The OH Leuven Thread 2020/21

[shen]

7 minutes ago, filbertway said:

His reaction and where the ball ends up tells me he should have saved the first. The 2nd as you say, terrible. He then gives away a penalty for the 5th. And this all looks like it's in the first half  Shambles.

Fair enough, it wasn't great There was even a feature video with him shortly after Iversen left

[KlaaZ]

2 hours ago, Chocolate Teapot said:

His record before OH Leuven is underwhelming although weren't some big sides interested in him in January?

To be fair, it's only when he joined Tubize in 2018 that he was moved to the striker position, he played lower on the pitch before. Considering the way he developed over the past few seasons, I'd say he could still make some progress. Although a top half team in one of the big five competitions might be a tad too much, hard to say.

 

There was interest from a Turkish team who had a bid rejected and Mallorca iirc. 

[sacreblueits442]

2 hours ago, shen said:

Benkovic at least partly at fault for first two goals, King losing possession up to the third goal. But Benkovic literally putting his body on the line preventing two further goals. Eppiah looks lively in those clips, while Vekemans and Allermeersch probably need some shooting lessons

...absolutely fantastic to hear!!!

This loan and regular game time could prove to everyone one a quality player he can be.

[MPH]

4 hours ago, KlaaZ said:

For the record, it was B-teams on both sides with first team players that needed match fitness + youngsters. I realise that people may still be wowed by the name Anderlecht but in reality they are only two points ahead of us in the league and we got 4/6 against them there.

Thank you for the update. I didn’t realize it was B teams!

[Bonanza]

10 hours ago, Lambert09 said:

I absolutely hate that I’m suggesting this but Henry genuinely looks like he would be a solid addition for us. If he carries on this form I could see us making an offer at some point.  ( I have no doubt our owners would be fair) If we don’t go for him I’m sure another prem side might.

 

Hard to ignore someone with 23 goal contributions in 24 games 

It's going to be very hard for our club to keep him in Leuven this summer. In January, both Celta de Vigo and Besiktas were interested. Besiktas even made an offer, but we rejected.

 

If he leaves I rather see him going to Leicester than any other team.

[shen]

33 minutes ago, sacreblueits442 said:

...absolutely fantastic to hear!!!

This loan and regular game time could prove to everyone one a quality player he can be.

A long way to go honestly, but fingers crossed for Benkovic and OHL that he can rebuild himself there.

 

@KlaaZ@Bonanza@Lizhang The side seems quite settled right now with Brys showing trust in a lot of the same players. Where do you see the changes in the team happening for the rest of the season? Is the schedule going to be as busy, i.e. do you expect rotation or injuries to happen?

[shen]

3 minutes ago, Bonanza said:

It's going to be very hard for our club to keep him in Leuven this summer. In January, both Celta de Vigo and Besiktas were interested. Besiktas even made an offer, but we rejected.

 

If he leaves I rather see him going to Leicester than any other team.

Why is that?

 

I cannot say I've seen enough live OHL, but my feeling is that Henry is not going to cut it in the PL. Not many big strikers are making an impression here and the ones that do will have power and pace. Henry doesn't strike me as particularly pacey. Long may his form keep up and hopefully OHL will get a great sale to further strengthen the squad.

[KlaaZ]

25 minutes ago, shen said:

A long way to go honestly, but fingers crossed for Benkovic and OHL that he can rebuild himself there.

 

@KlaaZ@Bonanza@Lizhang The side seems quite settled right now with Brys showing trust in a lot of the same players. Where do you see the changes in the team happening for the rest of the season? Is the schedule going to be as busy, i.e. do you expect rotation or injuries to happen?

Our match schedule should be relatively light from now on out until the end of the regular competition at least, with one game per week if I'm not mistaken. As long as we're in the running for a top four spot, which would set us up for play off one, I can't see much rotation or experimenting happening. Can't speak for injuries, that's always a bit of a lottery.  Kotysch (one of our main central defenders) is very injury prone and Jemelka has been having trouble with his shoulder but we're very well set in that department with Ngawa (who is a crowd favourite) and youngster Raemaekers, who has been very promising so far. 

