From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom4 Mar 2030
Four paragraphs on the club website, none of them about football. The board thanked him, wished him well, and had the search under way before the page went up.
The terraces4 Mar 2030
The mood at ES Mostaganem has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Boardroom4 Mar 2030
A stranger takes charge at ES Mostaganem
The coaching staff has emptied out entirely and there was nobody internal to promote, so the club has appointed a name almost none of its supporters will recognise. Clubs recover from this; none of them enjoy explaining it.
Boardroom4 Mar 2030
“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; Interim Coach recited it perfectly.
Squad4 Mar 2030
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” ES Mostaganem may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market4 Mar 2030
Only the photograph left for Michael Fokou
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Michael Fokou will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around ES Mostaganem the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad4 Mar 2030
Alonso Hernández 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.
Squad4 Mar 2030
Words at ES Mostaganem training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Taher Ben Khelifa 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.
Squad4 Mar 2030
“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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market25 Feb 2030
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what ES Mostaganem can pretend not to have heard.
Market25 Feb 2030
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Nqubeko Dlamini will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around ES Mostaganem the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad25 Feb 2030
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at ES Mostaganem this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad25 Feb 2030
Words at ES Mostaganem training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Djakao Barka 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.
Match23 Feb 2030
MC Alger left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad25 Feb 2030
“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.
Player ratings25 Feb 2030
Ninety minutes of Aymene Boualleg at his very best
Marked 8.30. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at ES Mostaganem.
Squad25 Feb 2030
Djakao Barka asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Player ratings25 Feb 2030
10 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match18 Feb 2030
16 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Market18 Feb 2030
“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 ES Mostaganem, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market18 Feb 2030
Lius Dadong has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around ES Mostaganem they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad18 Feb 2030
Alonso Hernández 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.
Squad18 Feb 2030
Djakao Barka 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.
Match16 Feb 2030
A 1‑0 win over ES Setif, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings18 Feb 2030
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.18, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad18 Feb 2030
“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.
Squad18 Feb 2030
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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match9 Feb 2030
No end in sight to ES Mostaganem's wait for a win
10 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at ES Mostaganem has to find a result from somewhere.
Match9 Feb 2030
1‑4 against MC Oran, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Market11 Feb 2030
Boualem Sryer hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what ES Mostaganem can pretend not to have heard.
Squad11 Feb 2030
Alonso Hernández 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.
Squad11 Feb 2030
Words at ES Mostaganem training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Taher Ben Khelifa 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.
Squad11 Feb 2030
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Mehdi Zeffane, and the manager let it.
Squad11 Feb 2030
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; ES Mostaganem are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Boardroom11 Feb 2030
Nobody left the ES Mostaganem 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.
Market11 Feb 2030
Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. ES Mostaganem will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces4 Feb 2030
Anger at ES Mostaganem spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Boardroom4 Feb 2030
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at ES Mostaganem is running low.
Match2 Feb 2030
9 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.
Match2 Feb 2030
A 0‑4 beating by Paradou was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Boardroom4 Feb 2030
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Nabil Bennacer has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Market4 Feb 2030
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what ES Mostaganem can pretend not to have heard.
Market4 Feb 2030
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Justin Dhillon reports back to ES Mostaganem with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
Market4 Feb 2030
Michael Fokou has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around ES Mostaganem they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad4 Feb 2030
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Taher Ben Khelifa and ES Mostaganem agree another 2 years.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match26 Jan 2030
8 matches without a win for ES Mostaganem
The run now stands at 8, and the questions being asked around ES Mostaganem are no longer polite ones.
Market28 Jan 2030
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what ES Mostaganem can pretend not to have heard.
Market28 Jan 2030
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Nqubeko Dlamini will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around ES Mostaganem the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Boardroom28 Jan 2030
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Nqubeko Dlamini has agreed terms with MC Alger for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Squad28 Jan 2030
Alonso Hernández 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 Jan 2030
Words at ES Mostaganem training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Taher Ben Khelifa 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.
Squad28 Jan 2030
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad28 Jan 2030
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and ES Mostaganem know it.
Market28 Jan 2030
Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. ES Mostaganem will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match21 Jan 2030
12 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Match19 Jan 2030
1‑4 against ES Ben Aknoun, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Market21 Jan 2030
“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 ES Mostaganem, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match19 Jan 2030
7 matches without a win for ES Mostaganem
The run now stands at 7, and the questions being asked around ES Mostaganem are no longer polite ones.
Market21 Jan 2030
JS Saoura come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and ES Mostaganem did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad21 Jan 2030
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at ES Mostaganem this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad21 Jan 2030
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Nadjib Benrabah and ES Mostaganem agree another 2 years.
Squad21 Jan 2030
Taher Ben Khelifa 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.
Match19 Jan 2030
ES Mostaganem are shipping goals every week
Two or more conceded in each of the last 4 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match12 Jan 2030
0‑3 against Olympique Akbou, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Squad14 Jan 2030
Benali Benamar: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” ES Mostaganem have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Match12 Jan 2030
6 matches without a win for ES Mostaganem
The run now stands at 6, and the questions being asked around ES Mostaganem are no longer polite ones.
Market14 Jan 2030
Boualem Sryer hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what ES Mostaganem can pretend not to have heard.
Squad14 Jan 2030
Alonso Hernández 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 Jan 2030
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Nadjib Benrabah and ES Mostaganem agree another 2 years.
Squad14 Jan 2030
Words at ES Mostaganem training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Taher Ben Khelifa 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.
Boardroom14 Jan 2030
The manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces7 Jan 2030
Anger at ES Mostaganem spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Boardroom7 Jan 2030
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at ES Mostaganem is running low.
Market7 Jan 2030
“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 ES Mostaganem, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad7 Jan 2030
There were 6 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Squad7 Jan 2030
“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.
Match5 Jan 2030
5 matches without a win for ES Mostaganem
The run now stands at 5, and the questions being asked around ES Mostaganem are no longer polite ones.
Squad7 Jan 2030
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at ES Mostaganem this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad7 Jan 2030
Taher Ben Khelifa 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.
Match5 Jan 2030
1‑2 to JS Kabylie, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market31 Dec 2029
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what ES Mostaganem can pretend not to have heard.
The terraces31 Dec 2029
Position 16, 12 points, and a crowd that arrives already braced. Relegation seasons are lost in exactly this atmosphere, and everybody who has lived through one recognises it immediately.
