From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings22 Feb 2027
Successful dribbles: 26. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Noa Cervantes was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Abdelhafid Benamara and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match20 Feb 2027
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Market22 Feb 2027
Sid Ali Lamri 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 Sid Ali Lamri stands, which is more than many ever get.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
“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.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Houssem Tahrat to a room that had heard them before.
Squad22 Feb 2027
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one ES Mostaganem will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
Looking ahead22 Feb 2027
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Ali Haroun’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and ES Mostaganem needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The dugout15 Feb 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” ES Mostaganem may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Player ratings15 Feb 2027
Successful dribbles: 23. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Ali Haroun and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Match13 Feb 2027
Noa Cervantes scored, and precious little else went right: 3‑4 to MC Oran, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
Match13 Feb 2027
7 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about ES Mostaganem and MC Oran in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Noa Cervantes 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 terraces15 Feb 2027
He is 22 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Player ratings15 Feb 2027
Marked 8.27 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Player ratings15 Feb 2027
A performance of 8.17 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market8 Feb 2027
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.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Ahmed Aït-Abdesslem and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Noa Cervantes was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad8 Feb 2027
“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.
Transfer targets8 Feb 2027
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Match6 Feb 2027
1‑2 to Paradou, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout8 Feb 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Cyril Boukhit, and the manager let it.
Player ratings8 Feb 2027
Noa Cervantes was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.14. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
The dugout8 Feb 2027
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market1 Feb 2027
“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 ratings1 Feb 2027
Successful dribbles: 29. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
ES Mostaganem close the window on a squad of their own making
3 in and 0 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Market1 Feb 2027
Only the photograph left for Adem Aichouche
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Adem Aichouche will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around ES Mostaganem the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Transfer targets1 Feb 2027
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Free State Stars is saying, and nobody at ES Mostaganem is enjoying the guessing.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Ahmed Aït-Abdesslem and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Noa Cervantes 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.
Transfer targets1 Feb 2027
ES Mostaganem asked and Platinum Stars said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market25 Jan 2027
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around ES Mostaganem people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Squad25 Jan 2027
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.
Transfer targets25 Jan 2027
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Free State Stars keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Ahmed Aït-Abdesslem 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 Jan 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Noa Cervantes was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets25 Jan 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Black Aces have kept their man, and ES Mostaganem go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Match23 Jan 2027
A 2‑1 win over ES Ben Aknoun, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Match23 Jan 2027
It had gone 5 games. The players did not celebrate like men who had won a match; they celebrated like men who had been let out of something.
Player ratings25 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 19. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings18 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 31. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Player ratings18 Jan 2027
Two goals and a mark of 8.42 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Market18 Jan 2027
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. ES Mostaganem have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Match16 Jan 2027
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.
Squad18 Jan 2027
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.
Match16 Jan 2027
Olympique Akbou left with the points after a 2‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Noa Cervantes 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.
Transfer targets18 Jan 2027
ES Mostaganem asked and ES Setif said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The dugout18 Jan 2027
“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
Steady
Market11 Jan 2027
“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.
Player ratings11 Jan 2027
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.17 for the rest of it.
Player ratings11 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 24. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Transfer targets11 Jan 2027
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: JS Kabylie keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Match9 Jan 2027
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.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Ahmed Aït-Abdesslem and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Rami Bouaouiche arrives at the club he grew up with
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Rami Bouaouiche has, at ES Mostaganem, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Noa Cervantes 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.
Transfer targets11 Jan 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. CS Constantine have kept their man, and ES Mostaganem go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market4 Jan 2027
“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.
Squad4 Jan 2027
A move Ibrahim Adel would have made for nothing
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Ibrahim Adel is living that version at ES Mostaganem, and it tends to show in the first month.
Player ratings4 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 22. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Words at ES Mostaganem training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Noa Cervantes 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.
Transfer targets4 Jan 2027
ES Mostaganem asked and ES Setif said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Match2 Jan 2027
CR Belouizdad left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad4 Jan 2027
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.
The dugout4 Jan 2027
“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.
Squad4 Jan 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Ibrahim Adel commits to ES Mostaganem for another 3 years.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad28 Dec 2026
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.
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 22. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Ali Haroun and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Noa Cervantes 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.
Match26 Dec 2026
0‑1 to USM Alger, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad28 Dec 2026
100 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Houssem Tahrat to a room that had heard them before.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Abdelhafid Benamara has written the date down.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 22. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad21 Dec 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at ES Mostaganem this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad21 Dec 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Michael Mortume commits to ES Mostaganem for another 3 years.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Noa Cervantes 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 dugout21 Dec 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Josué Balamandji, and the manager let it.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
Nobody on the pitch touched Noa Cervantes
7.31, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. ES Mostaganem had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
Looking ahead21 Dec 2026
A test against the best for ES Mostaganem
The team at the top of the table next, and the honest measure of where this side actually is. Anybody can beat the club below them; the question is what happens against USM Alger.
