A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. ASO Chlef will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about 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 ASO Chlef this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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 demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Abdellah Debbari is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Mohamed Arab has his answer from ASO Chlef; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. ASO Chlef will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Match22 Sep 2029
Moslem Anatouf wins it after the whistle should have gone
94 minutes played. Moslem Anatouf found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and CS Constantine went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Moslem Anatouf provided it, and the 9.12 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around ASO Chlef they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.05 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kokou Avotor was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason ASO Chlef will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad17 Sep 2029
Words at ASO Chlef training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kokou Avotor 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.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against CS Constantine 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 ASO Chlef, and both men came out saying it was fine.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. ASO Chlef will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Successful dribbles: 30. 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.
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.
Ibrahim Farhi 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.
Squad10 Sep 2029
Words at ASO Chlef training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Moslem Anatouf 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 music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
The dugout10 Sep 2029
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 Guedioura to a room that had heard them before.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. ASO Chlef will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.87 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Boardroom3 Sep 2029
Deadline passes with 6 signed and 7 gone
That is the business done at ASO Chlef until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Boardroom3 Sep 2029
5 academy players handed senior numbers at ASO Chlef
The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kokou Avotor was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. ASO Chlef will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Tarek Bouabta will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around ASO Chlef the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” ASO Chlef have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Tarek Bouabta has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
Squad27 Aug 2029
Words at ASO Chlef training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kokou Avotor 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 has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Moslem Anatouf signs something — a contract at ASO Chlef or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Public backing, and the sort that costs a manager something if it turns out to be wrong. Abdellah Debbari has been told in front of everybody that the shirt is his.
In brief
BoardroomThe ASO Chlef production line keeps running
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason ASO Chlef will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Kokou Avotor 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 30 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.
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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. ASO Chlef will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. ES Mostaganem have kept their man, and ASO Chlef go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad13 Aug 2029
Words at ASO Chlef training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kokou Avotor 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.
Mohamed Arab 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.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at ASO Chlef has been clear about where Ahmed Alili stands, which is more than many ever get.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. ASO Chlef will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The deal with USM Alger 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at ASO Chlef this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. USM Alger have kept their man, and ASO Chlef go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 32 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what ASO Chlef can pretend not to have heard.
The deal with Giana Erminio 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.
Kokou Avotor 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 Moslem Anatouf was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Moslem Anatouf signs something — a contract at ASO Chlef or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. ASO Chlef will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what ASO Chlef can pretend not to have heard.
Kokou Avotor 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 approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad23 Jul 2029
Words at ASO Chlef training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Moslem Anatouf 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 had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at ASO Chlef, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason ASO Chlef 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 ASO Chlef they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. ASO Chlef will quote 14 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at AZ is saying, and nobody at ASO Chlef is enjoying the guessing.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Zakaria Haddouche has agreed terms with Olympique Akbou for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Ibrahim Farhi 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 54 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
ASO Chlef had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Braga, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kokou Avotor 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 ASO Chlef this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
ASO Chlef have made the call to Rayo Vallecano. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 62 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Cosenza is saying, and nobody at ASO Chlef is enjoying the guessing.
Kokou Avotor 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.
Squad2 Jul 2029
Words at ASO Chlef training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Moslem Anatouf 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.
ASO Chlef 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.
7 arrivals, an average age nobody would call a squad, and a set of parents being shown around a building their sons will spend more time in than at home. The scouting has already happened; today is only the paperwork.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. ASO Chlef will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. CS Constantine have kept their man, and ASO Chlef go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad25 Jun 2029
Words at ASO Chlef training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kokou Avotor 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 ASO Chlef this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at ASO Chlef, 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. 78 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” ASO Chlef have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
$440.0K on the table at USM Alger. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Ibrahim Farhi 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 Kokou Avotor 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. Livorno have kept their man, and ASO Chlef go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Kokou Avotor signs something — a contract at ASO Chlef or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Ayoub Kerssani has written the date down.
In brief
The dugoutSéga Sanogo knocks on the manager’s door
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason ASO Chlef will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Tranmere Rovers keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at ASO Chlef this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
ASO Chlef asked and USM 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.
