Marked for Yves Mbappe
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad3 Feb 2031
39 goals and a season average of 8.14. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Match1 Feb 2031
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 7‑2 against ES Ben Aknoun, and it could have been more.
Squad3 Feb 2031
4 goals in one game. The first was taken well, the second was taken greedily, and by the third the crowd were simply waiting for him to get the ball.
Market3 Feb 2031
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and MC El Bayadh waiting with a shirt. Nobody at ES Setif is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Player ratings3 Feb 2031
Two goals and a mark of 10.00 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Match3 Feb 2031
The view from the top for ES Setif
61 points, and the rest of the division looking up. Every side that finishes first spends the season pretending it is not thinking about it, and this one has started pretending.
Squad3 Feb 2031
Balla Sangaré gets the move he always wanted
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Balla Sangaré has just signed for ES Setif, and for once the answer mattered.
Match1 Feb 2031
The run at home goes on for ES Setif
14 matches unbeaten here. Every visiting manager is asked about it in the week before, which is precisely why it keeps going.
Match1 Feb 2031
ES Setif make it 5 in a row
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now ES Setif have 5 straight wins of it.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad16 Dec 2030
25 goals and a season average of 7.79. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Match14 Dec 2030
MB Rouissat will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. ES Setif were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Squad16 Dec 2030
3 goals in one game. The first was taken well, the second was taken greedily, and by the third the crowd were simply waiting for him to get the ball.
Match14 Dec 2030
Nobody wants to play ES Setif right now
6 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Market16 Dec 2030
Osama Ahmed has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around ES Setif they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The dugout16 Dec 2030
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Market16 Dec 2030
“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 ES Setif, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout16 Dec 2030
“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.
Squad16 Dec 2030
Riad Benayad 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 ES Setif this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad18 Nov 2030
Mahamoud Metwaly damages knee ligaments — 38 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 38 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.
Player ratings18 Nov 2030
A brace, and Daniel Gnahoua takes the afternoon — 9.02
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Daniel Gnahoua provided it, and the 9.02 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Market18 Nov 2030
Only the photograph left for Osama Ahmed
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Osama Ahmed will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around ES Setif the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The dugout18 Nov 2030
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Market18 Nov 2030
“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 ES Setif, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout18 Nov 2030
“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.
Player ratings18 Nov 2030
Successful dribbles: 23. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad18 Nov 2030
Words exchanged at ES Setif
Mahamoud Metwaly 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.
Match16 Nov 2030
Whatever happens, ES Setif do not lose
6 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.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad21 Oct 2030
A knee injury of the worst kind for Mahamoud Metwaly
66 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. ES Setif lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad21 Oct 2030
The match ball belongs to Ben Ahmed Kohili, whose 5 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.
Match19 Oct 2030
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 6‑2 against ES Ben Aknoun, and it could have been more.
Market21 Oct 2030
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at ES Setif is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad21 Oct 2030
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
The dugout21 Oct 2030
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Market21 Oct 2030
Yves Mbappe hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what ES Setif can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout21 Oct 2030
Mutari Momoh: 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.” ES Setif have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad21 Oct 2030
Riad Benayad 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.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match21 Sep 2030
4‑1, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.
Squad23 Sep 2030
3 goals in one afternoon from one man. The other players were also present, a witness confirmed.
Market23 Sep 2030
Osama Ahmed has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around ES Setif they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad23 Sep 2030
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 dugout23 Sep 2030
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Market23 Sep 2030
Yves Mbappe hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what ES Setif can pretend not to have heard.
Match21 Sep 2030
ES Setif make it 3 in a row
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now ES Setif have 3 straight wins of it.
Squad23 Sep 2030
Jadsom 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 ES Setif this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings23 Sep 2030
Marked 10.00 — 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad3 Jun 2030
A fracture rules Merwane Khelif out for 32 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason ES Setif will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad3 Jun 2030
19 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. ES Setif lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The dugout3 Jun 2030
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Market3 Jun 2030
“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 ES Setif, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout3 Jun 2030
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” ES Setif may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market3 Jun 2030
Muhammed Alao has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around ES Setif they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad3 Jun 2030
Riad Benayad 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.
Market3 Jun 2030
The interest is real enough to have reached print. ES Setif have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Market3 Jun 2030
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Ahmed Ayman Mansour has his answer from ES Setif; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad29 Apr 2030
A fracture rules Merwane Khelif out for 67 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason ES Setif will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad29 Apr 2030
Words exchanged at ES Setif
Riad Benayad 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.
Boardroom29 Apr 2030
ES Setif counting the cost
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at ES Setif now.
Squad29 Apr 2030
Houssemeddine Ghacha 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 dugout29 Apr 2030
Manu Duah knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Manu Duah trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout29 Apr 2030
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ibrahim El Khalil Sebih, and the manager let it.
Market29 Apr 2030
The Jadsom story refuses to die
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Jadsom signs something — a contract at ES Setif or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The dugout29 Apr 2030
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 Mohamed Islam Abdelkader is on it.
Market29 Apr 2030
3 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee ES Setif could ask drops and the wages Ahmed Ayman Mansour can ask rise.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad15 Apr 2030
81 days out for Merwane Khelif after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. ES Setif will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Match15 Apr 2030
ES Setif refuse to drop out of the race
Position 3, 62 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Squad15 Apr 2030
Riad Benayad 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 ES Setif this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad15 Apr 2030
A row about effort at ES Setif
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Houssemeddine Ghacha was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom15 Apr 2030
108% of the income goes out in wages at ES Setif
Every club in football 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 somebody has tried it.
Market15 Apr 2030
Yves Mbappe told to find a new club
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Yves Mbappe has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at ES Setif.
The dugout15 Apr 2030
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Mohamed Islam Abdelkader, and the manager let it.
The dugout15 Apr 2030
“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.
Squad15 Apr 2030
No place for Mohamed Slimi in the new shape
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation ES Setif are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad18 Feb 2030
A season average of 7.66 with 26 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Match16 Feb 2030
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 5‑0 against ES Mostaganem, and it could have been more.
Squad18 Feb 2030
The match ball belongs to Jadsom, whose 3 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.
Match18 Feb 2030
ES Setif are in among the leaders
Position 3 and 52 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.
Player ratings18 Feb 2030
At 33 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 8.58, and nobody on the pitch better.
Squad18 Feb 2030
Riad Benayad 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 ES Setif this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad18 Feb 2030
Yves Mbappe arrives at the club he grew up with
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Yves Mbappe has, at ES Setif, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Player ratings18 Feb 2030
Successful dribbles: 20. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The terraces18 Feb 2030
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.