1‑0 against Bayer Leverkusen, under lights, against people who do not speak the same language as the crowd. These are the evenings a club measures its decade in, and there are never as many of them as anybody expects.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Tanguy Nianzou will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Olympique de Marseille the goodbyes have quietly begun.
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 first defeat in 5 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against OGC Nice; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Chamois Niortais waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Olympique de Marseille is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
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.
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Toulouse FC moved on, Enrico Delprato reports back to Olympique de Marseille, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Gabriel Martinelli was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Olympique de Marseille heard it as anything else.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Olympique de Marseille will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Olympique de Marseille they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Robin Roefs 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.
Squad3 Nov 2031
Donyell Malen 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.
Marked 8.31 — 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.
Player ratings3 Nov 2031
Ngal'Ayel Mukau was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.11. 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.
In brief
Player ratingsArsène Kouassi did the work nobody counts — 7.67
The dugoutDonyell Malen has become a man the manager trusts
Donyell Malen 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.
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 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.
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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Olympique de Marseille, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Full confidence, expressed in the dull, deliberate language boards reserve for when they mean it. The window that follows will show whether the words came with money attached.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Olympique de Marseille is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Olympique de Marseille this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad14 Apr 2031
Rafael Leão 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.
Nobody at Olympique de Marseille 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.
“I did not go to Polissia to sit and watch. I want to come back to Olympique de Marseille and fight for my place.” 2 appearances in 9 matches say the rest.
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.
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
$41.1M is a serious amount of money and it does not play centre-forward. Everybody in the dressing room knows who used to be looked at when it went wrong.
FC Lorient asked and Olympique de Marseille said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
He is going to Olympique de Marseille, the club has $41.1M it did not have on Friday, and the phone-ins have already decided how they feel about that. Selling well and selling somebody they loved are not the same skill.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Sambou Soumano was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
46 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
This is not cover and nobody is pretending it is. $41.1M has been paid because Arsène Kouassi is straightforwardly better than what was already here, and the club has decided to stop waiting.
Olympique de Marseille asked and Monaco said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Olympique de Marseille and RC Lens have settled on $6.2M. 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.
The offer from FC Nantes for Joaquín Panichelli 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.
The mood at FC Lorient has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
“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.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Arsène Kouassi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The unbeaten run reaches 29. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Match4 Jan 2031
Another one collected away from home
14 on the bounce on the road for Olympique de Marseille. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.
Olympique de Marseille have gone to OGC Nice 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.
The offer went to Stade Rennais 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.
$41.1M on the table at FC Lorient. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Olympique de Marseille asked and OGC Nice said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Mansfield Town waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Olympique de Marseille is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Olympique de Marseille will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around FC Lorient they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether FC Lorient can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
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.
A 1‑1 draw with Monaco leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
The dugout16 Dec 2030
the manager: “We have to be better”
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 1‑1 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Sambou Soumano 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.
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.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Théo Le Bris wants continental football; whether FC Lorient can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
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 want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at FC Lorient heard it as anything else.
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.
Squad2 Dec 2030
Words at FC Lorient training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Arsène Kouassi 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 chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. FC Lorient told Panos Katseris something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Montassar Talbi 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 thought about how hard another man trains, and Arsène Kouassi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Marked 7.76 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, FC Lorient had the best player on the pitch.
The dugout25 Nov 2030
the manager on the point
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” the manager after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. FC Lorient told Badr Gaddarine something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Nimes? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
In brief
The dugoutAhmad Ngouyamsa has become a man the manager trusts
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around FC Lorient they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Sambou Soumano 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.
Successful dribbles: 21. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad18 Nov 2030
Words at FC Lorient training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jean-Victor Makengo 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.
7.37, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. FC Lorient had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
The dugout18 Nov 2030
the manager: “We have to be better”
“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.
Nobody at FC Lorient 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.
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.
Squad11 Nov 2030
Words at FC Lorient training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Arsène Kouassi 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.
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.
Marked 8.44 — 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.
Player ratings11 Nov 2030
Mohamed Bamba was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.10. 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.
The dugout11 Nov 2030
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” the manager, on a 4‑1 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Something was said to Mehdi Husson and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.