RAAL La Louviere will want this one forgotten quickly: 4‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Standard Liege were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 9.48 at 39, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Enzo Crivelli 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Abdelkahar Kadri was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Marked 8.15 — 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.
7 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 1‑2 defeat, delivered by Eden Januzaj to a room that had heard them before.
Nobody at Standard Liege will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Standard Liege, and both men came out saying it was fine.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Club Brugge in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
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.
9 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Level with 87 minutes on the clock, after an afternoon Standard Liege had all but put away. Anderlecht will call it a point earned; the home dressing room will call it two given away, and both of them are right.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Standard Liege this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Carlos Rivas and Standard Liege agree another 1 years.
Anthony Modeste 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Abdelkahar Kadri was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nothing about the week ahead is ordinary. Anderlecht on Saturday, a town that has already started talking about it, and a dressing room that does not need telling what it means.
Position 13, 15 points, and every result so far reduced to one line. The second half of the season starts with the same squad and a different set of expectations.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Standard Liege can pretend not to have heard.
4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Standard Liege this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
A point taken on 86 minutes is worth exactly one point and considerably more than that to a dressing room. This side does not stop, which is a reputation worth more than the result.
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.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Standard Liege can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Matthieu Epolo is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
The captaincy has been taken off Ibrahim Karamoko. Standard Liege will call it a decision about the team; a dressing room reads it as a verdict on a man.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Eden Januzaj was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Standard Liege dressing room was either.
Nobody at Standard Liege is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.
Successful dribbles: 12. 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.
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 38 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Standard Liege is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Abdelkahar Kadri was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 dugout19 Oct 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Eden Januzaj was not hiding it after 2‑2, and nobody in the Standard Liege dressing room was either.
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.
7 attempts, none of them in. He got into the right places all afternoon, which is the hard part, and did the easy part badly — and that is the version of a bad day a manager can live with.
In brief
The dugoutAdnane Abid knocks on the manager's door
Anthony Modeste 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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Gustav Mortensen is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Matthieu Epolo is on it.
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Kaito Yasui signs something — a contract at Standard Liege or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Bernard Nguene trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Standard Liege has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
Anthony Modeste 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Anthony Modeste. 1‑0 against KAA Gent, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 35 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Standard Liege is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
13 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Eden Januzaj could afford to be generous.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Standard Liege this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Conceding is one thing; the response is what tells you about a dressing room. Anthony Modeste had Standard Liege level again within 1 minutes, and Racing Genk never got to play with a lead at all.
100 games in these colours. Service of that kind gets rarer every season, and the crowd knows it.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Timothé Nkada 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 dugout28 Sep 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 1‑2 Eden Januzaj left the room before anybody could ask which.
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.
The offer from Seraing for Gustav Mortensen 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.
OH Leuven left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words at Standard Liege training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mohammed El Hankouri 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.
Successful dribbles: 18. 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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Eden Januzaj after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Standard Liege this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Nobody at Standard Liege is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Kaito Yasui signs something — a contract at Standard Liege or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Waasland-Beveren have kept their man, and Standard Liege go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Kaito Yasui was the name on every phone-in, and the club has gone and signed him for $9.7M. For one week the board can do no wrong, which is a week most boards never get.
The offer went to Urawa Reds this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
The offer went to KV Kortrijk this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Dennis Ayensa was one of the reasons people came, and $3.1M does not replace that by itself.
Anthony Modeste 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.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Standard Liege and Club Brugge, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.