It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at MB Rouissat this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad6 May 2030
Words at MB Rouissat training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dadi Mouaki 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.
Words at MB Rouissat training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dadi Mouaki is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at MB Rouissat, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Something was said to Yusuf Abdullahi and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Mohamed Belgourai is on it.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at MB Rouissat. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
“If we are going to be beaten, let it not be because somebody in here could not be bothered.” He stood up and said it in front of everybody, which is a thing a squad remembers about a man for years.
In brief
SquadThe training reports on Rémy Gérard are not good
Position 11 on 32 points. Every season is a story and this is the last line of it, and now the club has three months to decide what the next one is about.
Siaka Bagayoko 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.
8.21. 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 oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Peter Simmons after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Mohamed Tlili is on it.
The board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 91th minute. ES Mostaganem will replay every second of the added time for a week.
Player ratings15 Apr 2030
A brace, and Dadi Mouaki takes the afternoon — 9.36
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Dadi Mouaki provided it, and the 9.36 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
1 for Necer Benzid, marked 7.81, 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.
It finished 4‑3, and it was Dadi Mouaki’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to MB Rouissat.
Squad15 Apr 2030
Words at MB Rouissat training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dadi Mouaki is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 20-year-old it feels ownership of. Houssem Bensebaini 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.
100 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
Up for the corner, and Necer Benzid delivers — 7.16
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Necer Benzid scored, was marked 7.16, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at MB Rouissat this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad8 Apr 2030
Words at MB Rouissat training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dadi Mouaki 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 oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Hamza Salem’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and MB Rouissat needing him to play as if none of it matters.
A year in and the city has not opened up, the language has not come, and lunch is eaten alone more often than anybody at MB Rouissat would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
Not a new contract, not a new number: a new place in the manager’s thinking, which is the only promotion in football that actually matters. Mohamed Belgourai has moved up it.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at MB Rouissat, and both men came out saying it was fine.
A side in position 7 visits next. The result will not make anybody’s season and it could quietly break the shape of one, which is why the manager has been watching the video since Sunday.
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 7.75 for the rest of it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at MB Rouissat this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad25 Mar 2030
Dadi Mouaki 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.
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Rezki Hamroune will call it something else in private.
The dugout25 Mar 2030
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.” Peter Simmons kept it short after the 2‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
Successful dribbles: 13. 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.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at MB Rouissat is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Rezki Hamroune was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dadi Mouaki was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Aymen Mouyet is on it.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Peter Simmons after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
1 for Mohamed Tlili, marked 7.97, 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.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 8 goals between MB Rouissat and Olympique Akbou, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Aymen Mouyet, and the manager let it.
Squad11 Mar 2030
Words at MB Rouissat training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abdul Hamidu Fatawu 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 ratings11 Mar 2030
Laid Ayad was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.08. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 7 goals between MB Rouissat and JS Kabylie, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Squad4 Mar 2030
Words at MB Rouissat training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dadi Mouaki 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 young player of the month award goes to a 19-year-old at MB Rouissat who has looked like the finished article for four weekends running. The next four are the ones that decide whether he is.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.82 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dadi Mouaki was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Badreddine Touki will call it something else in private.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Peter Simmons could afford to be generous.
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.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Rezki Hamroune’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and MB Rouissat needing him to play as if none of it matters.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at MB Rouissat, and both men came out saying it was fine.
A 1‑4 beating by USM Alger was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Player ratings18 Feb 2030
Up for the corner, and Yacine Zeghad delivers — 7.61
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Yacine Zeghad scored, was marked 7.61, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Mohamed Belgourai will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around MB Rouissat the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Rezki Hamroune was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The 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 music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
The dugout18 Feb 2030
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 1‑4 defeat, delivered by Peter Simmons to a room that had heard them before.
Nobody at MB Rouissat 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.
Dadi Mouaki falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. ES Setif have kept their man, and MB Rouissat go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
A deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. MB Rouissat will try again when the window opens; JS Saoura may not be selling by then.
