The OH Leuven Thread

[Chrysalis]

4 hours ago, The_Rorab said:

I don't think that'd be the right move for anyone. He seems to have confidence issues here, so I can't imagine how a loan in the 2nd tier of Belgian football would do for his confidence - nor do I think he would be motivated enough for Leuven themselves and I don't think they deserve someone not hungry to prove themselves. That may be speculation on my part as to Nacho's motivation levels, but I don't think he'd be giving it his all for Leuven so I don't think it'd be good for either team.

 

I'd say either he needs full confidence from Rodgers and to come good with a decent start to next season, or he needs a completely new club where he can re-invent himself and get his confidence back.

 

If hes not good enough for them how is he good enough for us?

 

If we keep nacho he needs to be loaned out, he has had multiple seasons here and isnt getting any better, so when people keep coming out with things like "just another season" I really am baffled what the reasoning is.

 

The problems with nacho.

 

1 - No first touch skills, some claim this is confidence, to me I think it can be, but also its natural ability.  Since I think I have never seen him have a good first touch unless the ball is played to him slow and short, I think its a combination of both.  Good strikers need a good first touch.

2 - Attitude issues.  Not much to say here.

3 - Confidence now affecting his shooting.  Fixed by placing him in a league where it is easier to score, the only way to get confidence back is by scoring, and the quickest way to do that is in an easier league.

 

Conclusion loan to a championship club or oh leuven.

 

The worst thing that can happen is we just keep him here as a squad member, I would be surprised if rodgers lets us go into the new season without another striker for backup to vardy, meaning nacho will be 3rd choice and wont get much action anyway.

 

Dont know why so many are against loaning him out, many good players came from the championship.

 

Kane (loaned out)

Barnes

Mahrez

Vardy

Ulloa

Wood

 

and many many more.  If the player just outright refuses a loan claiming he is above it, then get rid.

 

Did akinbiyi and elvis hammond get the same good treatment on here? as in all honesty both were better players than nacho.

Edited 21 May 2019 by Chrysalis

[volpeazzurro]

5 hours ago, TeamRocket said:

I agree but if he starts playing again and probably scoring goals for them wouldn't that help  with his confidence. Plus this way if he comes good hes still ours? Maybe am wrong but hate how some players turn out epic for  other teams n not us

Can't see it working somehow. He can't play off the front man, no real pace, can't dribble past a man, the only mild hope would be that there would be a quality player to lay it on a plate for him whereupon he could use his supposed 'not yet seen here' myth of deadly finishing. But ... as he's too bone idle to put himself out to get into the box to be in the right place at the right time, that ain't going to happen. Times I've seen Vardy or another racing down the wing only to see a midfielder overtake Nacho and try and get into the box. That isn't lack of confidence,  it's lack of effort. There's a reason managers aren't playing him including his national one whose cited him as being unprofessional. He's a lazy unmotivated twat who we need rid of ASAP but nobody that I can see would be stupid enough to buy him! Rodgers is a coach not the Messiah, but if he could con the pratt into giving a handful of half decent performances enough to get rid at half price then that for me would be the best for all parties.

[Lizhang]

On 19/05/2019 at 21:38, bald reynard said:

Hi Bonanza, do you know / have you heard, if OHL are going to introduce an English version of their website this summer ?  I emailed the Club a couple of years ago to ask that and they replied to say they would, "in the near future".  I've lost their email and so don't know who it was that sent it.  Do you know - or can you find out from someone at the Club ?

 

Update: I posted this on the site rather than messaged Bonanza, in case others in Belgium (perhaps Leuven or Lizhang ?) might know, or could find out. 

Well, they even have a dedicated Thai website (an official independent website for OHL, in Thai). So it would make sense that, at one point, there would be an English version. https://www.ohlthai.com/

 

For the time being, you can run the official Dutch site through google translate if you don't mind some occasional wacky English: https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=nl&tl=en&u=www.ohleuven.com

 

PS: as for the "Nacho" discussion, this isn't the same situation as Moore, for instance. I doubt he'd want to come anyway. I do think loaning him out could be a good idea, but probably best to a top Championship club.

Edited 22 May 2019 by Lizhang

[Xen]

11 hours ago, Chrysalis said:

3 - Confidence now affecting his shooting.  Fixed by placing him in a league where it is easier to score, the only way to get confidence back is by scoring, and the quickest way to do that is in an easier league.

I don't know about anyone else, but if I was in Iheanacho's shoes - playing for Man City as a teenager - and then 2 years later being told I was about to be sent to a team who were almost relegated to the Belgian amateur division that would knock any remaining confidence out of me.

