Marked for Owen Kouassi
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad15 Feb 2027
A fracture rules Romain Padovani out for 131 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Stade Lavallois will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Owen Kouassi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dylan Mbayo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets15 Feb 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.
The dugout15 Feb 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.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
Mamadou Camara knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Stade Lavallois, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad8 Feb 2027
A fracture rules Romain Padovani out for 138 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Stade Lavallois will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market8 Feb 2027
The deal that would have taken Cyril Mandouki to Bourg-Peronnas has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Stade Lavallois with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
Squad8 Feb 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 Stade Lavallois this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Owen Kouassi 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.
Transfer targets8 Feb 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Paris Saint-Germain have kept their man, and Stade Lavallois go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Market8 Feb 2027
Joe Ashton is 20, and Stade Lavallois have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Too much change too quickly at Stade Lavallois
6 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
The dugout8 Feb 2027
Sam Sanna knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Sam Sanna trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout8 Feb 2027
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad1 Feb 2027
146 days out for Romain Padovani after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Stade Lavallois will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market1 Feb 2027
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Stade Lavallois have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Stade Lavallois close the window on a squad of their own making
6 in and 2 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.
Market1 Feb 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Thibaut Vargas 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.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Owen Kouassi 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.
Transfer targets1 Feb 2027
Stade Lavallois asked and Altach said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The dugout1 Feb 2027
The manager makes an example of Cyril Mandouki
“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.
Transfer targets1 Feb 2027
Bradford City have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad25 Jan 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 154 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Transfer targets25 Jan 2027
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Le Havre AC is saying, and nobody at Stade Lavallois is enjoying the guessing.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Owen Kouassi 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.
Squad25 Jan 2027
A move Ange Chiesa would have made for nothing
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Ange Chiesa is living that version at Stade Lavallois, and it tends to show in the first month.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Julien Maggiotti was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets25 Jan 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.
The dugout25 Jan 2027
The manager makes an example of Sam Sanna
“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 dugout25 Jan 2027
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.
Market25 Jan 2027
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Stade Lavallois know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings18 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 33. 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.
Market18 Jan 2027
The bid was some way short and Stade Lavallois did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Transfer targets18 Jan 2027
Everything agreed with Le Havre AC, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Thibaut Vargas and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Market18 Jan 2027
AC Ajaccio pay $190.0K, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Dylan Mbayo 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.
Transfer targets18 Jan 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Red Star have kept their man, and Stade Lavallois go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Match16 Jan 2027
8 matches unbeaten here. Every visiting manager is asked about it in the week before, which is precisely why it keeps going.
Player ratings18 Jan 2027
Ninety minutes of Eros Maddy at his very best
Marked 8.18. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Stade Lavallois.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market11 Jan 2027
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Stade Lavallois have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Market11 Jan 2027
“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 Stade Lavallois, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings11 Jan 2027
At 38 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.02 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Market11 Jan 2027
The bid was some way short and Stade Lavallois did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Paris Irie 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. Paris Irie has, at Stade Lavallois, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Player ratings11 Jan 2027
Dylan Mbayo beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 24. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Match9 Jan 2027
Nobody wants to play Stade Lavallois right now
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Owen Kouassi in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Stade Lavallois this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Dylan Mbayo 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad4 Jan 2027
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 16 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Market4 Jan 2027
“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 ratings4 Jan 2027
A brace, and Mamadou Camara takes the afternoon — 9.18
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Mamadou Camara provided it, and the 9.18 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Market4 Jan 2027
The offer from Tours for Trévis Dago was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Player ratings4 Jan 2027
Eros Maddy runs at them all day
Successful dribbles: 24. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Owen Kouassi 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.
Match2 Jan 2027
A 4‑3 win over Tours, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Match2 Jan 2027
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 7 goals between Stade Lavallois and Tours, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Defences have started doubling up on Mamadou Camara
12 goals and a season average of 7.29 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 34. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
No sign of nerves from Trévis Dago at 21 — 8.08
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Trévis Dago did not need any: 8.08, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Trévis Dago is the real thing at 21
A season average of 7.23 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Stade Lavallois know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Owen Kouassi 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.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Dylan Mbayo 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 terraces28 Dec 2026
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.
