Marked for Abdulelah Dagar
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad15 Oct 2035
A one-man rearguard from Bader Kabli
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.
Match13 Oct 2035
No end in sight to Al-Batin's wait for a win
6 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Al-Batin has to find a result from somewhere.
Match13 Oct 2035
No clean sheets in sight for Al-Batin
6 games now with at least two against. The back line has been rearranged, the goalkeeper has been backed publicly, and the goals keep going in anyway.
Squad15 Oct 2035
Muath Al-Habib 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.
Match13 Oct 2035
Muath Al-Habib scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑3 to Al-Jeel, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
Squad15 Oct 2035
Words at Al-Batin training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mohamed Ammar 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.
Squad15 Oct 2035
The manager makes an example of Rylan Brownlie
“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.
Boardroom15 Oct 2035
Al-Batin cannot sign anybody
The embargo bars a fee being paid for a player, whatever the manager thinks the squad needs. Every rumour printed about this club between now and its lifting is a rumour about a deal that cannot happen.
Player ratings15 Oct 2035
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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match29 Sep 2035
Chastening afternoon for Al-Batin
A 0‑4 beating by Al-Shoulla was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Market1 Oct 2035
“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 The request is on a desk at Al-Batin, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match29 Sep 2035
4 matches without a win for Al-Batin
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Al-Batin are no longer polite ones.
Squad1 Oct 2035
Muath Al-Habib 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.
Squad1 Oct 2035
Words at Al-Batin training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mohamed Ammar 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.
Match29 Sep 2035
Al-Batin are shipping goals every week
Two or more conceded in each of the last 4 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Squad1 Oct 2035
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Muath Al-Habib, and the manager let it.
Boardroom1 Oct 2035
The manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.
Squad1 Oct 2035
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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match22 Sep 2035
Beaten 2‑5 by Hajer, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Squad24 Sep 2035
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Al-Batin this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match22 Sep 2035
Ibrahim Al-Dawoud among the goals in a wild afternoon
7 goals in one match, Ibrahim Al-Dawoud on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Al-Batin and Hajer.
Squad24 Sep 2035
Mohamed Ammar 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.
Squad24 Sep 2035
“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.
Player ratings24 Sep 2035
Abdulelah Dagar was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.03. 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.
Boardroom24 Sep 2035
The Al-Batin debt reaches $8.8M
Football clubs borrow; that is not the story. Borrowing more than the facility allows is, because from here it is the owner's money or somebody else's decision, and neither of those belongs to the board.
Boardroom24 Sep 2035
The manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.
Squad24 Sep 2035
Beaten 5 times, with 2 saves for company. Goalkeepers carry these scorelines on their record whoever actually caused them, which is the quiet injustice of the job.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match12 Sep 2035
Al-Shabab ended it 1‑4. The season narrows to the league now, and everyone in the ground knew it before the final whistle.
Squad17 Sep 2035
3 goals in one game. The first was taken well, the second was taken greedily, and by the third the crowd were simply waiting for him to get the ball.
The terraces17 Sep 2035
Al-Batin are taken apart by Al-Shabab — and the town wants answers
It finished 1-4. A cup exit is a disappointment; this was a public dismantling, and the difference between the two is the number of people who will still be talking about it in August.
Match15 Sep 2035
Ohod left with the points after a 3‑5 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad17 Sep 2035
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Al-Batin are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Squad17 Sep 2035
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Al-Batin this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match15 Sep 2035
8 goals as Al-Batin and Ohod go for it
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 8 goals between Al-Batin and Ohod, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Squad17 Sep 2035
Gonzalo Robles 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.
Player ratings17 Sep 2035
A performance of 8.81 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
The terraces10 Sep 2035
Anger at Al-Batin spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Match8 Sep 2035
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 3‑0 against Al-Orobah, and it could have been more.
Player ratings10 Sep 2035
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.
Squad10 Sep 2035
Muath Al-Habib 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.
Squad10 Sep 2035
Words at Al-Batin training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mohamed Ammar 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 ratings10 Sep 2035
Ninety minutes of Abdulelah Dagar at his very best
Marked 8.67. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Al-Batin.
