The hardest thing about being 19 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Haythem Atbi did not need any: 8.79, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at CS Constantine this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 19-year-old it feels ownership of. Haythem Atbi 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 8.37. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at CS Constantine.
Squad12 Oct 2026
The manager has not finished forgetting Djihad Bizimana's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
Beaten 1‑4 by USM Alger, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
The terraces5 Oct 2026
The ground has had enough
“We travel everywhere and we get this.” 12 of the 30 senior players heard it walking off, and the ones who did not hear it were not playing.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Ricardo Mathias, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 7.98
A mark of 7.98 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Khaled Mounir Allaoui is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Djihad Bizimana was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Words at CS Constantine training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Messala Merbah 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 CS Constantine this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 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.
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.
5 shots, and a count that reads like a good afternoon until you check the other column. Strikers survive weeks like this on the understanding that the chances keep arriving; the day they stop is the day it becomes a problem.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Ricardo Mathias provided it, and the 8.47 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Djihad Bizimana 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 21 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 20-year-old it feels ownership of. Ricardo Mathias 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.
7 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
23 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Mounder Ayoune is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
He is doing things on a Saturday afternoon that nobody around him can answer, which is flattering for about one season and a problem after that. CS Constantine will not keep him by pretending otherwise.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.84 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what CS Constantine can pretend not to have heard.
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 15 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Mohamed Mouaataz Khenniche reports back to CS Constantine with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Khaled Mounir Allaoui is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
4 academy players handed senior numbers at CS Constantine
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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Words at CS Constantine training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Messala Merbah 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 no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Ahmed Bennacer 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at CS Constantine this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 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.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at CS Constantine has been clear about where Abdelmoumen Chikhi stands, which is more than many ever get.
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.
Djihad Bizimana 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.
Hatem Grine has left for JS Kabylie in a $150.0K deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Words at CS Constantine training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Messala Merbah 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.
5 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
The offer from ES Setif for Hatem Grine was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at CS Constantine this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boards get told what they have done wrong for years and hear nothing on the days they get it right. This is one of those days: Khaled Mounir Allaoui from JS Saoura for $290.0K, and a ticket office having a very good morning.
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 offer from CR Belouizdad for Abdelmoumen Chikhi was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at CS Constantine this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at CS Constantine, another week without a signature from Fethallah Tahar.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at CS Constantine has been clear about where Oussama Meddahi stands, which is more than many ever get.
48 months left and silence from upstairs — no offer, no talks, nothing for his people to answer. Clubs that let a calendar do their negotiating usually end up negotiating with the calendar.
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room and never have. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and at CS Constantine that is a harder question to answer.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Djihad Bizimana and CS Constantine agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Djihad Bizimana 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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Words at CS Constantine training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Messala Merbah 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.” Chamseddine Derradji has his answer from CS Constantine; what he does with it is the next window’s story.