 

Glad to see you've got your manager situation sorted now, OHL fans. Fingers crossed you have a decent off-season and bring in a few new faces for a promotion push next year.

Edited 22 May 2019 by Xen

[Chrysalis]

Thats certainly an odd way of looking at it I feel.

 

By that logic whenever someone moves to what is a considered a smaller club they suddenly lose confidence, makes no sense to me.

 

I can understand a player becoming frustrated, angry but not low on confidence from such a move.

 

However if they do such a move and still fail to perform, then I can see it then making confidence lower.

 

With all this said I acknowledge loaning him over there is extreme, a move to the championship would be much better.

Edited 22 May 2019 by Chrysalis

[Nicolo Barella]

12 hours ago, TeamRocket said:

I agree but if he starts playing again and probably scoring goals for them wouldn't that help  with his confidence. Plus this way if he comes good hes still ours? Maybe am wrong but hate how some players turn out epic for  other teams n not us

A loan could work, but definitely not one to Belgium's second tier

[ChiefFox]

Looks like someone has set up a English twitter account for the Club. https://twitter.com/OHLeuvenEN

[Bonanza]

New signing today!

 

Yannis Mbombo, who came in on loan from Moeskroen in January, has signed a 1 year deal with a further one-year option.

 

Mbombo can play multiple positions, but primarily played as a left winger for us. He did good in the play-offs, so this signing doesn't come as a surprise.

 

 

 

Edited 23 May 2019 by Bonanza

[Lizhang]

Apparently, the scouting apparatus that Rob Mackenzie had put in place, with disastrous results past season, has been disbanded or at least will not be used by OHL anymore. A new scouting department will be set up (as it was in the past) with some new people at the helm.

[The_Rorab]

2 hours ago, Lizhang said:

Apparently, the scouting apparatus that Rob Mackenzie had put in place, with disastrous results past season, has been disbanded or at least will not be used by OHL anymore. A new scouting department will be set up (as it was in the past) with some new people at the helm.

I can't help but feel as if things are moving upwards now that we (and our board) seem to have less sway in your decisions and backroom staff!

[Lizhang]

2 hours ago, The_Rorab said:

I can't help but feel as if things are moving upwards now that we (and our board) seem to have less sway in your decisions and backroom staff!

The more i get to think about it, the more i feel i was right with my initial impression, that certain people simply underestimated the league. Not necessarily the level of difficulty, but rather the intricacies, the quirks, the tactical approach. It may be understandable. from a Leicester point of view. If you can run/manage a EPL club, that running a Belgian second division team should be a walk in the park. Turns out it's not.

 

Anyway, the guy that's going to be leading the new scouting department formerly worked for KV Mechelen (the club that won our league this year) and Anderlecht.

 

Huge props to Top though, for listening to local expertise and acknowledging that the English way simply wasn't working for us. It's the first time it really feels that we are not simply the subject of a hostile take-over but can look hopefully towards the future. That he has our best interest at heart, despite signs to the contrary before. It sounds dramatic i'm sure, but after flying in Leicester board members, a former Leicester manager, Leicester players (good and bad), a Thai goalkeeper (more marketing than quality), getting swamped by Thai flags and Thai advertisements on the ledboards, the stadium changing names to "King Power at Den Dreef Stadium" while turning more and more blue by the minute... meanwhile Pearson seemingly getting a free pass, and we get to endure Hirst week after week while slipping into last place. You can understand my confidence wasn't exactly skyhigh. So it's a big turnaround in momentum. The feeling of being left without a voice while the club is taken away from us, has been replaced with a very positive vibe of hope :-)

[CosbehFox]

4 hours ago, Lizhang said:

The more i get to think about it, the more i feel i was right with my initial impression, that certain people simply underestimated the league. Not necessarily the level of difficulty, but rather the intricacies, the quirks, the tactical approach. It may be understandable. from a Leicester point of view. If you can run/manage a EPL club, that running a Belgian second division team should be a walk in the park. Turns out it's not.

 

Anyway, the guy that's going to be leading the new scouting department formerly worked for KV Mechelen (the club that won our league this year) and Anderlecht.

 

Huge props to Top though, for listening to local expertise and acknowledging that the English way simply wasn't working for us. It's the first time it really feels that we are not simply the subject of a hostile take-over but can look hopefully towards the future. That he has our best interest at heart, despite signs to the contrary before. It sounds dramatic i'm sure, but after flying in Leicester board members, a former Leicester manager, Leicester players (good and bad), a Thai goalkeeper (more marketing than quality), getting swamped by Thai flags and Thai advertisements on the ledboards, the stadium changing names to "King Power at Den Dreef Stadium" while turning more and more blue by the minute... meanwhile Pearson seemingly getting a free pass, and we get to endure Hirst week after week while slipping into last place. You can understand my confidence wasn't exactly skyhigh. So it's a big turnaround in momentum. The feeling of being left without a voice while the club is taken away from us, has been replaced with a very positive vibe of hope :-)

The same happened here at first. Tried employing a name in Paulo Sousa. Then tried buying their way through it with Sven Goran Eriksson as manager. Then brought in Pearson back. Kept their patience at for two seasons. In reality it wasn't as easy as they think. 