Squad31 Dec 2029
“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.
Market31 Dec 2029
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at ES Mostaganem is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Match29 Dec 2029
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.
Squad31 Dec 2029
Alonso Hernández 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.
Match29 Dec 2029
CR Belouizdad left with the points after a 2‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad31 Dec 2029
Words at ES Mostaganem training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Camagu Mdevulana 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.
Squad31 Dec 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Anis Khemaissia, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match24 Dec 2029
Position 16, 12 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Market24 Dec 2029
“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 ES Mostaganem, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad24 Dec 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at ES Mostaganem this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad24 Dec 2029
Taher Ben Khelifa 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.
Squad24 Dec 2029
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and ES Mostaganem know it.
Squad24 Dec 2029
“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.
Match22 Dec 2029
A 1‑1 draw with USM Alger leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
Market24 Dec 2029
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Alonso Hernández’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Player ratings24 Dec 2029
Marked 5.72, and generously at that. Nothing came off, and by the end the crowd had stopped expecting it to.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market17 Dec 2029
“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 ES Mostaganem, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad17 Dec 2029
“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.
Squad17 Dec 2029
Alonso Hernández 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.
Squad17 Dec 2029
Words at ES Mostaganem training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Taher Ben Khelifa 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.
Squad17 Dec 2029
“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.
Match15 Dec 2029
ASO Chlef left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Player ratings17 Dec 2029
Shots: 10. Goals: none. The chances were there and they were good ones, and they went into the stand, the goalkeeper's arms and the side netting in roughly that order.
Player ratings17 Dec 2029
An afternoon Boualem Sryer will want back
Marked 5.39. Nothing he attempted worked and by the hour mark he had stopped attempting much, which is the part a manager notices rather than the mistakes.
Player ratings17 Dec 2029
5.39. Every footballer has these and most of them happen away from a full ground; his did not, and he will be aware of that all week.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market10 Dec 2029
“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 ES Mostaganem, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad10 Dec 2029
There were 6 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Squad10 Dec 2029
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” ES Mostaganem may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad10 Dec 2029
“The easiest signature of my career.” Pascal Omgba and ES Mostaganem agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad10 Dec 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at ES Mostaganem this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match8 Dec 2029
2‑2, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
The terraces10 Dec 2029
Everybody has an opinion about Ali Haroun
He is the name in every column and on every phone-in, which is a heavy thing to carry at any age. Some footballers thrive on it; others are quietly finished by it.
Market10 Dec 2029
The clock does Camagu Mdevulana’s negotiating for him
1 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee ES Mostaganem could ask drops and the wages Camagu Mdevulana can ask rise.
Market10 Dec 2029
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with John Okoli’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market3 Dec 2029
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what ES Mostaganem can pretend not to have heard.
Market3 Dec 2029
Only the photograph left for Lius Dadong
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Lius Dadong will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around ES Mostaganem the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad3 Dec 2029
“The easiest signature of my career.” Mehdi Zeffane and ES Mostaganem agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad3 Dec 2029
Alonso Hernández 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 Dec 2029
Words at ES Mostaganem training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Taher Ben Khelifa 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.
Match1 Dec 2029
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Alonso Hernández. 2‑1 against MB Rouissat, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad3 Dec 2029
Pascal Omgba gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Market3 Dec 2029
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
Boardroom3 Dec 2029
$140.1K a year onto the ES Mostaganem books
A new partner, a signature and a photograph nobody will remember. It funds a fortnight of wages, which is more than most headlines on this page can say for themselves.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match24 Nov 2029
11 matches without a win for ES Mostaganem
The run now stands at 11, and the questions being asked around ES Mostaganem are no longer polite ones.
Match24 Nov 2029
ES Mostaganem are shipping goals every week
Two or more conceded in each of the last 11 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Match24 Nov 2029
Beaten 0‑3 by MC El Bayadh, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Match26 Nov 2029
7 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Market26 Nov 2029
“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 ES Mostaganem, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad26 Nov 2029
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” ES Mostaganem may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad26 Nov 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at ES Mostaganem this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad26 Nov 2029
Taher Ben Khelifa 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.
Match24 Nov 2029
3 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match17 Nov 2029
10 matches without a win for ES Mostaganem
The run now stands at 10, and the questions being asked around ES Mostaganem are no longer polite ones.
Match17 Nov 2029
ES Mostaganem are shipping goals every week
Two or more conceded in each of the last 10 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Squad19 Nov 2029
A fracture rules Justin Dhillon out for 15 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason ES Mostaganem will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market19 Nov 2029
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad19 Nov 2029
“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.
Squad19 Nov 2029
Alonso Hernández 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 Nov 2029
Words at ES Mostaganem training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Taher Ben Khelifa 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.
Match17 Nov 2029
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Player ratings19 Nov 2029
Shots: 11, not one of them in. A centre forward is paid for one thing, and on this evidence he has forgotten which thing it is.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match10 Nov 2029
9 matches without a win for ES Mostaganem
The run now stands at 9, and the questions being asked around ES Mostaganem are no longer polite ones.
Match10 Nov 2029
0‑4 against MC Alger, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Squad12 Nov 2029
A fracture rules Justin Dhillon out for 24 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason ES Mostaganem will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match10 Nov 2029
ES Mostaganem are shipping goals every week
Two or more conceded in each of the last 9 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Squad12 Nov 2029
Boubakary Diarra: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” ES Mostaganem have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The terraces12 Nov 2029
The ground has had enough
“We travel everywhere and we get this.” 6 of the 30 senior players heard it walking off, and the ones who did not hear it were not playing.
Squad12 Nov 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at ES Mostaganem this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad12 Nov 2029
Taher Ben Khelifa 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.
Boardroom12 Nov 2029
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad5 Nov 2029
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.
Match3 Nov 2029
No end in sight to ES Mostaganem's wait for a win
8 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at ES Mostaganem has to find a result from somewhere.
Match3 Nov 2029
No clean sheets in sight for ES Mostaganem
8 games now with at least two against. The back line has been rearranged, the goalkeeper has been backed publicly, and the goals keep going in anyway.
Market5 Nov 2029
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at ES Mostaganem is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad5 Nov 2029
Alonso Hernández 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 Nov 2029
Words at ES Mostaganem training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Taher Ben Khelifa 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.