Squad11 Jun 2029
Words at ASO Chlef training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Moslem Anatouf 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 bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. ASO Chlef will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Ibrahim Farhi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad4 Jun 2029
Words at ASO Chlef training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kokou Avotor 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.
Tranmere Rovers have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Oussama Benattia signs something — a contract at ASO Chlef or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. ASO Chlef will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Ibrahim Farhi 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.
Squad28 May 2029
Words at ASO Chlef training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kokou Avotor 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 had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at ASO Chlef, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. ASO Chlef know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
Kokou Avotor 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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at ASO Chlef, another week without a signature from Séga Sanogo.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Ahmed Alili has written the date down.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kokou Avotor was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Words at ASO Chlef training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kokou Avotor 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.
Mohamed Arab 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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at ASO Chlef, another week without a signature from Tarek Bouabta.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at ASO Chlef. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Moslem Anatouf was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. ASO Chlef know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Zoubir Motrani trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Karim Aïdoudi has written the date down.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kokou Avotor was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Zoubir Motrani trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Mohamed Ali Saleh Ziad has written the date down.
Public backing, and the sort that costs a manager something if it turns out to be wrong. Tarek Bouabta has been told in front of everybody that the shirt is his.
Ibrahim Farhi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad16 Apr 2029
Kokou Avotor 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Moulay Abdelaziz and ASO Chlef agree another 4 years.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at ASO Chlef this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
177 appearances across 9 seasons in one shirt. Nobody builds a career like that on purpose any more; it happens to a certain kind of footballer at a certain kind of club.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” ASO Chlef have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Moulay Abdelaziz commits to ASO Chlef for another 4 years.
Squad2 Apr 2029
Kokou Avotor 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.
At 17 he was better than everybody his age in the division for four weeks running, which is harder than one good afternoon. ASO Chlef will try not to make too much of it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. ASO Chlef know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Ahmed Alili has written the date down.
In brief
The dugoutEdward Ledlum knocks on the manager's door
BoardroomThe ASO Chlef production line keeps running
MatchNothing left to play for but pride at ASO Chlef
6 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Squad26 Mar 2029
Kokou Avotor 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.
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. ASO Chlef will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Abdellah Debbari will call it something else in private.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at ASO Chlef this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
In brief
The dugoutSomebody else is better right now than Abdellah Debbari
A mark of 7.84 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 19-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.03 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Kokou Avotor 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.
Squad19 Mar 2029
Words at ASO Chlef training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Moslem Anatouf 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.
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
5 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and USM Khenchela were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
Player ratings19 Mar 2029
Adam Zenati was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.11. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Ibrahim Farhi 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.
Squad12 Mar 2029
Kokou Avotor 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 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.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at ASO Chlef pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Abderrahmane Medjadel commits to ASO Chlef for another 3 years.
Squad5 Mar 2029
Kokou Avotor 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.
Tarek Bouabta 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.
A point taken on 90 minutes is worth exactly one point and considerably more than that to a dressing room. This side does not stop, which is a reputation worth more than the result.
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.
Kokou Avotor 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 Moslem Anatouf was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
200 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at ASO Chlef pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Mohamed Guedioura after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” ASO Chlef have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kokou Avotor was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Mohamed Guedioura after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at ASO Chlef, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Abdessamad Bounaama has his answer from ASO Chlef; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against CR Belouizdad? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 11 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Player ratings12 Feb 2029
A brace, and Kokou Avotor takes the afternoon — 9.21
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Kokou Avotor provided it, and the 9.21 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
7 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about ASO Chlef and USM Alger in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Squad12 Feb 2029
Kokou Avotor 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Moslem Anatouf 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.
USM Alger have accepted the money. What ASO Chlef do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
“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 ASO Chlef, and it is not being withdrawn.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 1 arrived, 4 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Platinum Stars keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Kokou Avotor and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad5 Feb 2029
Words at ASO Chlef training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Moslem Anatouf 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: Kokou Avotor. 2‑1 against MC Oran, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Successful dribbles: 18. 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.
“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 ASO Chlef, and it is not being withdrawn.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. ASO Chlef have done the hard part with Fiorentina, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad29 Jan 2029
Words at ASO Chlef training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kokou Avotor 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.
