Day 42 of the vacancy. Candidates have been priced, sounded out and quietly ruled out — and the caretaker’s win ratio is becoming an argument all by itself.
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.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Words at Standard Liege training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ibrahim Karamoko 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. Standard Liege know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
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.
Tobias Mohr 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.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Words at Standard Liege training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ibrahim Karamoko 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.
Something was said to Mohammed El Hankouri and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Matthieu Epolo signs something — a contract at Standard Liege or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Adnane Abid has written the date down.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Standard Liege is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Enzo Crivelli 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.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Words at Standard Liege training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Josué Homawoo 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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Mohammed El Hankouri signs something — a contract at Standard Liege or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Ibe Hautekiet has written the date down.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Standard Liege is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
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.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Words at Standard Liege training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ibrahim Karamoko 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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Dimitri Lavalée signs something — a contract at Standard Liege or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
A window away with the national side, and a shirt at Standard Liege that briefly doubles as an advertisement. A call-up flatters the player and the club that built him in the same breath.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Adnane Abid has written the date down.
Allan Saint-Maximin 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.
14 days since the seat came open, a list of names doing the rounds, and nobody has signed anything. Every week this drags on the shortlist gets shorter.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ibrahim Karamoko was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 16 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
Every long career reaches the week the last one is thought about. He would like it to be where he started, and Standard Liege know now that the thought has arrived.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Standard Liege told Daan Dierckx something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
The official line will be that it was routine. It was not routine, the timing says so, and every person in that room knows what the next bad result costs.
“Somebody has to pick the team on Saturday, and this week that is me.” An interim appointment with no promises attached, which is how most of them start.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Allan Saint-Maximin and Standard Liege agree another 4 years.
Allan Saint-Maximin 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 Josué Homawoo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A new manager did not pick last season’s side and does not care what it looked like. Allan Saint-Maximin has taken that personally, in the best sense, and Standard Liege are seeing a version of him the last regime had stopped seeing.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Standard Liege are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
The mood at Standard Liege has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Gustav Mortensen will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Standard Liege the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ibrahim Karamoko was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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 year in and the city has not opened up, the language has not come, and lunch is eaten alone more often than anybody at Standard Liege would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Mohammed El Hankouri signs something — a contract at Standard Liege or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Standard Liege they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Marlon Fossey was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Dimitri Lavalée signs something — a contract at Standard Liege or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
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.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Ibe Hautekiet has written the date down.
“Judge me on him.” Managers do not say that kind of thing by accident — it moves the pressure from Tobias Mohr’s shoulders onto his own, and both of them know it.
Mohammed El Hankouri 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.
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Josué Homawoo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Imdad Charifou and Standard Liege agree another 4 years.
Squad15 Feb 2027
5 new faces, and Standard Liege are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
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.
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
Player ratings8 Feb 2027
A brace, and Enzo Crivelli takes the afternoon — 8.75
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Enzo Crivelli provided it, and the 8.75 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
A deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. Standard Liege will try again when the window opens; Racing Genk may not be selling by then.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. KV Mechelen have kept their man, and Standard Liege go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“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.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Words at Standard Liege training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ibrahim Karamoko 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.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Standard Liege is running low.
0‑4 to Club Brugge, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
There comes a point where a club either backs its own ambition or admits it does not have any. Standard Liege have paid $7.5M for David Ankeye, which is the loudest way there is of saying which one it chose.
Standard Liege and Racing Genk have settled on $2.1M. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
The phone has started ringing about Casper Nielsen again, and this time the name on the line is Cádiz. Standard Liege are listening politely and promising nothing.
Everything was agreed until it was not, and David Bates reports back to Standard Liege with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 3 arrived, 2 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Successful dribbles: 38. 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. Standard Liege have done the hard part with Zeleznicar Pancevo, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
The fee is $3.0M, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Club Brugge drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Standard Liege is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
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.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Words at Standard Liege training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Josué Homawoo 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.
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Standard Liege pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
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.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Standard Liege people have started saying his name in the past tense.
$3.0M on the table at Club Brugge. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Allan Saint-Maximin 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.
Uriël Van Aalst is 20, and Standard Liege have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ibrahim Karamoko was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Ibe Hautekiet has his answer from Standard Liege; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Josué Homawoo
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Waasland-Beveren waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Standard Liege is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
$2.6M on the table at Willem II. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
$1.8M was the most the club would pay and OH Leuven 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.
Allan Saint-Maximin 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.
Successful dribbles: 20. 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.
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.
Minute 89, against Racing Genk, and a goal that felt like a win to everybody who had stayed. It was a draw. Nobody leaving the ground will describe it as one.
The mood at Standard Liege has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Standard Liege is running low.
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
Player ratings4 Jan 2027
A brace, and Enzo Crivelli takes the afternoon — 9.05
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Enzo Crivelli provided it, and the 9.05 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The offer from Waasland-Beveren for Marco Ilaimaharitra 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.
Standard Liege have gone to OH Leuven 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.
Standard Liege have gone to Sint-Truiden 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.
Enzo Crivelli 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.
Successful dribbles: 22. 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Standard Liege have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Marlon Fossey 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.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Matthieu Epolo, and the manager let it.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Words at Standard Liege training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ibrahim Karamoko 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.