Squad5 Nov 2029
Djakao Barka gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Market5 Nov 2029
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at ES Mostaganem, another week without a signature from Abdelhafid Benamara.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad29 Oct 2029
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 39 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match29 Oct 2029
7 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Match27 Oct 2029
7 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Match27 Oct 2029
7 matches, two or more conceded in every one of them. Sides that create as much as this can live with it for a while. Nobody lives with it forever.
Squad29 Oct 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at ES Mostaganem this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad29 Oct 2029
Camagu Mdevulana 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.
Match27 Oct 2029
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad29 Oct 2029
“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.
Player ratings29 Oct 2029
Successful dribbles: 15. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad22 Oct 2029
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 46 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match20 Oct 2029
6 matches without a win for ES Mostaganem
The run now stands at 6, and the questions being asked around ES Mostaganem are no longer polite ones.
Market22 Oct 2029
“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 ES Mostaganem, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad22 Oct 2029
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” ES Mostaganem may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Match20 Oct 2029
ES Mostaganem are shipping goals every week
Two or more conceded in each of the last 6 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Squad22 Oct 2029
Alonso Hernández 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 Oct 2029
Words at ES Mostaganem training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Taher Ben Khelifa 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.
Match20 Oct 2029
Paradou left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Player ratings22 Oct 2029
Successful dribbles: 11. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad15 Oct 2029
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 53 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market15 Oct 2029
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what ES Mostaganem can pretend not to have heard.
Match13 Oct 2029
5 matches without a win for ES Mostaganem
The run now stands at 5, and the questions being asked around ES Mostaganem are no longer polite ones.
Squad15 Oct 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at ES Mostaganem this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match13 Oct 2029
ES Mostaganem are shipping goals every week
Two or more conceded in each of the last 5 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Squad15 Oct 2029
Taher Ben Khelifa 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.
Match13 Oct 2029
3 matches without a goal for ES Mostaganem
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Match13 Oct 2029
USM Khenchela left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad15 Oct 2029
The manager makes an example of Mehdi Zeffane
“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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad8 Oct 2029
A fracture rules Justin Dhillon out for 61 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason ES Mostaganem will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match3 Oct 2029
CS Constantine ended it 0‑3. The season narrows to the league now, and everyone in the ground knew it before the final whistle.
Match6 Oct 2029
0‑3 against ES Ben Aknoun, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
The terraces8 Oct 2029
The ground has had enough
“We travel everywhere and we get this.” 13 of the 30 senior players heard it walking off, and the ones who did not hear it were not playing.
The terraces8 Oct 2029
0-3, 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.
Market8 Oct 2029
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Market8 Oct 2029
Only the photograph left for Lius Dadong
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Lius Dadong will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around ES Mostaganem the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Match6 Oct 2029
4 matches without a win for ES Mostaganem
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around ES Mostaganem are no longer polite ones.
Squad8 Oct 2029
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Alonso Hernández commits to ES Mostaganem for another 3 years.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad1 Oct 2029
A fracture rules Justin Dhillon out for 68 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason ES Mostaganem will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match29 Sep 2029
Alonso Hernández had done his part in building a 2-goal cushion. What happened after that was collective, and Olympique Akbou were allowed back into a match that had been finished with.
Market1 Oct 2029
Pascal Omgba hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what ES Mostaganem can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings1 Oct 2029
Two goals and a mark of 8.22 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Squad1 Oct 2029
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” ES Mostaganem may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad1 Oct 2029
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Rachid Maallah is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match22 Sep 2029
A 1‑4 beating by JS Kabylie was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Squad24 Sep 2029
A fracture rules Justin Dhillon out for 75 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason ES Mostaganem will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad24 Sep 2029
Rachid Maallah: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” ES Mostaganem have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad24 Sep 2029
Alonso Hernández 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.
Squad24 Sep 2029
Words at ES Mostaganem training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Taher Ben Khelifa 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.
Boardroom24 Sep 2029
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad17 Sep 2029
Adel Halliche damages knee ligaments — 19 days out
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.
Squad17 Sep 2029
A fracture rules Justin Dhillon out for 82 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason ES Mostaganem will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market17 Sep 2029
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Player ratings17 Sep 2029
Age has not caught Mohamed Taib yet — 8.16
At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.16 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Squad17 Sep 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at ES Mostaganem this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad17 Sep 2029
Camagu Mdevulana 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.
Player ratings17 Sep 2029
A defender's afternoon for Djakao Barka
Defensive actions: 16. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Market17 Sep 2029
4 months remain and no agreement is close. Every week without a signature costs ES Mostaganem money.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad10 Sep 2029
Adel Halliche damages knee ligaments — 26 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 26 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.
Squad10 Sep 2029
A fracture rules Justin Dhillon out for 89 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason ES Mostaganem will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market10 Sep 2029
The Paradou deal is off
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Camagu Mdevulana reports back to ES Mostaganem with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
The terraces10 Sep 2029
The boos come down from three sides
“We pay for this every fortnight. The least we want is somebody who looks like he cares.” 8 of the 30 senior players walked off into it; the rest were not playing.
Market10 Sep 2029
Only the photograph left for Lius Dadong
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Lius Dadong will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around ES Mostaganem the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad10 Sep 2029
Alonso Hernández 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.
Match8 Sep 2029
Beaten 2‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad10 Sep 2029
Words at ES Mostaganem training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Taher Ben Khelifa 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.
Player ratings10 Sep 2029
Marked 4.15. Nothing he attempted worked and by the hour mark he had stopped attempting much, which is the part a manager notices rather than the mistakes.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad3 Sep 2029
Adel Halliche damages knee ligaments — 33 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 33 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.
Squad3 Sep 2029
A fracture rules Justin Dhillon out for 96 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason ES Mostaganem will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Player ratings3 Sep 2029
Age has not caught Mohamed Taib yet — 8.06
At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.06 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Market3 Sep 2029
The phone has started ringing about Camagu Mdevulana again, and this time the name on the line is Paradou. ES Mostaganem are listening politely and promising nothing.
