Marked for Bader Fallatah
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match16 Jan 2027
Ohod taken apart
0‑9 to Al-Riyadh, 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.
Squad18 Jan 2027
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.
Market18 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.
Transfer targets18 Jan 2027
Everything agreed with Al-Diriyah, 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
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ohod this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match16 Jan 2027
Ohod are shipping goals every week
Two or more conceded in each of the last 5 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Match16 Jan 2027
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 9 goals between Ohod and Al-Riyadh, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Squad18 Jan 2027
A row about effort at Ohod
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Awadh Khamis was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets18 Jan 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Al-Wehda have kept their man, and Ohod go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 36. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad14 Dec 2026
A falling-out at Ohod
Mohammed Abdulrahman and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Words at Ohod training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Meshack Maphangule 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 dugout14 Dec 2026
The manager makes an example of Sergio Sardinha
“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.
Match14 Dec 2026
The half-term report on Ohod
Position 12, 11 points, and every result so far reduced to one line. The second half of the season starts with the same squad and a different set of expectations.
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
7.64, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Ohod had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Turki Al-Sulami was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Ohod dressing room was either.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Ohod, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Squad14 Dec 2026
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Ohod will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad16 Nov 2026
Awadh Khamis 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 Ohod this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Sergio Sardinha, and the manager let it.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
“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.
Looking ahead16 Nov 2026
Ohod take on the side everybody is chasing
Al-Ettifaq arrive as leaders. A side at the top is beaten roughly once a month, and the club that does it gets a week it remembers for a year.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
The manager has not finished forgetting Bader Fallatah's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
Looking ahead16 Nov 2026
Al-Ettifaq next, and one man in the Ohod dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad19 Oct 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.
Squad19 Oct 2026
A falling-out at Ohod
Mohammed Abdulrahman and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match17 Oct 2026
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout19 Oct 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.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 18. 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.
The dugout19 Oct 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.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Turki Al-Sulami after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
The manager has not finished forgetting Bader Fallatah's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Awadh Khamis speaks, and the room listens
“I am not asking anybody to be better than they are. I am asking everybody to be as good as they are, every week.” Said out loud, in front of everybody, and the room at Ohod was different afterwards.
From our football correspondent
Steady
The dugout28 Sep 2026
Bader Fallatah: 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.” Ohod have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad28 Sep 2026
A falling-out at Ohod
Awadh Khamis and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The terraces28 Sep 2026
He is 22 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.
Match26 Sep 2026
It finished 2‑0, and it was Mpho Mathekgane’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Ohod.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
A performance of 8.07 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad28 Sep 2026
35 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 2‑0, already talking about the next one.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Chances created: 9. The column nobody reads carried the whole story of the match, and his name was at the top of it.
The dugout28 Sep 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
Match19 Sep 2026
Nowhere to hide for Ohod
0‑4 against Al-Riyadh, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 9 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Squad21 Sep 2026
A row about effort at Ohod
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Meshack Maphangule was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Rudzani Thobo, and the manager let it.
Boardroom21 Sep 2026
Nobody left the Ohod dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑4 defeat, delivered by Turki Al-Sulami to a room that had heard them before.
Squad21 Sep 2026
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Ohod will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
Bader Fallatah is still paying for one afternoon at Ohod
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match12 Sep 2026
Nowhere to hide for Ohod
1‑5 against Al-Diriyah, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Squad14 Sep 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.
Match9 Sep 2026
Ohod out of the cup
Al-Ettifaq ended it 0‑6. The season narrows to the league now, and everyone in the ground knew it before the final whistle.
The terraces14 Sep 2026
A cup hiding at Al-Ettifaq leaves Ohod explaining themselves
0-6, 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.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 22. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match12 Sep 2026
Yasser Zahli among the goals in a wild afternoon
6 goals in one match, Yasser Zahli on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Ohod and Al-Diriyah.
Match9 Sep 2026
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Ohod and Al-Ettifaq, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words at Ohod training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Meshack Maphangule 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 dugout14 Sep 2026
The manager makes an example of Sergio Sardinha
“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
Market7 Sep 2026
“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 Ohod, and it is not being withdrawn.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Deadline passes with 34 signed and 0 gone
That is the business done at Ohod until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Tempers go at Ohod
Mohammed Abdulrahman 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.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
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 dugout7 Sep 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
“58 caps was 58 more than the boy who started ever expected.” At 39 he has stepped away from the national side and has not stepped away from Ohod.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Too much change too quickly at Ohod
20 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Yasser Al-Nemer and Ohod agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Market7 Sep 2026
11 months left and silence from upstairs — no offer, no talks, nothing for his people to answer. Clubs that let a calendar do their negotiating usually end up negotiating with the calendar.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match29 Aug 2026
4‑1, and Abdullah Al-Qahtani took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Ohod tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
A brace, and Abdullah Al-Qahtani takes the afternoon — 9.23
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Abdullah Al-Qahtani provided it, and the 9.23 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Market31 Aug 2026
“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.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Al-Nassr is saying, and nobody at Ohod is enjoying the guessing.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 23. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
A hand in 2 of them from Mpho Mathekgane — 7.90
Marked 7.90. There is a kind of forward whose value only shows up when you count what he was involved in rather than what he finished, and this is the day that argument makes itself.
Squad31 Aug 2026
A falling-out at Ohod
Saleh Al-Qumayzi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
Ohod asked and Al-Qadisiyah said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad31 Aug 2026
A row about effort at Ohod
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Meshack Maphangule was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad17 Aug 2026
There were 13 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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Sergio Sardinha gets the move he always wanted
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Sergio Sardinha has just signed for Ohod, and for once the answer mattered.
Squad17 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Sergio Sardinha and Ohod agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Tempers go at Ohod
Awadh Khamis 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 dugout17 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Meshack Maphangule, and the manager let it.
Match15 Aug 2026
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Market17 Aug 2026
He signed expecting a bigger stage than the one he found. It has not taken long, and it has not taken the dressing room long to notice either.
Market17 Aug 2026
Ohod and Emad Fidaa are talking past each other
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
The dugout17 Aug 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Turki Al-Sulami left the room before anybody could ask which.