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.
Samuel Renel 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Enzo Legrix and Red Star agree another 3 years.
The dugout1 Nov 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Jean-Baptiste Dupuy to a room that had heard them before.
In brief
Boardroom90% of the income goes out in wages at Red Star
Position 18 and 5 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Gaëtan Poussin 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 Islamdine Halifa was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Something was said to Samuel Renel and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
“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 The request is on a desk at Red Star, and it is not being withdrawn.
1 for Islamdine Halifa, marked 7.73, 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.
Gaëtan Poussin 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 Oct 2027
Words at Red Star training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Islamdine Halifa is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
He is 22 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Red Star, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Abdelsamad Hachem trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Words at Red Star training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Paolo De Sousa Rodrigues 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 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 7.50 for the rest of it.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Red Star have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Samuel Renel 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Pierre Lemonnier and Red Star agree another 2 years.
Squad4 Oct 2027
Words at Red Star training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Islamdine Halifa is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Nobody 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.
In brief
Boardroom95% of the income goes out in wages at Red Star
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Squad27 Sep 2027
Words at Red Star training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Islamdine Halifa 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.
“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 Red Star will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Red Star know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
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. 7.96, and 2 involvements.
One scored and one made, which is a different afternoon from scoring twice and an easier one to overlook. Marked 7.81, and involved in 2 of his side's goals.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Red Star can pretend not to have heard.
4 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Red Star can tell you which week it ends in.
Samuel Renel 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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Samuel Junior Eto’o is 19, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Islamdine Halifa was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Red Star have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Red Star and RC Lens have settled on $430.0K. 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.
Boardroom6 Sep 2027
Deadline passes with 13 signed and 27 gone
That is the business done at Red Star 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Red Star this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
At 19 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
The 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.
“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 Red Star, and it is not being withdrawn.
The offer from FC Fleury 91 for Marley Milord 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.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Modena is saying, and nobody at Red Star is enjoying the guessing.
Gaëtan Poussin 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.
$72.0K was the most the club would pay and FC Villefranche 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. RC Lens have kept their man, and Red Star go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The words a physio says slowly. 16 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Red Star can pretend not to have heard.
Gaëtan Poussin 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 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Abdelsamad Hachem was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Red Star asked and Toulouse FC 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 academy exists for exactly this morning. Stéphane Bourgeois has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
23 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Red Star lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Red Star can pretend not to have heard.
Red Star had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Stade Rennais, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
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.
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.
31 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Red Star lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Red Star is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
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 7.54 for the rest of it.
The offer went to FC Villefranche 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.
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 13 actions, 7.44, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Stade Rennais have kept their man, and Red Star go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Samuel Renel 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Transfer targets2 Aug 2027
$75.0K settles it between the clubs for Daniel Epanya
AS Saint-Etienne have accepted the money. What Red Star 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 from FC Fleury 91 for Marley Milord 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.
FC Villefranche wanted more than $72.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. RC Strasbourg have kept their man, and Red Star 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 Islamdine Halifa was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The offer from FC Versailles for Théo Magnin 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.
Gaëtan Poussin 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 offer went to FC Villefranche 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.
Red Star offered $63.0K; Montpellier HSC 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. KV Mechelen have kept their man, and Red Star 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 Théo Magnin was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Red Star and Montpellier HSC have settled on $300.0K. 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.
“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 Red Star, and it is not being withdrawn.
The offer from Stade Briochin for Mouez Hassen 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Théo Magnin was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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 Red Star, and it is not being withdrawn.
The phone has started ringing about Théo Magnin again, and this time the name on the line is FC Versailles. Red Star are listening politely and promising nothing.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Red Star this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Red Star have gone to FC Villefranche 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.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Words at Red Star training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abdelsamad Hachem 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. Stade Rennais have kept their man, and Red Star go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Red Star can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Red Star can pretend not to have heard.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
Red Star had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Monaco, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Gaëtan Poussin 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.
Red Star have gone to Montpellier HSC 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.
Red Star offered $72.0K; FC Villefranche 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Abdelsamad Hachem was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Red Star asked and RC Strasbourg said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Red Star people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The deal with Monaco 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.
The offer went to FC Villefranche 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.
At 19 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
$63.0K was the most the club would pay and Montpellier HSC 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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Mathieu Roche is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Théodore Roussel is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Words at Red Star training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dembo Sylla 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 clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Red Star is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Red Star can pretend not to have heard.
At 19 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Abdelsamad Hachem and Red Star agree another 3 years.
Red Star have gone to Montpellier HSC 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.
Red Star asked and Paris Saint-Germain 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 Red Star 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 Islamdine Halifa was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Red Star can pretend not to have heard.
Red Star asked and RC Lens said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
US Orleans paid $350.0K and Red Star took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
The phone has started ringing about Mouez Hassen again, and this time the name on the line is Stade Briochin. Red Star are listening politely and promising nothing.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dembo Sylla 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 Red Star this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Vitoria Guimaraes 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 last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Red Star have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“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 Red Star, and it is not being withdrawn.
