Atholy

Latest news in Belgian is going about a loan BUT he will stay in the EPL (according to his manager Christophe Henrotay). Chelsea met Lukaku's manager in Paris yesterday where things were discussed. Chelsea would prefer him to move to a club in London, so they can follow his progression from up close. QPR and especially Fulham are in pole position to get Lukaku on a loan next year. Good chance that Romelu will be playing at Craven Cottage next season since Moussa Dembele also plays there! Lukaku was told (by our National Squad Manager Leekens) to play more OR to risk the chance of being dropped out of the national squad for the upcoming qualifiers for the WC'14.

Lukaku's good use of pace and body => pass to assist: 2.26mins. Lukaku's great run and show just wide: 3.05mins. Enjoy! http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xp51je_yyyyyy-vs-yyyyyy-1-1-highlights_sport?start=196#from=embed

Nothing spectacular. 1-1 draw Played upfront on a sort of an Isle. Especially after the red card of Lombaerts => belgium down to 10 men for more than 30 minutes. Had a few good runs and one good strike on goal, 0,5m to the left of the post. Was almost always supplied with long crosses => Romelu with 1 or 2 defenders in his back. Not his kind of game. The few times he could use his speed... he was dangerous! In general: Belgium took a stupid goal after Vermaelen slid away. Good assist from Hazard on the 1-1. For a friendly... this was rather a hard game => Fellaini going upfront in the Battle

Roms will start the 2nd half!

I don't find any articles or quotes on that one. But it sounds plausible because the Belgian Coach had no problems of putting Lukaku on the bench in the last few games (even qualifiers). Probably his advice to Romelu would be => get loaned out and get some gametime. Like all national coaches do .

Lukaku is expected to start in the international friendly against Greece this wednesday! Hope he will have a good performance & that AVB has a dvd player in his London mansion

Hahah that's very true !

For our international viewers: De Bruyne's assist 1: 5.25mins De Bruyne's shot => assist : 6.58min Pass to assist: keep watching from 6.59 mins http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z58T3K25diQ

Thibaut had a good game! Was defending a 1-1 score until the 80th minute when a very bizarre goal took place. Freekick => Courtois was setting up his wall when suddenly Messi kicked the ball in the far top corner. Apparently the whistle was already blown... (although nobody heard it) Look at Puyol in the replay Stupid goal, but a good game by Thibaut!! http://dai.ly/z4zAe0

The highlights: great cross by Kev on the first goal! Even I could have tapped that one in http://stadion.vtm.be/artikel/krc-genk-club-brugge-26022012

I know (and hope) that the reason for Romelu not playing at the moment, is the fact AVB (or the club) wants to protect him. I have all respect for this decision. Especially if you calculate the impact of a tabloid hate campaign whenever he screws something up in the next few games. I also know a lot of you guys don't want to compare the pressure between Anderlechts (Jupiler League) & Chelsea (Premier league), thinking there is a serious risk Romelu would "crash" due to the level of the opposition OR a bad performance by himself => agree with AVB = protection = No Romelu @ the bridge => but also means No Romelu on a soccer pitch for maybe even a whole year! As you might know I've been following Romelu for a long time now. And sure, I can understand he's a young player. BUT don't forget he was dropped in the Anderlecht squad for the first time at age 16(!!) and more over in the second(!) game of the test matches between Anderlecht - Standard de Liege at the end of season 2008-2009 (=> deciding who would be the league's champions that year). This means he made his debut on a moment that the championship was at stake + the game was still all to play for. You might conclude 2 things from this act: the Anderlecht board and the coach are absolute airheads! the immense shoulders of this lad (even at age 16) can handle more than just carrying weights in the gym Let me tell you that the season after this testmatches, Lukaku was used as a sub in preseason and during the first games of the season. But by scoring more and more game winning goals, he soon became a starter. This season he became the youngest leagues topscorer & regular gamewinner at only age 16!! I'm talking about Rsc Anderlecht here... not a bottom half season's revelation! His share in Anderlecht getting the title this season was gigantic! Also believe me when I say the pressure on Lukaku's shoulders was immense during this year. The hope of the biggest Belgian club was on the shoulders of one 16 year old kid: Romelu Lukaku, who scored one winning goal after another!! Then the title => summer break => a new season. Belgian press was all on his neck during preseason "will lukaku be able to prove himself"... etc. Building up a massive new pressure. Fans of opposing teams were all ready with negative judgements once he had a bad game (or even a good game => jealousy anyone )! He had a difficult start (compared to what Torres is having now = a great start) the last season. But soon got over it and ended by scoring only 1 goal less then the season before! What I want to say: trust me, take a look at Romelu's shoulders. He has the amazing quality of being able to cope with stress and pressure like no other kid of his age. And with all respect, the pressure he feels now at Chelsea is not of the same order than the pressure he had to deal with in Belgium! Romelu is more than ready to go for it. Even a bad game will not affect his mentality! IMO he needs to play very soon! Let him on the bench for another 4 months and one of Europe's biggest upcoming talents has just wasted a FULL year on a chelsea bench & will without doubt shine the next season in the colours of another team (Fulham, Sunderland, Mönchengladbach ....). AVB => give this lad a chance please

