The OH Leuven Thread 2020/21

[Bonanza]

5 hours ago, moore_94 said:

Any of our more Leuven/Belgian savvy friends know what this is in reference to?

 

”The Belgian and European license has been received!”

 

 

Belgian clubs need a licence to be eligable to play in the 1st or 2nd division. To obtain a licence the clubs must "prove' they have all the "tools" to be a professional club. This means that every year the clubs have to make a report about:

 

- Club finances (where does the money come from, is there enough money to last the whole season, are the players and staff getting paid correctly, ...)

- Board members (who's involved with the club, what's their job, ...)

- Stadium (does the stadium meet the requirements regarding safety, minimum capacity, seating, lighting, ...)

- ...

 

To obtain a European licence clubs have to meet extra requirements. I believe these requirement are mostly about the stadium, but I'm not sure.

 

All pro clubs have obtained a licence, except for KV Oostende and Moeskroen. Oostende didn't get a licence because they weren't transparent enough about their finances. The club is owned by Pacific Media Group, an American investment group. Moeskroen didn't get their licence because they also weren't transparent enough about their finances and because of their lack of finacial stability, as they were unable to pay their players and staff in both February and March. Moeskroen is owned by Lille OSC. The French club has financial troubles of their own and their new chairman already announced that Lille will cut ties with Moeskroen after this season. Rumour has it Arsenal is interested in buying Moeskroen.

 

Both clubs now face a relegation to the 2nd amateur division (Belgian 4th division). They still have the option to appeal this decision (which they will do). Their case will be judged by the Belgian Court of Arbitration for Sports (BAS). This means that they (most likely) will get their licence anyway . For example, this is the SIXTH year in a row Moeskroen has to appeall the decision of the licensing committee. The last 5 years they always got their licence thanks to the BAS.

[sacreblueits442]

18 hours ago, Bonanza said:

Belgian clubs need a licence to be eligable to play in the 1st or 2nd division. To obtain a licence the clubs must "prove' they have all the "tools" to be a professional club. This means that every year the clubs have to make a report about:

 

- Club finances (where does the money come from, is there enough money to last the whole season, are the players and staff getting paid correctly, ...)

- Board members (who's involved with the club, what's their job, ...)

- Stadium (does the stadium meet the requirements regarding safety, minimum capacity, seating, lighting, ...)

- ...

 

To obtain a European licence clubs have to meet extra requirements. I believe these requirement are mostly about the stadium, but I'm not sure.

 

All pro clubs have obtained a licence, except for KV Oostende and Moeskroen. Oostende didn't get a licence because they weren't transparent enough about their finances. The club is owned by Pacific Media Group, an American investment group. Moeskroen didn't get their licence because they also weren't transparent enough about their finances and because of their lack of finacial stability, as they were unable to pay their players and staff in both February and March. Moeskroen is owned by Lille OSC. The French club has financial troubles of their own and their new chairman already announced that Lille will cut ties with Moeskroen after this season. Rumour has it Arsenal is interested in buying Moeskroen.

 

Both clubs now face a relegation to the 2nd amateur division (Belgian 4th division). They still have the option to appeal this decision (which they will do). Their case will be judged by the Belgian Court of Arbitration for Sports (BAS). This means that they (most likely) will get their licence anyway . For example, this is the SIXTH year in a row Moeskroen has to appeall the decision of the licensing committee. The last 5 years they always got their licence thanks to the BAS.

...perhaps there are no other teams that can meet the criteria and they need a certain amount of teams to make the league work!!!

   Very much the same thing is happening in Rugby Union and the need to support the game is even more urgent. 

[moore_94]

New deal for Keita, really impressed me in his first game!

 

 

Edited 16 April 2021 by moore_94

[moore_94]

Final game of the regular season today. 11th placed OH Leuven face 18th placed Waasland-Beveren, where 3 points could help Leuven up to 7th in the league. (I don't think they can get 6th as Beerschot are playing Standard Liege)

 

Waasland-Beveren have won just 1 of their last 5 games, with a 2-0 away win at Oostende. Last time out they lost 4-3 to Kortrijk. Their best player this season has been Michael Frey, with the striker picking up 12 goals and 3 assists in 26 games.