Player ratings10 Sep 2035
Muath Al-Habib was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.30. 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.
Boardroom10 Sep 2035
Wages eat 86% of everything Al-Batin earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Squad10 Sep 2035
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Hendro Kurniawan, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market3 Sep 2035
“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.
Boardroom3 Sep 2035
An order from above at Al-Batin: somebody has to go
Balance sheets do not care about form or about who the manager was planning to build around. The board have decided a sale is required, and the only question left is which name ends up carrying it.
Squad3 Sep 2035
“The easiest signature of my career.” Mohamed Ammar and Al-Batin agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad3 Sep 2035
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Al-Batin this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom3 Sep 2035
$39.0K of the owner's money at Al-Batin
The shortfall was covered from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be relieved and entitled to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings usually arrive together.
Squad3 Sep 2035
Mohamed Ammar 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.
Squad3 Sep 2035
“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.
Match1 Sep 2035
0‑1 to Al-Ta'ee, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Player ratings3 Sep 2035
Shots: 13. Goals: none. The chances were there and they were good ones, and they went into the stand, the goalkeeper's arms and the side netting in roughly that order.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings27 Aug 2035
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.29, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Squad27 Aug 2035
Muath Al-Habib 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.
Squad27 Aug 2035
Salem Al-Saleem 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.
Squad27 Aug 2035
“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.
Boardroom27 Aug 2035
Al-Batin are $8.7M in the red
The borrowing is past what the bank agreed, which is the line where a debt stops being how football is financed and starts being a problem. Every phone-in in this town will quote the figure for the next five years.
Match25 Aug 2035
A 2‑2 draw with Al-Njoom leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
Squad27 Aug 2035
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.
Player ratings27 Aug 2035
Successful dribbles: 12. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market27 Aug 2035
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Al-Batin know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad20 Aug 2035
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Al-Batin may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Player ratings20 Aug 2035
Two goals and a mark of 8.30 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Match18 Aug 2035
Al-Batin make it 3 in a row
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Al-Batin have 3 straight wins of it.
Squad20 Aug 2035
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Al-Batin this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad20 Aug 2035
Mohamed Ammar 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.
Match18 Aug 2035
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Muath Al-Habib. 2‑0 against Al-Riyadh, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad20 Aug 2035
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Rylan Brownlie, and the manager let it.
Boardroom20 Aug 2035
No signings allowed at Al-Batin
The manager may talk to whoever he likes and may pay nobody. A squad survives a window like this by borrowing, by promoting, and by hoping the injuries land somewhere else.
Player ratings20 Aug 2035
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 12 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad25 Jun 2035
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Al-Batin this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad25 Jun 2035
Words at Al-Batin training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abdulelah Dagar 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.
Squad25 Jun 2035
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Rylan Brownlie, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces21 May 2035
Anger at Al-Batin spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Boardroom21 May 2035
The scrutiny sharpens at Al-Batin
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Al-Batin is running low.
Market21 May 2035
“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.
Squad21 May 2035
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Al-Batin will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
Squad21 May 2035
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Al-Batin this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad21 May 2035
Words at Al-Batin training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mohamed Ammar 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
Squad9 Apr 2035
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Al-Batin may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad9 Apr 2035
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Al-Batin this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad9 Apr 2035
Words at Al-Batin training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mohamed Ammar 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.
Boardroom9 Apr 2035
141% of the income goes out in wages at Al-Batin
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
Squad9 Apr 2035
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Omar Al-Salem, and the manager let it.
Market9 Apr 2035
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Al-Batin know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom5 Mar 2035
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Salman Al-Dawsari has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Boardroom5 Mar 2035
An order from above at Al-Batin: somebody has to go
Balance sheets do not care about form or about who the manager was planning to build around. The board have decided a sale is required, and the only question left is which name ends up carrying it.
Squad5 Mar 2035
“The easiest signature of my career.” Nawaf Al-Suhaimi and Al-Batin agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad5 Mar 2035
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Al-Batin this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad5 Mar 2035
Mohamed Ammar 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.