I can follow both opinions. I know (and hope) that the reason for Romelu not playing at the moment, is the fact AVB (or the club) wants to protect him. I have all respect for this decision. Especially if you calculate the impact of a tabloid hate campaign whenever he screws something up in the next few games. I also know a lot of you guys don't want to compare the pressure between Anderlechts (Jupiler League) & Chelsea (Premier league), thinking there is a serious risk Romelu would "crash" due to the level of the opposition OR a bad performance by himself => agree with AVB = protection = No Romelu @ the bridge => but also means No Romelu on a soccer pitch for maybe one year! As you might know I've been following Romelu for a long time now. And sure, I can understand he's a young player. BUT don't forget he was dropped in the Anderlecht squad for the first time at age 16(!!) and more over in the second(!) game of the test matches between Anderlecht - Standard de Liege at the end of season 2008-2009 (=> deciding who would be the league's champions that year). This means he made his debut on a moment that the championship was at stake + it was still all to play for. You might conclude 2 things from this act: the Anderlecht board and the coach are absolute airheads! the immense shoulders of this lad (even at age 16) can handle more than just carrying weights in the gym Let me tell you that the season after this testmatches, Lukaku was used as a sub in preseason and during the first games of the season. But by scoring more and more game winning goals, he soon became a starter. This season he became the youngest leagues topscorer & regular gamewinner at only age 16!! I'm talking about Rsc Anderlecht here... not a bottom half season's revelation! His share in Anderlecht getting the title this season was gigantic! Also believe me when I say the pressure on Lukaku's shoulders was immense during this year. The hope of the biggest Belgian club was on the shoulders of one 16 year old kid: Romelu Lukaku, who scored one winning goal after another!! Then the title => summer break => a new season. Belgian press was all on his neck during preseason "will lukaku be able to prove himself"... etc. Building up a massive new pressure. Fans of opposing teams were all ready with negative judgements once he had a bad game (or even a good game => jealousy anyone )! He had a difficult start (compared to what Torres is having now = a great start) the last season. But soon got over it and ended by scoring only 1 goal less then the season before! What I want to say: trust me, take a look at Romelu's shoulders. He has the amazing quality of being able to cope with stress and pressure like no other kid of his age. And with all respect, the pressure he feels now at Chelsea is not of the same order than the pressure he had to deal with in Belgium! Romelu is more than ready to go for it. Even a bad game will not affect his mentality! IMO he needs to play very soon! Let him on the bench for another 4 months and one of Europe's most brightest talents has just wasted a FULL year on a chelsea bench & will without doubt shine the next season in the colours of another team (Fulham, Sunderlands, ....). AVB => give this lad a chance please :blue scalf:

5 consecutive clean sheets or 451minutes without conceiving a goal => Just read that this result means that Courtois is the best GK Atlético had in more than 20 years Petr, just give a ring whenever you want to take the weekend off Let's hope he can hold another 2 clean sheets and then the game against Barcelona! Could get interesting!! Either way amazing result of Thibaut! Spanish media => "De Geawho?"

You're welcome Sir

Indeed. In the 2009-2010 season Wasilewski was victim of a horrible tackle where he suffered an open fracture of the right leg. Belgian supertalent Axel Witsel was the offender. I was in the stadium that night and since my best friends father was the former head of the medical staff at Anderlecht, I could follow the whole incident from close by. It was a horrible night for Belgian football caused by the cultivated rivalry between RSC Anderlecht and Standard de Liege. A few months before this incident the championship was decided by test matches between the two, in which Standard showed to be the better side after two games (interesting to know: It was in these test matches that Lukaku made his first appearance in the Anderlecht first squad jersey. He had just turned 16!!). So Wasilewski surely had his part of the misery. He however did not made himself popular in the season before his injury => a lot of serious tackles, elbows, unsportsmanlike behavior, etc. Especially in the test matches against Standard a few months before he planted an elbow or three-four right in the face of the Standard attackers which made him the number one enemy for the Standard fans. Since he made his comeback (after more than one year of injury) he soon became a fan favorite in the Constant Vandenstock Stadium. I'm an Anderlecht fan myself but I'm not really a big fan of Wasyl. First of all he has his immense aggressiveness in his game (which I clearly don't like), secondly (and more importantly) he is way to limited as a football player (IMO), only having one option and if this option is blocked... he always has problems. Proved himself to be a good penalty kick taker though . A video of the horrible tackle on his right leg (I would like to warn sensitive viewers!) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jnXhLwUfprg Nickname "The Butcher" you say? You may find the answer in the next video (for your information: the team in the Red jerseys in Standard de Liege )

This one should work for everyone! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sihybfo0a3Q

I will post the youtube link as soon as it is uploaded by someone!

