Marked for Mehdi Boureghda
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The dugout12 Oct 2026
“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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
A falling-out at ES Setif
Canaria and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Mehdi Boureghda 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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Chemseddine Nessakh and ES Setif agree another 1 years.
Market12 Oct 2026
At 38, he has seen every situation this season can produce, twice. The legs will be managed; the head is the purchase.
Looking ahead12 Oct 2026
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Mohamed Réda Hamidi’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and ES Setif needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Mohamed Boukerma did the work nobody counts — 6.92
17 combined actions and 6.92. The job he did is the one that shows up as other people looking good, and the only reliable way to notice it is to watch what happens on the afternoons he is missing.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Words exchanged at ES Setif
Mohamed Réda Hamidi 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 dugout21 Sep 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Mehdi Mandi was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the ES Setif dressing room was either.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 13. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match19 Sep 2026
Ninety minutes, two goalkeepers with clean gloves, and not one finish worth keeping. ASO Chlef will be the happier side with the point.
Looking ahead21 Sep 2026
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against USM Alger in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
Squad21 Sep 2026
The room hears from Canaria
“Nobody outside is coming to save us.” It was short, it was not comfortable, and by all accounts the ES Setif squad were quieter afterwards than they had been all season.
Market21 Sep 2026
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Mehdi Boureghda may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market31 Aug 2026
“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.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Le Havre AC is saying, and nobody at ES Setif is enjoying the guessing.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Canaria 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.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Too much change too quickly at ES Setif
9 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
A loan enquiry to Flamengo: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.