“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what AS PSI can pretend not to have heard.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Adham Alaa did not need any: 7.69, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Félix Noubara 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.
A point taken on 86 minutes is worth exactly one point and considerably more than that to a dressing room. This side does not stop, which is a reputation worth more than the result.
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 2‑2 draw with Renaissance leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
The dugout20 Dec 2027
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Moussa Mbaiguedem chose the glass-half-full version of 2‑2; the supporters left with the other one.
Two goals and a mark of 8.53 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Nassar Koulelengar 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.
Squad13 Dec 2027
Brahim Goudja 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.
“I watch every AS PSI game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Aiglons runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Renaissance next, and the two sides the division is watching meet each other. Whoever wins will be told nothing is decided in the same breath as being congratulated.
In brief
Player ratingsBrahim Goudja was on a different afternoon to everybody else
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AS PSI this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
A goalkeeper’s error has no defender behind it to tidy it away. He knew before the ball crossed the line, the crowd knew a second later, and there is nothing anybody can say tonight.
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑1, Moussa Mbaiguedem could afford to be generous.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Marcellin Biandao trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AS PSI this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad15 Nov 2027
Words at AS PSI training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Brahim Goudja 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.
“I watch every AS PSI game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Aiglons runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Something was said to Noël Allaramadji and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at AS PSI, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Nobody at AS PSI 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.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Stars Jeunes Talents in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 3‑0 against Gazelle, and it could have been more.
Player ratings1 Nov 2027
Joseph Ngadena, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.83
A mark of 7.83 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 AS PSI this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
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.
Player ratings1 Nov 2027
Gabkala Daba was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.14. 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and a squad player was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout1 Nov 2027
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.” Moussa Mbaiguedem, on a 3‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Félix Noubara trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Brahim Goudja 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at AS PSI, and both men came out saying it was fine.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Noël Allaramadji has written the date down.
“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 AS PSI, and it is not being withdrawn.
Nassar Koulelengar 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.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Brahim Goudja 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 had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at AS PSI, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The language is coming and there is somebody to talk to in the dressing room. A footballer who feels at home plays like one, and it never shows up in a scouting report.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. AS PSI will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Nassar Koulelengar 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 Brahim Goudja was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. AS PSI will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
14 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. AS PSI lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Nassar Koulelengar 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 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.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Brahim Goudja 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.
“I watch every AS PSI game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Aiglons runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. AS PSI will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
21 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. AS PSI lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what AS PSI can pretend not to have heard.
AS PSI asked and Foullah Edifice said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 43 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Adham Alaa 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.
AS PSI asked and CotonTchad said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Brahim Goudja 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.
5 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.
15 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. AS PSI lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason AS PSI will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and AS PSI have had the benefit of it.
Nassar Koulelengar 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.
AS PSI asked and Aiglons said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
None of them will be seen by anybody outside the training ground for three years, most of them will never play a senior match, and one of them might change the club. That is the whole proposition, and it is why academies exist.
The words a physio says slowly. 43 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.
Félix Noubara 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.
This is not rotation. Djibrine Tokindang has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at AS PSI is pretending otherwise.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Words at AS PSI training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Brahim Mbaiguedem 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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Adham Alaa signs something — a contract at AS PSI or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The registration window is open and the phone has started. Between now and the deadline this club will be linked with forty players and sign three, which is the usual ratio.
8 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” AS PSI have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Bark Abdramane signs something — a contract at AS PSI or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Abdoulaye Mbaiguedem trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The language is arriving, the jokes are landing, and there is somebody at the next peg to talk to. None of it appears in a scouting report and all of it shows up on the pitch.
“Judge me on him.” Managers do not say that kind of thing by accident — it moves the pressure from Roger Emga’s shoulders onto his own, and both of them know it.
Brahim Goudja 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 Roger Emga was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Adham Alaa signs something — a contract at AS PSI or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and AS PSI will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
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.
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 dugout19 Apr 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Moussa Mbaiguedem was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the AS PSI dressing room was either.
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.
Brahim Goudja 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.
Marked 8.47. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at AS PSI.
The dugout12 Apr 2027
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.” Moussa Mbaiguedem, on a 3‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Adam Souleymane’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and AS PSI needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Abdoulaye Mbaiguedem is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Brahim Goudja 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 demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Abdramane Ndoram is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Adham Alaa is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
AS Algoy next, and one man in the AS PSI dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. AS PSI will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Moussa Mbaiguedem after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Something was said to Marius Allamine and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Brahim Goudja signs something — a contract at AS PSI or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Djibrine Hissein is on it.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason AS PSI will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Brahim Goudja 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 particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Abdoulaye Mbaiguedem has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Successful dribbles: 15. 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.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Moussa Mbaiguedem on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 38 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
5‑1, and Brahim Goudja took the headlines on an afternoon when everything AS PSI tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Player ratings1 Mar 2027
A brace, and Brahim Goudja takes the afternoon — 8.60
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Brahim Goudja provided it, and the 8.60 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
4 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AS PSI this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about AS PSI and Galactik in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Adham Alaa has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
A season average of 7.23 with 10 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Player ratings1 Mar 2027
Ali Issa Blagué 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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. AS PSI will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Brahim Goudja 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Brahim Goudja has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Ezechiel Abba has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Nassar Koulelengar, and the manager let it.
