Marked for Sofian Attaba
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market12 Feb 2029
The bid was some way short and Angers SCO did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad12 Feb 2029
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Angers SCO may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market12 Feb 2029
“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.
Squad12 Feb 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Angers SCO this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad12 Feb 2029
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Angers SCO know it.
Squad12 Feb 2029
Defences have started doubling up on Amine Sbaï
6 goals and a season average of 7.56 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Match10 Feb 2029
2‑3 to LOSC Lille, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Player ratings12 Feb 2029
Marked 9.17 — 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.
Player ratings12 Feb 2029
Marked 8.38 — 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad29 May 2028
Carlens Arcus 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.
Squad29 May 2028
Prosper Peter asks for a word with the manager
“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.
Market29 May 2028
Angers SCO have let the market know Sofian Attaba can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad1 May 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Angers SCO this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad1 May 2028
The manager makes an example of Carlens Arcus
“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.
Squad1 May 2028
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Angers SCO would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom17 Apr 2028
The club looked outside for a month, found nothing it preferred, and handed the job to the man who had been doing it anyway. He knows the building; now he has to prove he knows the rest.
Squad17 Apr 2028
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Ousmane Camara and Angers SCO agree another 5 years.
Squad17 Apr 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Angers SCO this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad20 Mar 2028
There were 7 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Match18 Mar 2028
No end in sight to Angers SCO's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Angers SCO has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad20 Mar 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Angers SCO this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings20 Mar 2028
Defensive actions: 22, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Player ratings20 Mar 2028
Amine Sbaï runs at them all day
Successful dribbles: 21. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad20 Mar 2028
“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.
Loan watch20 Mar 2028
“I did not go to Dijon to sit and watch. I want to come back to Angers SCO and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 9 matches say the rest.
The terraces20 Mar 2028
Every touch is being weighed now, in print and everywhere else. Some players grow into that and some are quietly ruined by it, and nobody knows which in advance.
Squad20 Mar 2028
6 clean sheets and counting. Strikers leave this ground muttering his name, which is exactly how a goalkeeper measures a good season.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings21 Feb 2028
A defender's afternoon for Louis Mouton
Defensive actions: 38. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Player ratings21 Feb 2028
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 27 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Player ratings21 Feb 2028
Defensive actions: 25, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Squad21 Feb 2028
Carlens Arcus 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.
Match19 Feb 2028
Le Havre AC made Angers SCO work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings21 Feb 2028
Marked 8.42 — 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.
Squad21 Feb 2028
“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.
Loan watch21 Feb 2028
“I did not go to Dijon to sit and watch. I want to come back to Angers SCO and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 5 matches say the rest.
Squad21 Feb 2028
“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.