Marked for Sid Ali Lakroum
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad28 Dec 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 13 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Squad28 Dec 2026
A fracture rules Djamel Benlamri out for 71 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason ES Mostaganem will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Idir Mokeddem was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Noa Cervantes falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Match26 Dec 2026
0‑1 to USM Alger, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
The manager makes an example of Sid Ali Lakroum
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 16. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑1, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad14 Dec 2026
A fracture rules Djamel Benlamri out for 85 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason ES Mostaganem will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 24. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Ahmed Aït-Abdesslem and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Noa Cervantes falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Match12 Dec 2026
Three points for ES Mostaganem, 1‑0 the final word against JS Saoura in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Match14 Dec 2026
Position 12, 16 points, and every result so far reduced to one line. The second half of the season starts with the same squad and a different set of expectations.
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
Marked 7.74 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, ES Mostaganem had the best player on the pitch.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 1‑0, already talking about the next one.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad16 Nov 2026
A fracture rules Djamel Benlamri out for 116 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason ES Mostaganem will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match14 Nov 2026
A 0‑3 beating by MC Alger was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Player ratings16 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 27. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Idir Mokeddem and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Noa Cervantes was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Sid Ali Lamri, and the manager let it.
Boardroom16 Nov 2026
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑3 Abdelkader Zeffane left the room before anybody could ask which.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
Sid Ali Lakroum has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at ES Mostaganem will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad9 Nov 2026
124 days out for Djamel Benlamri after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. ES Mostaganem will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Idir Mokeddem and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Aqtay Abdallah arrives at the club he grew up with
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Aqtay Abdallah has, at ES Mostaganem, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Match7 Nov 2026
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Words at ES Mostaganem training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aymen Mouyet is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Aymen Mouyet
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑2, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 13. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. ES Mostaganem told Chouaib Boulkaboul something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad2 Nov 2026
A fracture rules Djamel Benlamri out for 131 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason ES Mostaganem will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market2 Nov 2026
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at ES Mostaganem, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad2 Nov 2026
There were 6 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Idir Mokeddem was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Noa Cervantes falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The terraces2 Nov 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Noa Cervantes has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Match31 Oct 2026
It finished 1‑0, and it was Ali Haroun’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to ES Mostaganem.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad26 Oct 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 139 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match24 Oct 2026
A 0‑3 beating by Paradou was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 25. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad26 Oct 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at ES Mostaganem this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Words at ES Mostaganem training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Noa Cervantes is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Boardroom26 Oct 2026
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑3, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
Looking ahead26 Oct 2026
MC Oran next, and one man in the ES Mostaganem dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 29. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Ahmed Aït-Abdesslem and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad19 Oct 2026
At 22 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Squad19 Oct 2026
At 27 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Aymen Mouyet falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Marked 7.68. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Abdelkader Zeffane chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Sid Ali Lakroum is on it.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 34. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Match7 Oct 2026
Out, 1‑2 to CS Constantine, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows it.
Match10 Oct 2026
There were 85 minutes on the clock and ES Ben Aknoun had all but banked the point. Football rarely reads the room, and ES Mostaganem did not stop to explain themselves.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Ahmed Aït-Abdesslem and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad12 Oct 2026
At 24 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
Match10 Oct 2026
It had gone 6 games. The players did not celebrate like men who had won a match; they celebrated like men who had been let out of something.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Noa Cervantes was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
Ninety minutes of Ali Haroun at his very best
Marked 8.03. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at ES Mostaganem.
In brief
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The dugout
Aymen Mouyet gets it from the manager
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Squad
ES Mostaganem are still strangers to each other
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The dugout
The manager’s verdict
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match26 Sep 2026
Beaten 0‑3 by JS Kabylie, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Match26 Sep 2026
No end in sight to ES Mostaganem's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at ES Mostaganem has to find a result from somewhere.
Match26 Sep 2026
4 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Squad28 Sep 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at ES Mostaganem this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Words at ES Mostaganem training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aymen Mouyet is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Sid Ali Lakroum, and the manager let it.
Boardroom28 Sep 2026
The manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Abdelkader Zeffane after 0‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad3 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Ali Haroun and ES Mostaganem agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Ali Haroun and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Stade Brestois have kept their man, and ES Mostaganem go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad3 Aug 2026
A muscle injury and 15 days out for Djamel Benlamri
The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. ES Mostaganem will quote 15 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Market3 Aug 2026
49 months and counting on Ali Haroun
Still no offer on the table, and Ali Haroun’s deal keeps shrinking. In boardroom language, silence this long stops being an oversight and starts being an answer.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Djamel Benlamri was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.