43 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Olympique Akbou lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Olympique Akbou will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The deal with MC El Bayadh is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Zizo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
50 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Olympique Akbou lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Olympique Akbou will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and ES Mostaganem waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Olympique Akbou is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Olympique Akbou have gone to MC Oran 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. MC Alger have kept their man, and Olympique Akbou go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
65 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Olympique Akbou lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Olympique Akbou will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“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 The request is on a desk at Olympique Akbou, and it is not being withdrawn.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Olympique Akbou they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Olympique Akbou have done the hard part with MC Alger, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Walid Zamoum 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.
The words a physio says slowly. 87 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Olympique Akbou will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Olympique Akbou they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The offer went to ES Setif 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.
Hicham Messiad 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.
Olympique Akbou asked and MC Alger said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Walid Zamoum trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
109 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Olympique Akbou lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Olympique Akbou will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Olympique Akbou is running low.
Hicham Messiad 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.
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 14 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Jordan Leborgne trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
116 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Olympique Akbou lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 58 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Olympique Akbou is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Olympique Akbou can pretend not to have heard.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Olympique Akbou, and both men came out saying it was fine.
130 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Olympique Akbou lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Olympique Akbou will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Olympique Akbou can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Hicham Messiad 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.
Every squad is half players the manager chose and half players he inherited. Fethallah Tahar was chosen, the man who chose him has gone, and he starts again from nothing under the next one.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Zizo 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.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Mohamed Youssef, and the manager let it.
The dugout7 May 2029
David Djamas 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.
138 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Olympique Akbou lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Olympique Akbou will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Olympique Akbou is running low.
Hicham Messiad 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.
At 34, 3 points below where he was, and a body that has started charging interest. It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph on this page.
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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Walid Zamoum trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Olympique Akbou will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 9 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Olympique Akbou this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Ramdane Hitala will call it something else in private.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Zizo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Olympique Akbou, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 102 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 9 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Olympique Akbou can pretend not to have heard.
Hicham Messiad 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 injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 14 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Yakoub Gassi 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.
18 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 110 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Olympique Akbou is running low.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Olympique Akbou have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Walid Zamoum 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ramdane Hitala was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Olympique Akbou, another week without a signature from Ramdane Hitala.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Olympique Akbou will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“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 Olympique Akbou, and it is not being withdrawn.
At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.08 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
7 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and MB Rouissat were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
Hicham Messiad 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ramdane Hitala 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.
A goalkeeper's career is counted in the games nobody scored in, and Rayane Yesli now has 25 of them across 185 appearances. Nothing about that number was luck.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 140 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
7 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.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Olympique Akbou is running low.
Hicham Messiad 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.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Walid Zamoum and Olympique Akbou agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
It will be explained as a change for the team and it may even be one. Nobody who has worn one believes that, and neither does the man who has just had it taken away.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ramdane Hitala will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Olympique Akbou the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ramdane Hitala was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
0‑5 to MC Alger, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Olympique Akbou can pretend not to have heard.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ramdane Hitala was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The offer from ES Mostaganem for Lounas Adjout 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.
Player ratings12 Feb 2029
Up for the corner, and Ali Amriche delivers — 7.98
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Ali Amriche scored, was marked 7.98, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Olympique Akbou ran out of time with USM Khenchela. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
Walid Zamoum 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.
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
The dugout12 Feb 2029
Rayane Yesli 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.
A brace, and Dadi Mouaki takes the afternoon — 9.00
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Dadi Mouaki provided it, and the 9.00 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Hicham Messiad 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Dadi Mouaki. 2‑1 against ES Ben Aknoun, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Goalkeepers do not get to make mistakes; they get to make goals. He made one, he knew it instantly, and there was nobody behind him to make it anything else.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.80 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Olympique Akbou this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Hamza Mouali’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Olympique Akbou needing him to play as if none of it matters.
The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Olympique Akbou, and both men came out saying it was fine.