Match26 Dec 2026
A 2‑0 win over US Creteil, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad28 Dec 2026
10 goals and a season average of 7.21. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Boardroom28 Dec 2026
Wages eat 92% of everything Stade Lavallois earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad21 Dec 2026
Owen Kouassi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Dylan Mbayo 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 dugout21 Dec 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 dugout21 Dec 2026
Romain Padovani 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 dugout21 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.
Looking ahead21 Dec 2026
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Cyril Mandouki’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Stade Lavallois needing him to play as if none of it matters.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 36. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
Maxime Hautbois: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Stade Lavallois have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Owen Kouassi in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Stade Lavallois this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Malik Tchokounté 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 dugout14 Dec 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.
Match12 Dec 2026
It needed Julien Maggiotti to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Dijon, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Romain Padovani trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Daniel Marie after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Match14 Dec 2026
Position 5 on 27 points, and the places that carry a European ticket are close enough to count. Seasons like this are decided by two results in April, and the club knows which two.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match5 Dec 2026
It is a specific kind of quiet, a ground watching a winning position dissolve. Red Star kept coming because nothing stopped them, and Stade Lavallois will be asked about the last half hour all week.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 9.69, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
A brace, and Malik Tchokounté takes the afternoon — 9.11
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Malik Tchokounté provided it, and the 9.11 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
Eros Maddy beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 24. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Match5 Dec 2026
Red Star left with the points after a 4‑5 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad7 Dec 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Mamadou Samassa and Stade Lavallois agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Owen Kouassi 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.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Words at Stade Lavallois training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dylan Mbayo 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.
Squad7 Dec 2026
The medical room confirms 16 days on the sidelines for Titouan Thomas, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match28 Nov 2026
5‑0, and Mamadou Camara took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Stade Lavallois tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Two goals and a mark of 8.80 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
A brace, and Eros Maddy takes the afternoon — 8.35
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Eros Maddy provided it, and the 8.35 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Squad30 Nov 2026
At 21, Trévis Dago is already the best thing here
An average of 7.11 in a first team he is several years too young for. Stade Lavallois have something, and by now the whole division has noticed.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Owen Kouassi 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.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dylan Mbayo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The terraces30 Nov 2026
The crowd has taken to Trévis Dago
At 21 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.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.38, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Bahmed Deuff beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 18. 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
Uneasy
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Dylan Mbayo beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 30. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Match21 Nov 2026
4 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
Owen Kouassi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Malik Tchokounté 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 dugout23 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 dugout23 Nov 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Daniel Marie was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Stade Lavallois dressing room was either.
Match21 Nov 2026
Ninety minutes, two goalkeepers with clean gloves, and not one finish worth keeping. Sochaux will be the happier side with the point.
Looking ahead23 Nov 2026
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Mattéo Commaret’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Stade Lavallois needing him to play as if none of it matters.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad16 Nov 2026
A fracture rules Romain Padovani out for 19 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Stade Lavallois will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad16 Nov 2026
18 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Stade Lavallois lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 9 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Player ratings16 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 30. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings16 Nov 2026
Bahmed Deuff, 20, steals the show — 7.77
Marked 7.77 at 20, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Owen Kouassi in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Stade Lavallois this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match14 Nov 2026
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 1‑2, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Teddy Bouriaud
“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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad9 Nov 2026
26 days out for Romain Padovani after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Stade Lavallois will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad9 Nov 2026
27 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Stade Lavallois lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Nobody could get near Eros Maddy
Successful dribbles: 29. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Owen Kouassi 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.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Words at Stade Lavallois training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dylan Mbayo 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
No hiding place for Sam Sanna
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Sam Sanna, and the manager let it.
