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The OH Leuven Thread

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53 minutes ago, volpeazzurro said:

Haha, but in fairness Lizhang may of course be making a very good point. Just as we believe that we know our team and it's various capabilities over the years, he is merely doing the same and he does make some sense. The fact is that some supporters, because they are fiercy loyal to Pearson for what he contributed to our journey and rightly so, they do tend to wear blue tinted glasses regarding his current managing abilities.

 

In the season of our so called great escape, if you look at the season as a whole and not the last handful of games, he was a poor poor manager in many ways and there's more than a few people that put our great escape down to other factors and individuals that do not include Pearson. He went on to do a piss poor job elsewhere didn't he. The fact he didn't have Shakespeare and Walsh with him may have been a contributory factor but either way he was a failure. There are also a few out of mere football snobbery that may feel that Leuven should feel lucky to have an ex Leicester City/Premiership manager. Firstly, a proven successful Premiership manager he isn't and on his own there's little to point to him being any good. There have been elements of Lizhang's arguments that are reminiscent of Pearson's inept pigheadedness when he was here. If I was Lizhang, whilst I would feel that in the long run that King Power would be good for my club, I too would want rid of Pearson under the circumstances. Though grateful for his past contribution to our journey, I wouldn't want him anywhere near us now other than as a visitor. 

True, I'm not saying Lizhang is wrong, he makes some very valid points, and we all appreciate him signing up to another club's forum to update us on OHL. But he isn't half a miserable, argumentative sod! Love you @Lizhang

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30 minutes ago, Arriba Los Zorros said:

True, I'm not saying Lizhang is wrong, he makes some very valid points, and we all appreciate him signing up to another club's forum to update us on OHL. But he isn't half a miserable, argumentative sod! Love you @Lizhang

Love you too and Lizhang. I would still like to get over to watch them one day. One thing that does puzzle me is the structure of their league and the small amount of teams in it with the constant repeat of fixtures of the bottom four. I think that would seriously depress me. Do Belgian people like this system or would they prefer more teams and less leagues. Though I would expect financial sponsorship it quite different there, if we adopted a similar system here, there would be many chairman who would refuse to invest much in new players due to the constant threat of relegation and loss of revenue. 

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2 minutes ago, pmcla26 said:

@Lizhang I’m not saying this is the case but just wondering, do you think, because King Power can afford to do so, once they manage to get your club up they will invest heavily to compete due to the lack of funds of the rest of the clubs and the problem is they just can’t get the formula yet to get up there? But once they do it should be straight forward competing for the top or no? 

This is what we have all hoped to be the case. It has always been hoping to become the Belgian equivalent of Leicester versus fearing to become another Belgian feeder club. At this moment in time, it could still go either way. We've seen some nice things by King Power, but the fact that Pearson just keeps chucking along, keeps playing guys like Hirst that have no business being on the pitch, that has many still doubting what will happen.

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@Lizhang, many of us now have an interest in a team we can’t see play, in an obscure division, with a structure too arcane to understand.  You’ve done a real job providing facts and context.  Thank you.

 

Beyond the Pearson arguments (you and everybody else have their ax to grind) … I know the fear of long and loyal supporters like you, is becoming a mere feeder club.  Like the US baseball minor leagues which exist to develop players, so winning is secondary.

 

These are unbelievable owners and I truly don’t believe they would sacrifice the welfare of a small club (and its supporters) to enhance a bigger asset.  However, they also show great loyalty and trust to valued senior employees.  I think that’s what you are seeing now.

 

There comes a time to play for the points and feck all else, and that time is clearly now.  Forgive nostalgic optimism among the LCFC support (and not just the Ostrich-heads) who have seen Pearson pull bad situations out of the fire.  And coincidentally leave a good structure behind the scenes.

 

I sincerely hope that is where this goes.  If it doesn’t, KP management will do what has to be done.

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52 minutes ago, KingsX said:

@Lizhang, many of us now have an interest in a team we can’t see play, in an obscure division, with a structure too arcane to understand.  You’ve done a real job providing facts and context.  Thank you.

As far as i know, there is only one website left (there used to be more AFAIK) that sometimes* offers livestreams of our matches. I don't know the forums policy regarding links to such websites. I'm fairly certain these are illegal streams. There is a betting website that also offers livestreams (most of the matches) but as far as i know it's georestricted. That means you can only watch if you can make the website believe you are in Belgium. This website offers legal streams (in conjuction with the Belgian Pro League) but it's a betting website, you need to sign up with your ID card, and make a small paiment (betting credits) before you can stream matches. It's also possible you won't be able to watch with a foreign ID card. But i don't know about that. This website is called "unibet". It's legal, with official streams. The other website with the (likely) illegal streams...if it's ok, i can post it. If not i can reply to peoples PM's.

 

Neither are 100% certain to stream every match. Sometimes they do, sometimes they don't. But if you're interested...