“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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at MB Rouissat this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad11 Feb 2030
Rémy Gérard, 19, is the weekend’s best young player
Measured against every other kid in the division and first among them. The senior award is where MB Rouissat would like this to lead.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and ES Mostaganem waiting with a shirt. Nobody at MB Rouissat is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.41 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 0 arrived, 2 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. MB Rouissat have done the hard part with JS Saoura, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Necer Benzid and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad4 Feb 2030
Dadi Mouaki falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. USM Alger have kept their man, and MB Rouissat go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The clubs have shaken hands with USM Alger; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
“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 MB Rouissat, and it is not being withdrawn.
$120.0K on the table at JS Saoura. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Rezki Hamroune 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.
MB Rouissat offered $1.0K; MC Alger said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad28 Jan 2030
Words at MB Rouissat training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abdul Hamidu Fatawu 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.
MB Rouissat and USM Alger have settled on $1.5M. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Mohamed Belgourai had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
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.
MB Rouissat have gone to MC Alger with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Squad21 Jan 2030
Words at MB Rouissat training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dadi Mouaki 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.
Badreddine Touki 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.
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.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. MB Rouissat have done the hard part with MC Oran, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dadi Mouaki was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The name of Youssouf Benhemada has come up in conversations MB Rouissat were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
The deal with JS Kabylie is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at MB Rouissat this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at MB Rouissat can tell you which week it ends in.
MB Rouissat 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.
It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 34 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
Squad7 Jan 2030
Words at MB Rouissat training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abdul Hamidu Fatawu 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.
Rezki Hamroune was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Aymen Mouyet, and the manager let it.
Squad31 Dec 2029
Dadi Mouaki 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.
Half the programme played, position 12, 15 on the board. Doubling it is the sum every supporter has done and the only one nobody at the club will do out loud.
Boardroom31 Dec 2029
Nobody left the MB Rouissat dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑4, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at MB Rouissat has been clear about where Nadji Ben Kheira stands, which is more than many ever get.
In brief
The dugoutMohamed Tlili has become a man the manager trusts
The dugoutThe plan did not have a place for Rezki Hamroune
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at MB Rouissat this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dadi Mouaki was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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.
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 crowd waited for a goal that never came. ES Mostaganem defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
8 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.
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.
Ninety minutes of very little, and then everything at once. The winner arrived in the 88th, and USM Khenchela spent what remained of the match appealing to the referee rather than chasing the ball.
7.66, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
One scored and one made, which is a different afternoon from scoring twice and an easier one to overlook. Marked 7.90, and involved in 2 of his side's goals.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at MB Rouissat this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Squad10 Dec 2029
Words at MB Rouissat training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dadi Mouaki 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 players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑1, Peter Simmons could afford to be generous.
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 7.91 for the rest of it.
Two of the goals had his name somewhere on them, which is the afternoon a manager wants from anybody asked to both create and finish. 7.70, and 2 involvements.
“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.
Squad3 Dec 2029
Words at MB Rouissat training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dadi Mouaki 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.
Minute 92, against ES Ben Aknoun, and a goal that felt like a win to everybody who had stayed. It was a draw. Nobody leaving the ground will describe it as one.
Haroun Oumouri 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.
It finished 2‑2, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
Squad3 Dec 2029
A place in the month's best eleven for Rémy Gérard
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Rémy Gérard has come out of that comparison in the side, and MB Rouissat have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 2‑2 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
It finished 1‑0, and it was Siaka Bagayoko’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to MB Rouissat.
Squad26 Nov 2029
Words at MB Rouissat training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abdul Hamidu Fatawu 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.
Haroun Oumouri and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The dugout26 Nov 2029
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.” Peter Simmons kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
Off the academy pitches and onto a senior team sheet at 16. The debut is the easy part; the second appearance is the one every young player has to earn.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dadi Mouaki was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Olympique Akbou in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
Nobody at MB Rouissat 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.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at MB Rouissat this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Laid Ayad, and the manager let it.
Squad12 Nov 2029
Words at MB Rouissat training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dadi Mouaki 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.