Match7 Nov 2026
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
Half-satisfied: Daniel Marie on the draw
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 1‑1, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
Yohan Tavares knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Stade Lavallois, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad2 Nov 2026
A fracture rules Romain Padovani out for 33 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Stade Lavallois will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad2 Nov 2026
34 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Stade Lavallois lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 30. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad2 Nov 2026
At 21, Trévis Dago is already the best thing here
An average of 7.15 in a first team he is several years too young for. Stade Lavallois have something, and by now the whole division has noticed.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Owen Kouassi 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.
Match2 Nov 2026
21 points at the turn. The first half of a season is a promise; the second is a bill, and the town is about to find out which of the two this one was.
Boardroom2 Nov 2026
Wages eat 95% of everything Stade Lavallois earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Titouan Thomas
“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 dugout2 Nov 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Daniel Marie was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Stade Lavallois dressing room was either.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad26 Oct 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 42 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Owen Kouassi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Words at Stade Lavallois training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dylan Mbayo 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.
Match24 Oct 2026
A 2‑1 win over Nimes, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Mamadou Camara was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.27. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Match24 Oct 2026
No time for Nimes to settle
The goal that put Nimes ahead was still being replayed on the concourse when Stade Lavallois equalised, 2 minutes later. Leads are only worth what you do with them.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Daniel Marie kept it short after the 2‑1 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
The manager makes an example of William Bianda
“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 ratings26 Oct 2026
Eros Maddy runs at them all day
Successful dribbles: 13. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad19 Oct 2026
49 days out for Romain Padovani after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Stade Lavallois will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 25. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Owen Kouassi in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Stade Lavallois this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Ylies Aradj is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Words at Stade Lavallois training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dylan Mbayo 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.
Match17 Oct 2026
1‑2 to Valenciennes, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
The manager makes an example of Bahmed Deuff
“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 dugout19 Oct 2026
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
Titouan Thomas has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Stade Lavallois 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
Steady
Squad12 Oct 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 56 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
At 38 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 8.20, and nobody on the pitch better.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Owen Kouassi 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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Malik Tchokounté was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
Dylan Mbayo was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.34. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Stade Lavallois are still strangers to each other
7 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Daniel Marie kept it short after the 2‑1 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 39. 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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 72 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match26 Sep 2026
6‑2, and Mamadou Camara took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Stade Lavallois tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Two goals and a mark of 9.42 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Squad28 Sep 2026
The match ball belongs to Mamadou Camara, whose 3 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Owen Kouassi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match26 Sep 2026
8 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Stade Lavallois and US Creteil in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 9.75, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad21 Sep 2026
81 days out for Romain Padovani after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Stade Lavallois will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Match16 Sep 2026
LOSC Lille go through and Stade Lavallois go home, 1‑2 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
Squad21 Sep 2026
6 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Up for the corner, and Titouan Thomas delivers — 7.67
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Titouan Thomas scored, was marked 7.67, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Owen Kouassi in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Stade Lavallois this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Malik Tchokounté was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market21 Sep 2026
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Cyril Mandouki has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Stade Lavallois.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
The manager makes an example of Yohan Tavares
“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 dugout21 Sep 2026
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 1‑2, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad14 Sep 2026
A fracture rules Romain Padovani out for 88 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Stade Lavallois will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Transfer targets14 Sep 2026
No deal for Melvin Zinga at that price
Stade Lavallois offered $460.0K; Angers SCO said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Owen Kouassi 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 Sep 2026
Words at Stade Lavallois training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dylan Mbayo 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 Sep 2026
Dylan Mbayo beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 19. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Marked 7.42. 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 dugout14 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to William Bianda, and the manager let it.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Daniel Marie after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Match12 Sep 2026
Ninety minutes, two goalkeepers with clean gloves, and not one finish worth keeping. Dijon will be the happier side with the point.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad7 Sep 2026
A fracture rules Romain Padovani out for 96 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Stade Lavallois will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match5 Sep 2026
1‑4 against Red Star, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Trévis Dago, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.82
A mark of 7.82 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Stade Lavallois close the window on a squad of their own making
11 in and 10 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.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
The offer went to Angers SCO this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Owen Kouassi 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Trévis Dago is the real thing at 21
A season average of 7.07 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Stade Lavallois know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Dylan Mbayo 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.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
Stade Lavallois asked and Catania said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.