 

Last time these two met in the league was in August, where Leuven won 3-1 with goals from Mercier, Kotysch, and Henry.

 

Leicester Loanees: Kamal Sowah starts, Filip Benkovic on the bench, and Josh Eppiah not in the squad - Andy King not in the squad

 

 

Edited 18 April 2021 by moore_94

[sacreblueits442]

....can see another defeat incoming!!!

A combination of game management and players minds are not where it should be.

[KlaaZ]

We're not even playing badly, but finishing is really letting us down. 

[moore_94]

Good start to the 2nd half! 1-1

[moore_94]

That is shocking from the defence and Romo, 2-1

[moore_94]

Then Romo goes and pulls off a triple save like that to stop it being 3-1

[Bonanza]

Results and standings after week 34:

 

Standard	3-0	Beerschot
Club Brugge	4-2	Excel Moeskroen
KV Kortrijk	1-4	KV Mechelen
Charleroi	2-3	KAS Eupen
OH Leuven	1-2	Waasland-Beveren
STVV	0-1	Anderlecht
Antwerp	3-2	KRC Genk
Zulte Waregem	2-7	KAA Gent
KV Oostende	1-1	Cercle Brugge

 

 

P		TEAM	PTS	GP	W	L	D	GF	GA	GD
1		Club Brugge	76	34	24	6	4	73	26	47
2		Antwerp	60	34	18	10	6	57	48	9
3		Anderlecht	58	34	15	6	13	51	34	17
4		KRC Genk	56	34	16	10	8	67	48	19
5		KV Oostende	53	34	15	11	8	49	41	8
6		Standard	50	34	13	10	11	52	41	11
7		KAA Gent	49	34	14	13	7	55	42	13
8		KV Mechelen	48	34	13	12	9	54	54	0
9		Beerschot	47	34	14	15	5	58	64	-6
10		Zulte Waregem	46	34	14	16	4	53	69	-16
11		OH Leuven	45	34	12	13	9	54	59	-5
12		KAS Eupen	43	34	10	11	13	44	55	-11
13		Charleroi	42	34	11	14	9	46	49	-3
14		KV Kortrijk	39	34	11	17	6	44	57	-13
15		STVV	38	34	10	16	8	41	52	-11
16		Cercle Brugge	36	34	11	20	3	40	51	-11
17		Waasland-Beveren	31	34	8	19	7	44	70	-26
18		Excel Moeskroen	31	34	7	17	10	32	54	-22

 

Playoff 1:

 

Club Brugge

Antwerp

Anderlecht

KRC Genk

 

Playoff 2:

 

KV Oostende

Standard

KAA Gent

KV Mechelen

 

For Beerschot, Zulte Waregem, OH Leuven, KAS Eupen, Charleroi, KV Kortrijk, STVV and Cercle Brugge the season is over.

 

Waasland-Beveren still has to play 2 games against RFC Seraing (2nd placed team 2nd division) for a spot in the 1st division next season.

 

Excel Moeskroen drops down to the 2nd division.

Edited 18 April 2021 by Bonanza

[Webbo]

What a disappointment after the season you've had.

[Bonanza]

1 hour ago, Webbo said:

What a disappointment after the season you've had.

I think it's a good thing the season is over. Over the last couple of weeks it has become clear that the players are mentally and physically exhausted. We would've made a fool of ourselves in the playoffs with this run of form.

