Marked for Didier Masson
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad30 Apr 2029
Didier Masson damages knee ligaments — 20 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 20 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.
Squad30 Apr 2029
Breel Embolo 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 Apr 2029
Words at Stade Rennais training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lilian Brassier 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad23 Apr 2029
Didier Masson damages knee ligaments — 27 days out
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.
Squad23 Apr 2029
“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.
Market23 Apr 2029
Only the photograph left for Cyril Mandouki
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Cyril Mandouki will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Stade Rennais the goodbyes have quietly begun.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad16 Apr 2029
Didier Masson damages knee ligaments — 34 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 34 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.
Market16 Apr 2029
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
Squad16 Apr 2029
Breel Embolo 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.
Market16 Apr 2029
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Stade Rennais they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad16 Apr 2029
Words at Stade Rennais training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lilian Brassier 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.
Squad16 Apr 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Quentin Merlin, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad9 Apr 2029
Didier Masson damages knee ligaments — 41 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 41 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.
Market9 Apr 2029
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Stade Rennais can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings9 Apr 2029
A defender's goal wins it for Stade Rennais — 7.87
1 for Illia Zabarnyi, marked 7.87, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
Squad9 Apr 2029
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Brice Samba commits to Stade Rennais for another 2 years.
Squad9 Apr 2029
Breel Embolo 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 Stade Rennais this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market9 Apr 2029
Ayoub Akabou has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Stade Rennais they have already started talking about him in the past tense.