200 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at ASO Chlef this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
ASO Chlef have made the call to Platinum Stars. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. ASO Chlef have done the hard part with MC Alger, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Cosenza is saying, and nobody at ASO Chlef is enjoying the guessing.
Ibrahim Farhi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad22 Jan 2029
Words at ASO Chlef training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kokou Avotor 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Paris Saint-Germain have kept their man, and ASO Chlef go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Abdessamad Bounaama and ASO Chlef agree another 1 years.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Mustapha Alili provided it, and the 8.19 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” ASO Chlef have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at ASO Chlef this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between ASO Chlef and MC El Bayadh, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Moslem Anatouf. 4‑2 against MC El Bayadh, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at ASO Chlef is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Ibrahim Farhi 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.
Squad8 Jan 2029
Words at ASO Chlef training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kokou Avotor 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.
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.13, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
The dugout8 Jan 2029
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 Guedioura left the room before anybody could ask which.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at ASO Chlef this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad1 Jan 2029
Words at ASO Chlef training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kokou Avotor 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 manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Mohamed Arab has his answer from ASO Chlef; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
“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 dugout1 Jan 2029
Somebody else is better right now than Tarek Bouabta
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.
Kokou Avotor 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.
Squad25 Dec 2028
Words at ASO Chlef training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Moslem Anatouf 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.
Every touch is being weighed now, in print and everywhere else. Some players grow into that and some are quietly ruined by it, and nobody knows which in advance.
Words at ASO Chlef training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kokou Avotor 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Moslem Anatouf 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.
Marked 8.19 — 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.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kokou Avotor was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Mohamed Arab 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 supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 2‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Something was said to Moulay Abdelaziz and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Kokou Avotor 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 Dec 2028
Words at ASO Chlef training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Moslem Anatouf 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 dugout4 Dec 2028
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Mohamed Guedioura was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the ASO Chlef dressing room was either.
The dugout4 Dec 2028
Somebody else is better right now than Tarek Bouabta
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.
Something was said to Ayoub Kerssani and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Up for the corner, and Ziad Moualhi delivers — 7.75
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Ziad Moualhi scored, was marked 7.75, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Kokou Avotor 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.
A 3‑2 win over ES Ben Aknoun, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
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.
Something was said to Moulay Abdelaziz and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Ibrahim Farhi wins it after the whistle should have gone
92 minutes played. Ibrahim Farhi found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and Olympique Akbou went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” ASO Chlef have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at ASO Chlef this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Ibrahim Farhi. 2‑1 against Olympique Akbou, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
5 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.
Squad13 Nov 2028
A muscle injury sidelines Kokou Avotor for 14 days
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. ASO Chlef will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Ibrahim Farhi 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.
Squad13 Nov 2028
Words at ASO Chlef training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Moslem Anatouf 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.
0‑1 to JS Kabylie, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout13 Nov 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 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Mohamed Guedioura to a room that had heard them before.
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.
Something was said to Adam Zenati and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
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.
Kokou Avotor 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 is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Oussama Benattia 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.
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Rachid Bounedjah has come out of that comparison in the side, and ASO Chlef have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
“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 dugout6 Nov 2028
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Mohamed Guedioura was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the ASO Chlef dressing room was either.
Squad6 Nov 2028
Edward Ledlum 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.
In brief
The dugoutSomebody else is better right now than Tarek Bouabta
6 goals in one match, Zoubir Motrani on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of ASO Chlef and USM Alger.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kokou Avotor was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Yacine Feghouli 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.
Boardroom30 Oct 2028
Nobody left the ASO Chlef dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
The dugout30 Oct 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 1‑5 Mohamed Guedioura left the room before anybody could ask which.
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.
15 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. ASO Chlef lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad23 Oct 2028
Kokou Avotor 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.
Mohamed Arab 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.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
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 USM Alger.
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against MC Oran? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
22 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. ASO Chlef lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“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 Edward Ledlum was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
MC Oran next, and one man in the ASO Chlef dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Kokou Avotor signs something — a contract at ASO Chlef or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
29 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. ASO Chlef lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
MC Oran go through and ASO Chlef go home, 0‑4 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
0-4, and long before the end the away end had switched from encouragement to something considerably more pointed. Nobody rings a phone-in about losing narrowly.
