7.16, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
Christian Carrasco 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 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.
Add another name to the list: Charleroi have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Radja Hazard. The answer from KV Oostende has not changed — yet.
2 goals to the good, and then a slow surrender of everything that had been earned. Romelu Meunier will not be the one blamed for it, but nobody at KV Oostende escapes the conversation that follows a collapse like this.
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.
In brief
SquadWords at KV Oostende training over how hard people work
0‑3 against Club Brugge, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
0‑2 against Krasnodar. 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.
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.
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.
3 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Timothy Onana 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.
There were 8 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 ratings16 Nov 2026
Romelu Meunier, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.93
A mark of 7.93 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.
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.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Words at KV Oostende training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kevin Batshuayi 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.
A brace, and Hans Hazard takes the afternoon — 8.46
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Hans Hazard provided it, and the 8.46 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Axel Meunier, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 7.63
A mark of 7.63 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
10 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 20-year-old it feels ownership of. Axel Meunier 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.
Zulte Waregem made KV Oostende work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Timothy Onana 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.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Romelu Meunier 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. KV Oostende will try very hard not to make too much of it.
Ivan Mandić 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.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
1‑2 against Krasnodar. 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.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Romelu Meunier did not need any: 8.16, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Words at KV Oostende training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kevin Batshuayi 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. KV Oostende know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Romelu Meunier did not need any: 9.77, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
A season average of 7.12 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. KV Oostende know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 18-year-old it feels ownership of. Yamine Zahiri 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.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Axel Meunier did not need any: 7.66, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Words at KV Oostende training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kevin Batshuayi 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.
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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. KV Oostende know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.