Marked for Bruno Dip
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad5 May 2031
Marco Zunno is in the form of his life
A season average of 7.65 with 33 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Match3 May 2031
0‑3 to Monopoli, 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.
Match3 May 2031
7 matches without a win for Crotone
The run now stands at 7, and the questions being asked around Crotone are no longer polite ones.
Squad5 May 2031
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Squad5 May 2031
King Udoh 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.
Match3 May 2031
Crotone are shipping goals every week
Two or more conceded in each of the last 5 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Squad5 May 2031
Words at Crotone training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Enrico Brignola 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 dugout5 May 2031
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Boardroom5 May 2031
Nobody left the Crotone dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings28 Apr 2031
Successful dribbles: 40. 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.
Squad28 Apr 2031
10 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.
Player ratings28 Apr 2031
No sign of nerves from Alberto Tarantino at 18 — 8.42
The hardest thing about being 18 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Alberto Tarantino did not need any: 8.42, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Match26 Apr 2031
No end in sight to Crotone's wait for a win
6 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Crotone has to find a result from somewhere.
The dugout28 Apr 2031
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The dugout28 Apr 2031
Alberto Villa: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Crotone have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad28 Apr 2031
Words exchanged at Crotone
King Udoh 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.
Squad28 Apr 2031
Words at Crotone training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Claudio Lieto 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.
Match26 Apr 2031
No clean sheets in sight for Crotone
4 games now with at least two against. The back line has been rearranged, the goalkeeper has been backed publicly, and the goals keep going in anyway.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings21 Apr 2031
Marked 7.77 at 18, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Market21 Apr 2031
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Crotone can pretend not to have heard.
Match19 Apr 2031
The wait goes on for Crotone
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.
Squad21 Apr 2031
A row about effort at Crotone
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Enrico Brignola was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad21 Apr 2031
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Crotone this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad21 Apr 2031
“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; Crotone are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
The dugout21 Apr 2031
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 Giovanni Rizzi left the room before anybody could ask which.
Player ratings21 Apr 2031
Successful dribbles: 15. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad10 Feb 2031
King Udoh 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.
Boardroom10 Feb 2031
Catanzaro will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Sinisa Vlahovic has pre-agreed a move to Crotone, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
Transfer targets10 Feb 2031
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.
Squad10 Feb 2031
Words at Crotone training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Claudio Lieto 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 dugout10 Feb 2031
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Squad10 Feb 2031
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Crotone can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
The dugout10 Feb 2031
“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.
Market10 Feb 2031
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Crotone know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The dugout10 Feb 2031
Nobody at Crotone 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.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match18 Jan 2031
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 4‑1 against Casertana, and it could have been more.
Squad20 Jan 2031
The match ball belongs to Antonio Energe, whose 3 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.
Match18 Jan 2031
Crotone make it 5 in a row
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Crotone have 5 straight wins of it.
Market20 Jan 2031
Bruno Dip hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Crotone can pretend not to have heard.
Squad20 Jan 2031
King Udoh in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Crotone this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets20 Jan 2031
Crotone asked and Cagliari said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad20 Jan 2031
Words at Crotone training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Claudio Lieto 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 terraces20 Jan 2031
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Match18 Jan 2031
Crotone keep winning on the road
3 away wins in a row. Travelling support is the truest kind, and this season it is being repaid in the only currency that counts.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings9 Dec 2030
Daniel Leo beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 27. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The dugout9 Dec 2030
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Match7 Dec 2030
4 matches without a win for Crotone
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Crotone are no longer polite ones.
Squad9 Dec 2030
Words exchanged at Crotone
King Udoh 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.
Squad9 Dec 2030
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Davide Merelli and Crotone agree another 2 years.
Squad9 Dec 2030
A row about effort at Crotone
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Claudio Lieto was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad9 Dec 2030
“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; Crotone are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Match7 Dec 2030
Crotone caught on 91 minutes
The board was up, the win was priced in, and then Altamura scored. There is no worse minute to concede in and the ground emptied in the silence that follows one.