[Bonanza]

25 minutes ago, shen said:

Why is that?

 

I cannot say I've seen enough live OHL, but my feeling is that Henry is not going to cut it in the PL. Not many big strikers are making an impression here and the ones that do will have power and pace. Henry doesn't strike me as particularly pacey. Long may his form keep up and hopefully OHL will get a great sale to further strengthen the squad.

I don't know if Leicester is interested at all in Henry, but if they are and he has to chose between Leicester or any other club, I hope he choses Leicester. Would be nice to keep him in the King Power family.

[Vardinio'sCat]

On 12/02/2021 at 22:17, KlaaZ said:

Undersoil heating, drainage and a new pitch will be installed at the end of the current season. It was planned for last season but due to the promotion final being moved to the end of August, it didn't happen (I think). 

 

Has to be said that the current temperatures are very, very off, it's as cold as -10 to -15 degrees celcius at night right now. 

 

Good to see the investment going in, we were meant to have relaid the pitch at the KP stadium but I think covid messed that up.

 

In a season dogged with injuries we could really have benefited from renewing it. It's frustrating because we have super ground staff, and I'm sure the new Leuven pitch will be very high quality.

 

 

[Lambert09]

20 minutes ago, Bonanza said:

I don't know if Leicester is interested at all in Henry, but if they are and he has to chose between Leicester or any other club, I hope he choses Leicester. Would be nice to keep him in the King Power family.

Well a huge advantage would be that if he didn’t settle in the premier league it would be easy enough for us to send him back to you. 
 

There is no magic formula for who will settle in England no matter what the talent. But a French striker called Henry bagging the winner against Arsenal is what dreams are made of. 

[Vardinio'sCat]

On 12/02/2021 at 22:19, Bonanza said:

Our pitch was nearly perfect before the winter break, but due to the rain and the many games in a short period it's completely trashed.

 

The pitch is 4-years old now and will be replaced after this season. Underfloor heating will be installed as will a drainage system (which we don't have at the moment).

 

2 weeks ago the club made this video about our groundsmen:

 

 

 

Seems like a good bloke. To get awards in those circumstances is an excellent effort.

 

I like what he said about wanting it to look right, not just play right, it kind of resonated with me. I've done a fair amount of stage work, and wanting to give the best possible platform for the talent is a matter of personal pride, and how it looks superficially is a sign of the effort that has gone on under the surface.

[Vardinio'sCat]

15 hours ago, shen said:

I don't think match fitness is the big issue with Benkovic. I suspect it's the mental knocks he has received as a result of all his injuries and inability to get back to his former level. If he was injury-free and motivated, he would walk into that OHL defence - but only if he showed similar quality as before.

 

Once you have broken down a few times, as he has, the confidence goes. You can see Riccardo is literally feeling his way back from his ACL, and he does look pretty nervous, bless his quality cottons. Fear is the mind killer.

 

We saw Soyuncu had confidence issues coming back too.

[OntarioFox]

I guess that friendly partially explains to some here why Benko and Kingy aren't getting into the first team right now. Both looking rusty. 

It's not some conspiracy where Brys doesn't want to play players from Leicester of course - otherwise you wouldn't be seeing Sowah and Eppiah playing regularly, and playing pretty well too. They're just off the pace at present - but hopefully more friendlies like this happen to allow them (and all of OHL's reserves for that matter) to get minutes on the pitch.

