Marked for Abdramane Souleymane
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match24 Jan 2032
33 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
The terraces26 Jan 2032
Anger at AS Etat Major 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.
Boardroom26 Jan 2032
The silence upstairs is getting loud at AS Etat Major
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Match26 Jan 2032
Every point is an argument now for AS Etat Major
Position 12 and 2 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Market26 Jan 2032
“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.
Match24 Jan 2032
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Market26 Jan 2032
The phone has started ringing about Hassan Abakar again, and this time the name on the line is Gazelle. AS Etat Major are listening politely and promising nothing.
Player ratings26 Jan 2032
Successful dribbles: 18. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad26 Jan 2032
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Abdramane Souleymane and AS Etat Major agree another 3 years.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match3 Jan 2032
31 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Boardroom5 Jan 2032
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Ezechiel Abba has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Player ratings5 Jan 2032
The hardest thing about being 18 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Abdramane Souleymane did not need any: 7.65, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Squad5 Jan 2032
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Mahamat Doungous and AS Etat Major agree another 1 years.
Market5 Jan 2032
Only the photograph left for Djibrine Abba
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Djibrine Abba will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around AS Etat Major the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Player ratings5 Jan 2032
Successful dribbles: 20. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match3 Jan 2032
AS DGSSIE left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad5 Jan 2032
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Atunaisa Naucukidi, and the manager let it.
Squad5 Jan 2032
Words at AS Etat Major training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Adam Abakar 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
Crisis
Match1 Nov 2031
21 matches without a win for AS Etat Major
The run now stands at 21, and the questions being asked around AS Etat Major are no longer polite ones.
The terraces3 Nov 2031
Anger at AS Etat Major 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.
Squad3 Nov 2031
46 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. AS Etat Major lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match1 Nov 2031
12 matches, two or more conceded in every one of them. Sides that create as much as this can live with it for a while. Nobody lives with it forever.
Match1 Nov 2031
A 2‑6 beating by CotonTchad was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Squad3 Nov 2031
There were 10 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.
Player ratings3 Nov 2031
Abdramane Souleymane, 17, plays like he has been here for years — 8.39
A mark of 8.39 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 17-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Market3 Nov 2031
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at AS Etat Major is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match8 Mar 2031
14 matches without a win for AS Etat Major
The run now stands at 14, and the questions being asked around AS Etat Major are no longer polite ones.
Market10 Mar 2031
“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 AS Etat Major, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match8 Mar 2031
AS Etat Major are shipping goals every week
Two or more conceded in each of the last 5 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Match8 Mar 2031
1‑2 to US Moursal, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Player ratings10 Mar 2031
A performance of 8.24 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad10 Mar 2031
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AS Etat Major this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad10 Mar 2031
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.
Squad10 Mar 2031
The manager makes an example of Saleh Abakar
“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 ratings10 Mar 2031
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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match1 Mar 2031
No end in sight to AS Etat Major's wait for a win
13 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at AS Etat Major has to find a result from somewhere.
Boardroom3 Mar 2031
Ezechiel Abba has until the next board meeting
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at AS Etat Major can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Market3 Mar 2031
“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 AS Etat Major, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings3 Mar 2031
Abdramane Souleymane, 17, plays like he has been here for years — 7.69
A mark of 7.69 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 17-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Squad3 Mar 2031
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” AS Etat Major may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market3 Mar 2031
Hassan Abakar has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around AS Etat Major they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Match1 Mar 2031
1‑3 to Gazelle, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Match1 Mar 2031
AS Etat Major 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.
Squad3 Mar 2031
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ezechiel Oumar, and the manager let it.