Squad3 Sep 2029
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Rachid Maallah is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad3 Sep 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at ES Mostaganem this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom3 Sep 2029
7 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
Match1 Sep 2029
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Mohamed Taib. 2‑0 against ASO Chlef, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Market3 Sep 2029
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Ahmed Mrezigue 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad27 Aug 2029
A fracture rules Justin Dhillon out for 103 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason ES Mostaganem will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad27 Aug 2029
Alonso Hernández 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.
Squad27 Aug 2029
Words at ES Mostaganem training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Camagu Mdevulana 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad20 Aug 2029
Justin Dhillon breaks a bone — 111 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 111 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market20 Aug 2029
The offer from JS Saoura for Lius Dadong 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.
Squad20 Aug 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at ES Mostaganem this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market20 Aug 2029
Paradou are about to pick up the phone
A conversation is coming this week. ES Mostaganem will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.
Squad20 Aug 2029
Taher Ben Khelifa 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.
Squad20 Aug 2029
The medical room confirms 18 days on the sidelines for Aymene Boualleg, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom13 Aug 2029
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at ES Mostaganem is running low.
Squad13 Aug 2029
Justin Dhillon breaks a bone — 118 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 118 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market13 Aug 2029
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what ES Mostaganem can pretend not to have heard.
Market13 Aug 2029
Add another name to the list: JS Saoura have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Camagu Mdevulana. The answer from ES Mostaganem has not changed — yet.
Squad13 Aug 2029
Alonso Hernández 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 Aug 2029
Words at ES Mostaganem training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Taher Ben Khelifa 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad6 Aug 2029
A fracture rules Justin Dhillon out for 126 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason ES Mostaganem will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Boardroom6 Aug 2029
Nabil Bennacer has until the next board meeting
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at ES Mostaganem can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Boardroom6 Aug 2029
The ES Mostaganem board call everybody in
Nothing has been announced and everybody understands what it means. A board that summons the whole football department on a Tuesday morning is a board that has stopped believing the problem will fix itself.
Squad6 Aug 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at ES Mostaganem this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad6 Aug 2029
Camagu Mdevulana 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.
Squad6 Aug 2029
Adem Aichouche has improved at 24, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
Market6 Aug 2029
Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. ES Mostaganem will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.
Boardroom6 Aug 2029
ES Mostaganem pull $3.1M back off the table
The money that was there in the summer is not there now. Nobody upstairs calls this a change of ambition, and everybody downstairs reads it as one.
Market6 Aug 2029
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at ES Mostaganem, another week without a signature from Abdelhafid Benamara.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad30 Jul 2029
A fracture rules Justin Dhillon out for 133 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason ES Mostaganem will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market30 Jul 2029
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad30 Jul 2029
Alonso Hernández 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad23 Jul 2029
A fracture rules Justin Dhillon out for 142 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason ES Mostaganem will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad23 Jul 2029
Aymene Boualleg: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” ES Mostaganem have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad23 Jul 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at ES Mostaganem this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market23 Jul 2029
Paradou are about to pick up the phone
A conversation is coming this week. ES Mostaganem will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.
Squad23 Jul 2029
Camagu Mdevulana 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.
Market23 Jul 2029
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Camagu Mdevulana may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom16 Jul 2029
The silence upstairs is getting loud at ES Mostaganem
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Squad16 Jul 2029
A fracture rules Justin Dhillon out for 149 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason ES Mostaganem will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market16 Jul 2029
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what ES Mostaganem can pretend not to have heard.
Squad16 Jul 2029
Rachid Maallah: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” ES Mostaganem have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market16 Jul 2029
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad16 Jul 2029
Alonso Hernández 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad9 Jul 2029
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason ES Mostaganem will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market9 Jul 2029
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around ES Mostaganem they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad9 Jul 2029
“The easiest signature of my career.” Taher Ben Khelifa and ES Mostaganem agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad9 Jul 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at ES Mostaganem this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad9 Jul 2029
Taher Ben Khelifa 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.
Market9 Jul 2029
Add another name to the list: MB Rouissat have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Lius Dadong. The answer from ES Mostaganem has not changed — yet.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad2 Jul 2029
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason ES Mostaganem will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Boardroom2 Jul 2029
Nabil Bennacer has until the next board meeting
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at ES Mostaganem can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Market2 Jul 2029
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Boardroom2 Jul 2029
The official line will be that it was routine. It was not routine, the timing says so, and every person in that room knows what the next bad result costs.
Market2 Jul 2029
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad2 Jul 2029
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Houssam Zouraghi has just signed for ES Mostaganem, and for once the answer mattered.
Squad2 Jul 2029
“The easiest signature of my career.” Taher Ben Khelifa and ES Mostaganem agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad2 Jul 2029
Alonso Hernández 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.
Market2 Jul 2029
The clock runs on Pascal Omgba's contract
12 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad25 Jun 2029
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason ES Mostaganem will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad25 Jun 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at ES Mostaganem this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market25 Jun 2029
Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. ES Mostaganem will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom18 Jun 2029
Pressure builds in the ES Mostaganem boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Squad18 Jun 2029
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason ES Mostaganem will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad18 Jun 2029
Alonso Hernández 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad11 Jun 2029
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason ES Mostaganem will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market11 Jun 2029
The bid was some way short and ES Mostaganem did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad11 Jun 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at ES Mostaganem this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom11 Jun 2029
MB Rouissat will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Mohamed Barka has pre-agreed a move to ES Mostaganem, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
Squad11 Jun 2029
Youness Mokhtar 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.
Squad11 Jun 2029
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Michael Fokou commits to ES Mostaganem for another 3 years.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom4 Jun 2029
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
Market4 Jun 2029
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Boardroom4 Jun 2029
The official line will be that it was routine. It was not routine, the timing says so, and every person in that room knows what the next bad result costs.
Squad4 Jun 2029
Adem Aichouche: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” ES Mostaganem have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad4 Jun 2029
Alonso Hernández 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.
Squad4 Jun 2029
Words at ES Mostaganem training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Youness Mokhtar 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad28 May 2029
Youness Mokhtar: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” ES Mostaganem have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad28 May 2029
Alonso Hernández 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 ES Mostaganem training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Camagu Mdevulana 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom21 May 2029
Pressure builds in the ES Mostaganem boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Market21 May 2029
Mohamed Touat hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what ES Mostaganem can pretend not to have heard.
Squad21 May 2029
Justin Dhillon: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” ES Mostaganem have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad14 May 2029
“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.