Squad9 Oct 2028
Kokou Avotor 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Moslem Anatouf. 2‑1 against MB Rouissat, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Marked 8.03 — 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.
The words a physio says slowly. 37 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.
6 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and MC El Bayadh were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
Squad2 Oct 2028
Kokou Avotor 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Kokou Avotor. 2‑1 against MC El Bayadh, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings2 Oct 2028
Moslem Anatouf was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.68. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
The words a physio says slowly. 44 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.
6 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” ASO Chlef have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Ibrahim Farhi 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.
He is 22 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Level with 87 minutes on the clock, after an afternoon ASO Chlef had all but put away. CS Constantine will call it a point earned; the home dressing room will call it two given away, and both of them are right.
It needed Moslem Anatouf to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against CS Constantine, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
52 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. ASO Chlef lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Kokou Avotor and ASO Chlef agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad18 Sep 2028
Words at ASO Chlef training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kokou Avotor 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.
Mohamed Ridha Djahdou and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout18 Sep 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 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Mohamed Guedioura to a room that had heard them before.
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.
The words a physio says slowly. 19 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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Enyimba waiting with a shirt. Nobody at ASO Chlef is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” ASO Chlef have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Some transfers need a press campaign. This one needed a shirt with the old number on it. Moulay Abdelaziz is a ASO Chlef player again, and the town has its story of the summer.
10 days since the seat came open, a list of names doing the rounds, and nobody has signed anything. Every week this drags on the shortlist gets shorter.
Squad11 Sep 2028
Kokou Avotor 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 end came on a Tuesday, as these things usually do: a short meeting, a shorter statement, and Faouzi Belmadi clearing his office by noon. Football’s cruellest ritual, performed to schedule.
27 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. ASO Chlef lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“I am not thinking past Saturday, and I would advise nobody else to.” The caretaker’s first rule is to pretend the job is small; Mohamed Guedioura recited it perfectly.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 10 arrived, 11 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
The deal with USM Alger 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.
Kokou Avotor 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.
Senior shirt numbers handed to boys the coaches have known since they were twelve. Most will not make it and all of them have already done the hard part.
Successful dribbles: 19. 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.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Hillal Belmadi 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.
34 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. ASO Chlef lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Everything agreed with JS Kabylie, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
ASO Chlef had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Monaco, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Ibrahim Farhi 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.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 16 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
ASO Chlef asked and USM 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.
Squad28 Aug 2028
Kokou Avotor 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.
41 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. ASO Chlef lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
ASO Chlef and USM Alger have settled on $390.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
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 clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Cosenza keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
At 32 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.
48 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. ASO Chlef lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and CS Constantine waiting with a shirt. Nobody at ASO Chlef is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
ASO Chlef and JS Kabylie have settled on $310.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Kokou Avotor 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 26 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.
56 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. ASO Chlef lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Platinum Stars keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Chemseddine Bekkouche and ASO Chlef agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about 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 ASO Chlef this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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 dugoutTarek Bouabta knocks on the manager’s door
63 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. ASO Chlef lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around ASO Chlef people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Everything agreed with Accrington Stanley, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. USM Alger have kept their man, and ASO Chlef go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kokou Avotor was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The words a physio says slowly. 70 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.
ASO Chlef and USM Alger have settled on $420.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at ASO Chlef this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. AS Roma have kept their man, and ASO Chlef go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Accrington Stanley have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
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 Mustapha Alili is on it.
77 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. ASO Chlef lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around ASO Chlef people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Everything agreed with Paradou, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad17 Jul 2028
Words at ASO Chlef training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kokou Avotor 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 loan enquiry to Olympique de Marseille: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
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.
The words a physio says slowly. 84 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.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. ASO Chlef have done the hard part with USM Alger, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at ASO Chlef this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad10 Jul 2028
Words at ASO Chlef training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kokou Avotor 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.
ASO Chlef asked and Bayern Munich said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Platinum Stars have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
Nobody at ASO Chlef 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.