In brief
MarketThe clock does Louanes Zidi’s negotiating for him
Hicham Messiad 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.
0‑2 to USM Alger, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout18 Dec 2028
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 0‑2 Omar Guedioura left the room before anybody could ask which.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
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 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.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against CR Belouizdad in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
Walid Zamoum 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.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Laye Diedhiou and Olympique Akbou agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Hicham Messiad trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against MB Rouissat in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
A side in position 11 visits next. The result will not make anybody’s season and it could quietly break the shape of one, which is why the manager has been watching the video since Sunday.
Hicham Messiad 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.
It finished 2‑2, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
The dugout13 Nov 2028
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Omar Guedioura was not hiding it after 2‑2, and nobody in the Olympique Akbou dressing room was either.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Olympique Akbou, another week without a signature from Jean Mendy.
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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Olympique Akbou they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.81 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Adel Ali and Olympique Akbou agree another 4 years.
Squad6 Nov 2028
A place in the month's best eleven for Hamza Mouali
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Hamza Mouali has come out of that comparison in the side, and Olympique Akbou have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Omar Guedioura could afford to be generous.
Up for the corner, and Ali Amriche delivers — 7.74
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Ali Amriche scored, was marked 7.74, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Hicham Messiad 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.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 1‑1, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Hamza Mouali’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Olympique Akbou needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ramdane Hitala will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Olympique Akbou the goodbyes have quietly begun.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.03 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
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 7.84 for the rest of it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Olympique Akbou this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Fethallah Tahar. 2‑0 against ES Mostaganem, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Olympique Akbou has been clear about where Hicham Messiad stands, which is more than many ever get.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Olympique Akbou this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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; Olympique Akbou are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑4, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Olympique Akbou told M'hend Sediri something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Olympique Akbou can pretend not to have heard.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. MC Alger have kept their man, and Olympique Akbou go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Walid Zamoum 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Abdesslam Hannane and Olympique Akbou agree another 2 years.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Adel Ali was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The name of Lounas Adjout has come up in conversations Olympique Akbou were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Hicham Messiad 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.
Olympique Akbou asked and MC Alger said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Nobody at Olympique Akbou 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Olympique Akbou, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“He needs to be playing at a level that matches him, and we are open to conversations.” Nobody says that by accident, and nobody at Olympique Akbou misheard it.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager plants his flag on Louanes Zidi
33 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Olympique Akbou lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“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 Olympique Akbou, and it is not being withdrawn.
$290.0K on the table at ES Ben Aknoun. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Walid Zamoum 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.
The name of Lounas Adjout has come up in conversations Olympique Akbou were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Nobody at Olympique Akbou 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 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.
In brief
The dugoutLouanes Zidi knocks on the manager's door
Hicham Messiad 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. MC Alger have kept their man, and Olympique Akbou go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Merouane Mehdaoui 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.
Everyone has stopped pretending: ES Setif will make the call about Mohamed Chelfaoui this week. Olympique Akbou have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
Nobody at Olympique Akbou 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Olympique Akbou, and both men came out saying it was fine.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Olympique Akbou will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Hamdi Labidi 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Olympique Akbou, and both men came out saying it was fine.
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.
What was a back-page story is now a matter for the terraces, and the terraces do not do nuance. Olympique Akbou would like it dealt with before it becomes the only question anybody asks.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 29 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Hamdi Labidi 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Merouane Mehdaoui 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.
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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Olympique Akbou, and both men came out saying it was fine.
A year in and the city has not opened up, the language has not come, and lunch is eaten alone more often than anybody at Olympique Akbou would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
Position 12 on 29 points. Every season is a story and this is the last line of it, and now the club has three months to decide what the next one is about.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Hamdi Labidi 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Olympique Akbou this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 85. JS Kabylie had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Olympique Akbou told Ali Amriche something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Hamdi Labidi 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.
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.
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Olympique Akbou pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
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 Hamdi Labidi is on it.