Both clubs in the mire, one fixture between them, and a ground that will be louder and more frightened than at any point in the season. Standard Liege know what is at stake and so does everybody in the away end.
2‑2, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Thorgan De Ketelaere was not hiding it after 2‑2, and nobody in the Standard Liege dressing room was either.
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.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Words at Standard Liege training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Diego Da Silva Sousa 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: 16. 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Leander Nainggolan and Standard Liege agree another 4 years.
Position 15 and 12 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.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 6 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Allan Saint-Maximin 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 Marlon Fossey was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Marked 7.21 on 9 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Simon Januzaj and Standard Liege agree another 4 years.
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.
Successful dribbles: 34. 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 has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
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.
KV Kortrijk left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Words at Standard Liege training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ibrahim Karamoko 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.
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.
4 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.
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.
Something was said to Allan Saint-Maximin and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Successful dribbles: 45. 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Standard Liege have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Allan Saint-Maximin 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.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Matthieu Epolo, and the manager let it.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Words at Standard Liege training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Josué Homawoo 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 dugout23 Nov 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 Thorgan De Ketelaere left the room before anybody could ask which.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Juan Pablo Díaz and Standard Liege agree another 3 years.
In brief
The dugoutIbrahim Karamoko is still being punished for one mistake
Enzo Crivelli and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Words at Standard Liege training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ibrahim Karamoko 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 fixture the calendar is arranged around. Form goes out of the window, the table is not consulted, and for ninety minutes Standard Liege will be judged on one thing only.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Standard Liege told Allan Saint-Maximin something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Marlon Fossey 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.
Enzo Crivelli scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑3 to Sint-Truiden, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Words at Standard Liege training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ibrahim Karamoko 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.
Position 14, 10 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.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
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 run now stands at 6, and the questions being asked around Standard Liege are no longer polite ones.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Josué Homawoo 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.
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.
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.
7.37, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Standard Liege had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
Squad2 Nov 2026
5 new faces, and Standard Liege are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
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.
Successful dribbles: 24. 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 Standard Liege this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ibrahim Karamoko was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” David Bates has his answer from Standard Liege; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
0‑3 against Club Brugge, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 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.
Allan Saint-Maximin 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.
Two or more conceded in each of the last 4 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
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 easiest signature of my career.” Mohammed El Hankouri and Standard Liege agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Josué Homawoo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout12 Oct 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 1‑3 Thorgan De Ketelaere left the room before anybody could ask which.
The team at the top of the table next, and the honest measure of where this side actually is. Anybody can beat the club below them; the question is what happens against Club Brugge.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 8 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
1 for Dimitri Lavalée, marked 7.73, 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.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ibrahim Karamoko was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A point taken on 91 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.
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.
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.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 2‑2 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
0‑3 against Racing Genk, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
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.
“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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Words at Standard Liege training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ibrahim Karamoko 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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Thorgan De Ketelaere after 0‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
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.
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.
In brief
The dugoutIbe Hautekiet knocks on the manager’s door
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Josué Homawoo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
100 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Thorgan De Ketelaere could afford to be generous.
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Charleroi moved on, Daan Dierckx reports back to Standard Liege, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
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 words a physio says slowly. 14 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.
The offer from Sint-Truiden for Adnane Abid 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.
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Zulte Waregem moved on, Marco Ilaimaharitra reports back to Standard Liege, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
Successful dribbles: 25. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Deadline passes with 15 signed and 1 gone
That is the business done at Standard Liege until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Westerlo have kept their man, and Standard Liege go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ibrahim Karamoko was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The words a physio says slowly. 22 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.
2 kept out in the shoot-out, and a stadium that will still be describing them in twenty years. A goalkeeper only needs one of these to be remembered forever.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Standard Liege people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Westerlo paid $660.0K and Standard Liege took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 22 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
30 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Standard Liege lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
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.
The offer from KV Oostende for Marlon Fossey 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Mouscron have kept their man, and Standard Liege go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Yann Gboua 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 words a physio says slowly. 37 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.
Charlotte Football Club did not want to sell and the number is why they did. $22.0M for Allan Saint-Maximin, and the expectation that arrives with him is the kind no amount of settling-in period softens.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Dinamo Moscow have kept their man, and Standard Liege go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Standard Liege offered $8.2M; KV Oostende said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
There comes a point where a club either backs its own ambition or admits it does not have any. Standard Liege have paid $4.6M for Yannick Carrasco, which is the loudest way there is of saying which one it chose.
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.
45 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Standard Liege lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The offer went to Charlotte Football Club 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 clubs have shaken hands with Krasnodar; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
$9.4M on the table at Club Brugge. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
$8.2M on the table at KV Oostende. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
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.
The offer from Nimes for Mohammed El Hankouri 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.
The offer went to Krasnodar 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Al-Nassr have kept their man, and Standard Liege go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Enzo Crivelli has just signed for Standard Liege, and for once the answer mattered.
Marlon Fossey 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.
The fixture the calendar is arranged around. Form goes out of the window, the table is not consulted, and for ninety minutes Standard Liege will be judged on one thing only.