 

Starting tomorrow the club can start preparing for next season. There's a lot of work to be done, because 19 of our current players are out of contract or their loan spell is over:

 

Frederic Duplus (RB)

Thibault Vlietinck (RB) (end of loan spell) -----> option to buy

Sascha Kotysch (CB)

Pierre-Yves Ngawa (CB)

Kenneth Schuermans (CB)

Filip Benkovic (CB) (end of loan spell)

Vaclav Jemelka (CB) (end of loan spell) -----> option to buy

Casper De Norre (LB) (end of loan spell) ------> obligation to buy 

Derrick Tshimanga (LB)
David Hubert (CDM)
Andy King (CM)

Tom Van Hyfte (CM)
Samy Kehli (CM)
Olivier Myny (RW)
Kamal Sowah (RW) (end of loan spell)
Jonah Osabutey (RW) (end of loan spell)
Josh Eppiah (LW) (end of loan spell)
Stallone Limbombe (LW)

Jeremy Perbet (ST)

 

If it were up to me, I wouldn't give any of these players a new contract as I believe we can get better players. Only Casper De Norre is good enough and luckily we have to buy him after his loan spell. 

Edited 18 April 2021 by Bonanza

[sacreblueits442]

1 hour ago, Bonanza said:

I think it's a good thing the season is over. Over the last couple of weeks it has become clear that the players are mentally and physically exhausted. We would've made a fool of ourselves in the playoffs with this run of form.

 

Starting tomorrow the club can start preparing for next season. There's a lot of work to be done, because 19 of our current players are out of contract or their loan spell is over:

 

Frederic Duplus (RB)

Thibault Vlietinck (RB) (end of loan spell) -----> option to buy

Sascha Kotysch (CB)

Pierre-Yves Ngawa (CB)

Kenneth Schuermans (CB)

Filip Benkovic (CB) (end of loan spell)

Vaclav Jemelka (CB) (end of loan spell) -----> option to buy

Casper De Norre (LB) (end of loan spell) ------> obligation to buy 

Derrick Tshimanga (LB)
David Hubert (CDM)
Andy King (CM)

Tom Van Hyfte (CM)
Samy Kehli (CM)
Olivier Myny (RW)
Kamal Sowah (RW) (end of loan spell)
Jonah Osabutey (RW) (end of loan spell)
Josh Eppiah (LW) (end of loan spell)
Stallone Limbombe (LW)

Jeremy Perbet (ST)

 

If it were up to me, I wouldn't give any of these players a new contract as I believe we can get better players. Only Casper De Norre is good enough and luckily we have to buy him after his loan spell. 

....that is one big statement!!!

Kamal Sowah must have really dropped in quality for him to be part of that statement, the core players look good and if you can pick up better then good. Sad to see the decline in league position as making the play off was definitely within your grasp. Your manager seems to only play one way and it may be down to your roster but every game was a shoot out and I am not too sure, you can continue playing with that intensity week after week, it must be draining.

[Bonanza]

12 minutes ago, sacreblueits442 said:

....that is one big statement!!!

Kamal Sowah must have really dropped in quality for him to be part of that statement, the core players look good and if you can pick up better then good. Sad to see the decline in league position as making the play off was definitely within your grasp. Your manager seems to only play one way and it may be down to your roster but every game was a shoot out and I am not too sure, you can continue playing with that intensity week after week, it must be draining.

I don't know if you remember, but we were forced to resign a lot of players last summer because we still had to play that final game for promotion. In the end the result of that game didn't matter, but we still ended up with a lot of players who weren't good enough for the Belgian 1st division.

 

Let's take a closer look at that list:

 

Duplus: Only played 6 games this season, has been injured since November, is already 31

Schuermans: Only played 1 game before he tore his Achilles' heel, 29 years old

Kotysch: is our best CB but is very injury prone, is already 32

Van Hyfte: played 0 games this season, is already 35

Limbombe: played 0 games this season

Perbet: played 1 game this season, already signed a deal with a team in the 3th division

Tshimanga: only played 10 games this season, mostly as a sub, is already 32

Kehli: played 10 games in the last 2 seasons due to severe back injury, is already 31

Myny: only played 257 minutes over 16 games this season

King: only made 1 appearence for our club, is already 32

Benkovic: played 0 games

Osabutey: played 0 games due to injury

 

These guys are no-brainers. They're either too old, too injury-prone or they don't have the skills to play in the Belgian 1st division. Most of them were out of contract last summer but we were forced to give them a 1-year extension, otherwise they would've left the club last summer.

