Marked for Massy Si Youcef
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad26 Jul 2027
75 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. JS Kabylie lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Zé Lucas 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.
Squad26 Jul 2027
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.
Transfer targets26 Jul 2027
Racing Genk have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Words at JS Kabylie training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Koceila Ait Idir 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 dugout26 Jul 2027
Reda Benchaa knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at JS Kabylie, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad19 Jul 2027
Ahmed Mammeri damages knee ligaments — 83 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 83 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.
Market19 Jul 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Market19 Jul 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 JS Kabylie can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets19 Jul 2027
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Racing Genk keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Zé Lucas 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 JS Kabylie this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout19 Jul 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.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Words at JS Kabylie training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Koceila Ait Idir 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.
Market19 Jul 2027
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. JS Kabylie know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Market19 Jul 2027
Youcef Izem is free to find somewhere else
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at JS Kabylie has been clear about where Youcef Izem stands, which is more than many ever get.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match6 Mar 2027
0‑3 to USM Alger, 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.
Match6 Mar 2027
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 11 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
Squad8 Mar 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Alexandre Oukidja commits to JS Kabylie 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 JS Kabylie this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Massy Si Youcef is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
The dugout8 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.
Boardroom8 Mar 2027
Nobody left the JS Kabylie 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.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Four weeks in which nobody in the division did his job better. The award goes on a shelf and the player goes back into the side, which is the order JS Kabylie prefer.
The dugout8 Mar 2027
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match13 Feb 2027
Whatever happens, JS Kabylie do not lose
9 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.
Market15 Feb 2027
Oualid Malki has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around JS Kabylie they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Ryad Boudebouz and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Player ratings15 Feb 2027
Successful dribbles: 21. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Aimen Mahious is in the form of his life
A season average of 7.32 with 12 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Squad15 Feb 2027
The medical room confirms 27 days on the sidelines for Massy Si Youcef, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
No place for Ahmed Mammeri on the big day
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at JS Kabylie pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
The manager makes an example of Oualid Malki
“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.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
“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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match6 Feb 2027
5‑1, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.
Player ratings8 Feb 2027
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 9.07, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Player ratings8 Feb 2027
A brace, and Billal Messaoudi takes the afternoon — 8.90
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Billal Messaoudi provided it, and the 8.90 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Defences have started doubling up on Billal Messaoudi
22 goals and a season average of 7.50 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Player ratings8 Feb 2027
Abdel Medioub goes up and wins it — 7.81
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.81 for the rest of it.
Match6 Feb 2027
Whatever happens, JS Kabylie do not lose
8 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 ratings8 Feb 2027
Successful dribbles: 23. 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.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Aly Abeid 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 JS Kabylie this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match16 Jan 2027
ES Setif will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. JS Kabylie were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Squad18 Jan 2027
A season average of 7.41 with 18 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
The dugout18 Jan 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” JS Kabylie may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Transfer targets18 Jan 2027
No thanks: Keny Arroyo rejects the move
JS Kabylie had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Palmeiras, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Ryad Boudebouz and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets18 Jan 2027
JS Kabylie asked and Werder Bremen said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Player ratings18 Jan 2027
A performance of 8.19 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings18 Jan 2027
A performance of 8.07 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
The dugout18 Jan 2027
The manager makes an example of Reda Benchaa
“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
Upbeat
Market11 Jan 2027
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. JS Kabylie have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Player ratings11 Jan 2027
Two goals and a mark of 8.99 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Squad11 Jan 2027
A season average of 7.39 with 17 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Transfer targets11 Jan 2027
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Botafogo keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Squad11 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 JS Kabylie this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad11 Jan 2027
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.
Match9 Jan 2027
It finished 3‑1, and it was Billal Messaoudi’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to JS Kabylie.
Player ratings11 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 20. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Transfer targets11 Jan 2027
JS Kabylie asked and Stade Rennais said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.