Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Persis will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Persis will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Persis this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Persis can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
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 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 Irfan Jauhari is on it.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Persis will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dimitri was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Persis will quote 15 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Persis, another week without a signature from Slavko Damjanović.
In brief
The dugoutSho Yamamoto knocks on the manager’s door
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Persis will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
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.
Andrei Alba 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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Persis, another week without a signature from Dušan Mijić.
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.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Persis told Luka Dumančić something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 88 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Everybody at Persis saw it before anybody said it, which is how this always goes. At 35 the decline is real and measurable — 3 points — and the only question left is how the club handles somebody it owes a great deal to.
Squad27 Nov 2028
Words at Persis training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dimitri 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.
Andrei Alba 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 bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Persis 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.
Andrei Alba 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 makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Persis will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Persis told Irfan Jauhari something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
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 Ryan Ardiansyah is on it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Persis know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Persis will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Persis can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
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 Persis this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Persis will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
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.
11 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 143 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
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.
Andrei Alba 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.
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.
It is a specific kind of quiet, a ground watching a winning position dissolve. Dewa United kept coming because nothing stopped them, and Persis will be asked about the last half hour all week.
Everything agreed with another club, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dimitri 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. Santiago Wanderers have kept their man, and Persis go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Ferian Rizki is living that version at Persis, and it tends to show in the first month.
Squad11 Sep 2028
Words at Persis training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dimitri 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. Real Cartagena have kept their man, and Persis go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Andrei Alba 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.
Still no offer on the table, and Dimitri’s deal keeps shrinking. In boardroom language, silence this long stops being an oversight and starts being an answer.
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.
Position 3, 57 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
This is not rotation. Miroslav Maričić has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Persis is pretending otherwise.
Boardroom4 Sep 2028
Persis close the window on a squad of their own making
16 in and 16 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
The shirt still fits. Irsyad Maulana is back at Persis, and half the ground remembers him in these colours already. Some signings need selling to the town; this one sold itself.
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 35 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Persis is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
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.
Andrei Alba 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.
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.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Persis can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
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. Villa San Carlos have kept their man, and Persis go back to a list with one name crossed off 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 Persis this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Persis will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.06 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dimitri was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Andrei Alba 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 bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Persis will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The unbeaten run reaches 7. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Squad24 Jul 2028
Words at Persis training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dimitri 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 Persis this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout24 Jul 2028
The manager has not finished forgetting Luka Dumančić'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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Persis will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Persis can pretend not to have heard.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dimitri was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Persis asked and All Boys said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Persis will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Persis can pretend not to have heard.
Two goals and a mark of 8.43 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
This is not rotation. Jefferson has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Persis is pretending otherwise.
Squad26 Jun 2028
Words at Persis training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dimitri 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. Joinville have kept their man, and Persis go back to a list with one name crossed off 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 Persis this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Persis 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 Persis can pretend not to have heard.
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.
Persis asked and All Boys said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Andrei Alba 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.
“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 Persis, and it is not being withdrawn.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dimitri was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
33 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 dugout5 Jun 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 Ahmad Wardana to a room that had heard them before.
19 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Persis lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
A 1‑0 win over Bhayangkara Presisi, a place in the next round, and the quiet arithmetic every supporter does on the walk home: how many more until a final?
“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 Persis, and it is not being withdrawn.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.89 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dimitri was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
26 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Persis lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
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.
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.
Andrei Alba 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.
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 4 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
42 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Persis lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Two goals and a mark of 8.61 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Persis 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Persis this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
In brief
Player ratingsDimitri was on a different afternoon to everybody else
The dugoutLuka Dumančić is still being punished for one mistake
49 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Persis lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
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 7.58 for the rest of it.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: another club keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
This is not rotation. Sutanto Tan has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Persis is pretending otherwise.
Squad24 Apr 2028
Words at Persis training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dimitri 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.