92 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. ASO Chlef lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. ASO Chlef have done the hard part with JS Kabylie, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Hasaacas is saying, and nobody at ASO Chlef is enjoying the guessing.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Massinissa Nezla has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
ASO Chlef asked and USM 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 words a physio says slowly. 100 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.
Ibrahim Farhi 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 Kokou Avotor 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. Paris Saint-Germain have kept their man, and ASO Chlef go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
ASO Chlef have made the call to Hasaacas. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
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 Mustapha Alili is on it.
107 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. ASO Chlef lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around ASO Chlef people have started saying his name in the past tense.
ASO Chlef and CS Constantine have settled on $55.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. CR Belouizdad have kept their man, and ASO Chlef go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kokou Avotor was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
114 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. ASO Chlef lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The clubs have shaken hands with USM Alger; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
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.
Squad12 Jun 2028
Words at ASO Chlef training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Edward Ledlum 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.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation ASO Chlef are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
122 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. ASO Chlef lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“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 ASO Chlef, and it is not being withdrawn.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Ibrahim Kahraba has, at ASO Chlef, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kokou Avotor was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The words a physio says slowly. 129 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.
Words at ASO Chlef training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kokou Avotor 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.
Mohamed Arab 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.
136 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. ASO Chlef lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Kokou Avotor 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.
Squad22 May 2028
Words at ASO Chlef training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Neo Bohloko 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 ASO Chlef 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.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Oussama Benattia signs something — a contract at ASO Chlef or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
80 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. ASO Chlef lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad15 May 2028
Kokou Avotor 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.
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.
87 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. ASO Chlef lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” ASO Chlef have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at ASO Chlef is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
A season average of 7.00 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. ASO Chlef know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
Ibrahim Farhi 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.
94 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. ASO Chlef lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at ASO Chlef this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad1 May 2028
Neo Bohloko 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.
101 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. ASO Chlef lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kokou Avotor was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 Kokou Avotor is on it.
Something was said to Mohamed Ridha Djahdou and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
The words a physio says slowly. 108 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kokou Avotor was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 Abdellah Debbari is on it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Zoubir Motrani trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
In brief
SquadThe training reports on Kokou Avotor are not good
The words a physio says slowly. 39 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 20 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Massinissa Nezla will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around ASO Chlef the goodbyes have quietly begun.
He is 20, he is averaging 7.00, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 27 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
8 seasons and 168 appearances, all of them here. Careers like this are not designed; they happen to a certain kind of man at a certain kind of club, and this town has one.
Ibrahim Farhi 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 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 bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. ASO Chlef will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The last league game has been played and the table has stopped moving: 37 points. The summer begins on Monday, and so does the argument about what it all meant.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kokou Avotor 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 ASO Chlef this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. ASO Chlef will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Kokou Avotor 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.
200 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.
Level with 89 minutes on the clock, after an afternoon ASO Chlef had all but put away. USM Khenchela will call it a point earned; the home dressing room will call it two given away, and both of them are right.
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.
Neo Bohloko, 19, plays like he has been here for years — 8.55
A mark of 8.55 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 19-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around ASO Chlef they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
He is 19, he is averaging 7.00, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
Ibrahim Farhi 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.
Three points for ASO Chlef, 3‑2 the final word against ES Ben Aknoun in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad13 Mar 2028
Words at ASO Chlef training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kokou Avotor 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.
He is 19 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kokou Avotor was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad6 Mar 2028
Neo Bohloko is the division's best young player this month
At 19 he has spent a month being better than everybody his age in the league, which is a different and harder thing than one good afternoon. ASO Chlef will try very hard not to make too much of it.
Nobody at ASO Chlef 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.
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one ASO Chlef will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
Successful dribbles: 12. 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.
5 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and JS Kabylie were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
Nobody at ASO Chlef 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.
Squad28 Feb 2028
Edward Ledlum 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.
In brief
SquadNeo Bohloko is the weekend's best young player
5 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.
