Marked for Mika Biereth
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad21 Dec 2026
Words exchanged at Monaco
Théo Hernández and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
Mika Biereth gets it from the manager
“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 Dec 2026
12 shut-outs in 17 games. A goalkeeper’s loan is judged on the afternoons when nothing happened at all, and Radosław Majecki has been having a lot of them.
Market21 Dec 2026
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Christian Mawissa has his answer from Monaco; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
Denis Zakaria gets picked when it counts
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Denis Zakaria is on it.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Rémi Le Roux after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
The form table has caught Bahmed Deuff
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
12 attempts, none of them in. He got into the right places all afternoon, which is the hard part, and did the easy part badly — and that is the version of a bad day a manager can live with.
Market21 Dec 2026
Ansu Fati linked with a move away
The name of Ansu Fati keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Monaco say nothing, which says plenty.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Triumph
The dugout16 Nov 2026
Théo Hernández: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Monaco have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Tempers go at Monaco
Théo Hernández 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.
Match14 Nov 2026
Monaco keep winning on the road
4 away wins in a row. Travelling support is the truest kind, and this season it is being repaid in the only currency that counts.
Squad16 Nov 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Enzo Mbangue Mbom and Monaco agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The terraces16 Nov 2026
Monaco supporters have found a favourite in Mika Biereth
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Mika Biereth has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Match14 Nov 2026
A 2‑0 win over Paris FC, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings16 Nov 2026
Ninety minutes of Mika Biereth at his very best
Marked 8.53. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Monaco.
Player ratings16 Nov 2026
Ninety minutes of Vanderson at his very best
Marked 8.09. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Monaco.
Player ratings16 Nov 2026
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.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match2 Nov 2026
Monaco are in among the leaders
Position 2 and 26 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.
Match31 Oct 2026
Monaco cannot stop winning
5 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Market2 Nov 2026
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Squad2 Nov 2026
A falling-out at Monaco
Théo Hernández and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The terraces2 Nov 2026
He is 22 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Match31 Oct 2026
Another one collected away from home
3 on the bounce on the road for Monaco. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.
Match31 Oct 2026
It finished 1‑0, and it was Lamine Camara’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Monaco.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Marked 8.00 — 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.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
Mika Biereth gets it from the manager
“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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match17 Oct 2026
Nobody wants to play Monaco right now
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Tempers go at Monaco
Théo Hernández 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 Oct 2026
At 18 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
The terraces19 Oct 2026
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Match17 Oct 2026
It finished 1‑0, and it was Matthis Abline’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Monaco.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
The manager makes an example of David Balliana
“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.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Mika Biereth 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 ratings19 Oct 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.42, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad19 Oct 2026
“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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market28 Sep 2026
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Monaco is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad28 Sep 2026
A falling-out at Monaco
Denis Zakaria and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Market28 Sep 2026
Monaco may not be able to give Vanderson what he wants
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Vanderson wants continental football; whether Monaco can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Market28 Sep 2026
No place for Mika Biereth in the plan
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Mika Biereth has his answer from Monaco; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 15. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
Denis Zakaria has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Monaco 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.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
Half-satisfied: Rémi Le Roux on the draw
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
A defender's afternoon for Denis Zakaria
Defensive actions: 14. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
The form table has caught Bahmed Deuff
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match16 Sep 2026
Monaco march on in the cup
Bourg-Peronnas are out and Monaco go through, 1‑0 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.
Market21 Sep 2026
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Monaco have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Tempers go at Monaco
Théo Hernández 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 ratings21 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 20. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Match19 Sep 2026
Olympique de Marseille left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Ninety minutes of Krépin Diatta at his very best
Marked 8.40. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Monaco.
Looking ahead21 Sep 2026
The neighbours are next for Monaco
Nothing about the week ahead is ordinary. OGC Nice on Saturday, a town that has already started talking about it, and a dressing room that does not need telling what it means.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
The manager makes an example of Wout Faes
“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.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 1‑2 defeat, delivered by Rémi Le Roux to a room that had heard them before.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad24 Aug 2026
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Monaco will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
Monaco have gone to Real Madrid with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Market24 Aug 2026
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Monaco have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
The offer went to Toulouse FC this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
Monaco asked and LOSC Lille said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Market24 Aug 2026
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” AC Ajaccio had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
Market24 Aug 2026
Mohamed Bob 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 Monaco can pretend not to have heard.
Market24 Aug 2026
Nacim Dendani has left for Valenciennes in a $990.0K deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.
Squad24 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Mika Biereth commits to Monaco for another 5 years.