Squad14 May 2029
Alonso Hernández 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 May 2029
Words at ES Mostaganem training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Youness Mokhtar 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom7 May 2029
Nabil Bennacer has until the next board meeting
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at ES Mostaganem can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Market7 May 2029
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what ES Mostaganem can pretend not to have heard.
Squad7 May 2029
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Mehdi Zeffane and ES Mostaganem agree another 2 years.
Squad7 May 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at ES Mostaganem this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad7 May 2029
Camagu Mdevulana 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.
Squad7 May 2029
“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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad30 Apr 2029
Alonso Hernández 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.
Squad30 Apr 2029
Words at ES Mostaganem training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Youness Mokhtar 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.
Squad30 Apr 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Nqubeko Dlamini, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom23 Apr 2029
Pressure builds in the ES Mostaganem boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Squad23 Apr 2029
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” ES Mostaganem may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad23 Apr 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at ES Mostaganem this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market16 Apr 2029
“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 ES Mostaganem, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad16 Apr 2029
Alonso Hernández was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad16 Apr 2029
Words at ES Mostaganem training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Camagu Mdevulana 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market9 Apr 2029
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad9 Apr 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at ES Mostaganem this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad9 Apr 2029
Youness Mokhtar 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom2 Apr 2029
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Nabil Bennacer has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Market2 Apr 2029
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad2 Apr 2029
Alonso Hernández 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 Apr 2029
Words at ES Mostaganem training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Taher Ben Khelifa 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.
Squad2 Apr 2029
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; ES Mostaganem are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Squad2 Apr 2029
A place in the month's best eleven for Camagu Mdevulana
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Camagu Mdevulana has come out of that comparison in the side, and ES Mostaganem have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom26 Mar 2029
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at ES Mostaganem is running low.
Squad26 Mar 2029
There were 7 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Match24 Mar 2029
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.
The terraces26 Mar 2029
The ground has had enough
“We travel everywhere and we get this.” 6 of the 30 senior players heard it walking off, and the ones who did not hear it were not playing.
Squad26 Mar 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at ES Mostaganem this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad26 Mar 2029
Taher Ben Khelifa 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.
Squad26 Mar 2029
The manager makes an example of Ali Haroun
“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.
Match24 Mar 2029
0‑1 to JS Saoura, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Player ratings26 Mar 2029
Nobody could get near Ali Haroun
Successful dribbles: 11. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market19 Mar 2029
Mohamed Touat hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what ES Mostaganem can pretend not to have heard.
Squad19 Mar 2029
Benali Benamar: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” ES Mostaganem have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Match17 Mar 2029
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.
Squad19 Mar 2029
Alonso Hernández 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 ES Mostaganem training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Youness Mokhtar 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.
Squad19 Mar 2029
“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.
Player ratings19 Mar 2029
16 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
Player ratings19 Mar 2029
15 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.
Player ratings19 Mar 2029
Successful dribbles: 13. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market12 Mar 2029
“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 ES Mostaganem, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match10 Mar 2029
4 matches without a win for ES Mostaganem
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around ES Mostaganem are no longer polite ones.
Squad12 Mar 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at ES Mostaganem this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad12 Mar 2029
Taher Ben Khelifa 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.
Squad12 Mar 2029
“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.
Squad12 Mar 2029
No place for Ali Haroun on the big day
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at ES Mostaganem pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
Player ratings12 Mar 2029
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.97 on the card, and the ES Mostaganem support went home talking about one name.
Match10 Mar 2029
A 2‑2 draw with MC El Bayadh leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
Player ratings12 Mar 2029
Successful dribbles: 12. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom5 Mar 2029
Nabil Bennacer has until the next board meeting
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at ES Mostaganem can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Squad5 Mar 2029
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Ali Haroun commits to ES Mostaganem for another 2 years.
Squad5 Mar 2029
Alonso Hernández 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 Mar 2029
Words at ES Mostaganem training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Taher Ben Khelifa 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.
Squad5 Mar 2029
“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.
Player ratings5 Mar 2029
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.49, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Match3 Mar 2029
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
The terraces5 Mar 2029
The spotlight tightens on Ali Haroun
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.
Boardroom5 Mar 2029
$3.1M taken back off the ES Mostaganem table
What was available in the summer has quietly gone. Upstairs nobody will call it a change of ambition; downstairs nobody will call it anything else.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match24 Feb 2029
Beaten 1‑4 by MC Alger, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Boardroom26 Feb 2029
Pressure builds in the ES Mostaganem boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
The terraces26 Feb 2029
The boos come down from three sides
“We pay for this every fortnight. The least we want is somebody who looks like he cares.” 9 of the 30 senior players walked off into it; the rest were not playing.
Squad26 Feb 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at ES Mostaganem this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad26 Feb 2029
Youness Mokhtar 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.
Squad26 Feb 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Mehdi Zeffane, and the manager let it.
Squad26 Feb 2029
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at ES Mostaganem pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
Boardroom26 Feb 2029
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
Player ratings26 Feb 2029
Marked 5.24, and generously at that. Nothing came off, and by the end the crowd had stopped expecting it to.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market19 Feb 2029
“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 ES Mostaganem, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad19 Feb 2029
Alonso Hernández 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 Feb 2029
Words at ES Mostaganem training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Youness Mokhtar 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.
Squad19 Feb 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Anis Khemaissia, and the manager let it.
Player ratings19 Feb 2029
Successful dribbles: 16. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad19 Feb 2029
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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market12 Feb 2029
“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 ES Mostaganem, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match10 Feb 2029
There were 87 minutes on the clock and MC Oran had all but banked the point. Football rarely reads the room, and ES Mostaganem did not stop to explain themselves.
Squad12 Feb 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at ES Mostaganem this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad12 Feb 2029
Camagu Mdevulana 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.
Match10 Feb 2029
A 1‑0 win over MC Oran, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings12 Feb 2029
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 19 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Player ratings12 Feb 2029
Alonso Hernández was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.10. 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.
Player ratings12 Feb 2029
Successful dribbles: 16. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings12 Feb 2029
Defensive actions: 16, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom5 Feb 2029
Nabil Bennacer has until the next board meeting
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at ES Mostaganem can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Match3 Feb 2029
Beaten 0‑3 by Paradou, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Market5 Feb 2029
“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 ES Mostaganem, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad5 Feb 2029
There were 6 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Squad5 Feb 2029
Alonso Hernández 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 Feb 2029
Words at ES Mostaganem training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Taher Ben Khelifa 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.