 

Josh Eppiah did better than I expected, but he never got any regular playing time. I wouldn't mind getting him back next season, but he's not ready yet to be a regular starter.

 

These guys were regular starters:

 

Ngawa and Jemelka have been our starting CB's this season. We conceded 59 goals in 34 games. I know this isn't only their fault, but both of them made a lot of mistakes this season which resulted in goals. We really need to upgrade our whole defensive line. Maybe Ngawa can stay, but only as a reserve. We have an option to buy for Jemelka, but then we have to pay €1.000.000. I really believe that's too much for a player of his skill set.

 

Vlietinck had a difficult start of the season, but he came through and played some decent games. He's still young and has potential, but I don't think he's good enough to be our starting RB next season. His option to buy costs  €1.000.000 which is a lot of money for a bench player.

 

Hubert is already 33-years old. While he had a good start of the season, his performances really dropped over the last couple of months. We really need a new starting CDM to strengthen our defense. Maybe he can stay as a reserve.

 

Kamal Sowah was one of our best players up until mid-November. Even the Belgian media were in awe of him up until then. His performances really took a nose dive since then. The thing that bothered me the most was that he always played 90 minutes no matter how bad he was. It's clear that he had to play as much minutes as possible to be eligable for a work permit for the UK.

 

All in all we had a good season. Our goal was to stay clear of the relegation zone, which we did. We came very close to the playoffs, but came up short. I think our manager did an amazing job as he was able to get the maximum out of every player. I think the goal for next season should be to qualify for the playoffs. If we want to reach that goal, we need a better squad.

[Lambert09]

1 hour ago, Bonanza said:

I don't know if you remember, but we were forced to resign a lot of players last summer because we still had to play that final game for promotion. In the end the result of that game didn't matter, but we still ended up with a lot of players who weren't good enough for the Belgian 1st division.

 

Let's take a closer look at that list:

 

Duplus: Only played 6 games this season, has been injured since November, is already 31

Schuermans: Only played 1 game before he tore his Achilles' heel, 29 years old

Kotysch: is our best CB but is very injury prone, is already 32

Van Hyfte: played 0 games this season, is already 35

Limbombe: played 0 games this season

Perbet: played 1 game this season, already signed a deal with a team in the 3th division

Tshimanga: only played 10 games this season, mostly as a sub, is already 32

Kehli: played 10 games in the last 2 seasons due to severe back injury, is already 31

Myny: only played 257 minutes over 16 games this season

King: only made 1 appearence for our club, is already 32

Benkovic: played 0 games

Osabutey: played 0 games due to injury

 

These guys are no-brainers. They're either too old, too injury-prone or they don't have the skills to play in the Belgian 1st division. Most of them were out of contract last summer but we were forced to give them a 1-year extension, otherwise they would've left the club last summer.

 

Josh Eppiah did better than I expected, but he never got any regular playing time. I wouldn't mind getting him back next season, but he's not ready yet to be a regular starter.

 

These guys were regular starters:

 

Ngawa and Jemelka have been our starting CB's this season. We conceded 59 goals in 34 games. I know this isn't only their fault, but both of them made a lot of mistakes this season which resulted in goals. We really need to upgrade our whole defensive line. Maybe Ngawa can stay, but only as a reserve. We have an option to buy for Jemelka, but then we have to pay €1.000.000. I really believe that's too much for a player of his skill set.

 

Vlietinck had a difficult start of the season, but he came through and played some decent games. He's still young and has potential, but I don't think he's good enough to be our starting RB next season. His option to buy costs  €1.000.000 which is a lot of money for a bench player.

 

Hubert is already 33-years old. While he had a good start of the season, his performances really dropped over the last couple of months. We really need a new starting CDM to strengthen our defense. Maybe he can stay as a reserve.