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 supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Up for the corner, and Mohamed Tlili delivers — 7.79
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Mohamed Tlili scored, was marked 7.79, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Siaka Bagayoko was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The 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.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at MB Rouissat can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Mohamed Tlili is on it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dadi Mouaki was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Ahmed Bensebaini 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.
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.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Rezki Hamroune’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and MB Rouissat needing him to play as if none of it matters.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
A 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 7.93 for the rest of it.
This is not rotation. Said Slimani has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at MB Rouissat is pretending otherwise.
Squad22 Oct 2029
Words at MB Rouissat training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dadi Mouaki 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 most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. MB Rouissat will quote 14 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 2‑2, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at MB Rouissat this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Nobody at MB Rouissat 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.
Something was said to Mohamed Tlili and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
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.
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at MB Rouissat would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at MB Rouissat, another week without a signature from Adel Mandi.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at MB Rouissat, and both men came out saying it was fine.
In brief
SquadQuestions about Yacine Zeghad on the training pitch
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Rezki Hamroune and MB Rouissat agree another 2 years.
Successful dribbles: 18. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad8 Oct 2029
Words at MB Rouissat training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dadi Mouaki 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 ratings8 Oct 2029
Mohamed Tlili was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.05. 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.
Adilson Fernandes 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.
1 for Abdul Hamidu Fatawu, marked 7.44, 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.
Three points for MB Rouissat, 1‑0 the final word against MC Oran in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad1 Oct 2029
Words at MB Rouissat training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dadi Mouaki 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.
Haroun Oumouri and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Donatien Gomis is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Peter Simmons on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
0‑3 against MC El Bayadh, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
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.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 4 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
This is not rotation. Said Slimani has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at MB Rouissat is pretending otherwise.
Squad24 Sep 2029
Words at MB Rouissat training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Donatien Gomis 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.
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.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at MB Rouissat this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“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 dugout17 Sep 2029
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑2 Peter Simmons left the room before anybody could ask which.
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Olympique Akbou moved on, Youssouf Benhemada reports back to MB Rouissat, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
Siaka Bagayoko was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Abdul Hamidu Fatawu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at MB Rouissat has been clear about where Youssouf Benhemada stands, which is more than many ever get.
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.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Dadi Mouaki’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and MB Rouissat needing him to play as if none of it matters.
“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 MB Rouissat, and it is not being withdrawn.
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at MB Rouissat has to find a result from somewhere.
Boardroom3 Sep 2029
Deadline passes with 13 signed and 10 gone
That is the business done at MB Rouissat until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
MB Rouissat had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at ES Setif, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Rezki Hamroune 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.
MB Rouissat offered $250.0K; ES Ben Aknoun said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Boardroom3 Sep 2029
5 academy players handed senior numbers at MB Rouissat
The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
The offer from MC El Bayadh for Youssouf Benhemada 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.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. MB Rouissat have done the hard part with MC Alger, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
MB Rouissat have gone to ES Ben Aknoun with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dadi Mouaki was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
MB Rouissat 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.
Yusuf Abdullahi 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.
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
MB Rouissat offered $14.0K; JS Kabylie said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Squad20 Aug 2029
Dadi Mouaki 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.
MB Rouissat asked and CS Constantine said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at MB Rouissat this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The phone has started ringing about Youssouf Benhemada again, and this time the name on the line is MC El Bayadh. MB Rouissat are listening politely and promising nothing.
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.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation MB Rouissat are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Naoufel Merdja trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
MB Rouissat and ASO Chlef have settled on $99.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
MB Rouissat had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at ES Mostaganem, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
MB Rouissat offered $450.0K; MC Oran said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Ammar El Orfi 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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Adel Zeffane is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Sofiane Benrahma 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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Abdelkader Bennacer is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Nassim Halliche 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.
In brief
SquadWords at MB Rouissat training over how hard people work
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.
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.
$450.0K on the table at MC Oran. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Rezki Hamroune 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.
MB Rouissat asked and Olympique Akbou said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad6 Aug 2029
Words at MB Rouissat training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dadi Mouaki 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 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.