[Out Foxed]

Yeah they may make mistakes but they are not afraid to own up to them in turns of being precious about decisions. 

 

 

[ChiefFox]

I think to be fair, we got 'lucky' in the sense that we already play in blue. 

 

So we didn't notice/wouldn't complain, when their logo started appearing everywhere. I actually think for the Premier League, we have one of the neatest sponsors on the front of the shirt, because it seems to fit in so well with everything, but that may be because we've been so used to seeing it absolutely everywhere. 

 

King Power isn't a company in the UK, so it's difficult to really know the scale of it, but I doubt many Leicester fans would be happy if we had the 'Tesco's Stadium' or something of a similar size. 

 

They didn't get everything right here to start with, but we're certainly reaping the rewards now that they took the time to realise what was needed.

 

We have a lot of stuff here which is purely marketing/exposure for the Asian market, we have a Thai academy of footballers who don't appear to be anywhere near breaking into the Leicester Squad, there's a thread on here about the recent celebration of the new King of Thailand that some people had issues with. I guess from our point of view, with the success we've had, we are happy to indulge them in whatever they want to do.  Clearly from an OHL point of view, if you've not had the success it can seem like they're just taking over. 

[Lizhang]

Good news for our youth squads. They are again part of the elite divisions, and will play against the top teams in the country, next year.

 

Our U11-U18 teams and our U21 team have all managed to slip into the Elite 1 brackets. This is a big deal, since we are geographically only a 30 minute drive away from teams like STVV and Anderlecht, who are 1st division teams. Even Genk, Standard de Liège etc, are more or less a 1 hour drive away. So our best talents were easily snatched away by 1st division teams.

 

U11-U18

 

1.      RSC Anderlecht
2.      Club Brugge
3.      Sporting de Charleroi
4.      KAS Eupen
5.      KRC Genk
6.      KAA Gent
7.      Oud-Heverlee Leuven
8.      Standard de Liège
9.      Sporting Lokeren
10.    YR KV Mechelen
11.    STVV
12.    Zulte Waregem  

 

 

U21

 

1.      RSC Anderlecht
2.      Club Brugge 
3.      KRC Genk
4.      KAA Gent
5.      Oud-Heverlee Leuven
6.      Standard de Liège
7.      YR KV Mechelen
8.      STVV   

 

 

 

https://www.proximus-sports.be/nl/voetbal/proximus-league/artikel/1954574/clubs-kennen-definitieve-eindscores-elite-label-voor-jeugdwerking

Edited 11 June 2019 by Lizhang

[Bonanza]

Transfernews for our club.

 

David Hubert (central defender/defensive midfielder, 31) has signed a new 1-year deal with OH Leuven. David normally plays as a defensive midfielder, but under the new managers he played as a central defender alongside Sascha Kotysch and Elliot Moore. He did a good job in this new role, so this deal isn't a surprise.

 

 

 

Yannick Aguemon (right winger, 27) will also remain in Leuven, as the club has activated the 1 year extention in his contract.

[UniFox21]

Seemed to have signed a new midfielder. Any of the OHL lads know much about him?

 

[Bonanza]

1 hour ago, UniFox21 said:

Seemed to have signed a new midfielder. Any of the OHL lads know much about him?

 

Xavier Mercier has signed a 2-year contract with our club. We bought him from Cercle Brugge (Belgian 1st division)

Mercier is a 29-year-old French attacking midfielder, who has a lot of experience with Belgian football. He signed a contract with KV Kortrijk (1st div.) in January 2016, but left the club in July 2017 for Cercle Brugge (2nd div.). He was named 'player of the 2017-2018 season' after leading his team to the league title. That team was managed by Vercauteren and Euvrard, who are now managing our club. This season he was a big part of the team that finished 13th.

 

This signing really shows the club's ambition to fight for promotion!

