OH Leuven Thread 2022/23

[lcfc sheff]

3 hours ago, Lambert09 said:

He has the link up play of Nugent, the tenacity of Vardy, the poaching of Fryatt... a leicester fan received the keys to the Haaland laboratory 

It would be a dream if all that came true! Hope he has another year there and maybe gets Leuven into Europe! Who knows 

[Bonanza]

 

[BenTayfour]

What do you think about the manager ? you were like 50/50 about him not sure how it is now do you think he would improve you next season in terms of tactics and playstyle rather than only being improved due to the new signings ? 

[KlaaZ]

7 minutes ago, BenTayfour said:

What do you think about the manager ? you were like 50/50 about him not sure how it is now do you think he would improve you next season in terms of tactics and playstyle rather than only being improved due to the new signings ? 

I think the general idea is that he's good enough to not get relegated, maybe even grab a low mid table position (like this season), but not to grow into a proper contender for the top six spots. We've played some very good football at times this season, but on the other hand we've also had games where we were downright awful. There's also some rumours about the players not being too happy about his training methods (too much emphasis on physical and endurance, which would also be one of the reasons why we always have that slump in feb-march). 

[Bonanza]

 

1 hour ago, BenTayfour said:

What do you think about the manager ? you were like 50/50 about him not sure how it is now do you think he would improve you next season in terms of tactics and playstyle rather than only being improved due to the new signings ? 

I think it's time to replace him. He's not the man who will lift us into the top 8, let alone make us into a title contender...

 

If we don't get rid of him this summer, I think we will have a similar season as Leicester is having right now.

[sacreblueits442]

1 hour ago, Bonanza said:

 

I think it's time to replace him. He's not the man who will lift us into the top 8, let alone make us into a title contender...

 

If we don't get rid of him this summer, I think we will have a similar season as Leicester is having right now.

...what manager is there in the Jupiler, that you would hope to bring in or would be on a wish list!!!

[Bonanza]

6 hours ago, sacreblueits442 said:

...what manager is there in the Jupiler, that you would hope to bring in or would be on a wish list!!!

 

We have to be honest with ourselves and recognize that we won't get a big name in. A top manager simply isn't interested in a club like OHL, so I think we should go and bring in a young, ambitious manager with a modern look on football.

There're currently a couple of young Belgian managers who are doing a great job in the Belgian 1st division, namely Wouter Vrancken (KRC Genk), Karel Geraerts (Union) and Jonas De Roeck (Westerlo). They all have 2 things in common: they all had decent playing careers and took the time learning how to be a manager by starting out in the lower divisions of Belgian football, by working as a youth coach and/or by being an assistent manager in the 1st division for a couple of years. Obviously we won't get any of those 3, but we should aim for somebody like them.

Personally, I would like us to go for Carl Hoefkens. After a decent career as a player he worked as a youth coach at Club Brugge for a couple of years before becoming an assistent manager for their first team. He made his debut as a head coach this season and started out pretty good. He managed to finish 2nd in group B of the Champions League, winning against Leverkusen, Atletico Madrid (twice) and FC Porto. Just before the World Cup break performances started to drop for Brugge and Hoefkens was sacked on December 26th after a 1-1 draw at home against... OHL. Scott Parker took over but things just got worse for Brugge. They were an absolute disaster and Parker was sacked after 12 games. In my opinion this proves that Hoefkens wasn't really to blame for Brugge's downfall.

 

There're a couple of guys I would have as a second, third and even fourth option. Wim De Decker, currently at Waasland-Beveren (2nd division), would be my second chouce. Rik De Mil (caretaker manager at Club Brugge) my third and Tom Van Imschoot, currently at Lierse (2nd division) my fourth.

 

Some of our fans want Thomas Vermaelen, but he has no experience as a 1ste team coach at any level, so that's a no for me.

 

As For Brys: If he doesn't get sacked in the next couple of days I'm afraid he'll stay on for next season

[sacreblueits442]

2 hours ago, Bonanza said:

Personally, I would like us to go for Carl Hoefkens. After a decent career as a player he worked as a youth coach at Club Brugge for a couple of years before becoming an assistent manager for their first team. He made his debut as a head coach this season and started out pretty good. He managed to finish 2nd in group B of the Champions League, winning against Leverkusen, Atletico Madrid (twice) and FC Porto.