Signings arrive with a picture of the club in their head, and this one’s picture was bigger than the building. He will play well and he will be gone, in that order, and everybody knows it.
In brief
Transfer targetsA loan move for Dimitri Legbo is in the works
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Julio Bandessi will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around MB Rouissat the goodbyes have quietly begun.
MB Rouissat asked and USM Alger said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
$5.0K was the most the club would pay and MC 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.
Squad30 Jul 2029
Dadi Mouaki 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.
MB Rouissat have made the call to USM Alger. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and MB Rouissat will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at MB Rouissat is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
MB Rouissat have gone to USM Alger with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at MB Rouissat this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
$60.0K on the table at JS Saoura. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
MB Rouissat have gone to MC Alger with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
MB Rouissat offered $14.0K; JS Kabylie said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
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.
$430.0K settles it between the clubs for Lahlou Akhrib
MC Oran have accepted the money. What MB Rouissat do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
The offer went to ES Ben Aknoun 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.
Rezki Hamroune 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 Jul 2029
Words at MB Rouissat training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dadi Mouaki is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. MC Alger have kept their man, and MB Rouissat go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The dugout16 Jul 2029
Necer Benzid is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Yacine Zeghad and MB Rouissat agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad9 Jul 2029
Words at MB Rouissat training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dadi Mouaki 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.
MB Rouissat 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.
Adilson Fernandes and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at MB Rouissat, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Adilson Fernandes is on it.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at MB Rouissat can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around MB Rouissat they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. MB Rouissat have done the hard part with ASO Chlef, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Julio Bandessi has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Siaka Bagayoko was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
MB Rouissat have made the call to JS Kabylie. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Shain Chetioui will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around MB Rouissat the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The offer from ES Mostaganem for Youssouf Benhemada 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.
MB Rouissat had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at ES Setif, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
MB Rouissat have gone to MC Oran with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Kheiredine Merzougui 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.
MB Rouissat asked and ASO Chlef said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad25 Jun 2029
Dadi Mouaki 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 clubs have shaken hands with Olympique Akbou; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
“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 MB Rouissat, and it is not being withdrawn.
Rezki Hamroune 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.
$89.0K was the most the club would pay and MC Oran 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.
Squad18 Jun 2029
Dadi Mouaki 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.
MB Rouissat asked and ES Mostaganem 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 most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. MB Rouissat will quote 14 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
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.
In brief
The dugoutMohamed Tlili knocks on the manager's door
“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 MB Rouissat, and it is not being withdrawn.
$89.0K on the table at MC Oran. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Siaka Bagayoko was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at MB Rouissat can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dadi Mouaki was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
MB Rouissat have made the call to ES Mostaganem. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at MB Rouissat, another week without a signature from Shain Chetioui.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at MB Rouissat is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Rezki Hamroune 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
Dadi Mouaki falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Nobody at MB Rouissat 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.
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.
Position 10 on 28 points, with the season drifting toward the summer. It is the safest place in football and the hardest one to sell a season ticket from.
In brief
SquadHouari Baouche is training like a man with a point to make
Kheiredine Merzougui 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 May 2029
Words at MB Rouissat training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Siaka Bagayoko 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 dugout21 May 2029
The manager has not finished forgetting Necer Benzid'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.
Something was said to Messaoud Midoune and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
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 Shain Chetioui has written the date down.
In brief
SquadQuestions about Rémy Gérard on the training pitch
Rezki Hamroune and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad14 May 2029
Dadi Mouaki 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 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Badreddine Touki and MB Rouissat agree another 4 years.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dadi Mouaki was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every squad is half players the manager chose and half players he inherited. Dadi Mouaki was chosen, the man who chose him has gone, and he starts again from nothing under the next one.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around MB Rouissat they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Rezki Hamroune was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Nobody at MB Rouissat 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.
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.
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and MB Rouissat will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
The last league game has been played and the table has stopped moving: 28 points. The summer begins on Monday, and so does the argument about what it all meant.
Kheiredine Merzougui was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dadi Mouaki was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
At 33, 3 points below where he was, and a body that has started charging interest. It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph on this page.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dadi Mouaki was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 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.
