39 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. AVS lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” AVS have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Successful dribbles: 22. 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 had been thinking. Kiki Afonso 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.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Interim Coach after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 14 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
The words a physio says slowly. 64 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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. AVS will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
There were 9 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Player ratings24 Sep 2029
A brace, and Max Svensson takes the afternoon — 8.64
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Max Svensson provided it, and the 8.64 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around AVS they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Demir Ege Tıknaz 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 else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
94 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. AVS lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason AVS will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
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.
The offer from Las Palmas for Raúl Alcaina 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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at AVS is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. AVS have done the hard part with Aston Villa, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alaa Bellaarouch was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Vitoria Guimaraes have accepted the money. What AVS do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. AVS have done the hard part with Portimonense, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at AVS is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Alexandre Di Estefano has agreed terms with Lusitânia Lourosa for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next 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 AVS this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
6 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Koba Koindredi 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 paperwork is done long before the player is. Santiago Acosta has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means AVS have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether AVS can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. AVS know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The table is being checked before the results are in, which is always the tell. Nobody at AVS says the word and every senior player in the building is thinking 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 AVS, and it is not being withdrawn.
Demir Ege Tıknaz 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 had been thinking. Koba Koindredi 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 manager has re-ordered his thinking and Raul Steffens 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.
The end came on a Tuesday, as these things usually do: a short meeting, a shorter statement, and Interim Coach clearing his office by noon. Football’s cruellest ritual, performed to schedule.
Not an interim appointment — an institution with an empty coaching office. Somebody unfamiliar will run the sessions this week, and the question of how a club gets into this state is one the board will be asked and will not answer.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what AVS can pretend not to have heard.
“I am not thinking past Saturday, and I would advise nobody else to.” The caretaker’s first rule is to pretend the job is small; Interim Coach recited it perfectly.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Koba Koindredi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at AVS is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AVS 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 Koba Koindredi 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. AVS know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The club looked outside for a month, found nothing it preferred, and handed the job to the man who had been doing it anyway. He knows the building; now he has to prove he knows the rest.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what AVS can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at AVS is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AVS this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Koba Koindredi 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 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.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Jean-Pierre Rhyner 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.
2 goals to the good, and then a slow surrender of everything that had been earned. Max Svensson will not be the one blamed for it, but nobody at AVS escapes the conversation that follows a collapse like this.
Player ratings15 Jan 2029
A brace, and Max Svensson takes the afternoon — 8.48
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Max Svensson provided it, and the 8.48 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what AVS can pretend not to have heard.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Koba Koindredi 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.
AVS asked and Red Bull Salzburg said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
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 7.06, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around AVS they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Marked 7.70 on 14 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Koba Koindredi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Marked 8.37 — 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.
Two goals and a mark of 8.16 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around AVS they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Koba Koindredi was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether AVS can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Diogo Brasido was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A performance of 8.11 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
The dugout11 Dec 2028
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Duarte Ribeiro kept it short after the 2‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. AVS told Daniel Rivas something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around AVS they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Koba Koindredi 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 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.
0‑2 to Vitoria Guimaraes, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad20 Nov 2028
Diogo Brasido falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Duarte Ribeiro after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
In brief
The dugoutSomebody else is better right now than Kiki Afonso
12 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. AVS will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Successful dribbles: 26. 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.
Koba Koindredi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad30 Oct 2028
Diogo Brasido 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.
“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 AVS know it.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” AVS have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. AVS will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Position 17 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.
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.
Successful dribbles: 28. 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.
“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 AVS, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Bernardo Conde will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around AVS the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Bernardo Conde will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around AVS the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
Successful dribbles: 44. 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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. AVS 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 AVS can pretend not to have heard.
Koba Koindredi 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 had been thinking. Diogo Brasido 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 board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
“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 AVS, and it is not being withdrawn.
At 21 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AVS this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Diogo Brasido 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.