Squad5 Feb 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Youness Mokhtar, and the manager let it.
Boardroom5 Feb 2029
The manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.
Market5 Feb 2029
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at ES Mostaganem has been clear about where Mohammed Reyad Lezoul stands, which is more than many ever get.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match27 Jan 2029
1‑4 against USM Khenchela, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Boardroom29 Jan 2029
The silence upstairs is getting loud at ES Mostaganem
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Market29 Jan 2029
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad29 Jan 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at ES Mostaganem this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad29 Jan 2029
Taher Ben Khelifa 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.
Squad29 Jan 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Alonso Hernández, and the manager let it.
Boardroom29 Jan 2029
The manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.
Squad29 Jan 2029
Youness Mokhtar dropped after a run of poor form
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.
Player ratings29 Jan 2029
A mark of 4.69 tells the story without any need for embellishment. He will want the tape of this one quietly lost.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market22 Jan 2029
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
The terraces22 Jan 2029
The boos come down from three sides
“We pay for this every fortnight. The least we want is somebody who looks like he cares.” 6 of the 30 senior players walked off into it; the rest were not playing.
Squad22 Jan 2029
Alonso Hernández 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 Jan 2029
Words at ES Mostaganem training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Camagu Mdevulana 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.
Squad22 Jan 2029
“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.
Player ratings22 Jan 2029
Camagu Mdevulana was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.03. 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.
Squad22 Jan 2029
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.
Player ratings22 Jan 2029
Successful dribbles: 11. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market15 Jan 2029
$630.0K is a serious amount of money and it does not play centre-forward. Everybody in the dressing room knows who used to be looked at when it went wrong.
Market15 Jan 2029
“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 ES Mostaganem, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match13 Jan 2029
The 85th minute, half the ground already edging towards the exits, and Alonso Hernández decided nobody was going anywhere. Olympique Akbou had no time left to answer.
Market15 Jan 2029
The offer from USM Alger for Mohamed Touat 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.
The terraces15 Jan 2029
Supporters turn on the $630.0K sale of Osagie Onisodumeya
He is going to JS Kabylie, the club has $630.0K it did not have on Friday, and the phone-ins have already decided how they feel about that. Selling well and selling somebody they loved are not the same skill.
Squad15 Jan 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at ES Mostaganem this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad15 Jan 2029
Taher Ben Khelifa 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.
Player ratings15 Jan 2029
A performance of 8.35 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match3 Jan 2029
USM Alger go through and ES Mostaganem go home, 1‑1 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
Market8 Jan 2029
ES Setif come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and ES Mostaganem did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad8 Jan 2029
A shoot-out is remembered by its ending, and this one ends with Osagie Onisodumeya: 1 kept out, and a set of supporters who will describe every one of them for the next twenty years.
Squad8 Jan 2029
Michael Fokou: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” ES Mostaganem have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Match6 Jan 2029
No end in sight to ES Mostaganem's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at ES Mostaganem has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad8 Jan 2029
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Djakao Barka and ES Mostaganem agree another 4 years.
Squad8 Jan 2029
Alonso Hernández 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.
Player ratings8 Jan 2029
Successful dribbles: 17. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings8 Jan 2029
It was his to settle and he did not settle it. A long walk back to the halfway line, and a considerably longer week.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom1 Jan 2029
The silence upstairs is getting loud at ES Mostaganem
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Squad1 Jan 2029
“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.
Market1 Jan 2029
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad1 Jan 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at ES Mostaganem this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad1 Jan 2029
Camagu Mdevulana 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.
Squad1 Jan 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Benali Benamar, and the manager let it.
Market1 Jan 2029
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Nqubeko Dlamini has his answer from ES Mostaganem; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Match30 Dec 2028
A 1‑1 draw with CR Belouizdad leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
Player ratings1 Jan 2029
5.58. Every footballer has these and most of them happen away from a full ground; his did not, and he will be aware of that all week.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match23 Dec 2028
0‑4 to USM Alger, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
The terraces25 Dec 2028
The boos come down from three sides
“We pay for this every fortnight. The least we want is somebody who looks like he cares.” 9 of the 31 senior players walked off into it; the rest were not playing.
Squad25 Dec 2028
Alonso Hernández 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 ES Mostaganem training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Youness Mokhtar 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.
Squad25 Dec 2028
“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.
Boardroom25 Dec 2028
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
Squad25 Dec 2028
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.
Player ratings25 Dec 2028
Marked 5.31, and generously at that. Nothing came off, and by the end the crowd had stopped expecting it to.
Player ratings25 Dec 2028
Marked 5.65, and generously at that. Nothing came off, and by the end the crowd had stopped expecting it to.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market18 Dec 2028
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad18 Dec 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at ES Mostaganem this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad18 Dec 2028
Youness Mokhtar 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.
Squad18 Dec 2028
“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.
Match16 Dec 2028
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Alonso Hernández. 1‑0 against ASO Chlef, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings18 Dec 2028
A defender's afternoon for Mohamed Touat
Defensive actions: 18. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market11 Dec 2028
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Market11 Dec 2028
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at ES Mostaganem is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Player ratings11 Dec 2028
Mohamed Taib, 34, rolls back the years — 8.19
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.19 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Squad11 Dec 2028
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” ES Mostaganem may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad11 Dec 2028
Alonso Hernández 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.
Squad11 Dec 2028
Words at ES Mostaganem training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Camagu Mdevulana 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad4 Dec 2028
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Taher Ben Khelifa commits to ES Mostaganem for another 2 years.
Squad4 Dec 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at ES Mostaganem this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad4 Dec 2028
Youness Mokhtar 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match27 Nov 2028
Position 15, 11 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Player ratings27 Nov 2028
25 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.
Squad27 Nov 2028
Alonso Hernández 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.
Squad27 Nov 2028
Words at ES Mostaganem training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Youness Mokhtar 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.
Squad27 Nov 2028
The manager makes an example of Ali Haroun
“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.
Player ratings27 Nov 2028
A performance of 8.01 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad27 Nov 2028
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
The terraces27 Nov 2028
The spotlight tightens on Ali Haroun
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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market20 Nov 2028
Mohamed Touat hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what ES Mostaganem can pretend not to have heard.
