Marked for Mathieu Peybernes
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad10 Jan 2028
109 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Sochaux lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad10 Jan 2028
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.
Squad10 Jan 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sochaux this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets10 Jan 2028
The offer went to Dijon 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.
Market10 Jan 2028
The name of Boubacar Fofana has come up in conversations Sochaux were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Match8 Jan 2028
6 unbeaten for Sochaux
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 6 matches without defeat is a foundation Sochaux did not have in the autumn.
Squad10 Jan 2028
A row about effort at Sochaux
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Fabian Nürnberger was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets10 Jan 2028
Sochaux asked and Stade Rennais said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Match8 Jan 2028
After 4 games, Sochaux finally taste it again
The first defeat in 4 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against FC Versailles; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings4 Oct 2027
7.87, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
Squad4 Oct 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Mathieu Peybernes commits to Sochaux for another 2 years.
Squad4 Oct 2027
Words exchanged at Sochaux
Julien Masson 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.
Squad4 Oct 2027
Words at Sochaux training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Fabian Nürnberger 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.
Match2 Oct 2027
The run at home goes on for Sochaux
9 matches unbeaten here. Every visiting manager is asked about it in the week before, which is precisely why it keeps going.
Match2 Oct 2027
A 2‑1 win over SC Aubagne Air Bel, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
The dugout4 Oct 2027
Pape Sy 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.
Match2 Oct 2027
2 goals inside twenty minutes with Mamoudou Karamoko in the middle of it, and SC Aubagne Air Bel unable to get near the ball long enough to change anything. Some matches are won before the first drink.
Player ratings4 Oct 2027
Ninety minutes of Dylan Tavares at his very best
Marked 8.17. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Sochaux.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match15 Sep 2027
The cup run ends for Sochaux
2‑4 against EA Guingamp, and the road stops here. Cup exits are quick deaths — no second leg, no next week, just the league from now until May.
Player ratings20 Sep 2027
Two goals and a mark of 8.18 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Player ratings20 Sep 2027
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.49 for the rest of it.
Squad20 Sep 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Julien Vetro commits to Sochaux for another 4 years.
Squad20 Sep 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sochaux this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match15 Sep 2027
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Sochaux and EA Guingamp in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Squad20 Sep 2027
16 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Words at Sochaux training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mattia Compagnon 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.
The dugout20 Sep 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Mathieu Peybernes, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match10 Apr 2027
3‑0, and Tanguy Ndombele took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Sochaux tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Player ratings12 Apr 2027
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.35, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
The dugout12 Apr 2027
“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.
Match10 Apr 2027
Still nobody has beaten Sochaux
The unbeaten run reaches 7. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Squad12 Apr 2027
A row about effort at Sochaux
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Fabian Nürnberger was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The terraces12 Apr 2027
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Julien Vetro 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.
Match10 Apr 2027
Sochaux settle it inside twenty minutes
2 goals before the ground had finished arriving. LB Chateauroux spent the rest of the afternoon playing a match that had already been decided, and everybody in the stadium knew it.
Player ratings12 Apr 2027
Ninety minutes of Julien Vetro at his very best
Marked 8.23. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Sochaux.
The dugout12 Apr 2027
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Thibault Garnier on a 3‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad5 Apr 2027
There were 9 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.
Market5 Apr 2027
Only the photograph left for Benjamin Gomel
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Benjamin Gomel will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Sochaux the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Kabangu Alex Teixeira is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Match3 Apr 2027
6 unbeaten for Sochaux
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 6 matches without defeat is a foundation Sochaux did not have in the autumn.
Loan watch5 Apr 2027
The goals keep arriving from Samy Baghdadi’s exile
11 goals in 23 games at Sochaux — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Sochaux updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
The dugout5 Apr 2027
A promise honoured at Sochaux
Something was said to Tanguy Ndombele and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
The dugout5 Apr 2027
The team sheet said everything about Boubacar Fofana
Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told Boubacar Fofana.