...never mind going to OHl, he sounds like someone LCFC could do with picking up next season!!!

  For all the accolades Rodgers received,  he was absolutely rubbish in Europe and this fellow appears to have surpassed his wildest dream.

  I hope there is another approach in place for OHL next season, and it turns around, because I feel it is missing that small adjustment that could carry you into Europe.

[BenTayfour]

20 hours ago, KlaaZ said:

I think the general idea is that he's good enough to not get relegated, maybe even grab a low mid table position (like this season), but not to grow into a proper contender for the top six spots. We've played some very good football at times this season, but on the other hand we've also had games where we were downright awful. There's also some rumours about the players not being too happy about his training methods (too much emphasis on physical and endurance, which would also be one of the reasons why we always have that slump in feb-march). 

 

18 hours ago, Bonanza said:

 

I think it's time to replace him. He's not the man who will lift us into the top 8, let alone make us into a title contender...

 

If we don't get rid of him this summer, I think we will have a similar season as Leicester is having right now.

I think it's just a matter of time till you have a new manager, his contract will end in June 2024 I thought he is on a long contract but now it wouldn't matter much, The main thing is to Identify few names that suits the profile and have them lined up already, 2025 season could be decent if you could get a good manager with the recent rebuild and new players already jelled in. 

[sacreblueits442]

24 minutes ago, BenTayfour said:

 

I think it's just a matter of time till you have a new manager, his contract will end in June 2024 I thought he is on a long contract but now it wouldn't matter much, The main thing is to Identify few names that suits the profile and have them lined up already, 2025 season could be decent if you could get a good manager with the recent rebuild and new players already jelled in. 

...a year is a long time in football, if there is going to be a rebuild it might as well happen this summer rather than wait for Brys to get his players in and the new manager cannot work with them!!!

  If there is an opportunity to get an up-and-coming manager in for the summer, then we do not want to miss the window, as it seems to get quality coaches to come to a club such as OHL is difficult. If Hoefkens is still awaiting a post then it would be a good decision to get him in position now. King Power has stopped being brave and become part of the system, we need to start setting goals again. 

  Setting a goal for the top 4 next season may seem to be overly ambitious, but you need to set a standard from the start and work towards it. We (LCFC) could not have achieved what we achieved whilst being stifled by caution and fear, which then only leads to indecision.

[KlaaZ]

23 minutes ago, sacreblueits442 said:

...a year is a long time in football, if there is going to be a rebuild it might as well happen this summer rather than wait for Brys to get his players in and the new manager cannot work with them!!!

  If there is an opportunity to get an up-and-coming manager in for the summer, then we do not want to miss the window, as it seems to get quality coaches to come to a club such as OHL is difficult. If Hoefkens is still awaiting a post then it would be a good decision to get him in position now. King Power has stopped being brave and become part of the system, we need to start setting goals again. 

  Setting a goal for the top 4 next season may seem to be overly ambitious, but you need to set a standard from the start and work towards it. We (LCFC) could not have achieved what we achieved whilst being stifled by caution and fear, which then only leads to indecision.

I really don't understand the fixation on Hoefkens. He had a great Champions League run with Club Brugge, mostly thanks to some downright amazing goalkeeper performances by Mignolet, and then they fell apart. 

[Bonanza]

8 hours ago, sacreblueits442 said:

...never mind going to OHl, he sounds like someone LCFC could do with picking up next season!!!

  For all the accolades Rodgers received,  he was absolutely rubbish in Europe and this fellow appears to have surpassed his wildest dream.

  I hope there is another approach in place for OHL next season, and it turns around, because I feel it is missing that small adjustment that could carry you into Europe.

We're not ready to compete for Europe yet. 

 

Belgium has 5 tickets for Europe every season. 4 of them are awarded to the best teams in the league, 1 ticket is awarded to the winner of the Belgian Cup. Teams like KRC Genk, Club Brugge, Antwerp and Union are head and shoulders above us (and the rest of the league). KAA Gent and Standard are below those teams, but are still better than us. Even Anderlecht, who are in a huge downwards spiral over the last couple of years, is still a bigger club than us.

