Marked for Trevor Spangenberg
From our football correspondent
Steady
The dugout23 Nov 2026
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Los Angeles Football Club may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Denis Bouanga 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.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Amin Boudri 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 dugout23 Nov 2026
“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 dugout23 Nov 2026
When it matters, Amin Boudri plays
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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad19 Oct 2026
Denis Bouanga 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.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Igor Jesus was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
Something was said to Jeremy Ebobisse and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
Heung-Min Son has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Los Angeles Football Club 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 dugout19 Oct 2026
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Jacob Shaffelburg trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market19 Oct 2026
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Sergi Palencia’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market3 Aug 2026
The offer from Sheffield Wednesday for Denis Bouanga 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.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
Everything agreed with another club, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
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 Los Angeles Football Club this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market3 Aug 2026
Igor Jesus wants European nights
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sergi Palencia 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 dugout3 Aug 2026
Hugo Lloris 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.
Match1 Aug 2026
0‑2 to Minnesota United FC, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.