There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.16 at 36, and nobody on the pitch was better.
4 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.
Zinedine Ferhat and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad17 Dec 2029
Words at MC Alger training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nahitan Nández 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.
5 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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at MC Alger is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at MC Alger this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nahitan Nández was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match10 Nov 2029
Another one collected away from home
3 on the bounce on the road for MC Alger. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.
In brief
Player ratingsNinety minutes of Salah Mohsen at his very best
Player ratingsIshak Talal Boussouf was on a different afternoon to everybody else
6.63, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at MC Alger is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Mohamed Zoungrana and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad15 Oct 2029
Words at MC Alger training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nahitan Nández 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.
A 1‑0 win over Olympique Akbou, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
The dugout15 Oct 2029
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.” Islam Guedioura, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
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 Merwane Khelif is on it.
Two goals and a mark of 8.48 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 MC Alger, and it is not being withdrawn.
Mohamed Zoungrana 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.
10 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what MC Alger can pretend not to have heard.
The interest is real enough to have reached print. MC Alger have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad4 Jun 2029
Words at MC Alger training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bakary Haïdara 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.
Manchester United 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.
SuperSport United 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.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at MC Alger has been clear about where JC Ngando stands, which is more than many ever get.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Olympique Akbou waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Paradou is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
7 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Boardroom4 Sep 2028
Paradou close the window on a squad of their own making
10 in and 10 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Benaissa Fettouche will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Paradou the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The deal with CSKA Moscow is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Aris is saying, and nobody at Paradou is enjoying the guessing.
Senior shirt numbers handed to boys the coaches have known since they were twelve. Most will not make it and all of them have already done the hard part.
At 25 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 4 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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Paradou is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Adel Bouzida 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.
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.
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 Fouad Kermiche is on it.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Nasreddine Zaâlani has his answer from Paradou; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Ben Ahmed Kohili signs something — a contract at Paradou or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The words a physio says slowly. 18 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.
At 23 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 Paradou this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
At 26 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.
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 Ben Ahmed Kohili is on it.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Paradou has been clear about where Amayas Boudedja stands, which is more than many ever get.
25 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Paradou lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Paradou people have started saying his name in the past tense.
9 seasons and 127 appearances, all of them here. Careers like this are not designed; they happen to a certain kind of man at a certain kind of club, and this town has one.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Benaissa Fettouche will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Paradou the goodbyes have quietly begun.
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.
32 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Paradou lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Youcef Belkaid will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Paradou the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Paradou asked and Aris said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Paradou this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Nobody at Paradou 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.
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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Tarek Hamadi trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The words a physio says slowly. 39 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Amayas Boudedja will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Paradou the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Adel Bouzida 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Real Bamako have kept their man, and Paradou go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad24 Jul 2028
Younes Badani 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 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 respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
47 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Paradou lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Paradou this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Nobody at Paradou 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.
Squad17 Jul 2028
Words at Paradou training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Amayas Boudedja 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.
62 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Paradou lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Catanzaro had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
Not a month, not a run of form — a whole season of being the best 21-year-old anybody in this division could put on a pitch. This is the honour that gets mentioned for the rest of his career.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Paradou have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Paradou they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Adel Bouzida 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 name of Youcef Belkaid has come up in conversations Paradou were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
The words a physio says slowly. 71 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.
Adel Bouzida 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 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.
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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Abdallah Bendouma trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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 Ahmed Abdelkader has written the date down.
Position 6, 54 points, and a run-in that decides whether next season has Thursday nights in it. Nobody is calling it a race yet, which is what people say during one.
The words a physio says slowly. 80 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.
The offer from Epicentr for Ben Ahmed Kohili 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.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Paradou have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Youcef Belkaid will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Paradou the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Paradou this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Paradou asked and AE Kition said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Nobody at Paradou 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.
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.
87 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Paradou lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and ES Ben Aknoun waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Paradou is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Louanes Zidi is living that version at Paradou, and it tends to show in the first month.
$1.9M on the table at CR Belouizdad. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
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.
“I watch every Paradou game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at JS Saoura runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Faiz Amem 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.
95 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Paradou lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“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 Paradou, and it is not being withdrawn.
Adel Bouzida 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.
Paradou asked and CSKA Moscow said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Paradou, another week without a signature from Ahmed Abdelkader.
Paradou have made the call to Ethnikos Achnas. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
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 Taha Yassine Tahar is on it.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Paradou is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
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.
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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Ahmed Abdelkader trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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 Tarek Hamadi has written the date down.
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Paradou would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
The words a physio says slowly. 27 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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Paradou is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Paradou this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Amayas Boudedja was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
34 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Paradou lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Amayas Boudedja will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Paradou the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Nobody at Paradou 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nasreddine Zaâlani was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 Rafik Zaimeche has written the date down.
50 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Paradou lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Amine Galou will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Paradou the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Adel Bouzida 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 academy exists for exactly this morning. Abdelhak Tahrat 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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Riyad Bensebaini is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Karim Djabou is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
“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 Paradou, and 7 appearances in 11 say he has earned the hearing.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Adel Bouzida is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
Nobody at Paradou 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.
64 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Paradou lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Paradou is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Houssem Tarzout 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Adel Bouzida. 2‑0 against JS Saoura, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
8.28. 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.
In brief
Player ratingsAdel Bouzida was on a different afternoon to everybody else
95 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Paradou lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Paradou they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Tarek Hamadi, and the manager let it.
The dugout21 Feb 2028
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 0‑1 Bilal Halliche left the room before anybody could ask which.
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.
Successful dribbles: 14. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad21 Feb 2028
Words at Paradou training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Amayas Boudedja 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.
128 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Paradou lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Paradou they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Everything agreed with Remo Stars, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
At 22 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.