United World 2022/23

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Poor performance and poor result yesterday 2-2 against standard b team. Squad is too thin and no options going forward. They need to get 3, 4 new bodies in.
 
So, another week goes by and a couple more games to update.

Both Chateauroux and Beerschot managed to score twice at home yet neither of them won.

Unfortunately, quantity trump's quality and they went down 2-3 at home. The second goal was a thing or beauty as well, Rigo curling in a wonderful strike from 25 yards to give them a 2-1 lead. It all went to shit within around 2 minutes unfortunately, which will be hugely disappointing given they were twice in the lead and at home.

A starting line up deprived of the suspended Van de Bergh after his dismissal in the first game saw Rigo come in and Beerschot match up Lierse in a 4-3-3 or 4-4-2 diamond with Vaca slightly behind rather than the usual 3-4-2-1.

Vanhamel in goal, now with a new pretender recently arrived to out pressure on him, Favor Matijas, recently arrived as one of the few direct transfers from rivals Royal Antwerp.

Back four of Seydoux, Meisl, opening day hero Matthys and Nzita at left back.

In front were Rigo, skipper Sanusi and Koshi. The front three were Verlinden, Vaca and Baeten with Sebaoui once more on the bench.

Beershot took a first half lead on 27'. A few balls into the box were partly clearly until Koshi managed to get the ball to Baeten who hooked home.

This lasted less than ten minutes as Vanhamel came for a corner, coughed it up and then never recovered. A poor goal for 1-1.

Into the second half and the ball was played back to Rigo. The ball was centred then partially cleared off Vaca (I think) and not so dissimilar to the Lee Evans vs Boro goals (though not a volley) Rigo hit a wonder strike first time.

You'd think Beerschot would be less careless but far from it.

Time seemed to stand still as Rocha, scorer of the first goal leapt highest to loop the ball into Vanhamel's right hand corner from yet another corner ball.

The third was a comedy of errors. From the kick off and perhaps still reeling from the concession, Rigo dwells on the ball though there is a question if this is a foul and the ball makes its way to defence, Meisl (I think) isn't strong enough in the tackle and the ball breaks further forward, then Vanhamel (I know) comes but then stops and is easily rounded and Tabekou slides in the winner. 2-1 up at 61', 2-3 down at 65'.

Young midfielder Axl Van Himbeeck made his debit on 62' for Koshi, Sebaoui entered the fray for Verlinden on 75' along with a like for like Weymans for Nzita, perhaps showing the limited options from the bench.

Poor result despite the chances being there. The stats show in Beerschot's favour:
Shots 23-13
On target 5-6
Possession 63%-37%
Passes 493-288
Accuracy 82%-67%

Goals here:


Disappointing given the territorial advantage as well as shots especially after the last game finished a draw and the refs department confirmed Beerschot should have been given a penalty. This time around a foul on Rigo is being seen as decisive.

It sees Beerschot slip to mid table though within 2 of top spot. Now the fans will be looking to strengthen. Their part owner has advised a couple of strikers could be incoming. So far linked are young guys, Daniel Perez from Club Brugge and Tiago Çukur from Fenerbahce though I see the latter has now joined Dender in the same league.

Whoever they bring in, it doesn't feel quite decisive enough this season and I'm sure our friend PurpleRain will take come convincing.

Next up Club NXT which is the U23 team of Club Brugge at a ground they call the Nest.
 
Champagneblade said:
Next up is Martigues which as a place is described as Nicknamed the "Provençale Venice", Martigues is a point of passage between the Mediterranean Sea and the Sea of Martigues (now Etang de Berre), close to the Côte d'Azur. The charm of its canals, its docks and bridges made it "The Venice of Provence". Martigues possesses also its cooperative winery "La Venise provençale": Coteaux d'Aix en Provence, rosé, red and white wines, fruit juices and natural oils in the region. Main varietals: Grenache, Syrah, Cinsault, Carignan, Clairette.

I’m sure la Firme Sac en Plastique de Châteauroux have some cracking away games!
Click to expand...

I've actually been to that ground in Martigues. It's right on the harbour. And the IBIS Hotel is on one corner of the ground. I saw England U21 beat Mexico 2-1 in the Final of the 2018 Tournoi Maurice Revello.

Lewis Cook got 2nd best player of the Tournament.
Freddie Woodman got the best goalkeeper of the Tournament.
Eddie Nketiah won goal of the Tournament
 
Champagneblade said:
So, another week goes by and a couple more games to update.

Both Chateauroux and Beerschot managed to score twice at home yet neither of them won.

Unfortunately, quantity trump's quality and they went down 2-3 at home. The second goal was a thing or beauty as well, Rigo curling in a wonderful strike from 25 yards to give them a 2-1 lead. It all went to shit within around 2 minutes unfortunately, which will be hugely disappointing given they were twice in the lead and at home.

A starting line up deprived of the suspended Van de Bergh after his dismissal in the first game saw Rigo come in and Beerschot match up Lierse in a 4-3-3 or 4-4-2 diamond with Vaca slightly behind rather than the usual 3-4-2-1.

Vanhamel in goal, now with a new pretender recently arrived to out pressure on him, Favor Matijas, recently arrived as one of the few direct transfers from rivals Royal Antwerp.

Back four of Seydoux, Meisl, opening day hero Matthys and Nzita at left back.

In front were Rigo, skipper Sanusi and Koshi. The front three were Verlinden, Vaca and Baeten with Sebaoui once more on the bench.

Beershot took a first half lead on 27'. A few balls into the box were partly clearly until Koshi managed to get the ball to Baeten who hooked home.

This lasted less than ten minutes as Vanhamel came for a corner, coughed it up and then never recovered. A poor goal for 1-1.