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.
Rezki Hamroune 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.
Squad9 Apr 2029
Words at MB Rouissat training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Siaka Bagayoko 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 supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Benali Benamar’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and MB Rouissat needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at MB Rouissat is running low.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Shain Chetioui will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around MB Rouissat the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at MB Rouissat this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dadi Mouaki was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Aymen Mouyet is on it.
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Djaber Kaassis’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and MB Rouissat needing him to play as if none of it matters.
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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” MB Rouissat have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Player ratings26 Mar 2029
Up for the corner, and Necer Benzid delivers — 5.76
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Necer Benzid scored, was marked 5.76, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at MB Rouissat this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Beaten 1‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad26 Mar 2029
Dadi Mouaki 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.
Kheiredine Merzougui and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Marked 8.30 — 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.
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Rezki Hamroune will call it something else in private.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑0, Peter Simmons could afford to be generous.
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.
Rezki Hamroune and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad12 Mar 2029
Words at MB Rouissat training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Siaka Bagayoko is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Peter Simmons after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. MB Rouissat told Rémy Gérard something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
0‑4 against JS Kabylie, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at MB Rouissat is running low.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Shain Chetioui will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around MB Rouissat the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at MB Rouissat this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason MB Rouissat will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The terraces26 Feb 2029
The mood at MB Rouissat 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at MB Rouissat this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Siaka Bagayoko was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
The dugout26 Feb 2029
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Peter Simmons was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the MB Rouissat dressing room was either.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason MB Rouissat will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” MB Rouissat have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
The dugout19 Feb 2029
The manager has not finished forgetting Aymen Mouyet'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.
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.
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.77, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Player ratings12 Feb 2029
Up for the corner, and Ammar El Orfi delivers — 7.79
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Ammar El Orfi scored, was marked 7.79, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Kheiredine Merzougui. 3‑1 against ASO Chlef, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason MB Rouissat will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. MB Rouissat have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at MB Rouissat is running low.
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 7.65 for the rest of it.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Shain Chetioui will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around MB Rouissat the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 0 arrived, 0 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Rezki Hamroune was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Siaka Bagayoko was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason MB Rouissat will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around MB Rouissat they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. MB Rouissat have done the hard part with CS Constantine, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Kheiredine Merzougui 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.
MB Rouissat 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.
Squad29 Jan 2029
Aymen Mouyet 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 54 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what MB Rouissat can pretend not to have heard.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. MB Rouissat have done the hard part with ASO Chlef, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around MB Rouissat they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
MB Rouissat asked and CS Constantine said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Rezki Hamroune. 2‑1 against MC El Bayadh, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Shain Chetioui 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.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
In brief
Player ratingsNinety minutes of Djigo Saikou at his very best
The dugoutAymen Mouyet is still being punished for one mistake
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason MB Rouissat will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around MB Rouissat people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” MB Rouissat have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what MB Rouissat can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings15 Jan 2029
Up for the corner, and Ammar El Orfi delivers — 7.75
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Ammar El Orfi scored, was marked 7.75, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
The deal that would have taken Naoufel Merdja to ES Ben Aknoun has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to MB Rouissat with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
The deal with ASO Chlef is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between MB Rouissat and CS Constantine, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason MB Rouissat will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and ES Ben Aknoun waiting with a shirt. Nobody at MB Rouissat is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what MB Rouissat can pretend not to have heard.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. MB Rouissat have done the hard part with MC Oran, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Rezki Hamroune was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Aymen Mouyet was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason MB Rouissat will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at MB Rouissat this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Abdul Hamidu Fatawu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Position 9, 17 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 83 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at MB Rouissat is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Kheiredine Merzougui and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
A mark of 7.69, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
The dugout25 Dec 2028
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.” Peter Simmons kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
Something was said to Ammar El Orfi and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Aymen Mouyet is on it.
In brief
Player ratingsA defender's afternoon for Yacine Zeghad
The dugoutSomebody else is better right now than Naoufel Merdja
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason MB Rouissat will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Rezki Hamroune 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.