Everything agreed with Moreirense, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Gaëtan Poussin 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.
Red Star asked and LOSC Lille said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dembo Sylla was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Red Star know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
In brief
BoardroomOpen for business: Red Star enter the window
“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 Red Star, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Quentin Beunardeau will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Red Star the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Gaëtan Poussin 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 Islamdine Halifa was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Dylan Durivaux trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Red Star know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and Red Star have had the benefit of it.
At 19 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dembo Sylla 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 Red Star this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad17 May 2027
Dembo Sylla 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Red Star know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
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 Lucas Besson is on it.
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 Damien Durand has written the date down.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Guillaume Trani trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 18 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Islamdine Halifa was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Rayane Doucouré 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Red Star know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
In brief
The dugoutHacène Benali asks for a word with the manager
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Red Star will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Quentin Beunardeau will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Red Star the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Pierre Lemonnier 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 Dembo Sylla was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Red Star, another week without a signature from Jovany Ikanga.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Red Star, and both men came out saying it was fine.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Red Star will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Red Star can pretend not to have heard.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Abdelsamad Hachem was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Jacques Rémy 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. Alexandre Lefèvre 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. Nicolas Maillard is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Red Star this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 43 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Abdelsamad Hachem was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Paolo De Sousa Rodrigues and Red Star agree another 4 years.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Red Star, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Nobody at Red Star 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.
In brief
The terracesThe Gaëtan Poussin rumours reach the terraces
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 9 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Red Star will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Gaëtan Poussin and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Islamdine Halifa will call it something else in private.
The dugout12 Apr 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Jean-Baptiste Dupuy was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Red Star dressing room was either.
14 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Red Star will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“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 Red Star, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Quentin Beunardeau will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Red Star the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Red Star heard it as anything else.
Gaëtan Poussin was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Words at Red Star training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abdelsamad Hachem is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Red Star will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Red Star can pretend not to have heard.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Words at Red Star training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abdelsamad Hachem is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Red Star this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Stade Lavallois in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
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 terraces29 Mar 2027
Supporters make their feelings known about Leonardo Buta
The speculation has reached the stands, and the stands have answered. Red Star would like this settled before it becomes the only thing anybody asks about.
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 Jovany Ikanga has written the date down.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Red Star will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
At 18 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dembo Sylla was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
7.91, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Red Star had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
The dugout22 Mar 2027
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.” Jean-Baptiste Dupuy kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 81 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Red Star have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 19 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Abdelsamad Hachem was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
18 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Jean-Baptiste Dupuy after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Abdelsamad Hachem trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 89 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“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 Red Star, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Quentin Beunardeau will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Red Star the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Bradley Danger. 3‑1 against EA Guingamp, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Words at Red Star training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abdelsamad Hachem is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Red Star this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Red Star will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Red Star are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Red Star this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Red Star will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
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.
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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Jean-Baptiste Dupuy after 1‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
In brief
The dugoutDamien Durand asks for a word with the manager
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Gaëtan Poussin 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 Islamdine Halifa was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Minute 89, against ESTAC Troyes, 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.
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.
Successful dribbles: 31. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
7.88, 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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Red Star is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dembo Sylla was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Rayane Doucouré was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Bradley Danger is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Red Star can pretend not to have heard.
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Deadline passes with 0 signed and 0 gone
That is the business done at Red Star 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.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Words at Red Star training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dembo Sylla 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.
Marked 8.08 — 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Red Star this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Islamdine Halifa 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.” 1‑1, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
Everything agreed with Stade Rennais, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Red Star had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Benfica, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. FC Annecy have kept their man, and Red Star go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Dembo Sylla 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.
Rayane Doucouré 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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and US Orleans waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Red Star is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
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 7.87 for the rest of it.
Gaëtan Poussin 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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Mohafidh Ahamada is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Successful dribbles: 21. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dembo Sylla was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Level with 89 minutes on the clock, after an afternoon Red Star had all but put away. Amiens SC will call it a point earned; the home dressing room will call it two given away, and both of them are right.
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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Red Star can pretend not to have heard.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Red Star this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Atalanta have kept their man, and Red Star go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The name of Quentin Beunardeau has come up in conversations Red Star were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Islamdine Halifa 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 Red Star has been clear about where Kemo Cissé stands, which is more than many ever get.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Red Star have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Leonardo Buta and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 11 combined actions and a mark of 6.96, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Dembo Sylla 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.
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Jean-Baptiste Dupuy was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Red Star dressing room was either.
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Montpellier HSC defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
A 1‑0 win over SC Bastia, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Dembo Sylla 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.
16 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
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 Montpellier HSC.
There were 89 minutes on the clock and Clermont Foot had all but banked the point. Football rarely reads the room, and Red Star did not stop to explain themselves.
