Marked for Edson
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match13 Feb 2027
0‑3 to Trento, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Squad15 Feb 2027
8 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Market15 Feb 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Match13 Feb 2027
No end in sight to Giana Erminio's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Giana Erminio has to find a result from somewhere.
Match13 Feb 2027
4 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.
Squad15 Feb 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Giana Erminio this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Words at Giana Erminio training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Felipe Ávila 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 dugout15 Feb 2027
The manager makes an example of Felipe Ávila
“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.
Boardroom15 Feb 2027
The manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match8 Feb 2027
Position 15, 20 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Match6 Feb 2027
Beaten 0‑3 by Carpi, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Market8 Feb 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Market8 Feb 2027
The deal that would have taken Andrea Sergio Mazza to Catania has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Giana Erminio with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
The dugout8 Feb 2027
“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.
Match6 Feb 2027
3 matches without a goal for Giana Erminio
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Nemanja Milojević 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 dugout8 Feb 2027
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Player ratings8 Feb 2027
Matteo Scanzi ran the middle of the pitch — 6.68
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 10 combined actions and a mark of 6.68, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market1 Feb 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Deadline passes with 0 signed and 0 gone
That is the business done at Giana Erminio 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.
Transfer targets1 Feb 2027
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Giana Erminio have done the hard part with Inter, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Felipe Ávila falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Transfer targets1 Feb 2027
Giana Erminio asked and Hellas Verona said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Player ratings1 Feb 2027
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. 12 actions, 6.70, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
The dugout1 Feb 2027
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Edson is no longer first choice
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Edson has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad25 Jan 2027
Paco Esteban breaks a bone — 15 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 15 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market25 Jan 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Giana Erminio can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets25 Jan 2027
$210.0K settles it between the clubs for Mattia Finotto
Carrarese have accepted the money. What Giana Erminio do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Nemanja Milojević was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Words at Giana Erminio training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Felipe Ávila is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Transfer targets25 Jan 2027
Giana Erminio asked and Cesena said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Match23 Jan 2027
0‑1 to Dolomiti Bellunesi, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Edson signs on for more
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Edson and Giana Erminio agree another 1 years.
Looking ahead25 Jan 2027
Two sides from the bottom of the table, three points, and an afternoon that will be described afterwards as a relegation decider by whoever loses it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market23 Nov 2026
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Giana Erminio can pretend not to have heard.
Match21 Nov 2026
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.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Giuseppe Ciocci and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Felipe Ávila was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Edson signs a new deal
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Edson commits to Giana Erminio for another 1 years.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 17. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
Jacopo Nelli gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Marked 7.59. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match23 Sep 2026
A 2‑1 win over Crotone, a place in the next round, and the quiet arithmetic every supporter does on the walk home: how many more until a final?
Squad28 Sep 2026
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.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
A brace, and Gioele Conte takes the afternoon — 8.24
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Gioele Conte provided it, and the 8.24 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Alesandro Comita and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Words at Giana Erminio training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Felipe Ávila 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 terraces28 Sep 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Andrea Sergio Mazza has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Marked 8.12 — 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 dugout28 Sep 2026
The manager makes an example of Jacopo Nelli
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Squad28 Sep 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Edson and Giana Erminio agree another 1 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad21 Sep 2026
Andrea Sergio Mazza 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.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Words at Giana Erminio training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Felipe Ávila is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Transfer targets21 Sep 2026
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Match19 Sep 2026
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 1‑2, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
Squad21 Sep 2026
“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 Giana Erminio will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
Squad21 Sep 2026
The formation has left Edson behind
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Giana Erminio will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
Market21 Sep 2026
At 39, he has seen every situation this season can produce, twice. The legs will be managed; the head is the purchase.