Squad5 Apr 2027
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Mamoudou Karamoko is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
The dugout5 Apr 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Louicius Deedson, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Player ratings8 Mar 2027
A brace, and Tanguy Ndombele takes the afternoon — 8.25
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Tanguy Ndombele provided it, and the 8.25 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The dugout8 Mar 2027
Arthur Vitelli: 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.” Sochaux have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market8 Mar 2027
Only the photograph left for Benjamin Gomel
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Benjamin Gomel will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Sochaux the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Match6 Mar 2027
Sochaux cannot stop winning
3 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.
Squad8 Mar 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Mathieu Peybernes and Sochaux agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Match6 Mar 2027
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Tanguy Ndombele. 4‑3 against FC Versailles, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Match6 Mar 2027
7 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Sochaux and FC Versailles in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Words at Sochaux training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Fabian Nürnberger 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.
Squad8 Mar 2027
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Sochaux can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match16 Jan 2027
The wait goes on for Sochaux
4 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.
Squad18 Jan 2027
A row about effort at Sochaux
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Fabian Nürnberger was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets18 Jan 2027
Sochaux 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.
Player ratings18 Jan 2027
Julien Vetro beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 19. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Match16 Jan 2027
Bourg-Peronnas left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout18 Jan 2027
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Thibault Garnier left the room before anybody could ask which.
Transfer targets18 Jan 2027
A loan move for Sandro is in the works
Sochaux have made the call to Las Palmas. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
The dugout18 Jan 2027
“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.
Squad18 Jan 2027
No place for Yvann Titi in the new shape
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Sochaux are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad28 Dec 2026
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Karim Boullif is 18, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Words at Sochaux training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Fabian Nürnberger 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.
Match26 Dec 2026
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout28 Dec 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 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Thibault Garnier to a room that had heard them before.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Arthur Vitelli, and the manager let it.
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
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.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Sochaux. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Squad28 Dec 2026
“Nobody outside is coming to save us.” It was short, it was not comfortable, and by all accounts the Sochaux squad were quieter afterwards than they had been all season.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match21 Nov 2026
The wait goes on for Sochaux
4 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.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Fabian Nürnberger 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.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Boubacar Fofana
“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 ratings23 Nov 2026
Ninety minutes of Samy Baghdadi at his very best
Marked 8.02. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Sochaux.
Match21 Nov 2026
It needed Samy Baghdadi to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Valenciennes, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Thibault Garnier was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the Sochaux dressing room was either.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.
Squad23 Nov 2026
One booking too many, and Dylan Tavares sits out. Sochaux lose him for the sort of avoidable reason that makes a manager's week longer.
Squad23 Nov 2026
At 22 he is in the side on merit and somebody else is watching from the bench. Places at Sochaux are won quietly and lost loudly.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match16 Sep 2026
The cup run ends for Sochaux
0‑2 against USL Dunkerque, and the road stops here. Cup exits are quick deaths — no second leg, no next week, just the league from now until May.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Fabian Nürnberger 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.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
The manager makes an example of Boubacar Fofana
“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.
Loan watch21 Sep 2026
“I did not go to Grenoble Foot 38 to sit and watch. I want to come back to Sochaux and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 5 matches say the rest.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Thibault Garnier after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
Julien Vetro is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
4.59 on the card. Some afternoons a footballer looks like a man who has only just been introduced to the game, and this was one of them.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Shots: 6. 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
Squad3 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Julien Masson commits to Sochaux for another 4 years.
Squad3 Aug 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sochaux this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Words at Sochaux training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Julien Masson 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.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
Sochaux asked and KAA Gent said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Market3 Aug 2026
“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.
Market3 Aug 2026
49 months to run and not a word offered. A club that lets the calendar negotiate for it usually ends up losing to the calendar.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
A loan enquiry to AZ: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Sochaux are still strangers to each other
6 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
The dugout3 Aug 2026
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Louicius Deedson trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.