1 for Necer Benzid, marked 7.87, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
Successful dribbles: 22. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Necer Benzid. 1‑0 against USM Khenchela, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
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 Nadji Ben Kheira trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Something was said to Zahreddine Benabda and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Ninety minutes of very little, and then everything at once. The winner arrived in the 86th, and ES Ben Aknoun spent what remained of the match appealing to the referee rather than chasing the ball.
Kheiredine Merzougui 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.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Words at MB Rouissat training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rezki Hamroune 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Rezki Hamroune. 2‑1 against ES Ben Aknoun, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
5 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and ES Ben Aknoun were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
7.67, 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.
Rezki Hamroune 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.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Words at MB Rouissat training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mohamed Boukerma 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 am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at MB Rouissat, and 6 appearances in 13 say he has earned the hearing.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. MB Rouissat told Mohamed Boukerma something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at MB Rouissat can tell you which week it ends in.
“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.
7.25, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. MB Rouissat had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Abdelkader Brahimi was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the MB Rouissat dressing room was either.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what MB Rouissat can pretend not to have heard.
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.
9 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against JS Kabylie in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at MB Rouissat, and both men came out saying it was fine.
In brief
The dugoutThe plan did not have a place for Benali Benamar
Player ratingsDjigo Saikou beats them one at a time
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what MB Rouissat can pretend not to have heard.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Rezki Hamroune was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Mohamed Belaribi 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 supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Nobody at MB Rouissat 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.
CR Belouizdad next, and one man in the MB Rouissat dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Successful dribbles: 28. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
At 23 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 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.
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
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 Abdelkader Brahimi left the room before anybody could ask which.
At 25 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Words at MB Rouissat training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mohamed Boukerma 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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
9 new faces, and MB Rouissat are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
Successful dribbles: 14. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. MC Oran defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
In brief
The dugoutThe plan did not have a place for Benali Benamar
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at MB Rouissat this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Abdelkader Brahimi, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
“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.
MC Oran next, and one man in the MB Rouissat dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
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.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Mohamed Boukerma, and the manager let it.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
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 Abdelkader Brahimi left the room before anybody could ask which.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. MB Rouissat will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
Successful dribbles: 14. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against MC El Bayadh in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
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.
1‑4 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.
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.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
MB Rouissat close the window on a squad of their own making
15 in and 3 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Namory Diarra is living that version at MB Rouissat, and it tends to show in the first month.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Rezki Hamroune was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Tours have kept their man, and MB Rouissat go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Olympique Lyonnais keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. USM Alger have kept their man, and MB Rouissat go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Mohamed Belaribi 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.
7 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Islam Benrahma has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Ramy Belmadi has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Abdelhak Benayada has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Ramy Brahimi has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Rezki Hamroune 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 name of Destaing Sikoula has come up in conversations MB Rouissat were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. USM Alger have kept their man, and MB Rouissat go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Words at MB Rouissat training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Redouane Maachou 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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at MB Rouissat, another week without a signature from Kheiredine Merzougui.