Because a picture says more than a 1000 words (and I don't like writing 1000 words ) http://stadion.vtm.be/artikel/anderlecht-krc-genk-05022012

End of the game. Final result: RSC Anderlecht - KRC Genk: 4-2 Difficult game for Genk all over. Had to defend most of the time. KDB also had a very difficult game today. He was played on the left wing against Marçin Wasilewski (a very hard defender => more like a butcher ). Kevin started rather well at the game, being present from the start. After 8th minutes Wasilewski showed why his nickname is 'the butcher' by planting his studs fully on Kevin's right ankle, a horrible tackle!! Good to see that Kevin could continue the game, although it was clear he moved a little bit more insecure after this incident. On the LW he did not see the ball a lot in the 1st half & in the beginning of the 2nd half. The touches he had were most of the time very good. But like I said before... you noticed sometimes he looked insecure (probably because of his injury) => not all his passes found a teammate (also because everyone expects him to give the final pass, which is difficult in these games on counter). With 20 minutes left to play, De Bruyne was set behind the strikers in the middle of the pitch. More ball touches resulted in more confidence! Kevin ended his game the same way he started => very strong! Important things for Chelsea fans: He confirmed his great passing ability excelling on one moment where he gave a superb cross with his right foot => headed back his way by the Anderlecht defense, which he answered with another great cross with his left(!!) foot. I don't know about you guys, but the last time I saw someone giving perfect crosses with both feet... is already a while ago . [*]We should be happy he is not injured for months (which had easily could been the result of that tackle) [*]Did rather well on the LW, although failed to show himself defensively (rather poor positioning) [*]Ended his game very strongly in the CAM position with great passing AND great defending!

End of first half: First of all we have to be very happy that De Bruyne is still able to run on the pitch! In the 8th minute or so a horrible tackle on his right ankle (could easily been broken)!! Luckily Kevin is still running without problems! Concerning the game: Anderlecht have been the better team leading 2-1. It is a very open game however (score could easily have been 4-2 for example). This unfortunately means that Genk's main task in this game is defending => not a lot of De Debruyne in the action. He did however well on counters... giving quite a number of great through passes. Unfortunately no assists so far! To sum up: KDB is not really involved in most of the game + we are happy he is still running!

Hi guys, I'm on this forum for a few months now, but this is the first time I actually see we have a special topic for New Members. So let's call this a late introduction on my part, sorry for being so impolite lads . My name is Tim and I'm a 30 year old marketing manager from Belgium. Chelsea has always been my premier leagues favorite team and with the recent changes of Chelsky becoming more and more a belgian squad (in the future)... things are even getting more interesting for me! You will find me posting a lot in the Lukaku, Courtois, Debruyne & Hazards threads. So let's say I will act for you guys as a personal scout who is following all prospect full young Belgian talents around Europe and keep you updated! Cheers!

He didn't had a game since his signing yet. Tomorrow at 14pm (Brussels time) Genk is playing at RSC Anderlecht (the leader in the championship so far). It should be a great game! I will post a little review on how Kevin did after the game. That is of course IF Hamilton is not faster than me to post it

Also I bet a lot of you guys remember Thierry Henry's handball in the final qualifier for the World Cup in South Africa: France vs. Ireland. => result: France stole their qualification at cost of Ireland. I can imagine a lot of Irish people still deeply hate the referee that permitted that goal to count. Here's a really interesting documentary about this referee and the process towards this match. So whenever you guys have 20mins. off... take a moment to watch it ! Makes this 'devil' a little bit more human don't you think ?

Totally agree on that one! I think it would really help the fans to show some respect for the job of a referee! Actually a great movie is made about referees "kill the referee". Unfortunately I cannot find a link to the whole movie. So here is a short part. Funny to see they have a voice ! http://vimeo.com/17026237

Way to often you see soccer players complaining and whining about every single referees decision. Welsh Rugby referee Nigel Owens deals with this annoying (in football terms however even extremely polite) player 'like a boss' .A lot of football refereers should take this as an example! It's all about respect!!