Into the second half and the ball was played back to Rigo. The ball was centred then partially cleared off Vaca (I think) and not so dissimilar to the Lee Evans vs Boro goals (though not a volley) Rigo hit a wonder strike first time.

You'd think Beerschot would be less careless but far from it.

Time seemed to stand still as Rocha, scorer of the first goal leapt highest to loop the ball into Vanhamel's right hand corner from yet another corner ball.

The third was a comedy of errors. From the kick off and perhaps still reeling from the concession, Rigo dwells on the ball though there is a question if this is a foul and the ball makes its way to defence, Meisl (I think) isn't strong enough in the tackle and the ball breaks further forward, then Vanhamel (I know) comes but then stops and is easily rounded and Tabekou slides in the winner. 2-1 up at 61', 2-3 down at 65'.

Young midfielder Axl Van Himbeeck made his debit on 62' for Koshi, Sebaoui entered the fray for Verlinden on 75' along with a like for like Weymans for Nzita, perhaps showing the limited options from the bench.

Poor result despite the chances being there. The stats show in Beerschot's favour:
Shots 23-13
On target 5-6
Possession 63%-37%
Passes 493-288
Accuracy 82%-67%

Goals here:


Disappointing given the territorial advantage as well as shots especially after the last game finished a draw and the refs department confirmed Beerschot should have been given a penalty. This time around a foul on Rigo is being seen as decisive.

It sees Beerschot slip to mid table though within 2 of top spot. Now the fans will be looking to strengthen. Their part owner has advised a couple of strikers could be incoming. So far linked are young guys, Daniel Perez from Club Brugge and Tiago Çukur from Fenerbahce though I see the latter has now joined Dender in the same league.

Whoever they bring in, it doesn't feel quite decisive enough this season and I'm sure our friend PurpleRain will take come convincing.

Next up Club NXT which is the U23 team of Club Brugge at a ground they call the Nest.
Click to expand...


Looks like Beerschot need a new keeper badly
 
Over to Chateauroux where the overall result was disappointing, a 2-2 home draw, the second consecutive home draw, but coming from 2 down at half time this will be seen more positively.

I do like the National League Twitter. In England you have Ryan Reynolds clearly beside himself at the lack of coverage the Vanorama league is getting and the apparent lack of desire to optimise this. In France you can regularly catch the matches live and free of charge on the FFF website and the Twitter of the league posts the goals as they come in as the game is ongoing.

No 'A place in the sun' meets 'Football Italia' (though Deadbat has already cornered that one) this week as Chateauroux were at home, though Chateauroux does look a lovely part of the world.

Fofana, the apparent right back playing centre back captained and partnered Ouaneh. On the right was Fouda once more and Youssouf on the left in an unchanged back four with Delecroix in goal. Not sure about a keeper whose name contains the word cross. Were it not for the whole masculin/feminin of the French language his name would be Paul of the Cross which would sound unjustifiably boastful given what happens with the second goal!

Not getting too far ahead. Basque, Daham and Mexique made up an unchanged midfield three behind Robinet in the centre and Secoure and Ntolla supporting. Experienced pro Romain Grange was once more on the bench as well loan striker Yanis Guermouche as well as ex Arsenal youth player and originally Chateauroux U19 player, Gilles Sunu. They were joined by giant, young Nice defender Ahoussouand reserve keeper Plumain.

A pretty poor start saw Chateauroux 2 down at half time. I was watching bits of it but then the United coverage started so you can guess the rest!

Some absolutely horrendous defensive work by what looked like the Captain allowed the opener. Van Aken would have been proud of this one:



Then a nicely passive bit of goalkeeping reminded us not to make assumptions as the keeper waits for a cross that never comes to him. Ouch:



So I went on to watch United thinking this isn't going to be the United World treble we were looking for. However, a second half rally gave them a credible point.

First off the scoring was opened by a well times run from Ntolla, a nice pass from Youssouf:



The comeback was then completed on 73 minutes:



Not quite in the same league as Rigo but nicely thrashed into the far corner by left back Youssouf who now has a very decent 1 goal and 2 assists in 3 matches, with his second contribution of the game after a lay off from sub Guermouche.

Grange on 57' came on for Daham, 67' saw Guermouche come on for full back Fouda and Ntolla came off for Sunu as Chateauroux went for an unlikely win.

So they drop down a little but remain undefeated and similar to Beerschot are still within a win and the right set of other results to be back in the promotion places.

Next up is Le Puy Foot from the Auvergne region of France. Like almost every town, city, commune in France, it is famous for its cathedral but this one has an absolute beauty outside. Proving that recycling started a long time ago:

The iron statue of Notre-Dame de France (The Virgin Mary) overlooking the town was designed by the French sculptor Jean-Marie Bonnassieux, and is made from 213 Russian cannons taken in the Siege of Sevastopol (1854–1855).[9] It was presented to the town on 12 September 1860 in front of 120,000 people.

Also famous for lentils and lace making. Maybe one to bring your Gran to this particular away trip!
 

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Champagneblade said:
So, another week goes by and a couple more games to update.

Both Chateauroux and Beerschot managed to score twice at home yet neither of them won.

Unfortunately, quantity trump's quality and they went down 2-3 at home. The second goal was a thing or beauty as well, Rigo curling in a wonderful strike from 25 yards to give them a 2-1 lead. It all went to shit within around 2 minutes unfortunately, which will be hugely disappointing given they were twice in the lead and at home.

A starting line up deprived of the suspended Van de Bergh after his dismissal in the first game saw Rigo come in and Beerschot match up Lierse in a 4-3-3 or 4-4-2 diamond with Vaca slightly behind rather than the usual 3-4-2-1.

