Marked for Gabin Bernardeau
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad25 Sep 2028
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.
Player ratings25 Sep 2028
Wesley Saïd, 33, rolls back the years — 8.43
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.43 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Market25 Sep 2028
“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 The request is on a desk at FC Nantes, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings25 Sep 2028
Successful dribbles: 25. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad25 Sep 2028
Wesley Saïd 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.
Squad25 Sep 2028
Allan Saint-Maximin 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.
The terraces25 Sep 2028
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Gabin Bernardeau 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.
Player ratings25 Sep 2028
Lucas Perrin was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.73. 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market14 Aug 2028
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Eliezer Mayenda will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around FC Nantes the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad14 Aug 2028
Allan Saint-Maximin 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.
Squad14 Aug 2028
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Alban Lafont commits to FC Nantes for another 4 years.
Squad14 Aug 2028
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Gabin Bernardeau is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad14 Aug 2028
Johann Lepenant has improved at 25, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 4 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
Market14 Aug 2028
Sochaux are about to pick up the phone
A conversation is coming this week. FC Nantes will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad17 Jul 2028
Allan Saint-Maximin 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.
Squad17 Jul 2028
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Gabin Bernardeau is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad17 Jul 2028
At 25 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
Squad17 Jul 2028
Words at FC Nantes training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Beraldo 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.
Market17 Jul 2028
The interest is real enough to have reached print. FC Nantes have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Loan watch17 Jul 2028
“I did not go to Le Havre AC to sit and watch. I want to come back to FC Nantes and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 5 matches say the rest.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings27 Mar 2028
No sign of nerves from Hamidou Makalou at 21 — 8.27
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Hamidou Makalou did not need any: 8.27, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Match25 Mar 2028
No end in sight to FC Nantes's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at FC Nantes has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad27 Mar 2028
Allan Saint-Maximin 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.
Squad27 Mar 2028
Words at FC Nantes training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Beraldo 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.
Match25 Mar 2028
No clean sheets in sight for FC Nantes
4 games now with at least two against. The back line has been rearranged, the goalkeeper has been backed publicly, and the goals keep going in anyway.
Match25 Mar 2028
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The terraces27 Mar 2028
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Hamidou Makalou 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.
Squad27 Mar 2028
“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.
Squad27 Mar 2028
A promise honoured for Beraldo
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. FC Nantes told Beraldo something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match18 Sep 2027
Whatever happens, FC Nantes do not lose
12 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Player ratings20 Sep 2027
27 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Gabin Bernardeau is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Allan Saint-Maximin 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.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Alban Lafont has improved at 28, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
Player ratings20 Sep 2027
Successful dribbles: 21. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Wesley Saïd 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.
Match18 Sep 2027
OGC Nice made FC Nantes work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market23 Aug 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Allan Saint-Maximin 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.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Gabin Bernardeau is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Match21 Aug 2027
Still nobody has beaten FC Nantes
The unbeaten run reaches 7. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Player ratings23 Aug 2027
Successful dribbles: 22. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Toby Courtois gets the move he always wanted
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Toby Courtois has just signed for FC Nantes, and for once the answer mattered.
Boardroom23 Aug 2027
5 academy players handed senior numbers at FC Nantes
The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Tomás Ahumada has improved at 25, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
The terraces23 Aug 2027
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Dehmaine Tabibou 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market14 Jun 2027
LOSC Lille paid $10.6M and FC Lorient took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
The terraces14 Jun 2027
Supporters turn on the $10.6M sale of Arsène Kouassi
He is going to LOSC Lille, the club has $10.6M 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.
Market14 Jun 2027
Bamba Dieng wants to know where this is going
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at FC Lorient hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Trevan Sanusi is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Squad14 Jun 2027
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.
Market14 Jun 2027
FC Nantes pay $1.0M, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad14 Jun 2027
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Market14 Jun 2027
The chase for Faitout Maouassa ended with $3.8M changing hands and AJ Auxerre out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
Market14 Jun 2027
FC Nantes say no — this time
The offer from Club Brugge for Loan Merrifield 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.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Allan Saint-Maximin 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.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Enzo Mongo is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom7 Jun 2027
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.
Market7 Jun 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what FC Lorient can pretend not to have heard.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Arthur Avom Ebong is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Market7 Jun 2027
“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.
Squad7 Jun 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 FC Lorient this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Arthur Avom Ebong 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.
Squad7 Jun 2027
The manager's exit leaves Samir Haribou exposed
Every squad has men who were signed by a particular manager and men who were merely inherited. Samir Haribou is in the first group, and the man who wanted him here is no longer in the building.
Boardroom7 Jun 2027
FC Lorient pull $1.5M back off the table
The money that was there in the summer is not there now. Nobody upstairs calls this a change of ambition, and everybody downstairs reads it as one.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad24 May 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 FC Lorient this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad24 May 2027
Arthur Avom Ebong 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.
Squad24 May 2027
When it matters, Yvon Mvogo plays
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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad26 Apr 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 FC Lorient this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Arthur Avom Ebong 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.
Squad26 Apr 2027
When it matters, Yvon Mvogo plays
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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match6 Mar 2027
Aiyegun Tosin had done his part in building a 2-goal cushion. What happened after that was collective, and Angers SCO were allowed back into a match that had been finished with.
The terraces8 Mar 2027
The boos come down from three sides
“We pay for this every fortnight. The least we want is somebody who looks like he cares.” 9 of the 34 senior players walked off into it; the rest were not playing.
Squad8 Mar 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Yvon Mvogo commits to FC Lorient for another 2 years.
Squad8 Mar 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 FC Lorient this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match6 Mar 2027
2‑3 to Angers SCO, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad8 Mar 2027
“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.
Squad8 Mar 2027
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Ander Astralaga will call it something else in private.
Player ratings8 Mar 2027
Successful dribbles: 15. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings8 Mar 2027
Nobody's fault and entirely his: a goal that goes into the book with his name against it and nothing about it intended. FC Lorient deserved better, and so did he.