Pelotas

Apparently, Jonathan Panzo is on his way to OH Leuven. Another free agent, as his contract at Birmingham ended this summer. Edit: despite various sources saying the deal was done. Latest now is Panzo ultimately not given a contract due to fitness concerns. Good decision ofc, but concerning that the current player pool looked at leads to unfit free agents. At least the women are in the Champions League again and we get some Europa League action at Den Dreef through Union SG. 🙄

Lol... moving up out of the relegation zone without playing a match this wknd

Of course, but most clubs always assume they can sell their players for way more than in reality, all I'm saying. e.g. amounts I've heard for Nyakossi are crazy.

Epolo a bit overrated imho https://youtu.be/prN6NbOKA_g

I fail to see how Standard could afford Leysen and why Leysen would want to go there in the first place. He can do better, if Burnley was in play that says smth…

Yes indeed, but Simons does not want to park the bus. Even against Club Brugge in the second half I think we had equal possession and were regularly on the attacking half… I can appreciate that, we had a chance to make 1-1. Trying to hold on for a draw often fails anyway and a win pays off more anyways. Against Charleroi we were down to ten men early on as well… No recent updates wrt Ikwuemesi, Opoku, or Leysen. Nyakossi to Mönchengladbach was rumoured. Regarding new signings: seems like players need to leave before we sign new ones I’m afraid, although I’m sure we’ll loan some or sign for free on deadline day as always

Bench vs Charleroi no? btw Mathieu Maertens named as possible new signing at newly promoted Cambuur. If so I’m off to Friesland for a match this season

Well… moving to 18 teams mostly. Gaps will be bigger, middle of the table teams play for nothing from January, and second division is near dead with the 11 remaining Pro teams and 4 U23 teams no one comes to watch. Reform was made especially for Club Brugge, because 16 plus playoffs makes 40 MDs which is too much for them as they understandably want to focus on the shitload of money they get in Europe. Everyone knew it was bad but they couldnt get to an agreement sooner, in the end Club Brugge bought the votes of smaller teams with the entry fee for the U23 teams in second div and changed the relegation rules of the running season so that the U23s of Genk would not be relegated (acquiring the crucial vote of Genk). In the end we move from a league of 40 MDs (of which a lot of matchups between big teams) and excitement until the end, to a league of 34 matches with less quality matches (2 small teams added and fewer big team clashes), with much less excitement as most will often be decided by March or April, while middle of the table teams will play for nothing from January. In short: league should move to fewer teams ASAP, probably 12 or 14 as is the case in same size countries like Scotland, Denmark, Switzerland, Austria… but with fewer teams we’ll probably indeed need playoffs again to have sufficient matches… and second division should be hugely upgraded and invested in by the league. Remove the u23s no one comes to watch and share some of the income from Europe and tv. On OHL and the need for strong tall defs: our 2meter tall newcomer is on the bench.

Indeed, major issue is that with Simons' playing style you need an excellent goalkeeper as you also give away more opportunities. Van den Heuvel did not look very good… But indeed, Club Brugge is too strong, too wealthy and too powerful right now for the Belgian league. They sell players probably worth more than OHL as a club. There is no shame in losing to them and it could have been more. Best thing to happen is for Club to run away from the rest as soon as possible and take away hope from the rest, as the league needs to be reformed asap again, format is bad for Belgium except for the very wealthy.

Ours is already 6ft7, really would be quite a sight. Next match we’re up against Sideshow Bob (Marlon Fossey) as well, so really I support any fruit up there for a good hair matchup.

Good news of the weekend, Kortrijk also not playing coming weekend so we can’t sink any further

NP... at least it's official now: https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7506096/2026/08/11/leicester-city-sale-king-power/

Where does this info come from so suddenly? Would explain why we’ve only signed free agents and loan players until now

where there’s smoke… why involve Citi and look for possible buyers? Maybe the sale doesn’t happen soon, maybe the rumour of an interested buyer is just to spark interest from other candidates, but it adds up with the financial struggles KP is having in their core business so I personally do think Leicester is for sale and will be sold ultimately in one of the next few seasons. And when that happens… I see no use in KP then keeping OHL. It would be the only club in their portfolio and due to geographical proximity and easier (and relatively cheap) access to football for foreign footballers (visa) it would make sense to keep both clubs in the same portfolio. So in short yes I believe OHL is/will be part of the sale.

I agree… and still Maertens always came in strong and Maziz still stood out when he had his moments (fewer and fewer). Just to point out that it’s not like all the players that are staying were top notch last season