 

This means we have to compete with 6 or 7 teams who are (much) better than us of those 4 tickets. We're not ready for that yet. Our biggest chance to get into Europe is through the Cup, but we have to get lucky with the draw. I feel like we had a big chance to get to the final this year, but we messed it up by losing against KV Kortrijk at home. If we would have won that game we would have faced KV Mechelen and Zulte Waregem. We could've have definitely beat them and secure a spot in the final against Antwerp (who won the Cup last weekend).

 

We just need to focus on evolving as a club. We were a (mediocre) 2nd division club when King Power took over and now we are a team that consistently finishes around place 11 in the 1st division. I will give credit to Marc Brys for this, but now we have to take the next step and aim for a top8 spot and compete with teams like Charleroi, Cercle Brugge and Westerlo to become "best of the rest".

[Bonanza]

2 hours ago, BenTayfour said:

 

I think it's just a matter of time till you have a new manager, his contract will end in June 2024 I thought he is on a long contract but now it wouldn't matter much, The main thing is to Identify few names that suits the profile and have them lined up already, 2025 season could be decent if you could get a good manager with the recent rebuild and new players already jelled in. 

We need to take the next step in our evolution as a club and I just don't think Brys the man to do this. We can't waste a year, especially with teams like Cercle Brugge and Westerlo looking to improve as well.

 

I really feel we might be in for a relegation battle next year if Brys stays. Same story as Leicester this season...

[Bonanza]

Just a rumour, but we're being linked with manager Alexander Blessin

 

Blessin (49, Germany) joined RB Leipzig as a youth coach in 2012. In July of 2020 he joined KV Oostende (Belgian 1st division) and made his debut as a senior manager.

With KV Oostende he managed to finish 5th in his first season and was named "manager of the season". His team mainly consisted of young, promising players and most of them were sold for a big profit after the season. Their replacements weren't of the same quality and after a decent start of the 2021/2022 season results started to drop for Oostende. On January 19th 2022 Blessin accepted an offer made by Genoa (Italian Serie A) who wanted him to save them from relegation. Genoa finished 19th and dropped down to the Serie B.

Blessin started the 2022/2023 as manager for Genoa with the goal to win promotion back to the Serie A. After a good start results dropped and he was sacked on December 6th 2022 after gaining only 2 point out of their last 5 games.

 

Based on his performance at KV Oostende I would be delighted with this manager!

 

https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/alexander-blessin/profil/trainer/26099

Edited 7 May 2023 by Bonanza

[Bonanza]

Marc Brys has been confirmed as manager for next season...

[Ryy]

38 minutes ago, Bonanza said:

Marc Brys has been confirmed as manager for next season...

Another 10-12 placed finish 

[KlaaZ]

Bit overdramatic, that. Without Maertens' injury, we would now be playing playoff 2. And people would still be complaining. 

[Bonanza]

49 minutes ago, KlaaZ said:

Bit overdramatic, that. Without Maertens' injury, we would now be playing playoff 2. And people would still be complaining. 

Injuries are part of football.

 

Teams like Westerlo and Cercle Brugge have also had to deal with injuries, suspensions , bad form,... but they dealt with it much better than us. Westerlo even lost their best player (Lyle Foster) in January when he signed for Burnley.

 

Yes, Maertens is our best player, but we should've still beaten Eupen, Seraing, STVV and Kortrijk without him!

Edited 8 May 2023 by Bonanza

[KlaaZ]

10 hours ago, Bonanza said:

Injuries are part of football.

 

Teams like Westerlo and Cercle Brugge have also had to deal with injuries, suspensions , bad form,... but they dealt with it much better than us. Westerlo even lost their best player (Lyle Foster) in January when he signed for Burnley.

 

Yes, Maertens is our best player, but we should've still beaten Eupen, Seraing, STVV and Kortrijk without him!

Yes, and we were the better team in every game you mentioned. But we didn't score, and dropped clumsy points (remember that last minute penalty against Eupen who didn't have a kick all game). They didn't handle it better, they were just more efficient. Westerlo has an xG of 54.2 and scored 65 goals, we have an xG of 54.6 and scored 56. That is down to both luck and probably quality in the final third. 