58 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Persis lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Two goals and a mark of 8.80 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Successful dribbles: 23. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Squad17 Apr 2028
Words at Persis training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dimitri 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: Dejan Tumbas. 2‑1 against Persijap, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Andrei Alba 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.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Persis can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
The words a physio says slowly. 66 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dimitri was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
The dugout10 Apr 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 0‑3 Ahmad Wardana left the room before anybody could ask which.
74 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Persis lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
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 7.47 for the rest of it.
“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 Persis, and it is not being withdrawn.
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.
Sho Yamamoto 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 month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Dejan Tumbas is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Ahmad Wardana after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
92 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Persis lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Two goals and a mark of 8.73 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
This is not rotation. Sutanto Tan has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Persis is pretending otherwise.
Squad20 Mar 2028
Words at Persis training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dimitri 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.
Andrei Alba 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.
108 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Persis lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Philip Onyedika provided it, and the 8.51 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
7 goals in one match, Philip Onyedika on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Persis and Maluku Utara United.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Andrei Alba and Persis agree another 2 years.
Squad6 Mar 2028
Words at Persis training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dimitri 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.
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 35 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Persis is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
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 words a physio says slowly. 116 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.
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.
Andrei Alba 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.
33 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Persis lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Persis have done the hard part with Londrina, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad17 Jan 2028
Words at Persis training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dimitri 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 Persis, 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 Irfan Jauhari is on it.
80 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Persis 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 Persis, and it is not being withdrawn.
The deal with Persib 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dimitri 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. Dewa United have kept their man, and Persis go back to a list with one name crossed off 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 Persis this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Sport Recife 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.
88 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Persis lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
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 Persis this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Persis have made the call to Sport Recife. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Words at Persis training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dimitri 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 Persis this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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 Feby Eka Putra is on it.
Nothing is announced when this happens and everybody knows. He is a bigger part of the plan at Persis than he was a month ago, and the training ground worked that out before the team sheet said so.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dimitri was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Andrei Alba 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Dimitri trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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 Irfan Jauhari is on it.
The language is coming and there is somebody to talk to in the dressing room. A footballer who feels at home plays like one, and it never shows up in a scouting report.
The message was aimed at the stands as much as the dressing room: Miroslav Maričić plays, and the argument is closed until the manager decides otherwise.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dimitri was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Andrei Alba 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.
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 Miroslav Maričić is on it.
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Persis has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Persis will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
6 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Squad18 Oct 2027
Words at Persis training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dimitri 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 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Luca Pichin Wayttorn 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.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Persis can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dimitri was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
He is 21 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 14 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dimitri was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Andrei Alba 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 found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Persis pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Persis can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Squad13 Sep 2027
Words at Persis training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dimitri 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 Persis this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told Abu Kamara.
Squad13 Sep 2027
9 new faces, and Persis are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
The dugout13 Sep 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 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Ahmad Wardana to a room that had heard them before.
The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
The fee is $80.0K, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Semen Padang drove a hard bargain; time will say who won 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.
Persis asked and Maluku Utara United said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
At 34, 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Persis this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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; Persis are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Two goals and a mark of 9.04 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Persis can pretend not to have heard.
The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Vukašin Vraneš was one of the reasons people came, and $610.0K does not replace that by itself.
7.54, 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.
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Luca Pichin Wayttorn did not need any: 7.72, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Persis can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Squad10 May 2027
Words at Persis training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dimitri 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.
Andrei Alba 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 first defeat in 9 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Bhayangkara Presisi; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Persis know it.
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 13 combined actions and a mark of 7.12, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dimitri was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Andrei Alba 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 respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Persis know it.
Every long career reaches the week the player starts thinking about the last one. He would like it to be at the club that first put him on a pitch, and Persis now know that too.
Vukašin Vraneš 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.
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, 6.92, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
Marked 8.23 — 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.
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.
Vukašin Vraneš 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 Dimitri 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 20-year-old it feels ownership of. Wataru Goto 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Dejan Tumbas. 2‑0 against PSIM, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
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.