goto at 21 — 9.64
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Keisuke Goto did not need any: 9.64, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Squad5 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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Dries Mignolet and Sint-Truiden agree another 3 years.
Squad5 Oct 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 Sint-Truiden this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match3 Oct 2026
Mouscron made Sint-Truiden work for it, but the scoreboard read 3‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match28 Sep 2026
Every point is an argument now for Sint-Truiden
Position 15 and 7 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Match26 Sep 2026
Ninety minutes of very little, and then everything at once. The winner arrived in the 89th, and KV Kortrijk spent what remained of the match appealing to the referee rather than chasing the ball.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
No sign of nerves from Keisuke Goto at 21 — 8.19
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Keisuke Goto did not need any: 8.19, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Dries Mignolet 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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Silas Ostrzinski is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Ilias Sebaoui 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 terraces28 Sep 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Keisuke Goto 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.
Match26 Sep 2026
KV Kortrijk made Sint-Truiden work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 18. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match19 Sep 2026
No end in sight to Sint-Truiden's wait for a win
9 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Sint-Truiden has to find a result from somewhere.
Match19 Sep 2026
5 matches without a goal for Sint-Truiden
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 5 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Squad21 Sep 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 Sint-Truiden this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Maximiliano Caufriez 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.
Match19 Sep 2026
0‑2 to KV Oostende, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad21 Sep 2026
The manager makes an example of Leo Kokubo
“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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match12 Sep 2026
8 matches without a win for Sint-Truiden
The run now stands at 8, and the questions being asked around Sint-Truiden are no longer polite ones.
Market14 Sep 2026
The offer from Mouscron for Alouis Diriken was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Dries Mignolet 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.
Match12 Sep 2026
4 matches without a goal for Sint-Truiden
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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words at Sint-Truiden training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Shogo Taniguchi 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.
Squad14 Sep 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.
Match12 Sep 2026
Anderlecht left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Market14 Sep 2026
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Sint-Truiden, another week without a signature from Maximiliano Caufriez.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match5 Sep 2026
7 matches without a win for Sint-Truiden
The run now stands at 7, and the questions being asked around Sint-Truiden are no longer polite ones.
Market7 Sep 2026
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Sint-Truiden heard it as anything else.
Squad7 Sep 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 Sint-Truiden this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Words at Sint-Truiden training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ilias Sebaoui 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.
Match5 Sep 2026
3 matches without a goal for Sint-Truiden
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Squad7 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Shogo Taniguchi, and the manager let it.
Market7 Sep 2026
The name of Alouis Diriken has come up in conversations Sint-Truiden were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Keisuke Goto is the division's best young player this month
At 21 he has spent a month being better than everybody his age in the league, which is a different and harder thing than one good afternoon. Sint-Truiden will try very hard not to make too much of it.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 14. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 40. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market17 Aug 2026
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Market17 Aug 2026
Sint-Truiden paid $1.9M and Lokeren took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Laurent Castagne 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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Adrià Vilanova 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.
Squad17 Aug 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.
Match15 Aug 2026
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad17 Aug 2026
An error at the back is a moment; an error in goal is a goal. Leander Mertens knows it, the crowd knew it instantly, and there was nobody behind him to make it anything else.
Market17 Aug 2026
At 39, he has seen every situation this season can produce, twice. The legs will be managed; the head is the purchase.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market17 Aug 2026
The offer from Anderlecht for Taiga Hata was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 27. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Keisuke Goto, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.78
A mark of 7.78 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Ryotaro Ito 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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Ilias Sebaoui 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.
Market17 Aug 2026
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Sint-Truiden, another week without a signature from Maximiliano Caufriez.
Market17 Aug 2026
Dries Mignolet is 33 and has run out of things to prove. What he has left is where to stand, when to slow it down and what to say at half-time, and none of that is on a fitness chart.
Match15 Aug 2026
A 1‑1 draw with Waasland-Beveren leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
Squad17 Aug 2026
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market10 Aug 2026
Chelsea paid $62.0M and Lokeren took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Market10 Aug 2026
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Market10 Aug 2026
Add another name to the list: KAA Gent have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Dries Mignolet. The answer from Lokeren has not changed — yet.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 24. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Dries Mignolet commits to Lokeren for another 3 years.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Laurent Castagne 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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Words at Lokeren training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dries Mignolet 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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Eden De Ketelaere, and the manager let it.
Market10 Aug 2026
Rémy Vasseur is free to find somewhere else
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Lokeren has been clear about where Rémy Vasseur stands, which is more than many ever get.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
There is exactly one of these per career and it does not usually go like this. 1 on the scoresheet, 8.06 beside the name, and a crowd that had never seen him before chanting it by the end.
Market3 Aug 2026
Willem II come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Lokeren did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market3 Aug 2026
The phone has started ringing about Dries De Ketelaere again, and this time the name on the line is Chelsea. Lokeren are listening politely and promising nothing.
Market3 Aug 2026
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Lokeren heard it as anything else.
Squad3 Aug 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 Lokeren this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match1 Aug 2026
It finished 3‑1, and it was Yannick Tielemans’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Lokeren.
The terraces3 Aug 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 19-year-old it feels ownership of. Yannick Tielemans 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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Radja Alderweireld 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.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.06, and no argument anywhere in the ground.