Squad20 Nov 2028
There were 8 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Squad20 Nov 2028
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” ES Mostaganem may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad20 Nov 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at ES Mostaganem this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad20 Nov 2028
Camagu Mdevulana 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.
Match18 Nov 2028
Point won or two lost for ES Mostaganem?
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against CS Constantine? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market13 Nov 2028
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Market13 Nov 2028
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at ES Mostaganem is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad13 Nov 2028
“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.
Squad13 Nov 2028
Alonso Hernández 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 ES Mostaganem training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Youness Mokhtar 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.
Squad13 Nov 2028
“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.
Match11 Nov 2028
MC Alger left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Player ratings13 Nov 2028
5.23 on the card. Some afternoons a footballer looks like a man who has only just been introduced to the game, and this was one of them.
Player ratings13 Nov 2028
Marked 5.71. Nothing he attempted worked and by the hour mark he had stopped attempting much, which is the part a manager notices rather than the mistakes.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad6 Nov 2028
Ramzi Zibouche: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” ES Mostaganem have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad6 Nov 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at ES Mostaganem this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad6 Nov 2028
Youness Mokhtar 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.
Match4 Nov 2028
Three points for ES Mostaganem, 1‑0 the final word against ES Setif in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings6 Nov 2028
Marked 7.83 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, ES Mostaganem had the best player on the pitch.
Squad6 Nov 2028
Youness Mokhtar dropped after a run of poor form
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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match30 Oct 2028
4 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Squad30 Oct 2028
Boualem Sryer: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” ES Mostaganem have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Match28 Oct 2028
No end in sight to ES Mostaganem's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at ES Mostaganem has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad30 Oct 2028
Alonso Hernández 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.
Squad30 Oct 2028
Words at ES Mostaganem training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Camagu Mdevulana 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.
Squad30 Oct 2028
The manager makes an example of Benali Benamar
“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.
Player ratings30 Oct 2028
A mark of 7.81, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
Match28 Oct 2028
A 1‑1 draw with MC Oran leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
Player ratings30 Oct 2028
A mark of 5.38 tells the story without any need for embellishment. He will want the tape of this one quietly lost.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market23 Oct 2028
Mohamed Touat hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what ES Mostaganem can pretend not to have heard.
Squad23 Oct 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at ES Mostaganem this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad23 Oct 2028
Youness Mokhtar 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.
Squad23 Oct 2028
Ali Haroun gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Match21 Oct 2028
Paradou left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad23 Oct 2028
Alonso Hernández has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at ES Mostaganem 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.
Player ratings23 Oct 2028
5.68 on the card. Some afternoons a footballer looks like a man who has only just been introduced to the game, and this was one of them.
Player ratings23 Oct 2028
Marked 5.72, and generously at that. Nothing came off, and by the end the crowd had stopped expecting it to.
Player ratings23 Oct 2028
Lius Dadong could not find anything
5.75. Every footballer has these and most of them happen away from a full ground; his did not, and he will be aware of that all week.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market16 Oct 2028
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Market16 Oct 2028
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at ES Mostaganem is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad16 Oct 2028
Alonso Hernández was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad16 Oct 2028
Words at ES Mostaganem training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Youness Mokhtar 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.
Player ratings16 Oct 2028
Ninety minutes of Camagu Mdevulana at his very best
Marked 8.00. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at ES Mostaganem.
Squad16 Oct 2028
Mohamed Taib gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match4 Oct 2028
A 2‑1 win over MC Oran, and the draw for the next round can be watched with some interest for once.
Player ratings9 Oct 2028
Justin Dhillon, 33, rolls back the years — 7.99
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.99 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Squad9 Oct 2028
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Mehdi Zeffane commits to ES Mostaganem for another 2 years.
Squad9 Oct 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at ES Mostaganem this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad9 Oct 2028
Camagu Mdevulana 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 terraces9 Oct 2028
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Ramzi Zibouche 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.
Match7 Oct 2028
0‑2 to ES Ben Aknoun, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad9 Oct 2028
“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.
Match4 Oct 2028
2 goals inside twenty minutes with Justin Dhillon in the middle of it, and MC Oran unable to get near the ball long enough to change anything. Some matches are won before the first drink.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match30 Sep 2028
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.
Squad2 Oct 2028
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” ES Mostaganem have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad2 Oct 2028
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Mehdi Zeffane and ES Mostaganem agree another 2 years.
Squad2 Oct 2028
Alonso Hernández 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 Oct 2028
Words at ES Mostaganem training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Youness Mokhtar 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.
Market2 Oct 2028
Justin Dhillon is free to find somewhere else
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at ES Mostaganem has been clear about where Justin Dhillon stands, which is more than many ever get.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match23 Sep 2028
0‑3 against JS Kabylie, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Match23 Sep 2028
No end in sight to ES Mostaganem's wait for a win
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at ES Mostaganem has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad25 Sep 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at ES Mostaganem this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad25 Sep 2028
Youness Mokhtar 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.
Squad25 Sep 2028
“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.
Boardroom25 Sep 2028
The manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.
Squad25 Sep 2028
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
The terraces25 Sep 2028
He is the name in every column and on every phone-in, which is a heavy thing to carry at any age. Some footballers thrive on it; others are quietly finished by it.
Player ratings25 Sep 2028
A mark of 5.47 tells the story without any need for embellishment. He will want the tape of this one quietly lost.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market18 Sep 2028
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Market18 Sep 2028
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at ES Mostaganem is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad18 Sep 2028
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Match16 Sep 2028
No end in sight to ES Mostaganem's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at ES Mostaganem has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad18 Sep 2028
Alonso Hernández 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.
Match16 Sep 2028
CR Belouizdad left with the points after a 1‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad18 Sep 2028
Words at ES Mostaganem training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Camagu Mdevulana 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.
Squad18 Sep 2028
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 14 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
Player ratings18 Sep 2028
There was one mistake and it ended in the net. Defenders are judged on the worst thing they did rather than on the eighty-nine minutes either side of it, which is unfair and is also the job.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces11 Sep 2028
The boos come down from three sides
“We pay for this every fortnight. The least we want is somebody who looks like he cares.” 11 of the 31 senior players walked off into it; the rest were not playing.
Squad11 Sep 2028
Alonso Hernández 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.