Squad21 Dec 2026
“I did not sign to watch. Nobody does.” The oldest complaint in the game, and ES Mostaganem will have to answer it with minutes or with a move.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad14 Dec 2026
6 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 22. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Ahmed Aït-Abdesslem and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Noa Cervantes 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.
Squad14 Dec 2026
“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.
Match12 Dec 2026
Three points for ES Mostaganem, 2‑0 the final word against JS Saoura in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.25, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Abdelhafid Benamara, and the manager let it.
Match14 Dec 2026
Position 11, 15 points, and every result so far reduced to one line. The second half of the season starts with the same squad and a different set of expectations.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
A brace, and Abdelhak Askar takes the afternoon — 8.51
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Abdelhak Askar provided it, and the 8.51 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 26. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Ahmed Aït-Abdesslem and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Words at ES Mostaganem training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Noa Cervantes is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The terraces7 Dec 2026
He is 21 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Match5 Dec 2026
MB Rouissat held the lead for 2 minutes, which is not long enough to enjoy it. ES Mostaganem answered before the celebration had properly finished, and the shape of the afternoon changed with it.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
The manager makes an example of Sid Ali Lamri
“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.
Squad7 Dec 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Boualem Sryer and ES Mostaganem agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 23. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Ahmed Aït-Abdesslem 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 Nov 2026
Words at ES Mostaganem training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Noa Cervantes 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.
Match28 Nov 2026
MC El Bayadh left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The terraces30 Nov 2026
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Cyril Boukhit, and the manager let it.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.26, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 1‑2, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
Market30 Nov 2026
“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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad23 Nov 2026
A fracture rules Djamel Benlamri out for 16 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.
Market23 Nov 2026
“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 ratings23 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 26. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
A defender's goal wins it for ES Mostaganem — 7.93
1 for Brahim Benzaza, marked 7.93, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
Match21 Nov 2026
8 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and CS Constantine were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
Squad23 Nov 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at ES Mostaganem this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Words at ES Mostaganem training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Noa Cervantes 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.
Match21 Nov 2026
A 2‑0 win over CS Constantine, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
“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
Player ratings16 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 36. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad16 Nov 2026
24 days out for Djamel Benlamri after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. ES Mostaganem will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Match14 Nov 2026
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.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Noa Cervantes was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Abdelhafid Benamara 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.
Match14 Nov 2026
0‑2 to MC Alger, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad16 Nov 2026
200 times in these colours, in all weathers and under four or five different managers. That kind of service is quietly disappearing from the game.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Josué Balamandji, and the manager let it.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Houssem Tahrat after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad9 Nov 2026
31 days out for Djamel Benlamri after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. ES Mostaganem will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Match7 Nov 2026
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.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 25. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Ali Haroun in a row with a teammate
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 Nov 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Noa Cervantes was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Sid Ali Lamri, and the manager let it.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
Looking ahead9 Nov 2026
A test against the best for ES Mostaganem
The team at the top of the table next, and the honest measure of where this side actually is. Anybody can beat the club below them; the question is what happens against MC Alger.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
The manager has not finished forgetting Boualem Amine Masmoudi's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad2 Nov 2026
38 days out for Djamel Benlamri after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. ES Mostaganem will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
A brace, and Abdelhak Askar takes the afternoon — 8.36
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Abdelhak Askar provided it, and the 8.36 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Match31 Oct 2026
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.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 25. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Ahmed Aït-Abdesslem 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.
Match31 Oct 2026
Abdelhak Askar scored, and precious little else went right: 2‑3 to MC Oran, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Noa Cervantes 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 dugout2 Nov 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 2‑3, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match24 Oct 2026
A 1‑4 beating by Paradou was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Squad26 Oct 2026
46 days out for Djamel Benlamri after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. ES Mostaganem will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market26 Oct 2026
“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.
Match24 Oct 2026
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.
Squad26 Oct 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at ES Mostaganem this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Words at ES Mostaganem training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Noa Cervantes 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 ratings26 Oct 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.08, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Boardroom26 Oct 2026
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
Squad19 Oct 2026
53 days out for Djamel Benlamri after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. ES Mostaganem will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 30. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match17 Oct 2026
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.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Ahmed Aït-Abdesslem and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Noa Cervantes 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.