Vanhamel in goal, now with a new pretender recently arrived to out pressure on him, Favor Matijas, recently arrived as one of the few direct transfers from rivals Royal Antwerp.

Back four of Seydoux, Meisl, opening day hero Matthys and Nzita at left back.

In front were Rigo, skipper Sanusi and Koshi. The front three were Verlinden, Vaca and Baeten with Sebaoui once more on the bench.

Beershot took a first half lead on 27'. A few balls into the box were partly clearly until Koshi managed to get the ball to Baeten who hooked home.

This lasted less than ten minutes as Vanhamel came for a corner, coughed it up and then never recovered. A poor goal for 1-1.

Into the second half and the ball was played back to Rigo. The ball was centred then partially cleared off Vaca (I think) and not so dissimilar to the Lee Evans vs Boro goals (though not a volley) Rigo hit a wonder strike first time.

You'd think Beerschot would be less careless but far from it.

Time seemed to stand still as Rocha, scorer of the first goal leapt highest to loop the ball into Vanhamel's right hand corner from yet another corner ball.

The third was a comedy of errors. From the kick off and perhaps still reeling from the concession, Rigo dwells on the ball though there is a question if this is a foul and the ball makes its way to defence, Meisl (I think) isn't strong enough in the tackle and the ball breaks further forward, then Vanhamel (I know) comes but then stops and is easily rounded and Tabekou slides in the winner. 2-1 up at 61', 2-3 down at 65'.

Young midfielder Axl Van Himbeeck made his debit on 62' for Koshi, Sebaoui entered the fray for Verlinden on 75' along with a like for like Weymans for Nzita, perhaps showing the limited options from the bench.

Poor result despite the chances being there. The stats show in Beerschot's favour:
Shots 23-13
On target 5-6
Possession 63%-37%
Passes 493-288
Accuracy 82%-67%

Goals here:


Disappointing given the territorial advantage as well as shots especially after the last game finished a draw and the refs department confirmed Beerschot should have been given a penalty. This time around a foul on Rigo is being seen as decisive.

It sees Beerschot slip to mid table though within 2 of top spot. Now the fans will be looking to strengthen. Their part owner has advised a couple of strikers could be incoming. So far linked are young guys, Daniel Perez from Club Brugge and Tiago Çukur from Fenerbahce though I see the latter has now joined Dender in the same league.

Whoever they bring in, it doesn't feel quite decisive enough this season and I'm sure our friend PurpleRain will take come convincing.

Next up Club NXT which is the U23 team of Club Brugge at a ground they call the Nest.
Click to expand...


This time the manager is responsible for the loss. Lierse is a weak team with one danger. The heading ability of their center forward. He scored 90% of his goals from set pieces. Everyone knows this and so you need to be prepared. We keep our two tallest players with Frans and Alhassan on the bench and we mark the guy on set pieces by our smallest player. Then when 2-1 up he brings a youngster who is no where ready for first team football and still keeps experienced tall players like Frans and Alhassan on the bench. Very bad day at the office from the manager. Apart from that the lack of creativity and power up front remains problematic. The squad is weak in depth. Only 1 real striker on the books and he’s only 19 and no competition for the creative roles behind the striker. And then there is the bad situation with the keeper which risks to initiate another fan revolt.
 
PurpleRain said:
This time the manager is responsible for the loss. Lierse is a weak team with one danger. The heading ability of their center forward. He scored 90% of his goals from set pieces. Everyone knows this and so you need to be prepared. We keep our two tallest players with Frans and Alhassan on the bench and we mark the guy on set pieces by our smallest player. Then when 2-1 up he brings a youngster who is no where ready for first team football and still keeps experienced tall players like Frans and Alhassan on the bench. Very bad day at the office from the manager. Apart from that the lack of creativity and power up front remains problematic. The squad is weak in depth. Only 1 real striker on the books and he’s only 19 and no competition for the creative roles behind the striker. And then there is the bad situation with the keeper which risks to initiate another fan revolt.
Click to expand...
It didn't make much sense to me that he brought a youngster on who is so far off the team he scarcely made it on that Transfermarkt website for kick off!

Maybe the new keeper you signed comes in and gets a chance? Vanhamel certainly gave the invitation to make that change with the first one.

Perhaps this is a lesson learned for the coach. Being a foreigner, perhaps he is not as familiar with Rocha but as you say it would have made more sense to have started differently and the video analyst should have advised him of this.

I know he scored a good goal but instead of putting in Rigo, if he stuck with a back three he had both Frans at 6'4" and Konstantopoulos at 6'2" as tall options who ended up on the bench and unread that Alhassan is 6'4" so it's not as if he couldn't have countered their approach though Vanhamel wasn't under that much pressure for the first.

What do you make of Koshi? He's a new one for me this year but he's getting picked ahead of both Rigo and Alhassan. Sebaoui also not getting there mnay minutes either.

Let's see who these two strikers are that were mentioned. Given the Turkish Guy has gone elsewhere, it looks like Albion Rrahmani from KF Balkani and/or Daniel Perez. Still young players 21 and 19. I think if prefer someone of experience.

Rrahmani scored a few and his team has qualified for the next stage of the Conference League to play Cluj, Slavia Prague and Sivasspor so I'd imagine they'll be the whipping boys in that group.

His team got knocked out of Champions League qualifying by a team from Lithuania, then in the Conference League qualifiers he scored 5 over two legs against a team from San Marino, scored 1 over two legs against a team from the Foroe Islands and then scored his last goal against a North Macedonian team who his club knocked out, winning home and away.

He's about 6'2" so decent size but you'd hope for someone mid twenties who has a bit more experience behind him but it seems self-sustainability is the key.
 
Champagneblade said:
It didn't make much sense to me that he brought a youngster on who is so far off the team he scarcely made it on that Transfermarkt website for kick off!

