Marked for Thaciano
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Vintage Neymar — 8.22
At 34 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 8.22, and nobody on the pitch better.
Match21 Nov 2026
Nobody wants to play Santos right now
4 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.
Match21 Nov 2026
Three points for Santos, 2‑0 the final word against Sport Recife in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Words exchanged at Santos
Santiago Paiva 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.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Chances created: 12. Not on the scoresheet and not remotely anonymous — a passing performance that pulled a defence apart without leaving a mark on the column that gets read.
Squad23 Nov 2026
The ambition story running backwards, and the one nobody tells: a footballer who wants a smaller ground, fewer cameras and a crowd that does not turn. It is not weakness and it is rarely reported as anything else.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Santos told Álvaro Barreal something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Lucas Cavalcante on a 2‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
The plan did not have a place for Lucas Veríssimo
Nobody at Santos is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Market21 Sep 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 Santos can pretend not to have heard.
Match19 Sep 2026
Santos make it 5 in a row
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Santos have 5 straight wins of it.
Boardroom21 Sep 2026
Kenay has agreed to leave Santos for nothing
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Words exchanged at Santos
Lucas Veríssimo 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
Real improvement from Otávio at Santos
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Otávio is 19, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Match19 Sep 2026
It finished 2‑0, and it was Santiago Paiva’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Santos.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Ninety minutes of Gabriel Barbosa at his very best
Marked 8.44. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Santos.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑0, Lucas Cavalcante could afford to be generous.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
Rony gets picked when it counts
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 Rony is on it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match25 Aug 2026
Santos march on in the cup
Portuguesa are out and Santos go through, 3‑0 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.
Market31 Aug 2026
Terms done: João Pedro is going
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Rangers International waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Santos is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Market31 Aug 2026
Santos say no — this time
The offer from Farense for Thaciano 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.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
A defender's goal wins it for Santos — 7.67
1 for Alex Nascimento, marked 7.67, 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.
Boardroom31 Aug 2026
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
Match29 Aug 2026
Still nobody has beaten Santos
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.
The terraces31 Aug 2026
Santos supporters have found a favourite in Pradella
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 18-year-old it feels ownership of. Pradella 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.
Match29 Aug 2026
A 2‑0 win over São Paulo, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Match25 Aug 2026
3 goals inside twenty minutes with Alex Nascimento in the middle of it, and Portuguesa unable to get near the ball long enough to change anything. Some matches are won before the first drink.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market24 Aug 2026
Persik come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Santos did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Boardroom24 Aug 2026
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Rodrigo Cezar has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
A performance of 8.02 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
The dugout24 Aug 2026
Luan Peres 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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Tempers go at Santos
Pradella 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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Words at Santos training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Christian Oliva 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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
The ambition story running backwards, and the one nobody tells: a footballer who wants a smaller ground, fewer cameras and a crowd that does not turn. It is not weakness and it is rarely reported as anything else.
Market24 Aug 2026
Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. Santos will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.
Match18 Aug 2026
A 1‑1 draw with Fortaleza leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
In brief
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The dugout
The manager’s verdict
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The dugout
Thaciano has become a man the manager trusts
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The dugout
Rony asks for a word with the manager
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match12 Aug 2026
Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and Billal Brahimi obliged against Trem. 10‑1 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is Santos.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Marked 9.57 at 17, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Market17 Aug 2026
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Santos have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Squad17 Aug 2026
3 goals in one game. The first was taken well, the second was taken greedily, and by the third the crowd were simply waiting for him to get the ball.
Squad17 Aug 2026
The match ball belongs to David Nogueira, whose 3 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
A brace, and Enzo Boer takes the afternoon — 8.38
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Enzo Boer provided it, and the 8.38 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
A brace, and Thaciano takes the afternoon — 8.34
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Thaciano provided it, and the 8.34 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Market17 Aug 2026
Santos say no — this time
The offer from Rangers International for João Pedro 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.
Match12 Aug 2026
11 goals as Santos and Trem go for it
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 11 goals between Santos and Trem, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.