A brace, and Mouhamed Diop takes the afternoon — 7.83
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Mouhamed Diop provided it, and the 7.83 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Every long career reaches the week the last one is thought about. He would like it to be where he started, and Moss know now that the thought has arrived.
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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Mouhamed Diop. 2‑1 against Kongsvinger, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Emil Holden 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.
Marked 8.15 — 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.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Interim Coach on a 2‑1 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager has not finished forgetting Amine Et-Taïbi's mistake
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 4 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Moss know it.
At 33, 3 points below where he was, and a body that has started charging interest. It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph on this page.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Francesco Forza 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.
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
The dugout28 Apr 2036
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Interim Coach was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Moss dressing room was either.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Moss can pretend not to have heard.
The manager may talk to whoever he likes and may pay nobody. A squad survives a window like this by borrowing, by promoting, and by hoping the injuries land somewhere else.
Football clubs borrow; that is not the story. Borrowing more than the facility allows is, because from here it is the owner's money or somebody else's decision, and neither of those belongs to the board.
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
Squad28 Jan 2036
Zsombor Deáky 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Ađlan Karalić trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
4 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Moss could ask drops and the wages Julian Gunnerød can ask rise.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 16 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
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.
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
Andreas Nygård 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.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Moss can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Moss this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The shortfall was covered from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be relieved and entitled to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings usually arrive together.
The manager may talk to whoever he likes and may pay nobody. A squad survives a window like this by borrowing, by promoting, and by hoping the injuries land somewhere else.
Football clubs borrow; that is not the story. Borrowing more than the facility allows is, because from here it is the owner's money or somebody else's decision, and neither of those belongs to the board.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Morten Haaland is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
Every squad is half players the manager chose and half players he inherited. Vince Osuji was chosen, the man who chose him has gone, and he starts again from nothing under the next one.
In brief
SquadWords at Moss training over how hard people work
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Moss can pretend not to have heard.
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Francesco Forza was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Moss, and both men came out saying it was fine.
5 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Moss could ask drops and the wages Ađlan Karalić can ask rise.
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Moss would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
91 graduates, from a department now rated 9 out of 20. Nothing about the academy appears in a result, and nothing about the club’s future exists without it.
2 on the scoresheet on his first appearance and a mark of 8.72 beside it. Most debuts are got through; this one was enjoyed, by him and by everybody watching it.
Position 9 on 37 points. Every season is a story and this is the last line of it, and now the club has three months to decide what the next one is about.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Moss this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Bojan Lovren. 3‑2 against IK Start, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad12 Nov 2035
Neo Jönsson 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.
At 18 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.
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Player ratings22 Oct 2035
Morten Haaland, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 8.11
A mark of 8.11 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.
1 for Lion de Oliveira, marked 7.82, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
Andreas Nygård 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.
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.
2 goals inside twenty minutes with Lion de Oliveira in the middle of it, and Hødd unable to get near the ball long enough to change anything. Some matches are won before the first drink.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Amine Et-Taïbi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Moss can pretend not to have heard.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Francesco Forza was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 33 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Moss know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Moss is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
“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 Moss, and it is not being withdrawn.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Moss this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Neo Jönsson 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 board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Morten Haaland did not need any: 7.84, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
1 for Trym Bjåen Telle, marked 7.63, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
Trym Bjåen Telle 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.
This is money that keeps the lights on rather than money that buys a centre-half, and the difference is the whole story. A club funded by its owner rather than by its football has exactly one conversation left ahead of it.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Tinus Engebakken 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.
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
“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 Moss, and it is not being withdrawn.
Trym Bjåen Telle 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.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Amine Et-Taïbi has, at Moss, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
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.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Moss has been clear about where Andreas Nygård stands, which is more than many ever get.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Interim Coach after 1‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Something was said to Morten Haaland and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
In brief
Squad6 new faces, and Moss are still learning each other
“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 Moss, and it is not being withdrawn.
Trym Bjåen Telle 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.
Moss asked and Haugesund said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad30 Jul 2035
Robin Meißner 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.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
22 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Moss lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Henrik Wroll-Evensen will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Moss the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Trym Bjåen Telle 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.
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.
“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.
Squad9 Jul 2035
Robin Meißner 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.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
The words a physio says slowly. 18 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Moss is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Player ratings28 May 2035
Jonas Selnaes, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.62
A mark of 7.62 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Moss this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Sam Musah is living that version at Moss, and it tends to show in the first month.
He is 21 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
The words a physio says slowly. 123 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
“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 Moss, and it is not being withdrawn.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Moss they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Andreas Nygård 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Noah Alexandersson was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Moss, another week without a signature from Ađlan Karalić.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Moss can pretend not to have heard.
Andreas Nygård 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Noah Alexandersson 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 manager may talk to whoever he likes and may pay nobody. A squad survives a window like this by borrowing, by promoting, and by hoping the injuries land somewhere else.
Every squad has men who were signed by a particular manager and men who were merely inherited. William Sell is in the first group, and the man who wanted him here is no longer in the building.
Nothing is announced when this happens and everybody knows. He is a bigger part of the plan at Moss than he was a month ago, and the training ground worked that out before the team sheet said so.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Moss will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Mattia Mioli has agreed terms with Fredrikstad for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
The shirt still fits. Andreas Nygård is back at Moss, and half the ground remembers him in these colours already. Some signings need selling to the town; this one sold itself.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Noah Alexandersson 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.
KFUM Oslo will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Yair Murillo has pre-agreed a move to Moss, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
Every long career reaches the week the player starts thinking about the last one. He would like it to be at the club that first put him on a pitch, and Moss now know that too.