Maybe the new keeper you signed comes in and gets a chance? Vanhamel certainly gave the invitation to make that change with the first one.

Perhaps this is a lesson learned for the coach. Being a foreigner, perhaps he is not as familiar with Rocha but as you say it would have made more sense to have started differently and the video analyst should have advised him of this.

I know he scored a good goal but instead of putting in Rigo, if he stuck with a back three he had both Frans at 6'4" and Konstantopoulos at 6'2" as tall options who ended up on the bench and unread that Alhassan is 6'4" so it's not as if he couldn't have countered their approach though Vanhamel wasn't under that much pressure for the first.

What do you make of Koshi? He's a new one for me this year but he's getting picked ahead of both Rigo and Alhassan. Sebaoui also not getting there mnay minutes either.

Let's see who these two strikers are that were mentioned. Given the Turkish Guy has gone elsewhere, it looks like Albion Rrahmani from KF Balkani and/or Daniel Perez. Still young players 21 and 19. I think if prefer someone of experience.

Rrahmani scored a few and his team has qualified for the next stage of the Conference League to play Cluj, Slavia Prague and Sivasspor so I'd imagine they'll be the whipping boys in that group.

His team got knocked out of Champions League qualifying by a team from Lithuania, then in the Conference League qualifiers he scored 5 over two legs against a team from San Marino, scored 1 over two legs against a team from the Foroe Islands and then scored his last goal against a North Macedonian team who his club knocked out, winning home and away.

He's about 6'2" so decent size but you'd hope for someone mid twenties who has a bit more experience behind him but it seems self-sustainability is the key.
Click to expand...
Self sustainability, boy do I hate that word. It’s an euphemism for skint owners 😂

On Van Hamel, I try to remain objective. He had a very good first game which still balances his lesser game this weekend for me but I’m afraid he’s finished since a group of brave boys have made it a matter of principle to cause mayhem until he’s out. No idea whether the new keeper will have the required level.

On Sebaoui, he had a very poor first game and then two sub appearances below par. Probably still eying a transfer with standard and Mechelen showing interest.

On Koshi, he is a former youth player who had spells at PSV and cercle u21. He works hard, fits the high press tactic but overall is a bit light to have a starting spot. We signed an experienced midfielder in Alhassan who played in Portugal at the highest level but he gets no chance from the manager. Even in pre-season he was ignored. He did make a sub appearance at standard and immediately scored the 2-2. So really annoyed that he is overlooked. Some say he doesn’t fit the high press tactic. Wonder then why we signed him in the first place.

Then we still have our friend Radic on the books who now has been absent for more than a month trying to force a free transfer. That’s called professional football. Unbelievable.
 
Just read that our club has terminated the contract of our technical director (the successor of Van Winckel). Very handy just before the end of the transfer period when you still have a lot of work to do.
 
I see Beerschot look like securing one of two promised strikers shortly.

Taken from Gva.be website:

Lithuanian Nauris Petkevicius is in principle rented from Sporting Charleroi for one season

The 22-year-old attacker is a two-time Lithuanian A-international and made his debut in the Jupiler Pro League last season. Charleroi had plucked him from FC Hegelmann in Lithuania during last season's winter break. The year before, he had finished second in the top scorers list of the A Lyga, the Lithuanian first division, with 16 goals in 33 matches. He also had 6 assists.

Some help for Baeten then.

Having missed out on the Turkish guy, money must be on the lad Daniel Perez.

From what I've seen these both look like good prospects and I can't help but feel that perhaps if playing one up, a winger or attacking midfielder with goals and an experienced forward would make for a very good season. It's a shame that Avenatti went back to Kortrijk as I think he would have been decent in that set up. I just feel that a more experienced forward is what is needed.

But as you say, self-sustainability means limited to no cash injection so you work to a budget which I'd still imagine compares well enough to that of the other teams in 1B.
 
Over here no one is positive about this litouanian option.
Champagneblade said:
I see Beerschot look like securing one of two promised strikers shortly.

Taken from Gva.be website:

Lithuanian Nauris Petkevicius is in principle rented from Sporting Charleroi for one season

The 22-year-old attacker is a two-time Lithuanian A-international and made his debut in the Jupiler Pro League last season. Charleroi had plucked him from FC Hegelmann in Lithuania during last season's winter break. The year before, he had finished second in the top scorers list of the A Lyga, the Lithuanian first division, with 16 goals in 33 matches. He also had 6 assists.

Some help for Baeten then.

Having missed out on the Turkish guy, money must be on the lad Daniel Perez.

From what I've seen these both look like good prospects and I can't help but feel that perhaps if playing one up, a winger or attacking midfielder with goals and an experienced forward would make for a very good season. It's a shame that Avenatti went back to Kortrijk as I think he would have been decent in that set up. I just feel that a more experienced forward is what is needed.

But as you say, self-sustainability means limited to no cash injection so you work to a budget which I'd still imagine compares well enough to that of the other teams in 1B.
Click to expand...
I’ll spare you the thoughts on our fan forum about the lithouanian they may loan from charleroi reserves. I hope the owners have set aside a nice budget for crowd trouble fines and stadium bans because they are going to need it. This is not the standard we are expecting in a season where promotion is up for grabs in a weak league. Next season new rules kick in and 3 first division teams will relegate, with parachute money. Will become much more difficult then to get promoted.
 
PurpleRain said:
Over here no one is positive about this litouanian option.

I’ll spare you the thoughts on our fan forum about the lithouanian they may loan from charleroi reserves. I hope the owners have set aside a nice budget for crowd trouble fines and stadium bans because they are going to need it. This is not the standard we are expecting in a season where promotion is up for grabs in a weak league. Next season new rules kick in and 3 first division teams will relegate, with parachute money. Will become much more difficult then to get promoted.
Click to expand...
It is there for the taking promotion.