Squad21 Feb 2028
Words at ASO Chlef training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kokou Avotor 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 ASO Chlef this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Nobody at ASO Chlef 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 one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
In brief
SquadNeo Bohloko, 19, is the weekend’s best young player
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around ASO Chlef they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Ibrahim Farhi 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.
Squad14 Feb 2028
Words at ASO Chlef training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kokou Avotor 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.
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at ASO Chlef pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 4 arrived, 8 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at ASO Chlef this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
He left as a boy and has come back still knowing where the away end is. Most signings have to be explained to a town; this one needed a photograph and nothing else.
Ibrahim Farhi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad31 Jan 2028
Kokou Avotor 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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Faouzi Belmadi after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Nobody at ASO Chlef 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 was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at ASO Chlef this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad24 Jan 2028
Kokou Avotor 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. Free State Stars have kept their man, and ASO Chlef go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Signings arrive with a picture of the club in their head, and this one’s picture was bigger than the building. He will play well and he will be gone, in that order, and everybody knows it.
The dugout24 Jan 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 0‑1 Faouzi Belmadi left the room before anybody could ask which.
Nobody at ASO Chlef 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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and CS Constantine waiting with a shirt. Nobody at ASO Chlef is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Player ratings17 Jan 2028
A brace, and Kokou Avotor takes the afternoon — 8.80
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Kokou Avotor provided it, and the 8.80 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Free State Stars keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
ASO Chlef asked and Bayern Munich said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Kokou Avotor. 2‑1 against MC El Bayadh, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Monaco is saying, and nobody at ASO Chlef is enjoying the guessing.
Squad10 Jan 2028
Words at ASO Chlef training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kokou Avotor 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.
ASO Chlef have made the call to Young Boys. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at ASO Chlef is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad3 Jan 2028
Kokou Avotor 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.
ASO Chlef asked and RC Strasbourg said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Neo Bohloko is the division's best young player this month
At 19 he has spent a month being better than everybody his age in the league, which is a different and harder thing than one good afternoon. ASO Chlef will try very hard not to make too much of it.
Mohamed Arab 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.
He is 19 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Mustapha Alili. 2‑0 against ES Setif, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mohamed Arab was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Youcef Mandi commits to ASO Chlef for another 3 years.
The dugout27 Dec 2027
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.” Faouzi Belmadi, on a 2‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
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.
Moslem Anatouf, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.68
A mark of 7.68 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at ASO Chlef 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 Kokou Avotor was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
He is 21 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Faouzi Belmadi on a 2‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
Ibrahim Farhi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad13 Dec 2027
Kokou Avotor 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.
3‑0, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.
Player ratings6 Dec 2027
Neo Bohloko, 19, plays like he has been here for years — 8.50
A mark of 8.50 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 19-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at ASO Chlef is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at ASO Chlef this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Successful dribbles: 18. 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.
Player ratings6 Dec 2027
Nazim Babaï was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.08. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mohamed Arab was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
In brief
SquadA place in the month's best eleven for Kokou Avotor
There were 86 minutes on the clock and ES Ben Aknoun had all but banked the point. Football rarely reads the room, and ASO Chlef did not stop to explain themselves.
The hardest thing about being 19 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Neo Bohloko did not need any: 8.83, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
“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.
Squad29 Nov 2027
Kokou Avotor 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.
At 19 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑0, Faouzi Belmadi could afford to be generous.
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 Mustapha Alili is on it.
Olympique Akbou left with the points after a 2‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad22 Nov 2027
Words at ASO Chlef training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kokou Avotor 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 ASO Chlef this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Successful dribbles: 17. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout22 Nov 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 2‑3 defeat, delivered by Faouzi Belmadi 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.
4 attempts, none of them in. He got into the right places all afternoon, which is the hard part, and did the easy part badly — and that is the version of a bad day a manager can live with.
“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.
Squad15 Nov 2027
Words at ASO Chlef training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mohamed Arab 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.
0‑3 to CR Belouizdad, 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Massinissa Nezla will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around ASO Chlef the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Ibrahim Farhi 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.
Squad8 Nov 2027
Words at ASO Chlef training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kokou Avotor 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.
At 19 he was better than everybody his age in the division for four weeks running, which is harder than one good afternoon. ASO Chlef will try not to make too much of it.