 

Kamal Sowah was one of our best players up until mid-November. Even the Belgian media were in awe of him up until then. His performances really took a nose dive since then. The thing that bothered me the most was that he always played 90 minutes no matter how bad he was. It's clear that he had to play as much minutes as possible to be eligable for a work permit for the UK.

 

All in all we had a good season. Our goal was to stay clear of the relegation zone, which we did. We came very close to the playoffs, but came up short. I think our manager did an amazing job as he was able to get the maximum out of every player. I think the goal for next season should be to qualify for the playoffs. If we want to reach that goal, we need a better squad.

Thanks for the post mate but one thing doesn’t sound right. 
 

you claim that sowah was played ‘just because of a work permit’ but quite clearly your manager doesn’t give a rats about our interest or benkovic would have been playing. Your manager clearly rates him and thought it’s best to keep one of your best on the pitch, even when not performing. Some managers do this. 
 

But solid update on the squad 

[Lambert09]

1 hour ago, Bonanza said:

I don't know if you remember, but we were forced to resign a lot of players last summer because we still had to play that final game for promotion. In the end the result of that game didn't matter, but we still ended up with a lot of players who weren't good enough for the Belgian 1st division.

 

Let's take a closer look at that list:

 

Duplus: Only played 6 games this season, has been injured since November, is already 31

Schuermans: Only played 1 game before he tore his Achilles' heel, 29 years old

Kotysch: is our best CB but is very injury prone, is already 32

Van Hyfte: played 0 games this season, is already 35

Limbombe: played 0 games this season

Perbet: played 1 game this season, already signed a deal with a team in the 3th division

Tshimanga: only played 10 games this season, mostly as a sub, is already 32

Kehli: played 10 games in the last 2 seasons due to severe back injury, is already 31

Myny: only played 257 minutes over 16 games this season

King: only made 1 appearence for our club, is already 32

Benkovic: played 0 games

Osabutey: played 0 games due to injury

 

These guys are no-brainers. They're either too old, too injury-prone or they don't have the skills to play in the Belgian 1st division. Most of them were out of contract last summer but we were forced to give them a 1-year extension, otherwise they would've left the club last summer.

 

Josh Eppiah did better than I expected, but he never got any regular playing time. I wouldn't mind getting him back next season, but he's not ready yet to be a regular starter.

 

These guys were regular starters:

 

Ngawa and Jemelka have been our starting CB's this season. We conceded 59 goals in 34 games. I know this isn't only their fault, but both of them made a lot of mistakes this season which resulted in goals. We really need to upgrade our whole defensive line. Maybe Ngawa can stay, but only as a reserve. We have an option to buy for Jemelka, but then we have to pay €1.000.000. I really believe that's too much for a player of his skill set.

 

Vlietinck had a difficult start of the season, but he came through and played some decent games. He's still young and has potential, but I don't think he's good enough to be our starting RB next season. His option to buy costs  €1.000.000 which is a lot of money for a bench player.

 

Hubert is already 33-years old. While he had a good start of the season, his performances really dropped over the last couple of months. We really need a new starting CDM to strengthen our defense. Maybe he can stay as a reserve.

 

Kamal Sowah was one of our best players up until mid-November. Even the Belgian media were in awe of him up until then. His performances really took a nose dive since then. The thing that bothered me the most was that he always played 90 minutes no matter how bad he was. It's clear that he had to play as much minutes as possible to be eligable for a work permit for the UK.

 

All in all we had a good season. Our goal was to stay clear of the relegation zone, which we did. We came very close to the playoffs, but came up short. I think our manager did an amazing job as he was able to get the maximum out of every player. I think the goal for next season should be to qualify for the playoffs. If we want to reach that goal, we need a better squad.

Thanks for the post mate but one thing doesn’t sound right. 
 

you claim that sowah was played ‘just because of a work permit’ but quite clearly your manager doesn’t give a rats about our interest or benkovic would have been playing. Your manager clearly rates him and thought it’s best to keep one of your best on the pitch, even when not performing. Some managers do this. 
 