Match3 Mar 2035
Al-Nahda made Al-Batin work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Boardroom5 Mar 2035
No signings allowed at Al-Batin
The manager may talk to whoever he likes and may pay nobody. A squad survives a window like this by borrowing, by promoting, and by hoping the injuries land somewhere else.
Squad5 Mar 2035
“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.
Market5 Mar 2035
Fahad Al-Harbi is 20, and Al-Batin have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market19 Feb 2035
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Al-Batin can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings19 Feb 2035
A brace, and Rylan Brownlie takes the afternoon — 7.98
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Rylan Brownlie provided it, and the 7.98 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Match17 Feb 2035
Al-Batin are shipping goals every week
Two or more conceded in each of the last 8 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Squad19 Feb 2035
A one-man rearguard from Bader Kabli
There were 6 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.
Squad19 Feb 2035
Abdulelah Dagar 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.
Match17 Feb 2035
2‑3 to Al-Faisaly, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad19 Feb 2035
Mohamed Ammar 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.
Squad19 Feb 2035
“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.
The terraces19 Feb 2035
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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match10 Feb 2035
Nowhere to hide for Al-Batin
1‑4 against Al-Saudi Al-Watani, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Market12 Feb 2035
“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.
Match10 Feb 2035
Al-Batin are shipping goals every week
Two or more conceded in each of the last 7 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Squad12 Feb 2035
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Al-Batin may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad12 Feb 2035
Muath Al-Habib 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.
Squad12 Feb 2035
Words at Al-Batin training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mohamed Ammar 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.
Boardroom12 Feb 2035
143% of the income goes out in wages at Al-Batin
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
Squad12 Feb 2035
“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.
Player ratings12 Feb 2035
Marked 8.02 — 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad5 Feb 2035
The match ball belongs to Muath Al-Habib, whose 3 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.
Market5 Feb 2035
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Kakeru Yamauchi reports back to Al-Batin with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
Match3 Feb 2035
Al-Batin are shipping goals every week
Two or more conceded in each of the last 6 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Squad5 Feb 2035
“The easiest signature of my career.” Mohamed Ammar and Al-Batin agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad5 Feb 2035
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Al-Batin this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match3 Feb 2035
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Al-Batin and Al-Njoom, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Match3 Feb 2035
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Muath Al-Habib. 4‑2 against Al-Njoom, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad5 Feb 2035
Mohamed Ammar 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.
Player ratings5 Feb 2035
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.92, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match13 Jan 2035
Al-Khaleej left with the points after a 2‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad15 Jan 2035
“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.
Boardroom15 Jan 2035
Wages eat 130% of everything Al-Batin earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Squad15 Jan 2035
Kairat Suyumbayev 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.
Player ratings15 Jan 2035
Successful dribbles: 12. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad15 Jan 2035
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
Squad15 Jan 2035
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Al-Batin has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
Market15 Jan 2035
The Bader Kabli talk will not go away
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Al-Batin know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Player ratings15 Jan 2035
5.72. Every footballer has these and most of them happen away from a full ground; his did not, and he will be aware of that all week.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market8 Jan 2035
“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.
Player ratings8 Jan 2035
At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.93 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Match6 Jan 2035
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 7 matches without defeat is a foundation Al-Batin did not have in the autumn.
Squad8 Jan 2035
Muath Al-Habib 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.
Boardroom8 Jan 2035
Al-Batin cannot sign anybody
The embargo bars a fee being paid for a player, whatever the manager thinks the squad needs. Every rumour printed about this club between now and its lifting is a rumour about a deal that cannot happen.
Squad8 Jan 2035
The manager makes an example of Bader Kabli
“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.
Match6 Jan 2035
2 goals inside twenty minutes with Rylan Brownlie in the middle of it, and Ohod unable to get near the ball long enough to change anything. Some matches are won before the first drink.
Player ratings8 Jan 2035
Marked 8.29 — 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.
Match6 Jan 2035
It needed Rylan Brownlie to find the net to bring anything home at all: 2‑2 against Ohod, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings11 Dec 2034
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.42, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Squad11 Dec 2034
“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.
