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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Elton Ndzeryuy is 19, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Successful dribbles: 19. 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.
Julien Patrice Belemb 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.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Samuel Ngom Echabe 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.
Off the academy pitches and onto a senior team sheet at 20. The debut is the easy part; the second appearance is the one every young player has to earn.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Aigle Royal de la Menoua, and 1 appearances in 5 say he has earned the hearing.
It needed Blaise Fuh Ndiforchu to find the net to bring anything home at all: 2‑2 against Victoria United, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Jacques Onguene after the 2‑2 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Somebody watched every match in the division at the weekend and decided he was the best thing in any of them. A small honour, and most careers end without one.
Every debut is a small story about the future: Bryan Ramses Wirsiy, 20 years old, off the academy pitches and into the first team. The parents in the stand will keep the programme.
Every signing waits for it and every press conference asks about it until it comes. It has come, Aigle Royal de la Menoua have their man off the mark, and the second one is always easier.
Aigle Royal de la Menoua have gone to Panthere du Nde with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Julien Patrice Belemb 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.
Colombe du Dja et Lobo 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Samuel Ngom Echabe 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.
“Ambitious players need ambitious projects. Draw your own conclusions.” Samuel Ngom Echabe’s representative said it with a smile, and made sure everyone wrote it down.
In brief
SquadThe training reports on Gabriel Mballa are not good