[UniFox21]

16 minutes ago, Bonanza said:

Xavier Mercier has signed a 2-year contract with our club. We bought him from Cercle Brugge (Belgian 1st division)

Mercier is a 29-year-old French attacking midfielder, who has a lot of experience with Belgian football. He signed a contract with KV Kortrijk (1st div.) in January 2016, but left the club in July 2017 for Cercle Brugge (2nd div.). He was named 'player of the 2017-2018 season' after leading his team to the league title. That team was managed by Vercauteren and Euvrard, who are now managing our club. This season he was a big part of the team that finished 13th.

 

This signing really shows the club's ambition to fight for promotion!

So a player with the ability to push for the top league and play well there?

 

Great signing if so, shows a link up with the managers if he's willing to drop down to work with them again. Hopefully a sign for a good promotion push next year

[Bonanza]

31 minutes ago, UniFox21 said:

So a player with the ability to push for the top league and play well there?

 

Great signing if so, shows a link up with the managers if he's willing to drop down to work with them again. Hopefully a sign for a good promotion push next year

He's a good player for most teams in the 1st division and a great player for all teams in the 2nd division. A player who can created chances for himself and others, something we desperately need in OHL. He's also know for being a good free kick and corner taker, something we also really need. We haven't had a real specialist since John Bostock left our club in 2016. 

The Cercle Brugge fans are quite devastated that their captain is leaving the club. I've read their forum, and they rated him among their 3 best players this season. 

 

The last couple of seasons have been an absolute disaster when it comes to transfers. This is why we were all so happy that Vercauteren and Euvrard signed a new deal. It's clear that they are now in charge of the incoming and outgoing transfers.They will form a team with players that they think have the necessary quality to fight for promotion. The signing of Mercier is a great example of this.

 

We still need some new players to fight for promotion, but if the club keeps signing players with this kind of quality we are in for a fun season!

[leuven]

anyone heard anything on the plan for Elliott Moore? I would love to see him return to Leuven for another season.

[The People's Hero]

15 minutes ago, leuven said:

anyone heard anything on the plan for Elliott Moore? I would love to see him return to Leuven for another season.

I wonder about sending over our our left back 'Thomas?' who's got rave reviews? 

 

Not heard anything on Elliott Moore

[Lizhang]

On 17/06/2019 at 12:43, The People's Hero said:

I wonder about sending over our our left back 'Thomas?' who's got rave reviews? 

 

Not heard anything on Elliott Moore

Tshimanga (former national team player) is our left/wingback. He's been one of our best players past 2 seasons. Obiously a good double is always a plus, but if he would be benched most of the time, maybe he wants to go to a team where he'll definitely be in the starting 11.

[sylofox]

On 22/04/2019 at 13:42, Foxxed said:

Josh Knight is roughly at the same level as Sam Hughes and Knight was loaned out to a league one outfit for half a season. Is the Beligian second equivalent to our third tier?

 

And another thing, are we ever getting Elliot Moore back? Surely two seasons in the Belgian second is enough for his development? Are we going to loan him out to them again in the hope they game promotion and then he'll get a season in the Belgian first? He's 22 now. I'd rather loan him out to a league one outfit tbh.

If at 22 he's only good enough for a league one loan he'll never play prem football at the level we want. 

On 22/04/2019 at 14:13, foxes21 said:

If you need a striker we have an exciting prospect coming through called Ryan Loft. 

 

 

 

Nahhhh they will just slate him for everything. 

[Lizhang]

Quote

OH Leuven have shelved plans of re-signing Leicester City winger Bartosz Kapustka next season.

This past campaign's loan was cut short late in the season due to a serious knee injury.

The Pole is now doing his rehab back in England and Leicester's Belgian partners accept he won't be returning, says HLN.

He still has two years remaining on his deal at the King Power Stadium and although his future at the club does not look bright, a departure is unlikely this summer given his injury situation.

Kapustka has been on the books of Leicester since 2016.

Read more at https://www.tribalfootball.com/articles/oh-leuven-accepts-return-unlikely-for-leicester-winger-kapustka-4285579#Xp7MG4ufX8JA0yBk.99

 

8 hours ago, sylofox said:

Nahhhh they will just slate him for everything. 

Do you feel some of us have been too harsh on players coming from Leicester (because they came from Leicester)? If you read through the topic, you'll see most of us were very happy with Moore's first year. His second year was a lot less, but the final months (ever since Pearson got sacked) he gradually picked up the pace again. Kapustka started slowly, but hit peak form around november. You can also find  that documented in the topic. For about a month, he was maybe the most important player. But then winter came, and he turned invisible again. After new year, invisible turned into insufferable. Hirst (but again, officially not a Leicester youngster) was abysmal all year, with 2 goals in 20+ games.

Personally, i've said my piece about Pearson, no need to revisit. So i hope you are not getting the impression that we will slate a player just to slate him.

Edited 19 June 2019 by Lizhang