[Ryy]

 

[Lambert09]

18 hours ago, Bonanza said:

Marc Brys has been confirmed as manager for next season...

 

On 05/05/2023 at 12:55, KlaaZ said:

I think the general idea is that he's good enough to not get relegated, maybe even grab a low mid table position (like this season), but not to grow into a proper contender for the top six spots. We've played some very good football at times this season, but on the other hand we've also had games where we were downright awful. There's also some rumours about the players not being too happy about his training methods (too much emphasis on physical and endurance, which would also be one of the reasons why we always have that slump in feb-march). 

I might be well off the mark here, so please tell me if so. But i’ve always got the impression that he’s a bit like brendan? 

 

Would you say you see similarities between the 2?  especially with the way that your form rides in massive waves, something that we all experienced. Can’t remember many times with brendan where we’d win one lose one win one lose one… it was always LLDL or wwddw. 

 

neither seemed to be able to turn things around quickly when something goes wrong. 

Edited 9 May 2023 by Lambert09

[Bonanza]

4 hours ago, Lambert09 said:

 

I might be well off the mark here, so please tell me if so. But i’ve always got the impression that he’s a bit like brendan? 

 

Would you say you see similarities between the 2?  especially with the way that your form rides in massive waves, something that we all experienced. Can’t remember many times with brendan where we’d win one lose one win one lose one… it was always LLDL or wwddw. 

 

neither seemed to be able to turn things around quickly when something goes wrong. 

I've read a lot of the complaints about Brendan and it does seem like there're a lot of similarities between him and Brys.

I seem to remember that one complaint was that Brendan refused to change things up even though things weren't working. Brys is exactly the same. I really think he choses 1 tactic / 1 formation in the beginning of the season and just sticks to it no matter what. In those 3 years Brys has been our manager I simply can't remember 1 game where he changed his tactics during the game. It doesn't matter if we're down and need a goal, he'll never go from a 1-striker-formation to a 2-striker-formation for instance.

 

Also, he waits way too long to make substitutions.  In most games he waits until the 80th minute before he makes his first sub, while other teams make theirs around the 60th minute. Again, it doesn't matter how thing are going or how bad a certain player is playing, he just refuses to make a change. He also almost never uses all 5 of his substitutions, but makes only 2 or 3. It seems like he want to play the entire season with the same 13 or 14 players. This is exactly what kills us when we have to deal with injuries and suspensions. Then a player who spend the last 5 or 6 games on the bench and hasn't any rhythm or chemistry has to replace one of our star players...

 

My biggest issue with Brys is the fact that he's not capable to play dominant football. He only knows how to play counterattacking football. This works against the big teams in our league like Club Brugge, KRC Genk, Antwerp, Anderlecht,... so I'll give him credit for that. But when we play against teams of our own level or teams that are not as good as us and also play counterattacking it obviously doesn't work. In those games we do have a lot of possession, but our tempo is too low and we struggle to create big chances. More often than not we concede a stupid goal which causes us to only draw or lose games against teams we should be beating. We really have to change our mentality in those games! We need to grab our opponents by the throat from kickoff, play higher up the pitch en play at a higher pace. We CAN do this as we proved it in the last couple of games against KV Mechelen and Oostende. 

 

 

[sacreblueits442]

7 hours ago, Nannypig7 said:

 

...not too fussed about that!!!

[moore_94]

Give us Patris please

 

I honestly think if we go down we will go for him

[Bonanza]

13 hours ago, KlaaZ said:

Yes, and we were the better team in every game you mentioned. But we didn't score, and dropped clumsy points (remember that last minute penalty against Eupen who didn't have a kick all game). They didn't handle it better, they were just more efficient. Westerlo has an xG of 54.2 and scored 65 goals, we have an xG of 54.6 and scored 56. That is down to both luck and probably quality in the final third. 

You make it seem like we created dozens of chances in those games, but we really didn't . In most of those games the opposing goalie barely had to make a save. We did have a lot of possession, but really failed to create a lot of danger in front of goal. Call me old fashioned, but a shot from 5 metres outside the box isn't a chance to me...