The dugout8 Feb 2027
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.” Moussa Mbaiguedem, on a 4‑1 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 66 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
1 for Gabkala Daba, marked 7.54, 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.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
AS PSI close the window on a squad of their own making
2 in and 0 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AS PSI this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. AS Algoy have kept their man, and AS PSI go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
A deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. AS PSI will try again when the window opens; AS Algoy may not be selling by then.
Successful dribbles: 17. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout1 Feb 2027
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 1‑2 defeat, delivered by Moussa Mbaiguedem to a room that had heard them before.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason AS PSI will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
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.
AS Algoy next, and one man in the AS PSI dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Abdramane Ndoram trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. AS PSI know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
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.
“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 AS PSI will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. AS PSI will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Mahamat Adam Ali provided it, and the 8.69 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Brahim Goudja 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 20-year-old it feels ownership of. Adham Alaa has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Narcisse Hissein has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Marked 8.55 — 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.
The dugout14 Dec 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.” Moussa Mbaiguedem kept it short after the 3‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 122 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AS PSI this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
He is 23 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.
Marked 8.27 — 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.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Moussa Mbaiguedem after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. AS PSI will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
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 dugout30 Nov 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 1‑3 defeat, delivered by Moussa Mbaiguedem to a room that had heard them before.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. AS PSI know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Nobody at AS PSI 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason AS PSI will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Brahim Goudja 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 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 dugout23 Nov 2026
Haroun Abakar is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
Nobody at AS PSI 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.
AS Etat Major go through and AS PSI go home, 2‑3 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
The hardest thing about being 16 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Ali Mbainaissem did not need any: 7.90, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AS PSI this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
At 23 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Adham Alaa. 2‑0 against US Moursal, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Marked 8.10 — 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.” Moussa Mbaiguedem on a 2‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
0‑3 to Gazelle, 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” AS PSI have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The instruction has come from upstairs rather than from the dugout, which is the version of this conversation no manager enjoys. Somebody in that squad is now available whether the man who picks the team thinks so or not.
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.
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 9 combined actions and a mark of 6.89, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
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 dugout2 Nov 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 0‑3 Moussa Mbaiguedem left the room before anybody could ask which.
In brief
SquadA place in the month's best eleven for Adham Alaa
Brahim Goudja 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 particular warmth a ground reserves for a 20-year-old it feels ownership of. Adham Alaa has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
11 combined actions and 6.49. The job he did is the one that shows up as other people looking good, and the only reliable way to notice it is to watch what happens on the afternoons he is missing.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Mahamat Adam Ali trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
At 20 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AS PSI this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I watch every AS PSI game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at AS Etat Major runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at AS PSI, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 16 arrived, 3 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
AS PSI had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at AS Etat Major, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Adham Alaa 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 Brahim Goudja was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Ali Issa Blagué is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at AS PSI, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. AS PSI know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
A season-long audition: Stars Jeunes Talents still own him, but the shirt and the minutes are AS PSI's to give. A loan is a bet both clubs believe they are winning.
In brief
MarketThe window shut and Marius Bechir is still in the building
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. AS PSI have done the hard part with AS Etat Major, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AS PSI this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation AS PSI are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
A loan enquiry to Stars Jeunes Talents: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
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 season-long look at somebody else’s player: Abdoulaye Mbaiguedem arrives from AS Algoy with something to prove and a return ticket in the drawer. Good loans make everybody richer; this one starts Saturday.
Adham Alaa was the name on every phone-in, and the club has gone and signed him for $46.0K. For one week the board can do no wrong, which is a week most boards never get.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. AS Etat Major have kept their man, and AS PSI go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Police Union will want this one forgotten quickly: 4‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Ittihad were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Mabululu provided it, and the 8.96 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Two goals and a mark of 8.34 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
“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 Ittihad, and it is not being withdrawn.
Ittihad had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Coritiba, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
AS PSI paid $46.0K and Ittihad took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Ittihad asked and Arab Contractors 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 name of Osama Ahmed has come up in conversations Ittihad were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
In brief
SquadWords at Ittihad training over how hard people work
AS PSI have gone to Ittihad 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. AS Etat Major have kept their man, and AS PSI go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Djibrine Tokindang is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Ezechiel Hissein has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Djibrine Hissein has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Ali Mbainaissem has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.