The ES Ben Aknoun Gazette
Player ratings8 Jan 2035
Mohamed Messaoud Salem runs at them all day
Successful dribbles: 38. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Boardroom8 Jan 2035
ES Ben Aknoun put Louis Lacroix on notice
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
Market8 Jan 2035
ES Ben Aknoun say no — this time
The offer from MB Rouissat for Dorin Hagi 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.
Squad8 Jan 2035
Kenneth Ikugar in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at ES Ben Aknoun this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match6 Jan 2035
A bad afternoon for ES Ben Aknoun against USM Khenchela
0‑2 to USM Khenchela, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad8 Jan 2035
Houssem Bennacer signs a new deal
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Houssem Bennacer commits to ES Ben Aknoun for another 3 years.
Squad8 Jan 2035
Houssem Bennacer named in the team of the month
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Houssem Bennacer is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
Squad8 Jan 2035
Lounas Adjout has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at ES Ben Aknoun 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.
Boardroom8 Jan 2035
ES Ben Aknoun pull $1.8M back off the table
The money that was there in the summer is not there now. Nobody upstairs calls this a change of ambition, and everybody downstairs reads it as one.
In brief
- Market Faouzi Belmadi leaves for nothing
- Market Rafik Ounas leaves for nothing
- Boardroom ES Ben Aknoun keep producing them