[Bonanza]

Results and standing after week 27

 

OH Leuven	3-1	KV Kortrijk
Waasland-Beveren	1-0	KAS Eupen
STVV	1-2	Zulte Waregem
KV Oostende	3-1	KRC Genk
Standard	1-1	Antwerp
Beerschot	1-2	KV Mechelen
Charleroi	PP	Club Brugge
Cercle Brugge	0-0	Anderlecht
KAA Gent	4-0	Excel Moeskroen

 

P		TEAM	PTS	GP	W	L	D	GF	GA	GD
1		Club Brugge	60	26	19	4	3	55	18	37
2		Antwerp	47	27	14	8	5	44	36	8
3		KRC Genk	43	27	12	8	7	51	38	13
4		KV Oostende	42	27	12	9	6	42	35	7
5		Anderlecht	42	27	10	5	12	36	27	9
6		OH Leuven	40	27	11	9	7	44	43	1
7		Standard	40	27	10	7	10	38	31	7
8		KV Mechelen	39	27	11	10	6	41	43	-2
9		Charleroi	38	26	11	10	5	39	35	4
10		Beerschot	37	27	11	12	4	48	52	-4
11		Zulte Waregem	37	27	11	12	4	41	47	-6
12		KAA Gent	36	27	10	11	6	40	33	7
13		KV Kortrijk	33	27	9	12	6	33	40	-7
14		KAS Eupen	32	27	7	9	11	32	43	-11
15		STVV	30	27	8	13	6	35	42	-7
16		Excel Moeskroen	26	27	6	13	8	23	41	-18
17		Waasland-Beveren	24	27	6	15	6	33	56	-23
18		Cercle Brugge	23	27	7	18	2	30	45	-15

 

Fixtures for week 28:

 

Friday Feb 19th:

 

KV Mechelen

-

KAA Gent

 

Saturday Feb 20th:

 

KAS Eupen	-	KV Oostende
Excel Moeskroen	-	Cercle Brugge
Waasland-Beveren	-	Charleroi

 

Sunday Feb 21st:

 

Anderlecht	-	KV Kortrijk
Zulte Waregem	-	Standard
KRC Genk	-	Beerschot
Antwerp	-	STVV

 

Monday Feb 22nd:

 

Club Brugge

-

OH Leuven

Edited 17 February 2021 by Bonanza

[KingsX]

2 minutes ago, Bonanza said:

Monday Feb 22nd:

Club Brugge

-

OH Leuven

 

If your guys were to show up at Cercle Brugge's stadium by "mistake", any chance they would just let you play them instead?

[CosbehFox]

2 minutes ago, KingsX said:

 

If your guys were to show up at Cercle Brugge's stadium by "mistake", any chance they would just let you play them instead?

Well Club and Cercle play at the same gaff 

[KlaaZ]

There's a covid outbreak at Club Brugge by the way. Two key players infected with Vanaken and Lang, and as long as they don't have 7 infections, they can't ask for a postponement. That said, they probably won't anyway as their schedule is as packed as it can be. 

[KingsX]

50 minutes ago, KlaaZ said:

There's a covid outbreak at Club Brugge by the way. Two key players infected with Vanaken and Lang, and as long as they don't have 7 infections, they can't ask for a postponement. That said, they probably won't anyway as their schedule is as packed as it can be. 

 

I'm watching Brugge play in Kiev right now, and it's so cold even the Ukranian players are wearing gloves and earmuffs.  Brugge look sluggish.

[KlaaZ]

The game on Monday will go on as planned, testing has shown no additional infections and as long as there's not at least seven players with COVID, they can't ask for a postponement.

[Bonanza]

 

 

[TJB-fox]

Disappointed to see King (especially) and Eppiah barely play 

[BrokenRecord]

King can't even make the bench? Not surprised to be honest, other than King Power loyalty I'm not sure what he coyld offer Leuven at thus point in his career

[KlaaZ]

10 minutes ago, TJB-fox said:

Disappointed to see King (especially) and Eppiah barely play 

Eppiah is getting his minutes, but Brys has very little reason to change much in the starting lineup. He's also not the kind of coach to throw things around too much. 

[FoxinNotts]

Leicester must be fairly dissatisfied that Benko is getting no game time

 

a real shame for him and us. He’ll be gone in the summer. 
 

this makes me sad