But solid update on the squad 

[Bonanza]

5 hours ago, Lambert09 said:

Thanks for the post mate but one thing doesn’t sound right. 
 

you claim that sowah was played ‘just because of a work permit’ but quite clearly your manager doesn’t give a rats about our interest or benkovic would have been playing. Your manager clearly rates him and thought it’s best to keep one of your best on the pitch, even when not performing. Some managers do this. 
 

But solid update on the squad 

Our manager indeed rates Sowah very highly and what he did for us in the first few months of the season was nothing short of spectacular. I also agree that your best players should stay on the pitch even if they have a bad game. But I also think that when a key player has 5 bad games in a row you should sub him off or even start him on the bench and then sub him in at the hour mark. All those bad performances were really bad for Sowah's confidence as well.

 

That being said, I wish Sowah nothing but the best!

 

 

[Bonanza]

 

[KlaaZ]

It's something that you have to take into account with Brys though. He'll pretty much never drop his key players. It was the same with Mercier who's last five game were downright horrible. 

 

I feel that the end of contract players are actually a good thing. This squad needs a lot of new blood. I'm also hoping that a few youngsters will get more chances next season (Raemaekers, Patris, Asante, Keita, Vekemans, Allemeersch). 

 

Finally, in regards to Eppiah, I believe that if he can actually finish a complete preseason without injuries, he could do very well for us next season. He's been a bit of a supersub so far but has never really disappointed and he brings something we sorely lack, namely pace and the ability to skin an opponent. 

[Bonanza]

At this moment these are the players that still have a contract for next season. The players with * behind their name are players that came through our youth ranks:

 

Goalkeepers

 

Rafael Romo (31, VEN)

Kawin Thamsatchanan (31, THA)

Oregan Ravet (19, BEL)*

 

Right-backs

 

Barnabas Bese (26, HUN)

 

Centre-backs

 

Dylan Ouedraogo (22, BFA)

Louis Patris (19, BEL)*

Toon Raemaekers (20, BEL)*

 

Left-backs

 

Casper De Norre (24, BEL)

Brent Laes (21, BEL)*

 

Defending Midfielders

 

Aboubacar Keita (23, CIV)

Mandela Keita (18, BEL)*

 

Central Midfielders

 

Mathieu Maertens (26, BEL)

Kristiyan Malinov (27, BUL)

Isaac Asante (18, BEL)*

 

Right Wingers

 

Mousa Al-Tamari (23, JOR)

Siebe Schrijvers (24, BEL)

 

Attacking Midfielders

 

Xavier Mercier (31, FRA)

Jo Gilis (21, BEL)*

 

 

Left Wingers

 

Yannick Aguemon (29, BEN)

 

Strikers

 

Thomas Henry (26, FRA)

Daan Vekemans (21, BEL)*

Arthur Allemeersch (19, BEL)*

 

This morning our manager told the press that only 25% of this year's squad will return for next season. It seems everybody understands we need to say goodbye to a lot of lads and sign new and better players.

[moore_94]

Brys wants Sowah for another season

 

http://sportwitness.co.uk/i-working-seduction-offensive-manager-outlines-plans-leicester-starlet-hot-market/

 

Speaking to Het Nieuwsblad, relayed by Voetbal Primeur, Brys was asked if Sowah could return to the Premier League side.

 

He replied: “No. I am working on a seduction offensive and it doesn’t seem bad for him to develop further here for another year. But he is hot on the market”.

[Jimmy]

If he gets a work permit he's coming back

[KlaaZ]

To be honest, he's not even close to the level of the Premier League yet, so even if he gets a work permit, it wouldn't matter. 

[moore_94]

Pierre-Yves Ngawa new deal til 2023

 

[Ric Flair]

15 hours ago, KlaaZ said:

To be honest, he's not even close to the level of the Premier League yet, so even if he gets a work permit, it wouldn't matter. 

Rodgers will want him here for a period of time to coach him and assess him. We have so few attacking options in the fringes of our squad and we've nearly paid the price for that this season as we did last season, he won't make the same mistakes again.