Successful dribbles: 27. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Óscar Gil 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Waasland-Beveren have kept their man, and OH Leuven go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Michaël Heylen 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 supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
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 Thibaud Verlinden is on it.
7 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
OH Leuven close the window on a squad of their own making
4 in and 0 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.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Jubilo Iwata is saying, and nobody at OH Leuven is enjoying the guessing.
Henok Teklab 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.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. OH Leuven told Óscar Gil something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Thibaud Verlinden 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.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Óscar Gil 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.
A brace, and Kyan Vaesen takes the afternoon — 8.95
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Kyan Vaesen provided it, and the 8.95 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Thibaud Verlinden and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Words at OH Leuven training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Óscar Gil 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.
OH Leuven have made the call to St. Gallen. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
5 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.29 at 36, and nobody on the pitch was better.
OH Leuven had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Grasshopper, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at OH Leuven this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Dani van den Heuvel is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Adams Diabaté has, at OH Leuven, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Thibaud Verlinden 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.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Words at OH Leuven training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Óscar Gil 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Eintracht Frankfurt have kept their man, and OH Leuven go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Leyton Orient have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
OH Leuven have made the call to Grasshopper. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
“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.
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
A brace, and Kyan Vaesen takes the afternoon — 9.04
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Kyan Vaesen provided it, and the 9.04 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Thibaud Verlinden 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.
A 3‑1 win over Standard Liege, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Łukasz Łakomy was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” OH Leuven have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Wouter George, and the manager let it.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Simon Chadli chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
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.
Successful dribbles: 36. 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.
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.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Henok Teklab 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.
Michaël Heylen 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.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Simon Chadli after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Two goals and a mark of 9.06 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Thibaud Verlinden 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.
KAA Gent left with the points after a 2‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Words at OH Leuven training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Birger Verstraete 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 demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Robin Mirisola is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 2‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
It finished 0-3. A cup exit is a disappointment; this was a public dismantling, and the difference between the two is the number of people who will still be talking about it in August.
Thibaud Verlinden 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 9 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.97 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Thibaud Verlinden and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Words at OH Leuven training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Henok Teklab 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Benjamin Santelli. 2‑0 against Mouscron, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Dani van den Heuvel commits to OH Leuven for another 4 years.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Simon Chadli, on a 2‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at OH Leuven this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Words at OH Leuven training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Łukasz Łakomy 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.
200 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Robin Mirisola trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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 William Balikwisha is on it.
KV Oostende will want this one forgotten quickly: 4‑1, every duel lost, and a long ride home. OH Leuven were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Thibaud Verlinden 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 19-year-old it feels ownership of. Robin Mirisola 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.
Position 9, 18 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.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at OH Leuven, and it is not being withdrawn.
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.
Successful dribbles: 27. 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.
Henok Teklab 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Birger Verstraete was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
18 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Simon Chadli chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
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 Abdoul Karim Traoré is on it.
Successful dribbles: 33. 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at OH Leuven this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Marked 8.10 — 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.
The board was up, the win was priced in, and then Sint-Truiden scored. There is no worse minute to concede in and the ground emptied in the silence that follows one.
6 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 1‑1 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
Successful dribbles: 37. 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.
Thibaud Verlinden 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” William Balikwisha and OH Leuven agree another 3 years.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Words at OH Leuven training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kyan Vaesen 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 point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Simon Chadli after the 2‑2 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
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 Thibault Vlietinck is on 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 OH Leuven, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Successful dribbles: 32. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Match3 Oct 2026
Kyan Vaesen wins it after the whistle should have gone
92 minutes played. Kyan Vaesen found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and Waasland-Beveren went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
Thibaud Verlinden 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. Dani van den Heuvel is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
A 2‑1 win over Waasland-Beveren, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Birger Verstraete was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑1, Simon Chadli could afford to be generous.
“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.
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 0‑2 Simon Chadli left the room before anybody could ask which.
Nobody at OH Leuven 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 has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Thibaud Verlinden signs something — a contract at OH Leuven or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Siebe Schrijvers’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and OH Leuven needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Nobody at OH Leuven 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 was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at OH Leuven this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 86. KV Mechelen had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Words at OH Leuven training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kyan Vaesen 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.
5 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Simon Chadli chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.
In brief
The dugoutRobin Mirisola asks for a word with the manager
It is a specific kind of quiet, a ground watching a winning position dissolve. Standard Liege kept coming because nothing stopped them, and OH Leuven will be asked about the last half hour all week.
7.22, 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.
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.
OH Leuven close the window on a squad of their own making
17 in and 2 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.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Empoli keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Henok Teklab 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.
OH Leuven ran out of time with KV Oostende. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Kyan Vaesen. 1‑0 against Racing Genk, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
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.
Successful dribbles: 39. 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.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. OH Leuven have done the hard part with Empoli, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
OH Leuven asked and Jubilo Iwata said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 19-year-old it feels ownership of. Robin Mirisola 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.
A 2‑0 win over Lokeren, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Kyan Vaesen was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.09. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
In brief
The terracesThe away end at KV Mechelen goes home happy
SquadWords at OH Leuven training over how hard people work
1 for Łukasz Łakomy, marked 7.46, 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.
$1.4M was the most the club would pay and KAA Gent were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows 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 OH Leuven this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about OH Leuven and KAA Gent in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Udinese have kept their man, and OH Leuven go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
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.
He is going to Willem II, the club has $5.8M it did not have on Friday, and the phone-ins have already decided how they feel about that. Selling well and selling somebody they loved are not the same skill.
OH Leuven have gone to KAA Gent with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
OH Leuven had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Mattersburg, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Thibaud Verlinden 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.
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 name of Thibaud Verlinden has come up in conversations OH Leuven were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Leyton Orient keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Thibaud Verlinden and OH Leuven agree another 4 years.
Takuya Ogiwara 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 academy exists for exactly this morning. Eden Mertens has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Simon Carrasco has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Thibaud Verlinden 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ewoud Pletinckx was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
49 months left and silence from upstairs — no offer, no talks, nothing for his people to answer. Clubs that let a calendar do their negotiating usually end up negotiating with the calendar.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Simon Chadli after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.