Player ratings9 Dec 2030
The afternoon ran through King Udoh
Chances created: 12. Nothing on the scoresheet and everything in the match: the pass before the pass, over and over, until the defence stopped guessing right.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings25 Nov 2030
King Udoh scores twice — 8.83
Two goals and a mark of 8.83 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Match23 Nov 2030
King Udoh scored, and precious little else went right: 3‑4 to Salernitana, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
Match23 Nov 2030
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 7 goals between Crotone and Salernitana, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Squad25 Nov 2030
Words exchanged at Crotone
Daniel Leo 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 dugout25 Nov 2030
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Squad25 Nov 2030
200 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.
Squad25 Nov 2030
A row about effort at Crotone
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Marco Zunno was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings25 Nov 2030
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.09, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad25 Nov 2030
Defences have started doubling up on King Udoh
7 goals and a season average of 7.22 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match5 Oct 2030
Crotone make it 12 in a row
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Crotone have 12 straight wins of it.
Squad7 Oct 2030
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.
Player ratings7 Oct 2030
Alberto Tarantino, 18, plays like he has been here for years — 7.61
A mark of 7.61 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 18-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Squad7 Oct 2030
Claudio Lieto 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.
Squad7 Oct 2030
Daniel Leo in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Crotone this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match5 Oct 2030
Three points for Crotone, 2‑0 the final word against Potenza in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings7 Oct 2030
Ninety minutes of Marco Zunno at his very best
Marked 8.71. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Crotone.
Match5 Oct 2030
Crotone make home a hard place to visit
8 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
Squad7 Oct 2030
“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 Crotone know it.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match25 Sep 2030
Nobody wants to play Crotone right now
11 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.
Match25 Sep 2030
Crotone through in the cup
A 1‑0 win over Giugliano, and the draw for the next round can be watched with some interest for once.
Player ratings30 Sep 2030
Alberto Tarantino could not have asked for more on his first appearance — 7.23
Debuts are survived rather than enjoyed. This one was enjoyed: 7.23, 0 goals, and a manager already being asked whether he starts again next week.
The dugout30 Sep 2030
Bruno Dip keeps the receipts
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Crotone may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Player ratings30 Sep 2030
Successful dribbles: 20. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad30 Sep 2030
Claudio Lieto 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.
Squad30 Sep 2030
Words exchanged at Crotone
Nicolò Armini 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 terraces30 Sep 2030
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Emiliano Lo Biundo 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.
The dugout30 Sep 2030
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From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market19 Aug 2030
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
The dugout19 Aug 2030
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Squad19 Aug 2030
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Claudio Lieto is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Transfer targets19 Aug 2030
Crotone asked and Bari said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad19 Aug 2030
Words at Crotone training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Claudio Lieto 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.
Squad19 Aug 2030
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Crotone this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad19 Aug 2030
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Crotone can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
The dugout19 Aug 2030
“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.
Transfer targets19 Aug 2030
A loan move for Matteo Angeli is in the works
Crotone have made the call to AS Roma. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market17 Jun 2030
“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.
Market17 Jun 2030
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Crotone is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Transfer targets17 Jun 2030
Sampdoria wanted more than $1.3M and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Squad17 Jun 2030
A falling-out at Crotone
Andrea Ciofi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets17 Jun 2030
Crotone asked and Latina said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad17 Jun 2030
Words at Crotone training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Claudio Lieto 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 targets17 Jun 2030
A loan move for Manuel Leto is in the works
Crotone have made the call to Atalanta. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Squad17 Jun 2030
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Bruno Dip commits to Crotone for another 2 years.
The dugout17 Jun 2030
“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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Transfer targets10 Jun 2030
Fee done, terms next for Henry Camara
Crotone and Potenza have settled on $490.0K. 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.
Transfer targets10 Jun 2030
$1.3M on the table at Sampdoria. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Squad10 Jun 2030
King Udoh 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.
Squad10 Jun 2030
34 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Squad10 Jun 2030
Bruno Dip arrives at the club he grew up with
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Bruno Dip has, at Crotone, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Transfer targets10 Jun 2030
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.
Squad10 Jun 2030
Nicolò Armini 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 dugout10 Jun 2030
Andrea Ciofi has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Crotone 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.
The dugout10 Jun 2030
“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.