Not sure if my point came across well but it is that you have possible prospects in La Morte and Baeten, though he doesn't belong to Beerschot.

It's a senior, established player you want to lead the line. By all means let Baeten play the odd 15 minutes, but you want some seasoned pro up there. The guy Rocha at Lierse would have been the type. Someone robust and experienced.
 

Champagneblade said:
It is there for the taking promotion.

Not sure if my point came across well but it is that you have possible prospects in La Morte and Baeten, though he doesn't belong to Beerschot.

It's a senior, established player you want to lead the line. By all means let Baeten play the odd 15 minutes, but you want some seasoned pro up there. The guy Rocha at Lierse would have been the type. Someone robust and experienced.
Click to expand...
Correct. They only spend 100k this window on Nzita, all the others are cheap loans or out of contract players. If they can’t spend 500k on a decent forward at this level then we should not have any ambition at all and should drop down to amateur level. We can fund our own team according to the self sustainability criterium at amateur level, don’t need any foreign owners for that level. So it’s cough up or get out of our club for the prince and his fellow shareholders.
 
PurpleRain said:
Correct. They only spend 100k this window on Nzita, all the others are cheap loans or out of contract players. If they can’t spend 500k on a decent forward at this level then we should not have any ambition at all and should drop down to amateur level. We can fund our own team according to the self sustainability criterium at amateur level, don’t need any foreign owners for that level. So it’s cough up or get out of our club for the prince and his fellow shareholders.
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It seems Sebaoui hasn’t really got going yet this season. He’s been on the bench a few times. Is the manager intentionally doing without him?

I read that Mechelen are interested in him and ready to tie down a 4 year deal.

I think I’ve been more of a fan of Sebaoui than you PurpleRain, would you be that concerned if he moved on? What fee would you be looking for? I saw 800k mentioned but that figure just seems to tie in with his Transfermarkt valuation.

I suppose the main worry would be that you’d have Verlinden and Vaca as the only two creative players.
 
Champagneblade said:
It seems Sebaoui hasn’t really got going yet this season. He’s been on the bench a few times. Is the manager intentionally doing without him?

I read that Mechelen are interested in him and ready to tie down a 4 year deal.

I think I’ve been more of a fan of Sebaoui than you PurpleRain, would you be that concerned if he moved on? What fee would you be looking for? I saw 800k mentioned but that figure just seems to tie in with his Transfermarkt valuation.

I suppose the main worry would be that you’d have Verlinden and Vaca as the only two creative players.
Click to expand...
Sebaoui has been rather poor when he started the first game and then next games as a sub also not great. Looks like he is more occupied with a transfer then with our team. He surely is talented, bit like Ndiaye but also still a lot to prove. Selling him without good replacement would finish any promotion hope we could have.
 
So the Belgium window rolls on to the 6th so time to catch up on what has happened at Chateauroux.

Ambitions there don't seem as lofty as United or Beerschot. They'd like to be a League 2 club and have spent a fair amount of time there recently but they are very vulnerable to players simply not wanting to stay when at that level. Also when it comes to developing young players, when in National it is very difficult to keep them. And so it has proven.

The young lad Decoure that I have mentioned as a potential star had expressed his desire to leave in the summer. A failed move to Troyes in L1 looked like he was staying. However on the last day, L'Orient has picked him up, another League 1 team. What can you say? Chance to play in League 1 instead of tier 3. It's just unclear for how much he has gone, but given they refused to agree with Troyes earlier it must be deemed reasonable though not sure where to get this. The twitter is not forthcoming with figures and transfermarkt just has a ?

He hadn't done a great deal this season and his replacement had already come in the shape of Germouche.

They also let go on loan the third keeper Le Roy to a team in Luxembourg on loan but his contract expires in the summer. In addition, a youth prospect, Baïch has been loaned to the league below.

The real kick in the balls cane last minute when Robinet, the main goal getter from last season asked to leave. He joined Oostend in the Belgium top flight. However slightly frustratingly, they then immediately loaned him to their sister club, Nancy. Nancy sit in National just like Chateauroux so that's a bit of a second kick in the knackers.

A loan forward from Amiens, originally born in Reims (where I used to live. Hence the Champagneblade moniker) has joined to help replace. His goal record is pretty poor with 3 in about 53 games though not clear how many starts and he may also have played on the wing and midfield. But that's what happens when you are easy pickings and players at that level want to go. His name is Florian Bianchini and he's a loan with option to buy.

They play Friday night against LePuy Foot so it will be interesting to see how this impacts them. Robinet had scored the one goal this year along with 3 others.

Let's see who Beerschot gets. I'm sure PurpleRain can hardly wait!

I'm predicting Sebaoui pushes for a move to Mechelen and Beerschot get another loan striker and possible loan midfielder if they're lucky.
 
Champagneblade said:
So the Belgium window rolls on to the 6th so time to catch up on what has happened at Chateauroux.

Ambitions there don't seem as lofty as United or Beerschot. They'd like to be a League 2 club and have spent a fair amount of time there recently but they are very vulnerable to players simply not wanting to stay when at that level. Also when it comes to developing young players, when in National it is very difficult to keep them. And so it has proven.

The young lad Decoure that I have mentioned as a potential star had expressed his desire to leave in the summer. A failed move to Troyes in L1 looked like he was staying. However on the last day, L'Orient has picked him up, another League 1 team. What can you say? Chance to play in League 1 instead of tier 3. It's just unclear for how much he has gone, but given they refused to agree with Troyes earlier it must be deemed reasonable though not sure where to get this. The twitter is not forthcoming with figures and transfermarkt just has a ?