Match17 Oct 2026
0‑1 to USM Khenchela, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑1, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
Squad19 Oct 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Michael Mortume commits to ES Mostaganem for another 3 years.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
Cyril Boukhit 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
Uneasy
Squad12 Oct 2026
62 days out for Djamel Benlamri after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. ES Mostaganem will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Match7 Oct 2026
Out, 1‑1 to CS Constantine, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows it.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 33. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Cyril Boukhit decides it from twelve yards
1 kept out in the shoot-out, and a stadium that will still be describing them in twenty years. A goalkeeper only needs one of these to be remembered forever.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Ahmed Aït-Abdesslem and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Michael Mortume arrives at the club he grew up with
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Michael Mortume has, at ES Mostaganem, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Match10 Oct 2026
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Match7 Oct 2026
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 117. CS Constantine had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
A penalty is the one moment in football with nowhere to hide, and he did not score it. The walk back was long and the week will be longer.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad5 Oct 2026
69 days out for Djamel Benlamri after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. ES Mostaganem will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 33. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Up for the corner, and Taher Ben Khelifa delivers — 7.69
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Taher Ben Khelifa scored, was marked 7.69, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Ahmed Aït-Abdesslem was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad5 Oct 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Josué Balamandji and ES Mostaganem agree another 1 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Noa Cervantes 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 terraces5 Oct 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Noa Cervantes 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.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Noa Cervantes was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.27. 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad28 Sep 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 76 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Brahim Benzaza and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 21. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Words at ES Mostaganem training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Noa Cervantes 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.
Match26 Sep 2026
JS Kabylie made ES Mostaganem work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Ali Haroun 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.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
“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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
9 new faces, and ES Mostaganem are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Houssem Tahrat kept it short after the 2‑1 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad21 Sep 2026
A fracture rules Djamel Benlamri out for 84 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.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 22. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Ali Haroun 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.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Words at ES Mostaganem training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Noa Cervantes 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.
Match19 Sep 2026
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.
Match19 Sep 2026
0‑2 to CR Belouizdad, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
“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.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑2, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad14 Sep 2026
92 days out for Djamel Benlamri after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. ES Mostaganem will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Match12 Sep 2026
A 0‑3 beating by USM Alger was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Market14 Sep 2026
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Mounir Aziria reports back to ES Mostaganem with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Ahmed Aït-Abdesslem and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Ahmed Wahid arrives at the club he grew up with
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Ahmed Wahid has, at ES Mostaganem, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Noa Cervantes 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 ratings14 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 19. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
The manager makes an example of Cyril Boukhit
“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.
Boardroom14 Sep 2026
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
Uneasy
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 45. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad7 Sep 2026
100 days out for Djamel Benlamri after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. ES Mostaganem will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market7 Sep 2026
“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.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Window shuts: 18 in, 0 out at ES Mostaganem
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 18 arrived, 0 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
No thanks: Luke Daniels rejects the move
ES Mostaganem had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at University of Pretoria, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
$240.0K was the most the club would pay and USM Alger were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Free State Stars have kept their man, and ES Mostaganem go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Market7 Sep 2026
MC El Bayadh 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.
The dugout7 Sep 2026
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad31 Aug 2026
107 days out for Djamel Benlamri after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. ES Mostaganem will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
The offer went to USM Alger this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Squad31 Aug 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at ES Mostaganem this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Words at ES Mostaganem training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Noa Cervantes 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.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Free State Stars have kept their man, and ES Mostaganem go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
A loan enquiry to University of Pretoria: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Market31 Aug 2026
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at ES Mostaganem has been clear about where Mohamed Hacene Bengrina stands, which is more than many ever get.
Squad31 Aug 2026
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
Looking ahead31 Aug 2026
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against ASO Chlef in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad24 Aug 2026
A fracture rules Djamel Benlamri out for 114 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.
Market24 Aug 2026
ASO Chlef 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.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. ES Mostaganem have done the hard part with MC Alger, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Ahmed Aït-Abdesslem and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
ES Mostaganem asked and Paradou said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Market24 Aug 2026
“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 Moussa Benzaid.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad17 Aug 2026
31 days out for Ali Bennacer after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. ES Mostaganem will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market17 Aug 2026
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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Ahmed Aït-Abdesslem and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad17 Aug 2026
No place for Moussa Benzaid in the new shape
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation ES Mostaganem are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
Market17 Aug 2026
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Words at ES Mostaganem training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Chouaib Boulkaboul 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.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
A loan enquiry to Free State Stars: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Market17 Aug 2026
It is the least glamorous business a club does and the reason seasons do not collapse in February. Merouane Boussalem is here for the weeks when three men are injured and somebody still has to play.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market10 Aug 2026
“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.
Market10 Aug 2026
The shirt still fits. Brahim Benzaza is back at ES Mostaganem, and half the ground remembers him in these colours already. Some signings need selling to the town; this one sold itself.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Brahim Benzaza and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Bendel Insurance have kept their man, and ES Mostaganem go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Market10 Aug 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Ali Bennacer 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Ismail Benayada has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Squad10 Aug 2026
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Djamel Benlamri was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
ES Mostaganem have made the call to Paradou. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad3 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Ali Haroun and ES Mostaganem agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Ali Haroun and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Market3 Aug 2026
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
Market3 Aug 2026
49 months and counting on Ali Haroun
Still no offer on the table, and Ali Haroun’s deal keeps shrinking. In boardroom language, silence this long stops being an oversight and starts being an answer.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Djamel Benlamri was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
Bendel Insurance have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.