Two goals and a mark of 8.29 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
He is 19, he is averaging 6.48, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Successful dribbles: 26. 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.
7.25, 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.
Afimico Pululu 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 Waasland-Beveren, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 3‑1, Adnan Onana could afford to be generous.
In brief
The dugoutCasper Nielsen has become a man the manager trusts
1‑4 against Club Brugge, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 4 arrived, 1 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed 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.
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.
This is not cover and nobody is pretending it is. $15.8M has been paid because Afimico Pululu is straightforwardly better than what was already here, and the club has decided to stop waiting.
“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.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Standard Liege have done the hard part with KAA Gent, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
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 Cristian Cásseres was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boards get told what they have done wrong for years and hear nothing on the days they get it right. This is one of those days: Afimico Pululu from Al-Hazem for $15.8M, and a ticket office having a very good morning.
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 89. KV Mechelen had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Standard Liege are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Adnane Abid will call it something else in private.
This is not cover and nobody is pretending it is. $13.5M has been paid because Fashion Sakala is straightforwardly better than what was already here, and the club has decided to stop waiting.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Fashion Sakala is living that version at Standard Liege, and it tends to show in the first month.
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.
Standard Liege asked and Racing Genk said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
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.
The phone has started ringing about Ryan Fosso again, and this time the name on the line is Zulte Waregem. Standard Liege are listening politely and promising nothing.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Words at Standard Liege training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Cristian Cásseres 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 terraces18 Jan 2027
Standard Liege spend $13.5M on the signing the town wanted
It is the rarest sequence in football: supporters ask for something, and the club goes and does it. $13.5M for Fashion Sakala, and for one week nobody is complaining about anything.
$3.1M was the most the club would pay and Racing Genk 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.
7.72, 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Cristian Cásseres was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
There was one mistake and it ended in the net. Defenders are judged on the worst thing they did rather than on the eighty-nine minutes either side of it, which is unfair and is also the job.
Lokeren 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.
Standard Liege have gone to Al-Fayha 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.
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.
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.
Marked 8.27 — 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.
Marked 8.21 — 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.
“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.
Player ratings4 Jan 2027
Enzo Crivelli was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.12. 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.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Cristian Cásseres was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Adnan Onana after 1‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 17 actions, 7.58, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Cristian Cásseres was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 Cristian Cásseres is on it.
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Adnan Onana was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the Standard Liege dressing room was either.
Something was said to Hakim Guenouche and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Cristian Cásseres was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Sacha Ziani and Standard Liege agree another 4 years.
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.
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.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑4, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Sylvester Jasper is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
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.
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.
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Enzo Crivelli. 1‑0 against KV Oostende, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Adnane Abid
Player ratingsNobody on the pitch touched Enzo Crivelli
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Mohammed El Hankouri scored, was marked 7.88, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
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.
Marked 8.08 — 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.
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 97. Anderlecht had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
6 goals in one match, Enzo Crivelli on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Standard Liege and Charleroi.
Enzo Crivelli scored, and precious little else went right: 2‑4 to Charleroi, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
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.
0‑3 to Sint-Truiden, 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.
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.
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.
Position 13, 13 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.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Cristian Cásseres was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
The dugout2 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 0‑1 Adnan Onana left the room before anybody could ask which.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Souleyman Doumbia has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
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.
15 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.
0‑3 against Club Brugge, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Successful dribbles: 21. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Words at Standard Liege training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Cristian Cásseres 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.” Adnan Onana after 0‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
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.
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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Words at Standard Liege training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Cristian Cásseres 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.
At 21 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Adnan Onana after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against KV Mechelen? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
Club Brugge next, and one man in the Standard Liege dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Ibrahim Karamoko scored, was marked 7.63, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Cristian Cásseres 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 Ibrahim Karamoko was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Level with 88 minutes on the clock, after an afternoon Standard Liege had all but put away. KAA Gent will call it a point earned; the home dressing room will call it two given away, and both of them are right.
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Matthieu Epolo has come out of that comparison in the side, and Standard Liege have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 1‑1, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
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.
In brief
The dugoutAdnane Abid asks for a word with the manager
Successful dribbles: 29. 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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Words at Standard Liege training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Cristian Cásseres 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.
15 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 dugout28 Sep 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 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Adnan Onana 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.
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Standard Liege will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
In brief
The dugoutSomebody else is better right now than Salieu Drammeh
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.
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 dugout21 Sep 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.” Adnan Onana, on a 2‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
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.
2 behind and going nowhere, until Dennis Ayensa decided otherwise. OH Leuven had done the hard part and then watched it come apart, and the noise at the final whistle was the sort a ground keeps.
Standard Liege asked and Charleroi said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
He is 21 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.
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.
The offer from FC Augsburg for Matthieu Epolo 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. Chicago Fire have kept their man, and Standard Liege go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 16 arrived, 4 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
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 Cristian Cásseres was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
The dugout7 Sep 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 1‑3 defeat, delivered by Adnan Onana to a room that had heard them before.
Josué Homawoo has gone, the accounts have $4.7M in them, and the supporters have the feeling of having been sold something themselves. Good business and a good decision are not always the same thing.
KV Mechelen paid $4.7M 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.
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.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Hakim Guenouche is living that version at Standard Liege, and it tends to show in the first month.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Yann Gboua 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.
In brief
Player ratingsThe afternoon belonged to Dennis Ayensa
Squad13 new faces, and Standard Liege are still learning each other
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Viktoria Plzen 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 name of Daan Dierckx has come up in conversations Standard Liege were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
$3.2M was the most the club would pay and Club Brugge 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 Standard Liege this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Maximiliano Caufriez has just signed for Standard Liege, and for once the answer mattered.
$3.2M 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.
Standard Liege asked and LOSC Lille said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Successful dribbles: 25. 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.
The shirt still fits. Maximiliano Caufriez is back at Standard Liege, and half the ground remembers him in these colours already. Some signings need selling to the town; this one sold itself.
$22.1M on the table at Toulouse FC. 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 whole of the defence. 9 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
The offer from Charleroi for Matthieu Epolo 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.
Successful dribbles: 30. 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Queens Park Rangers 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.