Squad18 Dec 2028
Words at MB Rouissat training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aymen Mouyet 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.
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout18 Dec 2028
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Peter Simmons to a room that had heard them before.
Successful dribbles: 12. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Benali Benamar’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and MB Rouissat needing him to play as if none of it matters.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. MB Rouissat will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Player ratings11 Dec 2028
Up for the corner, and Necer Benzid delivers — 7.74
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Necer Benzid scored, was marked 7.74, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at MB Rouissat this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Siaka Bagayoko was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Marked 8.11 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
The dugout11 Dec 2028
The manager has not finished forgetting Aymen Mouyet'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.
The dugout11 Dec 2028
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Peter Simmons, on a 3‑1 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. MB Rouissat will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
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.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Kheiredine Merzougui and MB Rouissat agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at MB Rouissat this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad4 Dec 2028
Words at MB Rouissat training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Siaka Bagayoko is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Rezki Hamroune. 2‑1 against ES Ben Aknoun, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Successful dribbles: 16. 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason MB Rouissat will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at MB Rouissat is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Kheiredine Merzougui 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.
Squad27 Nov 2028
Aymen Mouyet 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.
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
The dugout27 Nov 2028
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Peter Simmons was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the MB Rouissat dressing room was either.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 121 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Rezki Hamroune and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Siaka Bagayoko was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
5 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
Olympique Akbou next, and one man in the MB Rouissat dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. MB Rouissat will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Rezki Hamroune had done his part in building a 2-goal cushion. What happened after that was collective, and JS Kabylie were allowed back into a match that had been finished with.
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.
Bilal Boukerchaoui 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.
“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 dugout13 Nov 2028
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 2‑4 Peter Simmons left the room before anybody could ask which.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Aymen Mouyet is on it.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. MB Rouissat will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The terraces6 Nov 2028
The mood at MB Rouissat 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.
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.
Kheiredine Merzougui 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.
Squad6 Nov 2028
Aymen Mouyet 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.
“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 dugout6 Nov 2028
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Peter Simmons left the room before anybody could ask which.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what MB Rouissat can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at MB Rouissat is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
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.
Successful dribbles: 18. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
The dugout30 Oct 2028
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Peter Simmons was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the MB Rouissat dressing room was either.
1 for Ammar El Orfi, marked 7.59, 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dadi Mouaki was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Djigo Saikou 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.
They paid twice — for the ticket and for the journey — and got a 3-1 win for it. Away support is the truest kind precisely because nothing about it is convenient.
6 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager’s verdict
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Julio Bandessi
Rezki Hamroune was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dadi Mouaki was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at MB Rouissat will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
He 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Hamza Salem trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
A manager forgives a bad Saturday far more readily than a bad Tuesday, because one of them he can explain and the other one he chose. The reports this week have not been good.
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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 9 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
1 for Adilson Fernandes, marked 7.37, 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.
Kheiredine Merzougui was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The 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.
“I have supported clubs like this one. I know what a bad Saturday feels like here.” The new man starts with nothing behind him and everything in front of him.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around MB Rouissat they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Rezki Hamroune and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad2 Oct 2028
Dadi Mouaki falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Peter Simmons after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and MB Rouissat will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
The dugout2 Oct 2028
Dadi Mouaki is playing like a man with something to prove
The oldest phenomenon in the sport: a new voice in the dressing room and suddenly everybody is available for everything. Dadi Mouaki is training as though the last team sheet never existed, because as far as he is concerned it does not.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dadi Mouaki was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Bilal Boukerchaoui 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.
8 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Sofiane Djabou on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
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 Oran.
In brief
The dugoutAdam Medjani dropped after a run of poor form
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Siaka Bagayoko was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at MB Rouissat this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Aymen Mouyet is living that version at MB Rouissat, and it tends to show in the first month.
10 days since the seat came open, a list of names doing the rounds, and nobody has signed anything. Every week this drags on the shortlist gets shorter.
Squad11 Sep 2028
Dadi Mouaki 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.
MB Rouissat asked and JS Kabylie said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
A deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. MB Rouissat will try again when the window opens; ES Mostaganem may not be selling by then.
