Marked for Pierre Sanchez
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad2 Apr 2029
Samy Baghdadi breaks a bone — 85 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 85 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad2 Apr 2029
“The easiest signature of my career.” Louicius Deedson and Sochaux agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad2 Apr 2029
Words exchanged at Sochaux
Alexandre Pierre 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.
Squad2 Apr 2029
Julien Masson 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 dugout2 Apr 2029
Julien Masson asks for a word with the manager
“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.
The dugout2 Apr 2029
The manager makes an example of Pierre Sanchez
“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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Transfer targets14 Aug 2028
Fee done, terms next for Charles Abi
Sochaux and Valenciennes have settled on $1.4M. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
Transfer targets14 Aug 2028
Door shut on Otávio
Sochaux asked and Paris FC said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Transfer targets14 Aug 2028
The deal with Paris Saint-Germain is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Squad14 Aug 2028
At 21 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.
Squad14 Aug 2028
Dylan Tavares 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.
Squad14 Aug 2028
At 37 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.
Match12 Aug 2028
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.
Squad14 Aug 2028
Words at Sochaux training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Julien Masson 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.
Player ratings14 Aug 2028
Successful dribbles: 19. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad20 Sep 2027
There were 10 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.
Match18 Sep 2027
Beaten 1‑4 by Red Star, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Match15 Sep 2027
Sochaux out of the cup
Toulouse FC ended it 0‑3. The season narrows to the league now, and everyone in the ground knew it before the final whistle.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 18 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The terraces20 Sep 2027
A cup hiding at Toulouse FC leaves Sochaux explaining themselves
0-3, and long before the end the away end had switched from encouragement to something considerably more pointed. Nobody rings a phone-in about losing narrowly.
The dugout20 Sep 2027
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad20 Sep 2027
At 21 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.
Squad20 Sep 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Louicius Deedson commits to Sochaux for another 3 years.
The dugout20 Sep 2027
“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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings13 Sep 2027
Successful dribbles: 38. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad13 Sep 2027
A fracture rules Pierre Sanchez out for 27 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Sochaux will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad13 Sep 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Thimothé David is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Transfer targets13 Sep 2027
A deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. Sochaux will try again when the window opens; RC Lens may not be selling by then.
Squad13 Sep 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Julien Vetro and Sochaux agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad13 Sep 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sochaux this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout13 Sep 2027
Julien Vetro gets it from the manager
“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.
Match11 Sep 2027
Bourg-Peronnas made Sochaux work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings13 Sep 2027
Marked 8.01 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad6 Sep 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 35 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Transfer targets6 Sep 2027
$2.5M settles it between the clubs for Diego García
RC Lens have accepted the money. What Sochaux do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Boardroom6 Sep 2027
Sochaux close the window on a squad of their own making
8 in and 12 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Market6 Sep 2027
Redwan Bourlès has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Sochaux they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Dalangunypole Gomis is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad6 Sep 2027
A falling-out at Sochaux
Dylan Tavares and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad6 Sep 2027
A row about effort at Sochaux
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Julien Masson was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets6 Sep 2027
Sochaux asked and Gornik Zabrze said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Match4 Sep 2027
AS Nancy left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match28 Aug 2027
1‑5 to Stade Brestois, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Squad30 Aug 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 44 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market30 Aug 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Sochaux can pretend not to have heard.
Squad30 Aug 2027
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Market30 Aug 2027
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Sochaux they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad30 Aug 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Noah Gomes is 19, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad30 Aug 2027
A falling-out at Sochaux
Julien Masson and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match28 Aug 2027
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Sochaux and Stade Brestois, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Transfer targets30 Aug 2027
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match21 Aug 2027
AC Ajaccio will want this one forgotten quickly: 4‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Sochaux were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Squad23 Aug 2027
51 days out for Pierre Sanchez after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Sochaux will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad23 Aug 2027
3 goals in one game. The first was taken well, the second was taken greedily, and by the third the crowd were simply waiting for him to get the ball.
The dugout23 Aug 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Sochaux may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market23 Aug 2027
Nimes come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Sochaux did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad23 Aug 2027
At 20 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.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Dylan Tavares 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.
Boardroom23 Aug 2027
Graduation day at Sochaux
5 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
Player ratings23 Aug 2027
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 9.45, and no argument anywhere in the ground.