Pierre Lemonnier 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Saïf-Eddine Khaoui. 2‑1 against Clermont Foot, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Words at Red Star training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Islamdine Halifa 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.
8.15. 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.
24 points at the turn. The first half of a season is a promise; the second is a bill, and the town is about to find out which of the two this one was.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
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.” Jean-Baptiste Dupuy, on a 2‑1 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Red Star has been clear about where Hacène Benali stands, which is more than many ever get.
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.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Dembo Sylla falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Red Star this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
Islamdine Halifa 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.
Successful dribbles: 19. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Words at Red Star training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dembo Sylla is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Jean-Baptiste Dupuy after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Red Star, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Red Star have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Gaëtan Poussin 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 Islamdine Halifa was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Islamdine Halifa, and the manager let it.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Jean-Baptiste Dupuy was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Red Star dressing room was either.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Red Star, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Pau FC? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
Stade Lavallois next, and one man in the Red Star dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
In brief
Player ratingsThe chances came and went for Bradley Danger
Gaëtan Poussin 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 Nov 2026
Words at Red Star training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dembo Sylla 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.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Godson Kyeremeh trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Nobody at Red Star will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
“I 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 Red Star will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Red Star this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Words at Red Star training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dembo Sylla 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.
30 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Jean-Baptiste Dupuy to a room that had heard them before.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Bradley Danger. 2‑1 against EA Guingamp, 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.
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
Successful dribbles: 17. 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.
Paolo De Sousa Rodrigues was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Bradley Danger is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Jean-Baptiste Dupuy kept it short after the 2‑1 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
Squad2 Nov 2026
The division's best last weekend was a Red Star man
It is a small honour and it is not nothing: somebody watched every match in the division and decided that Bradley Danger was the best thing in any of them.
1 for Bradley Danger, marked 7.86, 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.
Pierre Lemonnier 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Dembo Sylla 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.
A performance of 8.32 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Words at Red Star training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dembo Sylla 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.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Jean-Baptiste Dupuy on a 2‑1 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Red Star this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Dembo Sylla 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 goal that put AS Nancy ahead was still being replayed on the concourse when Red Star equalised, 2 minutes later. Leads are only worth what you do with them.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Jean-Baptiste Dupuy after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
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.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Godson Kyeremeh and Red Star agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Words at Red Star training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Islamdine Halifa is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Quentin Beunardeau’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Red Star needing him to play as if none of it matters.
At 18 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dembo Sylla was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Successful dribbles: 18. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 1‑2 Jean-Baptiste Dupuy left the room before anybody could ask which.
5 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
Gaëtan Poussin 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.
Successful dribbles: 15. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
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.” Jean-Baptiste Dupuy, on a 2‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Red Star told Pierre Lemonnier something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Josué Escartin was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Red Star, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Out, 3‑4 to Le Havre AC, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows it.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
A brace, and Lucas Besson takes the afternoon — 8.38
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Lucas Besson provided it, and the 8.38 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
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.
Gaëtan Poussin 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.
7 goals in one match, Lucas Besson on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Red Star and Le Havre AC.
6 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Rodez AF were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
He is 22 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
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.
“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 Red Star, and it is not being withdrawn.
1‑2 to USL Dunkerque, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words at Red Star training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dembo Sylla 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.
USL Dunkerque held the lead for 4 minutes, which is not long enough to enjoy it. Red Star answered before the celebration had properly finished, and the shape of the afternoon changed with 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 Red Star this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 1‑2 Jean-Baptiste Dupuy left the room before anybody could ask which.
“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 Red Star, and it is not being withdrawn.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 3 arrived, 1 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Red Star this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Dembo Sylla 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.
5 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Red Star can pretend not to have heard.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Sint-Truiden is saying, and nobody at Red Star is enjoying the guessing.
Red Star asked and Zulte Waregem 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 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.
Rayane Doucouré 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 dugout31 Aug 2026
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Jean-Baptiste Dupuy chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against FC Annecy? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Words at Red Star training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dembo Sylla 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.
Rayane Doucouré was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Jean-Baptiste Dupuy after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
He wheeled away like a man who had been carrying it for months, because he had. Red Star have their signing off the mark and one press-conference question retired.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Red Star this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
3 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
Red Star asked and KAA Gent said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Roger Roussel 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. Roger Baron 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.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Laurent Guillot has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Dembo Sylla falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Bradley Danger
Gaëtan Poussin 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.
Red Star asked and Sint-Truiden said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Still no offer on the table, and Gaëtan Poussin’s deal keeps shrinking. In boardroom language, silence this long stops being an oversight and starts being an answer.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Words at Red Star training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Islamdine Halifa is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
5 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
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.
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Red Star scored in the 92th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
The offer from RAAL La Louviere for Kévin Cabral 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.
Two goals and a mark of 8.34 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.