“Somebody has to pick the team on Saturday, and this week that is me.” An interim appointment with no promises attached, which is how most of them start.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
ES Mostaganem have accepted the money. What MB Rouissat do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” MB Rouissat may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Boardroom4 Sep 2028
Deadline passes with 10 signed and 7 gone
That is the business done at MB Rouissat until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around MB Rouissat they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. MB Rouissat have done the hard part with CR Belouizdad, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at MB Rouissat this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
In brief
Boardroom4 academy players handed senior numbers at MB Rouissat
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what MB Rouissat can pretend not to have heard.
Everything agreed with CS Constantine, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Rezki Hamroune was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The 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.
MB Rouissat asked and MC Alger said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Nobody at MB Rouissat 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.
Rezki Hamroune and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Siaka Bagayoko was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
MB Rouissat have made the call to MC Oran. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
The new man at MB Rouissat has worked with Messaoud Midoune before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Mohamed Tlili is on it.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nadji Ben Kheira was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
CS Constantine 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.
CR Belouizdad 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.
The new man at MB Rouissat has worked with Messaoud Midoune before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
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.
The whole football department in one room on a weekday morning. Nothing was announced afterwards, which is what a board announces when it has run out of patience.
The clubs have shaken hands with ES Mostaganem; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Badreddine Hadidi will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around MB Rouissat the goodbyes have quietly begun.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. MB Rouissat have done the hard part with CR Belouizdad, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at MB Rouissat this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad7 Aug 2028
Words at MB Rouissat training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Siaka Bagayoko 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.
MB Rouissat 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Houari Baouche and MB Rouissat agree another 2 years.
Everything agreed with JS Saoura, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
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.
Youssouf Benhemada 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.
Nobody at MB Rouissat will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
The new man at MB Rouissat has worked with Messaoud Midoune before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
18 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. MB Rouissat lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at MB Rouissat, and it is not being withdrawn.
$120.0K on the table at ES Ben Aknoun. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
The offer went to ES Mostaganem 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. JS Kabylie have kept their man, and MB Rouissat go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Abdul Hamidu Fatawu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The new man at MB Rouissat has worked with Messaoud Midoune before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
The mood at MB Rouissat 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.
25 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. MB Rouissat lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and ES Mostaganem waiting with a shirt. Nobody at MB Rouissat is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what MB Rouissat can pretend not to have heard.
Kheiredine Merzougui and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
32 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. MB Rouissat lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“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 MB Rouissat, and it is not being withdrawn.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. MB Rouissat have done the hard part with ES Ben Aknoun, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at MB Rouissat this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
MB Rouissat have gone to ES Mostaganem with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. CS Constantine have kept their man, and MB Rouissat go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
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.
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.
“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 MB Rouissat, and it is not being withdrawn.
Rezki Hamroune was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. CS Constantine have kept their man, and MB Rouissat go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad3 Jul 2028
Words at MB Rouissat training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abdul Hamidu Fatawu 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 demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Djigo Saikou is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what MB Rouissat can pretend not to have heard.
Rezki Hamroune and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
MB Rouissat have made the call to CR Belouizdad. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
The new man at MB Rouissat has worked with Messaoud Midoune before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Mohamed Tlili is on it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Ammar El Orfi trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The mood at MB Rouissat 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.
Boardroom19 Jun 2028
The silence upstairs is getting loud at MB Rouissat
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, and a scan that said otherwise. He goes back to ASO Chlef; MB Rouissat go back to the market; and both will insist there is no story here.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Siaka Bagayoko was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. CR Belouizdad have kept their man, and MB Rouissat go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The new man at MB Rouissat has worked with Messaoud Midoune before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
ASO Chlef have accepted the money. What MB Rouissat do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at MB Rouissat this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
MB Rouissat asked and JS Kabylie said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Abdul Hamidu Fatawu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
MB Rouissat have made the call to CR Belouizdad. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
The new man at MB Rouissat has worked with Messaoud Midoune before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Abdul Hamidu Fatawu is on it.