Marked for Mathieu Peybernes
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad17 Dec 2029
“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.
Squad17 Dec 2029
Sambou Soumano 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 ratings17 Dec 2029
Marked 9.26 — 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.
Squad17 Dec 2029
Defences have started doubling up on Boubacar Fofana
7 goals and a season average of 7.46 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Match15 Dec 2029
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Boubacar Fofana. 2‑1 against Nimes, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings17 Dec 2029
Marked 8.51 — 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.
Player ratings17 Dec 2029
Marked 8.51 — 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.
Player ratings17 Dec 2029
Marked 8.37 — 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.
Squad17 Dec 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Samy Baghdadi, and the manager let it.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom5 Nov 2029
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Christophe Rolland has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Market5 Nov 2029
Grégoire Coudert wants to know where this is going
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Sochaux hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Squad5 Nov 2029
Sambou Soumano 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.
Squad5 Nov 2029
“The easiest signature of my career.” Joshua Frau and Sochaux agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad5 Nov 2029
39 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Match3 Nov 2029
Dijon left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Player ratings5 Nov 2029
Successful dribbles: 18. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad5 Nov 2029
“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.
Player ratings5 Nov 2029
Shots: 9. 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
Upbeat
Boardroom3 Sep 2029
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Sochaux can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Match1 Sep 2029
Still nobody has beaten Sochaux
The unbeaten run reaches 8. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Player ratings3 Sep 2029
A defender's afternoon for Julien Masson
Defensive actions: 24. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Squad3 Sep 2029
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 Sep 2029
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Thomas Vannoye commits to Sochaux for another 3 years.
Player ratings3 Sep 2029
Defensive actions: 23, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Player ratings3 Sep 2029
Defensive actions: 22, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Player ratings3 Sep 2029
A performance of 8.89 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Match1 Sep 2029
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Sambou Soumano. 2‑0 against Bourg-Peronnas, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad9 Apr 2029
Longin Bimai: 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.
Squad9 Apr 2029
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.
Squad9 Apr 2029
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Mathieu Peybernes and Sochaux agree another 2 years.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom2 Apr 2029
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Christophe Rolland has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Squad2 Apr 2029
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Sochaux may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Boardroom2 Apr 2029
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Sochaux
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad22 Jan 2029
Sambou Soumano 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.
Match20 Jan 2029
Clermont Foot made Sochaux work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings22 Jan 2029
A performance of 8.96 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings22 Jan 2029
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.95, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad22 Jan 2029
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Longin Bimai commits to Sochaux for another 3 years.
Squad22 Jan 2029
“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.
Market22 Jan 2029
Pontedera are about to pick up the phone
A conversation is coming this week. Sochaux will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.
Squad22 Jan 2029
A defender's mistake gets tidied up by somebody else; a goalkeeper's ends up in the net. He knew before the ball crossed the line, and so did everybody in the ground.
Player ratings22 Jan 2029
Shots: 8, not one of them in. A centre forward is paid for one thing, and on this evidence he has forgotten which thing it is.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad25 Dec 2028
Sambou Soumano 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.
Match23 Dec 2028
FC Metz left with the points after a 1‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad25 Dec 2028
“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.
Squad25 Dec 2028
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Sochaux are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Squad25 Dec 2028
The team sheet said everything about Kapit Djoco
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 Kapit Djoco.
Player ratings25 Dec 2028
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
Squad30 Oct 2028
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Sochaux may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Player ratings30 Oct 2028
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 30 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Squad30 Oct 2028
12 goals and a season average of 7.66. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Market30 Oct 2028
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Sochaux can pretend not to have heard.
Squad30 Oct 2028
Sambou Soumano 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 ratings30 Oct 2028
A performance of 9.23 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings30 Oct 2028
Successful dribbles: 19. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match28 Oct 2028
It finished 1‑0, and it was Sambou Soumano’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Sochaux.
Squad30 Oct 2028
Ethan Nkouka 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
Steady
Boardroom4 Sep 2028
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Christophe Rolland has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Squad4 Sep 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.
Squad4 Sep 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.
Squad4 Sep 2028
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Mathieu Peybernes commits to Sochaux for another 2 years.
Match2 Sep 2028
Still nobody has beaten Sochaux
The unbeaten run reaches 6. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Player ratings4 Sep 2028
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 9.22, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Match2 Sep 2028
Three points for Sochaux, 2‑1 the final word against AS Nancy in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings4 Sep 2028
Marked 8.39 — 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.
Player ratings4 Sep 2028
Successful dribbles: 17. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market28 Aug 2028
“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 Sochaux, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad28 Aug 2028
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Sochaux may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad28 Aug 2028
Sambou Soumano 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 ratings28 Aug 2028
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 9.16, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Match26 Aug 2028
Stade Lavallois made Sochaux work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings28 Aug 2028
Marked 8.64 — 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.
Player ratings28 Aug 2028
Defensive actions: 19, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Squad28 Aug 2028
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Sochaux are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Player ratings28 Aug 2028
Defensive actions: 16. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match12 Aug 2028
The wait goes on for Sochaux
9 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.
Market14 Aug 2028
Sochaux say no — this time
The offer from Angers SCO for Boubacar Fofana 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.
Squad14 Aug 2028
“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.
Squad14 Aug 2028
There were 7 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.
Squad14 Aug 2028
Sambou Soumano 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 ratings14 Aug 2028
A performance of 8.49 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad14 Aug 2028
“The easiest signature of my career.” Victor Monthieu and Sochaux agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Player ratings14 Aug 2028
Successful dribbles: 16. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match12 Aug 2028
Honours even between Sochaux and Dijon
2‑2, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom7 Aug 2028
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Sochaux can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Match5 Aug 2028
8 matches without a win for Sochaux
The run now stands at 8, and the questions being asked around Sochaux are no longer polite ones.
Player ratings7 Aug 2028
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 27 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Squad7 Aug 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.
Squad7 Aug 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Kabangu Alex Teixeira, and the manager let it.
Squad7 Aug 2028
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Jonathan Mexique and Sochaux agree another 2 years.
Player ratings7 Aug 2028
Defensive actions: 16. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Player ratings7 Aug 2028
Successful dribbles: 15. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.