Squad11 Sep 2028
Words at ES Mostaganem training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Youness Mokhtar 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.
Squad11 Sep 2028
The manager makes an example of Anis Khemaissia
“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.
Match9 Sep 2028
0‑1 to USM Alger, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad11 Sep 2028
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.
Player ratings11 Sep 2028
Marked 5.63. Nothing he attempted worked and by the hour mark he had stopped attempting much, which is the part a manager notices rather than the mistakes.
Player ratings11 Sep 2028
5.71 on the card. Some afternoons a footballer looks like a man who has only just been introduced to the game, and this was one of them.
Player ratings11 Sep 2028
A mark of 5.76 tells the story without any need for embellishment. He will want the tape of this one quietly lost.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market4 Sep 2028
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Boardroom4 Sep 2028
A new deal for the man in the dugout, and the clearest thing a board can say without calling a press conference about it. Stability is cheap to promise and expensive to deliver.
Match2 Sep 2028
ES Mostaganem make home a hard place to visit
10 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
Squad4 Sep 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at ES Mostaganem this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom4 Sep 2028
5 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
Squad4 Sep 2028
Youness Mokhtar 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.
Squad4 Sep 2028
“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.
Market4 Sep 2028
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Sofiane Slimani has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Market4 Sep 2028
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Adel Halliche has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad28 Aug 2028
Alonso Hernández 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 Aug 2028
Nqubeko Dlamini has improved at 33, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
Squad28 Aug 2028
Words at ES Mostaganem training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Camagu Mdevulana 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market21 Aug 2028
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Osagie Onisodumeya will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around ES Mostaganem the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad21 Aug 2028
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Koceila Ait Idir is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad21 Aug 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at ES Mostaganem this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad14 Aug 2028
Adem Aichouche is a better footballer than he was
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.
Squad14 Aug 2028
Alonso Hernández 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 Aug 2028
Words at ES Mostaganem training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Camagu Mdevulana 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market7 Aug 2028
“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 ES Mostaganem, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad7 Aug 2028
Michael Fokou is a better footballer than he was
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.
Squad7 Aug 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at ES Mostaganem this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad7 Aug 2028
At 24 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.
Squad7 Aug 2028
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Mohamed Taib and ES Mostaganem agree another 2 years.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market31 Jul 2028
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Market31 Jul 2028
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around ES Mostaganem they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad31 Jul 2028
Djakao Barka is a better footballer than he was
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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market24 Jul 2028
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at ES Mostaganem is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad24 Jul 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at ES Mostaganem this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad24 Jul 2028
Youness Mokhtar 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad17 Jul 2028
Alonso Hernández 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.
Squad17 Jul 2028
Words at ES Mostaganem training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Youness Mokhtar 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.
Squad17 Jul 2028
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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad10 Jul 2028
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” ES Mostaganem may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad10 Jul 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at ES Mostaganem this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad3 Jul 2028
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” ES Mostaganem may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad3 Jul 2028
Alonso Hernández 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 Jul 2028
Words at ES Mostaganem training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Youness Mokhtar 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.
Squad3 Jul 2028
“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.
Boardroom3 Jul 2028
ES Mostaganem sign 5 boys into the academy
None of them will be seen by anybody outside the training ground for three years, most of them will never play a senior match, and one of them might change the club. That is the whole proposition, and it is why academies exist.
Market3 Jul 2028
Boualem Sryer returns from a loan that gave him nothing
2 appearances and 0 goals is not a season, it is a year somebody has lost. Whether that is his fault, the borrowing club's or the people who arranged it is the argument the next few weeks will have.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market26 Jun 2028
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Market26 Jun 2028
MC Oran come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and ES Mostaganem did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad26 Jun 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at ES Mostaganem this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad26 Jun 2028
Youness Mokhtar 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.
Squad26 Jun 2028
The manager makes an example of Ali Haroun
“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.
Squad26 Jun 2028
Aymene Boualleg has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at ES Mostaganem 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market19 Jun 2028
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at ES Mostaganem is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad19 Jun 2028
Alonso Hernández 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 Jun 2028
Djakao Barka 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.
Squad19 Jun 2028
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.
Squad19 Jun 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Badreddine Hadidi, and the manager let it.
Market19 Jun 2028
ES Mostaganem have made Mohamed Touat available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market12 Jun 2028
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Boualem Amine Masmoudi will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around ES Mostaganem the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad12 Jun 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at ES Mostaganem this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad12 Jun 2028
Youness Mokhtar 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market5 Jun 2028
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what ES Mostaganem can pretend not to have heard.
Squad5 Jun 2028
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” ES Mostaganem may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad5 Jun 2028
Alonso Hernández 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 Jun 2028
Words at ES Mostaganem training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Youness Mokhtar 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.
Market5 Jun 2028
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Mohamed Touat has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at ES Mostaganem.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad29 May 2028
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” ES Mostaganem may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad29 May 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at ES Mostaganem this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad29 May 2028
Faiz Amem gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad22 May 2028
Abdelhak Askar: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” ES Mostaganem have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad22 May 2028
Alonso Hernández 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
Cemran Dansin 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market15 May 2028
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around ES Mostaganem they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad15 May 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at ES Mostaganem this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad15 May 2028
Youness Mokhtar 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad8 May 2028
“The easiest signature of my career.” Taher Ben Khelifa and ES Mostaganem agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad8 May 2028
Alonso Hernández 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 May 2028
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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad1 May 2028
Ali Haroun breaks a bone — 17 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 17 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad1 May 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at ES Mostaganem this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad1 May 2028
Words at ES Mostaganem training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Cemran Dansin 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad24 Apr 2028
Ali Haroun breaks a bone — 24 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 24 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad24 Apr 2028
Alonso Hernández 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.
Squad24 Apr 2028
Cemran Dansin 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad17 Apr 2028
A knee injury of the worst kind for Mehdi Zeffane
20 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. ES Mostaganem lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad17 Apr 2028
Ali Haroun breaks a bone — 31 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 31 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad17 Apr 2028
“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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad10 Apr 2028
A knee injury of the worst kind for Mehdi Zeffane
27 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. ES Mostaganem lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad10 Apr 2028
Ali Haroun breaks a bone — 38 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 38 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad10 Apr 2028
Alonso Hernández 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.