Sunday 25th August
One League match, and two Cup matches played, and everything is still going to plan.
In Hamme we mot a deserved win. In the first half we were ahead twice, but the first goal was ruled out for a dubious offside.
In the second half we decided to push forward. But not everything was good. Through a stupid handball from De Witte, hamme got back in the match. After making it 1-2 we stayed back too much, meaning that the distance to the opposition goal was too big. Wr have to risk playing higher up the pitch, even if we're leading.
Against Kelmis it was never really a match. The keeper was sent off early and our lads kept too low a tempo to be able to run up a high score. But mission accomplished, and 6 other second division sides were knocked out.
Against Wetteren the biggest news of the week came early. Wisdom has arrived! After months of visa problems he arrived on Tuesday 19th August in Amsterdam. He showed himself to be very driven both on and off the pitch. Hopefully he can also show this in matches.
The match itself was a copy of the Kelmis game. The first half was ok, but in the second half we lost possession too much, and passed the ball too poorly, to be able to finish the game off.
All in all we haven't given anything away, as the 2 Wetteren chances both came from offside positions.
But it has to be better. We have to keep possession better in every area of the team. The passing has to be better too, this has everything to do with concentration. It is though the first time in 2 years, that we've won three consecutive matches!
In the 5th round of the Cup, another 6 second division sides were knocked out. that's now 12 in total!
Next week we have our biggest test so far, away to antwerp. Then our organisation must be ok. If we want to be at the top, then we cannot afford to lose.

Untl two weeks time.
Eric Van Meir

29-07-2008
After 3 weeks of preparation and 3 friendly games we can already make a little balance.

Against Pulle, on our national holiday, the fact the people talked most about was the weather. It rained cats and dogs and because of this, everybody became soaking wet. Nevertheless there were a lot of fans. Fantastic! Pulle defended with everything they had and our boys showed a lot of willingness tot score a lot of goals and this scoring happened.

At Wednesday against Pulderbos, the opponent was a bit better. The difference in the result was because of the poor finishing. This has a lot to do with the interval training in the afternoon at 13.30 at the track in Lier. Also the local goalkeeper was very good. At the end of the game we were even with 9 players, because Buyens and Tshiala got injured and had to leave the field.

Against our fellow townsmen Lyra, it became for the first time a real game. We fell behind early in the game after a misunderstanding in our defence. But we stayed calm and after 15 minutes, the score was already 1-2 after goals of Bojovic and Buyens. Lyra had to restrict itself tot the counterattack and we had enough chances to decide the game. After an hour, Buyens received the reward for his pressing and he gave Cavens the ball for the 1-3. Five minutes before the end of the game, Lyra took advantage of a misjudgement of keeper Van der Jeugt.

With still 2,5 weeks before the start of the competition, we are content about the effort and the physical condition. Now we can concentrate more on the football technical and tactical trainings. Especially when we loose the ball, we have to become harder in the duels. No gentleman football, but fighting for every square metre is the message. Also the set up has to be better, we still loose to many balls on the own half. Every player must make not only make oneself better, but also his teammates. Everybody has to give every game his best. When the intensity of the practicing will decrease, the sharpness in the attack will return and the chances will be (hopefully) finished better.

Now we have 4 games in 8 days. Hoogstraten, Dender, Turnhout and especially Getafe are our general repetition for the new born Exqi-league. Hopefully, we can recover some injured players for these games. Then everybody can show that he’s ready to make of this season a beautiful one.

One for all and all for one.

Until two weeks, Eric Van Meir

18-07-2008
From today we’ll be bringing you a fortnightly ‘Inside View’, with reports and gossip from Kessel, penned by Eric Van Meir.

The first get together on 9th July was very nice. Many familiar faces but also a number of newcomers. It was immediately noticeable that the group has grown in height. Newcomers Nikolic, Dreesen and Tshiala are lads of about 1.90 m or more… add to them De Witte, Janssens, Peeters and Frans and you can imagine that our “aerial power” this season can cause some damage.
The results of the physical tests which the players have undergone last Monday and Tuesday, are significantly better than those of last July. This would certainly be due to the running schedule that they’ve followed since 25th May. The newcomers also had to undergo medical tests, and so Dr Vervoort was able to devise an individual programme for them. Also Sherif El Bialy, Youssef Fawaz (coming in August) and triallist Mahmoud Barakot (coming once his visa is ok) have undergone a similar test in Egypt. In this way everyone will have a good basic condition to go into the battle to try and win a starting place.
The training sessions in pre-season are always a bit different than during the season. A lot more running (especially in the mornings) than normal, but in the afternoons there is still the pitch training in Bevel. We also don’t play any matches in the first 14 days in order to avoid injuries, but especially to be able to train continuously. The intensity of the trainings will be turned up in the first three weeks. In the 4th week we’ll primarily play matches (Dender, turnhout, Getafe) to get the real feel of match football back. These matches are not results orientated, but are important in respect of tactics, positional play and competition rhythm. On 13th August the main work starts with matches which count. Hamme away, a cup match (hopefully two) and Antwerp away, mean our start is far from easy. But you have to play against every team, ad so the timing is not of the utmost importance. We just have to ensure that we’re ready.

After the first weeks training I shall give a few comments over our newcomers:
Timothy Dreesen - I surely don’t have to introduce him. Timo still has his natural leadership and charisma, but has had a couple of annoying injuries last season. Hopefully he’ll now stay fit.
Julien Tshiala - Played a long season (play-offs with Namen), but has a healthy ambition to not play relegation duels, but against the top teams. He can play on the right flank or centrally.
Stefan Nikolic - Was on trial last season in Moeskroen, a match in which Neel De Ceulaer and Maged Samy were present. This target man is enormously strong and eager for his young age (18). If he can learn to divide his time, and to make the right decisions in the game, this lad can be very important for us.
Garry De Graef - Has a lot of experience, but is by and large unknown to the wider public. After a number of teams in Holland (1st and 2nd division) this proud local lad has come to Lierse via Paderborn (German 2nd division). Garry is an eager left back who will ultimately earn the recognition in his own country which he certainly deserves.
Nderim Nedzipi - was the playmaker of Rabotnicki (league champions and cup winners in Macedonia). This “No. 10″ both scores and makes goals for others. He has a good overview of a game and can infiltrate at the right time.
Sheriff El Bialy - was expected to arrive last January, but visa and army duties kept him in Egypt. Sheriff played for a long time in the USA and therefore has enough experience to be of vital worth. His technical skills, and especially his power of pace will be a thorn in the side for many opponents.
Youssef Fawaz, Agblexo Wisdom and Theeratap Winothai, it’s wait and see. But they’ll certainly be competition for the current squad players. Hopefully the striker that we need to add to the competition in our squad, can help us to compete with the other title candidates in the new EXQI League. It looks a lot rosier than last season in July!

Finally we want to thank everybody that has assured that OUR LIERSE still exists…
I’m not just talking about Maged Samy, Leo Theyskens, Neel De Ceulaer etc, but also to the best supporters in the country. No other team in the world has had to endure as much as K.Lierse S.K. Let’s therefore work on the comeback together….

THE SEVEN MEAGRE YEARS HAVE PASSED!
FORZA LIERSE
TOGETHER CHAMPIONS