The team at the top of the table next, and the honest measure of where this side actually is. Anybody can beat the club below them; the question is what happens against JS Kabylie.
Hicham Messiad 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Hamdi Labidi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.
The dugout10 Apr 2028
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 0‑3 defeat, delivered by Mohamed Bounedjah to a room that had heard them before.
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.
Hamdi Labidi 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 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.
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.
ASO Chlef next, and one man in the Olympique Akbou dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Olympique Akbou this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Hamdi Labidi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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.
The dugout20 Mar 2028
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 1‑2 Mohamed Bounedjah left the room before anybody could ask which.
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 Hamdi Labidi is on it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Olympique Akbou know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
This is not rotation. Mohamed Chelfaoui has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Olympique Akbou is pretending otherwise.
Squad13 Mar 2028
Hamdi Labidi 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.
Walid Zamoum 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.
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.
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.
This is not rotation. Oussama Darfalou has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Olympique Akbou is pretending otherwise.
Squad21 Feb 2028
Hamdi Labidi 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.
Oussama Darfalou 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.
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.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Mohamed Bounedjah after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
CS Constantine next, and one man in the Olympique Akbou dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
The offer from MB Rouissat for Rayane Yesli 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.
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 7.84 for the rest of it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Olympique Akbou this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Merouane Mehdaoui was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. MC El Bayadh moved on, Rayane Yesli reports back to Olympique Akbou, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
Add another name to the list: MC El Bayadh have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Oussama Darfalou. The answer from Olympique Akbou has not changed — yet.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Hamdi Labidi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Hamdi Labidi 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jordan Leborgne 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.
Nobody at Olympique Akbou 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 dugout24 Jan 2028
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Mohamed Bounedjah was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the Olympique Akbou dressing room was either.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Olympique Akbou people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Hamdi Labidi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Walid Zamoum 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.
Position 15 and 12 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.
“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 Olympique Akbou, and it is not being withdrawn.
The deal with MC El Bayadh is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Olympique Akbou had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Paradou, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Hamdi Labidi 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Olympique Akbou can pretend not to have heard.
11 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and CR Belouizdad were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.63 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Player ratings27 Dec 2027
Up for the corner, and Louanes Zidi delivers — 7.62
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Louanes Zidi scored, was marked 7.62, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Hicham Messiad 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Louanes Zidi. 3‑2 against CR Belouizdad, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
This is not rotation. Toufik Addadi has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Olympique Akbou is pretending otherwise.
Squad27 Dec 2027
Hamdi Labidi 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.
10 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Olympique Akbou has to find a result from somewhere.
Hamdi Labidi 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.
At 34, 3 points below where he was, and a body that has started charging interest. It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph on this page.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Merouane Mehdaoui 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.
“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.
The dugout13 Dec 2027
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 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Mohamed Bounedjah to a room that had heard them before.
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.
In brief
The dugoutRayane Yesli knocks on the manager's door
Hamdi Labidi 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Merouane Mehdaoui was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Successful dribbles: 14. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The dugout22 Nov 2027
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Mohamed Bounedjah chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against MC El Bayadh? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
USM Alger go through and Olympique Akbou go home, 0‑2 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Squad18 Oct 2027
Hamdi Labidi 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.
Oussama Darfalou 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.
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.
The dugout18 Oct 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 1‑2 Mohamed Bounedjah left the room before anybody could ask which.
Something was said to Hicham Messiad and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
In brief
The dugoutHamdi Labidi has become a man the manager trusts
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 8 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
“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 Olympique Akbou, and it is not being withdrawn.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Fethallah Tahar and Olympique Akbou agree another 2 years.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Hamdi Labidi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Olympique Akbou this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Mohamed Bounedjah after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The run now stands at 5, and the questions being asked around Olympique Akbou are no longer polite ones.
Squad13 Sep 2027
Hamdi Labidi 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. MC Oran have kept their man, and Olympique Akbou go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Toufik Addadi 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.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Olympique Akbou are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.