Edited by Lizhang
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8 hours ago, volpeazzurro said:

That's really appreciated and very comprehensive. It highlights two things for me. Firstly my ignorance and lack of knowledge regarding Belgium as a country. Secondly, because of all the excellent Belgian footballers we see either in the Premiership or elsewhere abroad, I'd just assumed that the club situation over there must be large, strong and healthy. The club situation as you describe it makes it even more incredible the amount of great Belgian players you have turned out over the years! I do believe that with a bit of patience that King Power will pull though for you, but fully understand your concerns as we were exactly the same when they came to us and the rest is history.  It's not just the title win either and I think the scenes of the 50,000 Leicester people who turned out on a walk before a game in memory of Vichai bears testament to how much the family are well thought of. As for Pearson I understand your concerns and would most likely be thinking similar in the circumstances. In his era he did us proud but he did have a very able team around him. Sometimes players who are very good players in their own countries come to the Premiership and can't adapt to the particular style of play here. There may be elements of that with some  UK managers trying to manage abroad,  in particular Pearson in Belgium and it has to be admitted that his efforts as a manager after us, without his team behind him was a bit of a failure. We nevertheless all wish Leuven all the best as we do feel a connection. Have a good  Christmas! 

Late 1990s Belgian football wasn't worth shit. So efforts were made to increase the quality of our youth divisions and football education. There were a few of really good youth academies, Anderlecht, Beerschot, Genk... some of the bigger teams back then. Beerschot alone was responsible for Vertonghen, Alderweireld, Dembélé, Naingolan, Vermaelen... They all came from the same generation from the same club. Genk was famous for De Bruyne, Courtois (though i'm not sure they started out there)... But Dries Mertens, Denis Odoi and Dennis Praet (Sampdoria) all came out of Leuven, though Odoi was the only one to stick around. But still, we're talking about maybe 10 clubs with a decent youth system in place nationwide. OHL was, and still is, one of the twelve best youth acadamies in the country.

 

Merry Christmas to you too.

 

PS: i added something to my long post regarding our leagues/divisions.

Edited by Lizhang
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Thanks to a tip from @Lizhang, I saw the second half.  OHL were already a man down, so not the best sample to judge.

 

The good: they kept attacking.  I wish Iheanacho would make half the runs OHL’s young striker #25 did.

 

The bad: what a horrid, raggedy defense.  Slow and late on every run, every ball played.

 

The ugly: #4 got in behind the line on a set piece, set himself and … headed it back out like a champ.  Good CB instincts there bud, but that was Mechelen’s goal, not your own.

 

I do want to watch them again, 11 v 11.

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On 11/12/2018 at 14:38, Lizhang said:

 

 

PS: what i forgot to mention: I think the best they could do, is to let two extra amateur teams into the pro divisions (there are 2 or 3 of them that want to go pro anyway), and use the following split: 18 teams in first division, 8 teams in second. But with one important change compared to the current second division (which is called 1B), and that is to have 3 teams (out of 8) get promoted instead of just one. That means 3 teams get relegated out of 18 in the first division (1A), which is basically the same as it is now, since you have to finish among the first 15 teams as well currently. You can return to a normal first division, with 34 matches, no need for playoffs etc. You can still keep the 8 teams in 2nd division (1B), facing off twice at home and twice away... but 3 out of 8 teams get promoted, and one out of 8 gets relegated. Meaning, half of the division will change year over year. So unlike now, you won't get stuck playing the same teams for 3 years in a row. I believe it would also reward offensive football. You would have roughly 40% of getting promoted, so unlike the current situation, getting relegated out of 1A doesn't have te be the end of the world, you could easily go up in one or two years again. This way, the current 2nd division will be more of a "waiting area", where you will get your turn sooner or later, instead of being a deathtrap, like it is now.

Ffs this Ps is longer than my 11k posts lol lol

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2 hours ago, KingsX said:

Thanks to a tip from @Lizhang, I saw the second half.  OHL were already a man down, so not the best sample to judge.

 

The good: they kept attacking.  I wish Iheanacho would make half the runs OHL’s young striker #25 did.

 

The bad: what a horrid, raggedy defense.  Slow and late on every run, every ball played.

 

The ugly: #4 got in behind the line on a set piece, set himself and … headed it back out like a champ.  Good CB instincts there bud, but that was Mechelen’s goal, not your own.

 

I do want to watch them again, 11 v 11.

 

To be fair... that #25, he's another OHL youth product... and he's a... defensive midfielder :whistle: (same as Libert that he replaced, #24)
Pearson has played him as a left wing fullback, a right wing fullback, offensive midfielder... but i can't remember him playing Mertens (#25) ever as defensive midfielder :) But the boy has potential.

 

37 minutes ago, sylofox said:

Ffs this Ps is longer than my 11k posts lol lol

Sorry man, it's not easy explaining the way our league works, and providing context as to how it came about.

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6 minutes ago, Lizhang said:

 

To be fair... that #25, he's another OHL youth product... and he's a... defensive midfielder :whistle: (same as Libert that he replaced, #24)
Pearson has played him as a left wing fullback, a right wing fullback, offensive midfielder... but i can't remember him playing Mertens (#25) ever as defensive midfielder :) But the boy has potential.

 

Sorry man, it's not easy explaining the way our league works, and providing context as to how it came about.

It's no problem. Just my sense of humour. 

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