He hadn't done a great deal this season and his replacement had already come in the shape of Germouche.

They also let go on loan the third keeper Le Roy to a team in Luxembourg on loan but his contract expires in the summer. In addition, a youth prospect, Baïch has been loaned to the league below.

The real kick in the balls cane last minute when Robinet, the main goal getter from last season asked to leave. He joined Oostend in the Belgium top flight. However slightly frustratingly, they then immediately loaned him to their sister club, Nancy. Nancy sit in National just like Chateauroux so that's a bit of a second kick in the knackers.

A loan forward from Amiens, originally born in Reims (where I used to live. Hence the Champagneblade moniker) has joined to help replace. His goal record is pretty poor with 3 in about 53 games though not clear how many starts and he may also have played on the wing and midfield. But that's what happens when you are easy pickings and players at that level want to go. His name is Florian Bianchini and he's a loan with option to buy.

They play Friday night against LePuy Foot so it will be interesting to see how this impacts them. Robinet had scored the one goal this year along with 3 others.

Let's see who Beerschot gets. I'm sure PurpleRain can hardly wait!

I'm predicting Sebaoui pushes for a move to Mechelen and Beerschot get another loan striker and possible loan midfielder if they're lucky.
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It shows again that there is no interaction whatsoever between the UW clubs. Robinet could have done a job for us, instead he ends up at a rival of Chateauroux. Sebaoui could be your successor or Ndiaye in 2-3 years. He’s a similar style of player and u21 international, instead he will end up at Mechelen, the team that beat us to promotion 3 years ago through matchfixing.
 
PurpleRain said:
It shows again that there is no interaction whatsoever between the UW clubs. Robinet could have done a job for us, instead he ends up at a rival of Chateauroux. Sebaoui could be your successor or Ndiaye in 2-3 years. He’s a similar style of player and u21 international, instead he will end up at Mechelen, the team that beat us to promotion 3 years ago through matchfixing.
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Exactly.

This seems a real weakness. Brilliant bit of business by Oostende and Nancy in the same group.

He signs for us but first while he is in our stable let's use him to get you back up to L2.

It's exactly how it should have been with United World.

There must be a catchment of players that are on United's books that could help Beerschot. There must be some players at Chateauroux who can help Beerschot but also potentially even the opposite.

It seems there is no proper concept of pooling resources.

Each team is taking plenty of loans yet are there no players that can fill those gaps within the group.

Lopata has just gone to non-league. Now maybe he doesn't fancy the move but he's very, very similar to Radic in profile. Did that question ever come up?

There are still plenty of United U23 league winners who we want to place yet Beerschot and Chateauroux have ended up just loaning players externally.

From reading another article - it's in French but those who can't follow can Google translate it:


Robinet went for between 500-700k

Secoure went for around 1m

Not a bad return for a club their size. Not sure how much the training complex cost but that must make a fair dent.

Let's see how it impacts results though.
 
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Dedicated as I am to bringing you the column you need if not the column you want(!) I watched Châteauroux play against Le Puy Foot yesterday on what can best be described as a ploughed field.

Somewhat rocked by the departure of their main forward and also young prospect forward it would be interesting to see how the team adapted. New information has come out that Robinet didn't turn up to training this week with a view to forcing a move. Given those circumstances it does seem the club's hand was forced. Negotiating a fee of between €500-700k for a guy who came on a free a year ago isn't the worst at that level at least financially. Decoure went for around €1m too to Ligue 1 Lorient so at least the accountants were happy if not the fans. As well as letting the third keeper go they got in two forwards. One on loan with an option to buy - Florian Bianchini who I mentioned above and one I missed, from Belenenses, Alioune Ndour. I hope he gets fast tracked to United. N'Diaye, Ndour, N'Diaye, what a goal! 😁

Originally from Dakar, he's a 21 year old 6'2" forward with pace and power apparently and he arrived on loan but this will already turn into a 2 year deal at the end of the season. Before that he played in the US and Czech Republic.

Those two are all a little by the by as neither made the squad for the weekend.

Despite the weird formation Transfermarkt came up with, it was a 4-3-3 with the same keeper Delecroix, a changed back four from the last game with the usual captain Opa Sangante returning at centre back to partner vice captain Ouaneh, flanked by the returning Mbengue at full back with Youssouf occupying the other spot. Fofana and Fouda dropped to the bench.

In midfield in came the experienced guy I'd spoken of earlier in this thread, Romain Grange, supported by the beeper lying Mexique and Basque, Dahim dropping out.

Up front 34 year old Nolan Roux, once linked with Newcastle in his days at Lille, played centre forward, flanked by Germouche and the winger Ntolla.

The two new arrivals clearly arriving too late to be part of the Friday night fixture.

Two minutes of highlights below but to summarise, the first half was very scrappy on a difficult surface with lots of miscontrolled passes from either side. The Chateauroux keeper made a couple of early smart saves, their was an opportunistic shot from his own half by Grange that just went over the bar.

Having questioned why I'd bothered to watch at this point, the game did pick up in the second half.

From a terrible piece of defending on the right, the winger Elogot got to the byline, dragged back and Dadoune was there with a comfortable finish on 59'. I think it was Germouche and Youssouf he went past but dreadful defending.

Fortunately Chateauroux didn't remain in arrears for long. I'm a little surprised more goals like this don't go in. To coin a Boycott phrase, Grange from some 25 yards in the inside left spot curled one with his right foot into the 'corridor of uncertainty'. Roux went for the header and I'm really not convinced he got anything on it. The ball continued at pace into the far corner. In a few media outlets they are giving it to Grange, on the Chateauroux site they seem to be giving the acclaim to Roux. Either way it was 1-1 on 63'.

Chateauroux then had a decent spell with both Roux and Youssouf having efforts blocked.