Squad11 Dec 2034
Muath Al-Habib 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.
Squad11 Dec 2034
Words at Al-Batin training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mohamed Ammar 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.
Boardroom11 Dec 2034
Al-Batin cannot sign anybody
The embargo bars a fee being paid for a player, whatever the manager thinks the squad needs. Every rumour printed about this club between now and its lifting is a rumour about a deal that cannot happen.
Squad11 Dec 2034
“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.
Match9 Dec 2034
It needed Rylan Brownlie to find the net to bring anything home at all: 2‑2 against Al-Jeel, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
Market11 Dec 2034
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
Player ratings11 Dec 2034
Successful dribbles: 12. 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
Crisis
Match18 Nov 2034
6 matches without a win for Al-Batin
The run now stands at 6, and the questions being asked around Al-Batin are no longer polite ones.
Market20 Nov 2034
“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 Al-Batin, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad20 Nov 2034
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Al-Batin this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match18 Nov 2034
Muath Al-Habib among the goals in a wild afternoon
6 goals in one match, Muath Al-Habib on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Al-Batin and Al-Nahda.
Match18 Nov 2034
2‑4 to Al-Nahda, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad20 Nov 2034
Mohamed Ammar 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.
Boardroom20 Nov 2034
Wages eat 145% of everything Al-Batin earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Squad20 Nov 2034
“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.
Player ratings20 Nov 2034
Muath Al-Habib was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.02. 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings13 Nov 2034
Two goals and a mark of 8.16 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Market13 Nov 2034
Dauren Abiken hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Al-Batin can pretend not to have heard.
Match11 Nov 2034
No end in sight to Al-Batin's wait for a win
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Al-Batin has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad13 Nov 2034
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Al-Batin this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match11 Nov 2034
Al-Hazem left with the points after a 2‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Boardroom13 Nov 2034
Al-Batin cannot sign anybody
The embargo bars a fee being paid for a player, whatever the manager thinks the squad needs. Every rumour printed about this club between now and its lifting is a rumour about a deal that cannot happen.
Squad13 Nov 2034
Words at Al-Batin training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Khaled Al-Khathlan 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.
Squad13 Nov 2034
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Itamar Ya'acobi, and the manager let it.
Squad13 Nov 2034
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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings30 Oct 2034
Salem Al-Saleem, 35, rolls back the years — 8.12
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.12 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Market30 Oct 2034
Eitan Solomon hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Al-Batin can pretend not to have heard.
Squad30 Oct 2034
Muath Al-Habib 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.
Squad30 Oct 2034
Words at Al-Batin training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mohamed Ammar 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.
Squad30 Oct 2034
“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.
Player ratings30 Oct 2034
A performance of 8.45 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Match28 Oct 2034
A 2‑2 draw with Al-Saudi Al-Watani leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
Player ratings30 Oct 2034
Successful dribbles: 14. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad30 Oct 2034
The first one is the one every signing is asked about until it arrives. It has arrived, and he can stop being asked.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad2 Oct 2034
A knee injury of the worst kind for Ahmed Al-Nemer
24 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Al-Batin lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market2 Oct 2034
“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 Al-Batin, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match30 Sep 2034
Al-Batin make it 3 in a row
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Al-Batin have 3 straight wins of it.
Squad2 Oct 2034
“The easiest signature of my career.” Salem Al-Saleem and Al-Batin agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad2 Oct 2034
Muath Al-Habib 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.
Squad2 Oct 2034
The manager makes an example of Salem Al-Saleem
“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.
Match30 Sep 2034
Al-Khaleej made Al-Batin work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings2 Oct 2034
Marked 7.81. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
Market2 Oct 2034
The name of Osama Al-Daghmah keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Al-Batin say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad25 Sep 2034
A knee injury of the worst kind for Ahmed Al-Nemer
31 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Al-Batin lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad25 Sep 2034
3 goals in one game. The first was taken well, the second was taken greedily, and by the third the crowd were simply waiting for him to get the ball.
Market25 Sep 2034
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Al-Batin can pretend not to have heard.
