Marked for Laid Ayad
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match27 Feb 2027
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 12 matches without defeat is a foundation JS Saoura did not have in the autumn.
Market1 Mar 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.
Squad1 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 Saoura this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Words at JS Saoura training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ismail Saadi 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.
Loan watch1 Mar 2027
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at JS Saoura, and 0 appearances in 29 say he has earned the hearing.
Player ratings1 Mar 2027
The afternoon belonged to Ismail Saadi
A mark of 7.54, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad1 Feb 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 23 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market1 Feb 2027
“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 The request is on a desk at JS Saoura, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Mostapha Badaoui: 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.” JS Saoura have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Match30 Jan 2027
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 8 matches without defeat is a foundation JS Saoura did not have in the autumn.
Market1 Feb 2027
El Dakhleya come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and JS Saoura did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Oscar Domínguez 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.
Loan watch1 Feb 2027
“I watch every JS Saoura game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at El Masry runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Words at JS Saoura training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ismail Saadi 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.
Player ratings1 Feb 2027
Successful dribbles: 17. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad4 Jan 2027
16 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. JS Saoura lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason JS Saoura will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market4 Jan 2027
JS Saoura say no — this time
The offer from MC Oran for Alimi Sikiru 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.
Market4 Jan 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 Saoura can pretend not to have heard.
Match2 Jan 2027
The wait goes on for JS Saoura
5 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Squad4 Jan 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” JS Saoura may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Player ratings4 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 23. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad4 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 Saoura this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad7 Dec 2026
46 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. JS Saoura lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason JS Saoura will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 27. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Adel Bouchiba 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.
Loan watch7 Dec 2026
Laid Ayad wants to come home
“I did not go to El Masry to sit and watch. I want to come back to JS Saoura and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 17 matches say the rest.
Squad7 Dec 2026
The manager makes an example of Nabil Lamara
“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
Uneasy
Match7 Nov 2026
4 matches without a win for JS Saoura
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around JS Saoura are no longer polite ones.
Match7 Nov 2026
4 matches without a goal for JS Saoura
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 4 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Squad9 Nov 2026
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 Saoura this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 19. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad9 Nov 2026
“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.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Words at JS Saoura training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ismail Saadi 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 52. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match7 Oct 2026
The small margins put JS Saoura out
Out, 0‑1 to Paradou, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows it.
Squad12 Oct 2026
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 Saoura this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 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.
Loan watch12 Oct 2026
“I watch every JS Saoura game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at El Masry runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Squad12 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Alimi Sikiru, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad14 Sep 2026
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Mohamed Achraf Kaddouri is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Anas Yusuf runs at them all day
Successful dribbles: 20. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Adel Bouchiba 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 Sep 2026
Words at JS Saoura training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ismail Saadi 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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Semelo Gueï, and the manager let it.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Marked 7.83 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, JS Saoura had the best player on the pitch.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad3 Aug 2026
249 appearances across 11 seasons in these colours. Careers like that are not built any more, and JS Saoura know what they have.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Constant Wayou commits to JS Saoura for another 3 years.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Constant Wayou 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 Aug 2026
The interest is real enough to have reached print. JS Saoura have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Ismail Saadi 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.
Market3 Aug 2026
Constant Wayou is free to find somewhere else
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at JS Saoura has been clear about where Constant Wayou stands, which is more than many ever get.