After a few corners first half that didn't best the first man, Chateauroux were much better with these dead balls. An outswinger by Grange was then handled with the ref very close to pick this up. Grange took the ball in hand and had the cool aura of someone who just looked like they would score and he confidently slotted away the penalty giving Chateauroux the lead with 10 to play.

They see this out despite a hairy moment with the keeper coming out and being dribbled past but then the away team getting men in the way.

There were a few changes in the second half Daham coming on for Grange to help wind down the clock on 85', the earlier sub of Fouda coming on on 65' to give more robustness to the right side with Youssouf pushing forward. According to the official site, 24 year old reserve forward who scored 25 goals last season for the second stream came.on for Nolan Roux. The story here is that as well as playing he is also a Mason, showing at that level there is a fine line between being a full time footballer and earning your keep. He managed to earn himself a booking in the short time he was on, through a little over-exhuberance.

Match highlights here:
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J4 | Le Puy Foot 43 - LB Châteauroux (1-2)

Retrouvez le résumé de la rencontre Le Puy Foot 43 - LB Châteauroux comptant pour la quatrième journée du National (2022-2023). - But pour Le Puy Foot 43 : Ottman Dadoune (59e) - Buts pour LB Châteauroux : Romain Grange (63e, 83e)
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After a difficult close to the 'mercato' an away win means they are now 2/2 on their travels and just need to start turning the home draws into wins. Undefeated they sit 3rd on 8 points from 4 matches with two new forwards to bed in this week, nestled behind Dunkerque and Avranches by one point.

Next up is FBBP or Football Bourg-en-Bresse at home. Part of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alps region of which Lake Annecy is probably one of the main attractions (I've swam in there and it was freezing!), Bourg-en-Bresse itself is a relatively small place with a population of about 40,000 with a cathedral dating back to the 16th century. Plenty of old stone buildings if that's your thing. The team itself has mainly been lower league amateur level with a period in Ligue 2 seeing them professional for 5 years, which ended in 2020. Back to amateur status, they are a team Chateauroux would hope to beat at home with them sitting in mid-table.
 
Beerschot won today after removing Van Hamel finally as keeper.

Chateauroux also won yesterday.

Current table position as of right now:

Blades 2nd
Beerschot 2nd
Chateauroux 3rd

Over to Champagneblade for the Beerschot report
 
Thanks jono_t2000 . There seem to be conflicting stories on Vanhamel. On one hand there is an angle that he has been receiving a lot of abuse daily on social media and asked not to play. There was also the added spice that the NXT goalkeeping coach is fellow keeper from last year Biebiauw, who essentially opted to retire with his condition of staying being that Vanhamel is moved on. Separate to this there is a transfer rumour that he may be heading to Anderlecht but initially as third choice. Possible swap involving former Belgium U21 keeper Colin Coosemans, now 30, who has played for some impressive names in Belgium Brugge, Mechelen, Gent, Anderlecht however his appearances have been few and far between since 2018, playing largely a back up role. Not clear whether he’d be 2nd, 3rd or 1st at Beerschot though the position seems relatively up for grabs.

So that’s some healthy drama as the Belgium window approaches on Tuesday with forward options still a priority.

One forward that has joined is Naurius Petkevicius. 22 year old on loan from Charleroi who was second top scorer in his home country a couple of years back but has been largely a development player at his current employers. That isn’t expected to be the only business and Mechelen are still sniffing around Sebaoui.

He wasn’t registered in time to play in the game vs NXT.

With the continued suspension of Van den Bergh, coach Andreas Wieland opted to revert to a back three. In came summer signing Bill Lathouwers for his first competitive start in goal as Beerschot donned their fetching electric white kit.

In front of him was Seydoux, already off to a productive start with a recent goal last time out. There was a first start for Weymans in place of Nzota on the left hand side. In the centre Miesl and Matthys with the big midfielder with a goal to his name coming in alongside them, Alhassan.

A midfield saw Koshi drop out and Captain Sanusi and scorer of last week’s wonder goal Rigo pair up.

In attack Vaca and Verlinden lined up alongside Baeten.

A frustrating first half for Beerschot who largely dominated proceedings with the young Club Brugge side struggling to bring much pressure to bare on Lathouwers’ goal. Beerschot’s territorial pressure did finally toll on the cusp of half time. A decent cross From Seydoux resulted in a header by the young loanee forward Baeten, to bring up his second goal of the season. 1-0 Beerschot at half time.

Club NXT came out with more purpose and a coming together of a few players saw Sanusi trip Mbamba which led to Engels clipping the outside of the post from the spot. A helpful let off.

Beerschot then got more into the game and this led to Baeten’s second with a hint of offside but no VAR at this level.

After a few sighters from Sanusi, Vaca was replaced by Sebaoui and on 65’ he had an immediate impact. He threaded the ball through to Baeten to double the lead.

Seemingly in control yet on 78’ a miscontrol by Alhassan led to Engels testing the keeper only for Perez, the Venezuelan heavily linked with a move to Beerschot, putting in the rebound.

By now Koshi had replaced Alhassan and Frans had come in for Rigo to drop back into defence. Also Nzota and Weymans changed places. The pressure was relieved as Perez kicked out at Koshi reducing the home side to 10 men.

This took Beerschot temporarily to the summit with 7 points though after the completion of this round they dropped to 2nd behind Lierse who sit on 9 points after a relatively fortuitous win against Beerschot last week.

Next up will be Lommel who sit a place behind with their game still to play. From a Beerschot perspective this will represent the return of the fans. Hopefully this is positive and not on the back of a poor end to a busy transfer window. Still things to do at Beerschot, they probably won’t get all they want and Perez getting a red card won’t help his cause in joining Beerschot.