Squad25 Sep 2034
Abdulelah Dagar 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.
Player ratings25 Sep 2034
Ninety minutes of Rylan Brownlie at his very best
Marked 9.37. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Al-Batin.
Match23 Sep 2034
Al-Batin get the job done against Ohod
A 3‑1 win over Ohod, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad25 Sep 2034
Mohamed Ammar 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.
Boardroom25 Sep 2034
120% of the income goes out in wages at Al-Batin
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
Market25 Sep 2034
The name of Muath Al-Habib keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Al-Batin say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
The terraces11 Sep 2034
The mood at Al-Batin has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Squad11 Sep 2034
A knee injury of the worst kind for Ahmed Al-Nemer
45 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Al-Batin lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Player ratings11 Sep 2034
A brace, and Abdulelah Dagar takes the afternoon — 8.60
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Abdulelah Dagar provided it, and the 8.60 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Market11 Sep 2034
“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 Al-Batin, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market11 Sep 2034
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Al-Batin they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad11 Sep 2034
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Al-Batin this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad11 Sep 2034
A move Itamar Ya'acobi would have made for nothing
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Itamar Ya'acobi is living that version at Al-Batin, and it tends to show in the first month.
Match9 Sep 2034
A 3‑1 win over Al-Ta'ee, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad11 Sep 2034
Kakeru Yamauchi wants to finish where he started
Every long career reaches the week the player starts thinking about the last one. He would like it to be at the club that first put him on a pitch, and Al-Batin now know that too.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad4 Sep 2034
A knee injury of the worst kind for Ahmed Al-Nemer
52 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Al-Batin lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad4 Sep 2034
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Market4 Sep 2034
“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.
Boardroom4 Sep 2034
The Al-Batin board want somebody sold
The instruction has come from upstairs rather than from the dugout, which is the version of this conversation no manager enjoys. Somebody in that squad is now available whether the man who picks the team thinks so or not.
Squad4 Sep 2034
Muath Al-Habib 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.
Squad4 Sep 2034
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Timur Fayzullaev is 19, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Match2 Sep 2034
A 2‑1 win over Damac, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings4 Sep 2034
Marked 8.51 — 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 ratings4 Sep 2034
A performance of 8.43 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad24 Jul 2034
A knee injury of the worst kind for Ahmed Al-Nemer
94 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Al-Batin lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match24 Jul 2034
Al-Batin are in real trouble now
Position 15, 22 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Squad24 Jul 2034
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 46 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market24 Jul 2034
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Al-Batin can pretend not to have heard.
Squad24 Jul 2034
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Al-Batin this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad24 Jul 2034
Words at Al-Batin training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Muath Al-Habib 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.
Boardroom24 Jul 2034
Al-Batin cannot sign anybody
The embargo bars a fee being paid for a player, whatever the manager thinks the squad needs. Every rumour printed about this club between now and its lifting is a rumour about a deal that cannot happen.
The terraces24 Jul 2034
Supporters make their feelings known about Osama Al-Daghmah
The speculation has reached the stands, and the stands have answered. Al-Batin would like this settled before it becomes the only thing anybody asks about.
Market24 Jul 2034
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Kakeru Yamauchi may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces19 Jun 2034
The mood at Al-Batin has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Boardroom19 Jun 2034
Pressure builds in the Al-Batin boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Market19 Jun 2034
“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.
Squad19 Jun 2034
Abdulelah Dagar 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.
Squad19 Jun 2034
Words at Al-Batin training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Osama Al-Daghmah 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 Jun 2034
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Muath Al-Habib’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces22 May 2034
The mood at Al-Batin has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Boardroom22 May 2034
Pressure builds in the Al-Batin boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Market22 May 2034
“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.
Squad22 May 2034
A move Abdulelah Dagar would have made for nothing
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Abdulelah Dagar is living that version at Al-Batin, and it tends to show in the first month.
Squad22 May 2034
An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and Al-Batin have had the benefit of it.
Squad22 May 2034
“The easiest signature of my career.” Abdulelah Dagar and Al-Batin agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.