Marked for Trevan Sanusi
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match14 Dec 2026
Every point is an argument now for FC Lorient
Position 17 and 11 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Match12 Dec 2026
No end in sight to FC Lorient's wait for a win
8 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at FC Lorient has to find a result from somewhere.
Market14 Dec 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 The request is on a desk at FC Lorient, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Yvon Mvogo 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.
Match12 Dec 2026
3 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.
Squad14 Dec 2026
The manager makes an example of Montassar Talbi
“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.
Match12 Dec 2026
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
Squad14 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad23 Nov 2026
Yvon Mvogo is the hero from the spot
A shoot-out is remembered by its ending, and this one ends with Yvon Mvogo: 2 kept out, and a set of supporters who will describe every one of them for the next twenty years.
Match18 Nov 2026
A 2‑2 win over Stade Rennais, and the draw for the next round can be watched with some interest for once.
Market23 Nov 2026
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
No sign of nerves from Trevan Sanusi at 19 — 7.77
The hardest thing about being 19 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Trevan Sanusi did not need any: 7.77, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Match21 Nov 2026
The wait goes on for FC Lorient
5 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Montassar Talbi 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.
Match21 Nov 2026
Paris FC left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad23 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Yvon Mvogo
“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 ratings23 Nov 2026
Noah Cadiou misses from twelve yards
It was his to settle and he did not settle it. A long walk back to the halfway line, and a considerably longer week.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad28 Sep 2026
Trevan Sanusi is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 19 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Montassar Talbi 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.
Match26 Sep 2026
A 1‑0 win over Olympique de Marseille, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad28 Sep 2026
The manager makes an example of Darlin Yongwa
“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 Sep 2026
Marked 7.44. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Words at FC Lorient training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abdoulaye Faye 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.
Market28 Sep 2026
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Arthur Avom Ebong signs something — a contract at FC Lorient or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 8 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Market28 Sep 2026
FC Lorient have let the market know Daniel Semedo can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match16 Sep 2026
A 2‑1 win over Paris FC, a place in the next round, and the quiet arithmetic every supporter does on the walk home: how many more until a final?
Match19 Sep 2026
Chastening afternoon for FC Lorient
A 0‑3 beating by Paris Saint-Germain was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Match16 Sep 2026
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. FC Lorient scored in the 124th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
No sign of nerves from Trevan Sanusi at 19 — 7.98
The hardest thing about being 19 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Trevan Sanusi did not need any: 7.98, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Squad21 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 FC Lorient this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad21 Sep 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 terraces21 Sep 2026
The crowd has taken to Martin Bley
At 20 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Boardroom21 Sep 2026
Nobody left the FC Lorient dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
The terraces21 Sep 2026
Everybody has an opinion about Yvon Mvogo
He is the name in every column and on every phone-in, which is a heavy thing to carry at any age. Some footballers thrive on it; others are quietly finished by it.