Defensively and in central midfield they seem well stocked. Ideally the Vanhamel situation gets resolved with either a swap or simply moving him on especially after recruiting another keeper last week. No idea if there would be a fee, he’s 32 and probably one of the highest wage earners. Outside of this, they will have their own Will he? Won’t he? with Sebaoui. United kept Berge, Châteauroux lost Robinet, though the former remained professional and the latter absconded from training. So it may depend on how much the player forces the issue. Whilst a striker this week bumped the numbers there are still a shortage of creative players and scorers. Two days left and with a new sporting director in, perhaps that will be a signal that things may happen? All will be answered by Tuesday.
 
Thanks CB! Also big questions on Radic. In most countries transfer market has closed so he must be running out on options. He would be a big asset at 1b level if he sort things in his head.

Ideally we’ll swap Vanhamel for a decent 1st choice keeper and we sign a striker and attacking midfield to back a promotion chasing campaign by Tuesday.
 
AA Gent join the chase for Sebaoui. On the incoming front it remains very quiet. 24 hours to go before the window closes over here.
 
PurpleRain said:
AA Gent join the chase for Sebaoui. On the incoming front it remains very quiet. 24 hours to go before the window closes over here.
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I see news has just broken that the next foreign punt is going to be the top scorer in Iceland.

I won't insult anyone's intelligence pretending I've ever heard of him.

He does have a good scoring record though.

His name is Nökkvi Thórisson. He plays for KA Akureyri who sit second in the Icelandic top flight.

He's 23 years old, just over 6' (1.85m), has played 22 matches this season and has 21 goals and spent a couple of years in the Hannover Youth team prior to establishing himself at home.

Though he's a centre forward he seems to have played a fair amount on the left of a three.

With Baeten scoring a few and more creativity and goals needed perhaps this is where he comes in and you have Verlinden and Thórisson as options right and left respectively as well as Vaca and possibly Sebaoui to interchange if the latter doesn't go to Gent or Mechelen (both clubs who average about 11k at home so not hugely larger than Beerschot when in the same division, unlike say Club Brugge, Anderlecht, Standard Liege or Genk).

I suppose if Beerschot are playing 5-2-2-1
aka 3-4-2-1 then this is two for each position in terms of numbers with Petkevicius having been loaned from Charleroi.

It still feels quite untested.

The squad has been swelled by Romano La Morte, an 18 year old striker who played in preseason when numbers were low and he has also had first team involvement in two games so far but not the last one. Also Van Himbeeck, a 17 year old debuted in the 3-2 loss last week so there is more emphasis on youth, easy to embrace and be patient with but also cheap 😉

Young Okyere got sent off in the reserves so he's not really got going yet and seems at the back of the queue in midfield.

There seems more stories of a Vanhamel/Coosemans swap deal which might just be better for everyone.

It remains to be seen if any other unreported business or if any outgoings suggest additional replacements.

24 hours left in one or Europe's last windows to close.
 
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The Icelandic looks promising. We have had success in Belgium with Icelandic players like Gudjonsson, Kristinson, Bjarnasson, all having had good careers in our league. Their mentality is usually fantastic. Hopefully he has some technical skills.

I think Sebaoui will go to Gent and hope for at least one more incoming before the window closes.
 

A lot of talk of departures came to nil in the end of what has been a busy window for Beerschot.

Deadline day bids from Gent and Mechelen for Illias Sebaoui were rebuffed, which is surely a boost and with a contract until 2025 hopefully he can be scoring against both those teams next year. I think most would agree that pragmatically the UW clubs can help each other far more if Chateauroux, Beerschot and United for that matter are one level higher up.

Still unresolved are the futures of Vanhamel and Radic. The former, can he be accepted by the fans over time? A few good performances perhaps can solve this? That's if he gets the chance. Having opted out of the last game, does he lose his spot for good? For the latter he has some decisions to make. Without knowing the ins and outs it seems he missed the deadline or misunderstood the option to trigger a release. So he either spends time doing nothing, not getting paid and hoping CAS or some other body to vote his way or he makes moves to play football again. So that could mean reconciling with Beerschot where he'd be an asset at this level or seeking a move to one of the remaining open windows which are:

Turkey / Czech Republic - Sep 8th
Greece / Serbia - Sep 15th
Ukraine - Sep 22nd
Israel - Sep 28th

Options are few. He's 22, he had a decent season last year but he wasn't head and shoulders the outstanding player, I didn't think. He needs to get over himself and get back playing. I don't see the rush to leave. This season could be a defining one for him and sitting out 6 months at his age benefits nobody.

On the window itself those in charge of recruitment did an impressive job in the sense of the sheer volume of players brought in. The quality aspect will be known over time. But to my recollection, due to players exercising release clauses, new faces have been:

G - Lathouwers, Matijas
RB - Querynen, Seydoux
LB - Nzita, Weymans
CB - Matthys, Meisl
CM - Koshi, Alhassan, Rigo (short term deal to perm)
AM - Verlinden
F - Baeten, Petkevicius, Thórisson, La Morte

The good thing is at least for those signing permanently, they are all young and have time to develop. Maybe they are missing one additional experienced starter in the forwards but that's the route chosen. The squad size is now 26 with an average age of 23.2.

So whilst the owners haven't exactly blown the league away with investment, a €400k transfer surplus due to Shankland returning home, with 19 in, 19 out, they didn't sacrifice Sebaoui in a money grab and they didn't leave the team short handed in the forwards, as looked the case a week or so ago.

What's more, other players retained - Van den Bergh, Sanusi, Vaca, Sebaoui should all do well in 1B.

Of what I've seen at the level, I think the coach can be happy with his options until January. Down to him and the players now hopefully backed by a good home support.
 
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